The Stack
Notes To Self
Capture thoughts instantly. Stay organized without over-thinking. The Stack is designed for quick capture and easy retrieval of your notes-to-self.
Why The Stack?
To Do lists are paradoxical. Much like Rimmer's revision timetable in Red Dwarf, they can become a distraction and a source of anxiety.
There's a place for an app like Reminders. It's helpful to be able to set reminders, and I use it to keep track of a few important, repeating things. It's helpful to have multiple lists, and I use one to share a shopping list with my partner.
If you swear by GTD (or a similar methodology) then there's a place for an app to supports you. Maybe it lets you put tasks into buckets, or give them colors. Whatever works for you.
At the heavier end of things, there's even room for issue tracking system. If you're in a team, the ability to share tasks with everyone, prioritize them and plan them, set deadlines, add keywords, etc, etc, is essential.
However, for me personally, a lot of the time I find this to be overkill.
When I'm in the middle of something, and an idea pops into my head, I just want to record it and move on.
The Simplest Thing That Works
What matters most in this situation is just to capture the thought, and move on. I don't want to have to think about which list it goes in. I don't really want to have to think about dates or priorities or any of that stuff. In fact, having to make those decisions is off-putting and can slow me down or even paralyze me.
Even as a solo software developer, I don't really need a proper issue tracker a lot of the time. I've used many different trackers, and have come to realize that the simpler they were, the fewer options and fields they had, the more I liked them.
The Stack is built for these situations.
It isn't intended to replace your shopping list app, or your issue tracking database, although it can, if you want it to.
It can complement a methodology-based app. Or perhaps, it can replace the methodology with a simpler one…
Features
Quick Capture
Notes are simple pieces of text. There are no complex fields or priorities to worry about.
A Single Stack
Notes go into a single stack. New items go onto the top. You don't have to agonize about where to put things.
Tag & Filter
Tag related notes by including #hashtags in them. Filter by tag or search for specific text.
Pull To The Top
Important note getting buried? Pull it back to the top of the stack. By design, that's the only reordering you need.
Track Progress
Mark notes as "Completed", "Abandoned", "On Hold", or any status that works for you.
Focus
Focus on a single #hashtag to work on a set of related notes.
Ready to Get Stacking?
The Stack is available on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
It is currently free.
Join the beta and give simplicity a go!