Over the years, I've switched between several daily TODO lists. I used a plain sticky note in the beginning where I outlined all the tasks I had to do. After that I used Steven Covey's time management matrix, but I found that I'm not using all of its quadrants and some important and urgent tasks were never done on time. Currently I have a TODO list with two columns -- Making, for the long-term things I have to provide substantial amount of undivided attention to; and POSS (projects, organization, skills, social) -- for tasks which require frequent context-switching. It was greatly inspired by Paul Graham's "Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule" article [1].
For long-term plans, I keep a simple text file categorized by projects where I plan ahead for about one or two weeks and put deadlines for my plans. I derive these plans from my long-term goals, for which I store the big picture in various mediums (Trello, E-mails, text files, written conversations, paper, etc.)
Because management decisions ain't always driven by logic.
The simplest reason may be attachment to the feature--the feature is of no use but the person who's invented it is scared by the possibility of removing it.
I just decided I wasn't happy at my 9 to 5 job. What followed was a deduction that unhappiness means there's an opportunity I'm missing. So I started observing and found what I wanted at the moment--I started working part-time at a small software organization doing systems integration. The transition was flawless--I didn't need to stay at my corporate job.
Of course, such undertakings are a bit risky. After a few months I found my money starting to melt as I wasn't receiving stable income from the new place I enjoyed working in. Doing a bachelor's degree while teaching and working quite prevented me from seeing how this money meltdown would shortly lead to some uncanny situation of mine. So, with about 3 months delay I understood that I'm in another unhappy situation and I should start observing for the new opportunity I was missing.
Here comes a time for some background. For about 3 years I was living with a close friend of mine who is involved with an organization called Camplight--a digital cooperative working in the web outsourcing business. Things were quite great in this company and it was a bunch of sustainable, playful and hard-working people. I wanted to join them since I heard about it, but the lack of experience prevented me from doing so. However, during the years I worked a 9-5 job and switched to doing systems integration, I got quite experienced. Also, I loved to talk with my flatmate about Camplight and the challenges around being a part of a cooperative. And it started to click that this was the opportunity I was looking for.
And that's how I escaped a 9-5 job in about a year and am really happy about it. I'm doing quality software, communicating with valuable people and helping the cooperative grow.
For long-term plans, I keep a simple text file categorized by projects where I plan ahead for about one or two weeks and put deadlines for my plans. I derive these plans from my long-term goals, for which I store the big picture in various mediums (Trello, E-mails, text files, written conversations, paper, etc.)
[1] http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html