How do I set up a shared perpetual To Do list?

October 2, 2024 8:08 PM

I want to set up a To Do list for a board that I'm on. Say that every January we have to file some paperwork, and the second weekend in June we always have to throw a party, and every October 10th we need to check that we have enough widgets in our widget closet. These tasks will always be there as different board members come and go.

The list should show who is responsible for the task that year, and also who did it in the past (in case the new person has questions). It needs to be set up using Google Sheets or Google Docs. Please advise.

posted by The corpse in the library to Computers & Internet (14 answers total)

How about date as column titles (with the task right below), and the current owner right below that?

Every year, or when the jobs get reassigned, insert a new row at the top. So, tasks in order of due date, owners right there, history with a scroll, and it’s obvious where to insert a column for new tasks.

Maybe a linked Doc for each task with any notes each owner wants to leave for the future.
posted by clew at 8:45 PM on October 2

You could just create a sheet in a spreadsheet for each year. Format a sheet however makes sense for your needs with due date, responsible party, etc. You can set up filters (for example, to only show future dates) or sorting if desired. Then at the end of the year, just make a copy of the sheet, rename it for the new year and remove the date from the responsible parties column. If anyone wants to look up who did a task last year (or three years ago), the past year sheets are right there in the tabs on the bottom.
posted by ssg at 11:09 PM on October 2 [3 favorites]

Plandisc is great for this, a lot of stuff is behind the paywall but the basics might be enough for you. Following with interest.
posted by Iteki at 11:54 PM on October 2 [1 favorite]

On reading comprehension: this is not a Google solution but can, for pay, be linked to them. It might also give you some inspiration, they are called "årshjul" in Swedish and there are tutorials online that could be Google translated I suspect.
posted by Iteki at 11:57 PM on October 2

Try searching "compliance calendar" , which is essentially what you're setting up. There are some templates available which might work for you.
posted by Sparky Buttons at 5:15 AM on October 3

Response by poster: Unfortunately this really needs to be a Google thing; we have no money, a broad range of comfort with computers, and we're already doing all our shared stuff on Google. But I'm happy to look at examples from non-Google sources if they're something I can copy ideas from.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:07 AM on October 3

Could you set them up as recurring events just? Some of them are very flexible like first Monday if the month etc. You can invite people and stuff so they get mailed and include text, documents etc
posted by Iteki at 9:53 AM on October 3

I was going to suggest recurring events as well, or if you want to be able to check things off, Google also has a “task” calendar item. The functionality is somewhat limited when you make it a recurring task, but I think you should still be able to get what you want out of it. They will show up on your calendar just like events, and if you want to see a list, display your calendar as “schedule” instead of month, week, etc.
posted by sillysally at 9:57 AM on October 3 [1 favorite]

I was thinking along those lines, too: a shared Google calendar with recurring events (perhaps with new people added to the list of reminders when new people join?).
posted by AwkwardPause at 9:59 AM on October 3 [1 favorite]

Hm, I’m not sure if you can share tasks. So it might only work if you all have access to one calendar/Google account, and maybe not if you have to share the list with multiple individual accounts. I could be wrong though, so it’s worth checking out.
posted by sillysally at 10:01 AM on October 3

Google sheets has a to-do list template, I just added a "person in charge" "year" and "notes" column. You would have to manually add the tasks, but you could just fill out the tasks you have for a given year (with no assigned person), then copy/paste for a given number of years out. The list comes filterable (so you could filter to just show the 2024 tasks for now, or filter the task so you can see who was previously assigned).
posted by DoubleLune at 12:27 PM on October 3

Things with annual deadlines? My organization uses google calendar recurring events for this. You can add notes to calendar events, add the year and the current person and keep the old ones on the list. You can also have a link in this area to other resources like your google docs folder for party planning etc.

You can also add dates as reminders to start planning these things, for example maybe at the beginning of February (how far out this needs to be depends on how complex your party is) has an event called "begin planning for June party".

If you have a public facing google calendar, you can create a second one so things like filing your city forms aren't shown on that one.

You would probably also use google docs and sheets to organize these things as well, but it sounds like your "list" is things scheduled for certain days, calendars are a popular choice for keeping track of things that happen on certain days for a reason.
posted by yohko at 12:33 PM on October 3

Response by poster: DoubleLune, can you make that link public?
posted by The corpse in the library at 4:32 PM on October 3

Schools I have worked at have a document called: Arc of Work. It lays out what month things generally happen during. It lives in the google shared drive folder. Here is one I found online- I no longer work for the district, so I don't have access to the ones I personally used.
posted by momochan at 9:16 AM on October 5 [1 favorite]