How do you do Task Management?

How do you use tasks in Obsidian? And how do you stop it becoming one uncontrollably long list?

Every task system I have ever used worked for about a week. Then the list hits 100, it starts looking like my email inbox, and I stop opening it because it makes me feel bad.

I just finished the video on how I do it now, and it comes down to two rules.

RULE 1: EVERY TASK BELONGS TO A PROJECT

No project, no task. If it has nowhere to go, it does not get created. The list shrinks on its own, because half of it never had a home.

RULE 2: EVERY FINISHED TASK GETS A MOMENT OF REFLECTION

Before you move on, ask: did I learn anything here I will need again? A process, a set of steps, a link, a way of doing it. If yes, that becomes a knowledge note that outlasts the task. Most tasks earn nothing. The ones that do are what make the next project easier.

The picture shows it. Today's tasks point up to their project. Some of them leave reusable knowledge behind. Next time the same kind of project comes around, the knowledge is already there and the tasks start from it instead of from zero.

POLL: How do you handle tasks right now?

One question for the comments:

What do you do with a task once it is done? Does anything survive it?

Native checkboxes only

Tasks plugin

Dataview queries over checkboxes

TaskNotes

Separate app

17 votes

24 comments

How do you do Task Management?