Agreed, but I find for even these simple tasks it's hit-and-miss for accuracy. My Google device will randomly not know what a "shopping list" is, or the interactions go something like this:
"Hey Google, put dishwasher salt on the shopping list"
"OK, I added 'put dishwasher salt'"
(strangely, this particular bug only manifests for dishwasher salt).
Timers are useful, but sometimes they can't be shut off by voice command.