[malfist]

This doesn't seem super useful to me.

Personally my todo lists are all 2-5 words, quick to write and just enough to job my memory for what I want to do.

For example, I need to clean the neck of my skimmer for my saltwater aquarium, I'd put "clean skimmer neck" on my todo list.

TodoBot says this is poor because I didn't include location or what I'd clean it with. It suggested "Clean skimmer neck in the pool with a brush"

Location isn't helpful here, I know where my skimmer is, saying "Clean skimmer neck underneath my 100 gallon saltwater aquarium in my office" would get high marks from the bot, but not actually be useful. "with a brush" is also equally useless. What else am I supposed to clean a skimmer neck with? I know how to clean a skimmer, I don't need to write where and how to clean my skimmer every time I add it to my todo list.

Another aquarium related task on my todo list it was helplessly lost on "Waste Away 50ml 6/1" Which tells me to add 50mls of Waste Away to my aquarium on 6/1. The AI bot rates it really poorly because I don't describe what I'm doing with the 50ml. I don't have too. There's only one thing I do with that 50ml.

A more common example, most people don't have saltwater aquariums. "Take out garbage" for the night before the garbage runs, was rated similarly as poor by the bot. It suggested including which bins need to be taken out and to where. All the bins need to go out and the go out to the only place you take the garbage out to on garbage night. The road.

Feels like one of those productivity tools that let you feel productive, but don't actually help you be productive.

[jstarfish]

> Location isn't helpful here, I know where my skimmer is, saying "Clean skimmer neck underneath my 100 gallon saltwater aquarium in my office" would get high marks from the bot, but not actually be useful. "with a brush" is also equally useless. What else am I supposed to clean a skimmer neck with? I know how to clean a skimmer, I don't need to write where and how to clean my skimmer every time I add it to my todo list.

Ironically, it is helping you write a better to-do list. Going to this level of detail as a matter of habit makes it much easier to delegate the task to someone else, especially during emergencies. Future autocomplete features may make this easier, but it'll need precedent to extrapolate from.

Nothing is more irritating than agreeing to watch someone's house/pets and being told "I'll leave you a to-do list." Then you see the list and it's all items like: "clean skimmer neck" and "waste away 50mL." I'm more than happy to maintain your stuff but it looks like you left me instructions on how to take a urine sample in New Zealand.

[greytape]

I think this is a great point. There are a lot of items on my todo list that are super vague, and I never start on them because the next action isn't clear. However, it'd be useful to distinguish between these times, and when a task is acceptably vague (eg "take out the garbage"). I will try updating the prompts to take this into account.

[lumb63]

It sounds like you are using your todo list more as a way to keep track of what I’d call “goals”. I mostly use a todo list like GP said, for example, “take out the trash”, “donate clothes”, “clean room”; they’re all vague tasks but I know what I mean. However, the process you’re describing sounds like it would be very helpful for setting better goals!

Maybe you’re familiar with the concept of “SMART” goals - specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound. Refining goals into sub-goals makes them feel much more manageable and ensures you actually get them done. For instance, I don’t benefit from refining “take out the trash”, but if my todo list has “learn Spanish” on it, I’d definitely benefit from breaking it down: what exactly is my course of action to learn Spanish?

Best of luck with the app, thanks for sharing.

[malfist]

It could also be that we use todo lists completely differently from each other :-)

Doesn't mean either of us are wrong!

I'm a heavy user of bullet journaling. I start my day with a few lines of todos and they're always short and sweet. Works for me.