Comments on: How to Keep Track of Tasks That You Assign by Email [Best Practice]

By: Christoph Borer

Christoph Borer — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:35:53 +0000

Hi there. I'm using Rememberthemilk for GTD. I'd both send an email with a task to the recipient and would then create a "waiting for" item in the respective todo list in Rememberthemilk. I'd like to have a task management application that would allow me to automatically create a waiting for item while sending an email to the project member. I believe in email and would not like to ask task recipients to register with some online service to check webpages with their todo, because they won't do that.

I've tried to work with the email interface of RTM but didn't find this so handy: you would send an email i.e. to John Doe, putting the task in the subject line, and putting the RTM inbox-Email in the bcc, then have to start the email body with variables that define the list the task should be put on, the tags to use and the due date. But this results in an email that would start with cryptic signs at the start that is not so funny.

Anybody understanding what i'm looking for? perhaps a simple online ticketing system will do it? some good solutions around (free, reliable online service)?

By: @Hagoleshet

@Hagoleshet — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 08:27:58 +0000

I’m going to try this: How to Keep Track of Tasks That You Assign by Email http://tinyurl.com/avfnen

By: eyalsela

eyalsela — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 04:05:22 +0000

test

By: Dmitri Eroshenko, Relenta

Dmitri Eroshenko, Relenta — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 14:33:58 +0000

Here’s how you do it in Relenta:

1. Click on “Create task” from email
2. Assign it to your colleague
3. Set a due date
4. Monitor its completion in the Agenda view

Benefits:

1. No email multiplication (don’t we all have enough emails floating around already?!!)
2. The person responsible automatically sees the task in her agenda
3. When completed, no need to send more emails
4. The whole process is as hands-free as is humanely possible

Relenta puts an end to endless email hacks. Life is too short for that.

Eyal, don’t get me wrong, this is a great hack for non-Relenta users. I really enjoy your blog. Thanks!

By: eyal sela

eyal sela — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:19:02 +0000

Thank Boaz,
actually, I used a similar method when I worked with outlook (nowadays I’m using Gmail).

By: Boaz Zemer

Boaz Zemer — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:26:31 +0000

This is a great suggestion indeed.
At work, I used a similar method myself.
I didn’t use the calendar for it thou. Here’s what I did:

In Outlook*, you can set a due date for the mail to expire.
With a rule, I made all sent mails where my E-mail appears in the BCC field, to go to certain tasks folders I made (combined with a rule to specify which task folder to use according to certain key words in the Subject field), and then i could see expired mails turn red and forward them onward.

*:
In Outlook 2003 this is done via ‘Options’ in the mail itself.
In Outlook 2007 this is done with the ‘Follow Up’ button (red flag).