Pencil and paper, any time.

TaskPaper is great on Mac.

I'm a fan of post-it notes. Forces short descriptions (which is good!), can be categorised or grouped based on colour of note and physical location (example uses include the type of job, priority etc.). This has fantastic flexibility - and I often find that once a "list" is solidified I then digitise it...

Seeing as you want a program to do it, I'm currently using (and a fan of) Google's Tasks lists - accessed primarily through GMail, but there is an API, so many have implemented integration into it. For example, if not at a desktop I use 'Tasks' on my Android (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ch.teamtasks.tasks.paid , free alternative is available too). The main important aspect is that your To-do lists are available anywhere you go, as it is stored in GMail (or at least on the Cloud, accessible through GMail and their API).

I don't need to be a sales rep for them, so I'll let you read about the many other features and which ones may be of interest to you.

Edit:

Just noticed you tagged the question with 'Linux' and 'OSS'; this is a good way to go, as it is inherently cross platform, and if you get the right apps, they can be open source too.

I work with Excel based on "Getting Things Done"-Scheme. Works fine for me

A lovely comment regarding pen&paper lists: "When I use pen and paper, I have to copy everything to a new page every single day, and THAT is NOT easy. It makes me think which task is worth copying. At the end of the day, this is what makes my todo lists sane. "

http://minhajuddin.com/2012/09/17/why-todo-lists-on-paper-work

Evernote, easy to use. The following is one interesting example of how to customize it :

http://www.thesecretweapon.org

Wunderlist, it works on android,iOS, Windows, Mac and Web (http://www.wunderlist.com/account). Sync is automatic.

I use WunderList and Evernote.

I think its mostly a question of methodology. I love Getting Things Done (GTD) [1] and use Omnifocus [2] to take text+pic+audio notes with my phone. I also tried Evernote because of its ability to index and search pdfs but Its not quite what I needed for my research ideas and text workflow. Instead i started to use nvalt (freeware) [3] It's a simple to use markdown/text-editor that gives you fast access to your notes, and it has also sync capabilities as well as many export formats.

Maybe I will try Flow [4] in the future but you'll need a monthly subscription and I won't to be addicted by a cloud-tool.

Hope this is useful to someone.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done

[2] http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnifocus/

[3] http://brettterpstra.com/project/nvalt/

[4] http://www.getflow.com/

I am user of the free version of the web-based task manager Toodledo (http://www.toodledo.com). It allows for a simple and objective organization of your tasks according to a variety of views, such as, goals, contexts, folders, locations. It can send you reminders of a hot list based on criteria that you can define.

I very much like the web-based Remember The Milk (http://www.rememberthemilk.com), you can create lists to categorize your tasks, add other parameters like estimated time for a task, it's in many languages and comes with apps for almost any platform. Can also be integrated with many calendar apps. There are third party apps for Linux afaik. But premium features require a subscription, although I think it's quite worth it.

I tried most of the todo list programs available, and finally settled using Evernote. It's simple, available in all platforms, and does what I need. The free version is enough for me too.

Also, browse this selection of todo lists, apparently these are the most popular ones:

http://lifehacker.com/5924093/five-best-to+do-list-managers

I use Evernote, Wunderlist, and good old pen-and-paper.

For Google users, see

http://mail.google.com/mail/help/tasks/

a To-do List linked to Gmail

I guess there is no "one size fits all" solution to managing your work. Personally i tried different solutions and ended up with the Emacs-based org-mode [1]. It is completely based on plain text files, allowing to represent different kinds of strategies. The strength is the ability to quickly edit information, sort it, add dates to it and have the ability to generate quick informative overviews (agedas). The export-abilities are numerous and fully configurable. There are corresponding apps for smart-phones as well.

Before using org-mode i was no emacs user. It has a learning curve, but personally i think it is worth it. For an overview and introduction you could read this: [2] There are some good and informative videos of talks and screencast available.

