How do you keep all the balls in the air? It’s a fair question, and the answer matters. Because the tasks themselves usually aren’t the hard part. What’s hard is keeping track of them all.

This post is about projects. Specifically, it covers how to use Remember The Milk to manage projects so none of them fall through the cracks.

What Is a Project?

A project is anything that takes more than one step to complete. It’s the birthday party you planned, the new car you bought, your acceptance into a degree program, or the new job you landed. None of these happens with one action. Each one unfolds through a series of steps pointing toward a clear end result.

Here’s where many people go wrong: They write down the next step, do it, check it off, and forget to define what comes next. The project quietly stalls. Soon, it has fallen through the cracks.

Getting Started

To use this system, you’ll need Remember The Milk Pro, which gives you subtasks. If you’re on the free plan, using another task manager, or tracking tasks on a spreadsheet, this video walks you through a different approach:

However, one reason I chose a Remember The Milk paid plan was because it gave me subtasks.

How to Define a Project in Remember The Milk

In this system, a project is a task with subtasks.

Phrase each project as a statement with a noun up front. That statement is either true or false. If it’s true, the project is done. If it’s false, there’s still work to do.

Example: “New car purchased.” Either you bought it or you didn’t.

The subtasks are the steps that make that statement true.

Reference Information

Related materials live in the notes section of the task. That might be a link to an email, a file in Google Drive, or a document in Dropbox. In Gmail, every message has its own unique link, so you can paste that link directly into the task notes. Everything is one click away.

You can also attach documents to any task or subtask in Remember The Milk. Those attachments live in Google Drive or Dropbox.

The task is the glue that holds the whole project together. The goal statement is there. The subtasks are there. And all related reference material is there, right in one place.

Working from the “Today” List

Here’s an important rule in Remember The Milk. A task and its subtasks do not appear on the same list at the same time.

Give each subtask a due date for when you want to work on it. Give the parent task a due date for when you hope to complete or review the project.

Here’s the key detail. If both the parent task and a subtask have a due date of today, the subtask hides underneath the parent. That’s not ideal. In some situations, that’s what you want. If there are a dozen small tasks you want to handle in the garage on a Saturday morning, it’s fine to have a task that says “Organize garage” and have under it the small subtasks that can be handled quickly.

Other times, the subtasks stretch across days: a phone call today, an errand tomorrow, several more follow-up calls the next day, and ultimately, the end result is achieved by the weekend. In this case, you want each subtask to show up on the “Today” list for the appropriate day. One click on a subtask shows the parent task. One click on the parent shows the full project.

The Connection to Getting Things Done

If you’ve read David Allen’s Getting Things Done, you know the value of a “projects list.” You also know how tough it can be to keep it in sync with your next actions.

In this system, that sync is automatic.

The project is the task.

The next actions are the subtasks.

They’re always connected.

Building Your Projects List

Here’s where Remember The Milk gets really powerful. It has “Smart Lists.” A Smart List is a saved search

To build a projects list, click the search window. Click the down arrow. Choose Add Another Criteria, then Subtasks, then Has Subtasks. Click the magnifying glass. There’s your “projects list.”

Save it as a Smart List and name it “Projects All.” It will appear in your sidebar every time you need it.

Going Further with Multiple Project Views

You can take it further with four Smart Lists:

Projects-This Week includes projects you plan to finish this week.

Projects-This Month includes projects you plan to finish within the month, but not this week.

Projects-Future includes projects scheduled beyond the next month. Projects-Completed includes projects finished in the last 30 days.

To create each one, click the plus sign next to Smart Lists in the sidebar. Click Switch to the Query Editor. Enter a name and paste in the corresponding query below.

Here is what you’ll use for each query:

Projects-This Week: hasSubtasks:true and dueBefore:”8 day from now”

Projects-This Month: dueBefore:”30 day from now” and isRepeating:false and isSubtask:false and hasSubtasks:true and dueAfter:”7 days from now”

Projects-Future: dueAfter:”29 days from now” and isRepeating:false and isSubtask:false and hasSubtasks:true

Copy and paste the italicized next into each Smart List and save.

Never Let a Project Go Without a Next Step

Here’s a built-in safety check: Run any of the Smart Lists you just composed. You’ll see a small number beside each project. That number shows how many open subtasks remain. As long as there’s a number, there’s a next step.

No number? You’ve accomplished the subtasks you defined and haven’t added any more. Click on that project. Either mark it complete or add a new subtask.

Closing Thoughts

Ask a juggler how they keep all the balls in the air. They know how many balls there are. They know where each one is. And they give each one the right attention at the right time.

This system gives you the same control over your projects. Run a Smart List and you can see every ball in the air. Each project has at least one subtask, so you always know your next step. Day after day, you work through those subtasks and keep every project moving.

If you’re looking for a system to help you get organized and make it look easy, this book is a great place to start:

Before you order, visit my website and join my email list. You’ll receive two free gifts right away, and one of them goes deeper into how I use Remember The Milk. Every week, I send an email designed to help you get organized and make it look easy.

If you enjoyed this content, join those who receive my free email newsletter every week. It’s the first step, and an easy step, in your transformation. You receive two gifts for joining. One gets your desk clean. The other puts everything you have to do in one digital place. It’s time to Get Organized! and make it look easy.

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