Catalogue of the different kinds of lists we compose in our day-to-day lives.

types-of-lists.md

Types of lists

Catalogue of the different kinds of lists we compose in our day-to-day lives

• Bucket list

  Such as "Things to do before you die". Typically aspirational, completeable. Manual sorting (usually importance or desired completion order).

• TODO list

  Such as "Weekend tasks to complete" or "Things to buy". Typically driven by necessary chores, completeable, and discarded upon completion. Sorted by urgency.

• Best-of list

  Such as "Top 10 movies of all time". Similar to bucket lists but retrospective. Sorted by quality.

• Inventory list

  Such as "Items for sale". Completeable. Various sorting (sometimes alphabetical, chronological, or some value metric like price).

  Content of each item stays the same but the list shrinks when items are completed or grows when items are added or uncompleted.

• Brainstorming list

  Such as this list. Fleshed out over time, occasionally deeply nested. Often used as an outline before composing a narrative document. Manual sorting (usually follows a narrative).

• Index list

  A list of lists. One to rule them all. Sorted alphabetically or chronologically.

• Check list

  Such as "Server deployment checklist". Similar to the TODO list but recurring in usage. Completeable and resettable. Manual sorting (usually follows a narrative).

  Another variation of this list is the Diagnostic list, such as the "Purity Quiz" passed around in chain letters. Similar to the Bucket list but used to categorize and classify conditions.

• Timeline list

  Such as "Books I've read". Sorted chronologically, and is append-only. Often used for keeping a log about some theme. Completed items from other lists form this kind of list.

What other kinds of lists are there?

What is a good way to distinguish different kinds of lists? Perhaps by the kind of engagement they require? For example, are they sorted/prioritized, completable, collaborative/personal/curated, time-sensitive/evergreen?

@clumma Have you considered using a Google Docs^WDrive spreadsheet for your health stats etc? Specifically if you use the 'Make a form' feature, it's really great for mobile input. And the spreadsheet itself is pretty decent for readonly mobile consumption. That's what I've been using for tracking my workouts and such.

Perhaps these tables don't fall into the world of "list" as we defined it here.

What's WDrive? I'm trying the normal mobile google docs spreadsheet in safari now, and it's being too fussy for my taste. (I'm asked to pick a title before getting started, lots of controls filling the screen, zooming in and out to get into fields, the widgets aren't high-res, and so on.)

^W is used to delete the previous word on Unixy terminals. So I meant to say Google DocsDrive.

I mean, you need to setup the spreadsheet on a desktop, with all the columns you want and whatnot. Then go to Tools -> Create Form, make a form, and mail yourself the link so you can bookmark it on your mobile device and use that for data entry.

Also reading a spreadsheet on mobile after it has already been created is not too bad.

Aha, that's worth a try. I have an Excel version of the rad log already.