[1] http://orgmode.org/

[2] http://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html

I use GMail + GTD.

I use the Mind Mapping tool (FreeMind) to manage all my life (research, teaching, administration, family, etc.) including to-do tasks -- indispensable!

Google calendar.

You can manage all your tasks and agenda from there, and of course set up to do lists. Also sync with your mobile calendar. For your android smartphone you can get Google Keep to manage notes in a post it style: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.keep

I have used Things (http://culturedcode.com/things/) and Omnifocus (http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnifocus/). These are not free and open source, but the OP did not specify these criteria. They both can implement GTD fairly easily. For my workflow, I needed both Mac and iphone versions that would seamlessly sync. I ended up using Omnifocus, because it has the ability to handle hierarchical lists. Things is easier to use, though.

For me, nothing can even come close to pencil and paper.

If you are an emacs user, there is nothing better than org-mode:

http://orgmode.org/

There are many time management software programs available. At a simple level, you can use MSWord or MSExcel to manage your To-Do Lists. Some versions of Microsoft Outlook, and other email services such as Gmail, have task lists and To-Do Lists as standard features. Remember the Milk is another popular online task management tool that will sync with your smartphone, PDA, or email account. It can even show you where your To-Do List tasks are on a map. Other similar services include Todoist and Toodledo.

One of the biggest advantages to using a software-based approach to manage your To-Do List is that you can update it easily. For example, instead of scratching off tasks and rewriting the list every day, software allows you to move and prioritize tasks quickly.

- See more at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_05.htm#sthash.dqb9WXvx.dpuf

Hi.

I've tried quite many different tools and personally came to the conclusion that at some point the support of complicated task lists consumes more and more time. Therefore, for personal todos I am using the most simple tool ever: http://www.dailytodo.org/ Just prioritize tasks every morning and update those during the day.

If you are working in a team, than definitely more handy toll is needed. Lately I became the fan of trello.com

Br,

Dmitry

Have ever tried the trello free software (trello.com) ... It is a way to combine a to-do list with some collaborative and planning requirements (to do, doing and done).

If you want to have access to your to-do list everywhere using an ordinary web browser, you may also consider a web application on your own webspace/webserver. An easy-to-use, easy-to-install and lightweight web app for this is myTinyTodo (http://www.mytinytodo.net/), among others.

I use web-based solutions to manage my todo-list

toodledo.com is very simple to use, allow task categories, tags, due date, priorities, current status, context (eg. lab, office) etc. etc...

integration with desktop software, export and import functionalities, etc. etc... are available

use it only if you don't care of share your tasklist with a thirdy-part actor (toodledo in this case)

moreover, I use even bitbucket.org, a git based CVS (like github)

mainly bitbucket acts a software repo

I use it to save my documents (often written in latex)

but most intersting feature is the advanced issue manager...

I use it to downwrite next task to complete

if your institutions can provide a server, I suggest to use redmine

similar to bitbucket, hosting your server you avoid the problem to share your info outside your institute.

it would be great if Researchgate could provide a to-do-list function in the project incubation side.

I support your request, @Frederic.

Google Calendar is a well enough platform. I like it because it easily synchronizes with all of my portable devices and is platform independent. It is also a Web based service so it is not physically died to any one of your devices, only to an Internet connection (and only while synchronising).

If you are using Smartphones then Android based AnyDo App will be very useful to organize tasks, follow it, remind etc.

rememberthemilk.com is an amazing app/web for managing tasks. it's flexibility let's handle almost anything in the way you need and, with smart list everything is easier.

If you need to handle from your mobile, I recomend taking the pro option.

Anyway, at the end, the choice depends on the target environment and interoperability requirements.

I use gmail (calendar, to-do, keep and drive) for management my to-do list with GTD methodology.

Emacs Org-mode, Google Calender are both good ways.

Evernote + Zendone + Google Calendar works well together

In fact, Zendone helps you to follow GTD methodology.

https://evernote.com

https://www.zendone.com