Last time, we’ve learned how to use Smart Lists in Remember The Milk (RTM). Before we go on, it’d be helpful to acquaint yourself with GTD. In order for us to use RTM for GTD, we basically have to follow the next two steps:
- Delete all default lists (but, you can’t delete Inbox and Sent)
- Create necessary Smart Lists for using GTD
That’s it! Now, let’s take a closer look at each step. Bear with me while I explain. Once you go through this article, you should become the Jedi master of GTD with RTM.
1. Delete all default lists
When you sign up for the first time, there are some default general lists already setup for you. We want to delete these lists. Click Settings on the top right navigation bar, then click on Lists tab. This will show you the list of default lists. Let’s delete everything. (You won’t be able to delete Inbox and Sent)
That’s it for step one! 
2. Create necessary Smart Lists
Now, we want to create some smart lists for using GTD. As we’ve learned in the first part, you can create smart lists by following the next steps:
- Search with specified conditions
- Save the result into a smart list
Below is the smart list that I use followed by the search conditions. For more information on search conditions, try this link. If you are having trouble creating new conditions, you can simply copy and paste the conditions below into your search box.
| List Name | Conditions | Description |
| 1_Bucket | status:incomplete and isRepeating:false and isTagged:false | Shows newly added tasks |
| 2_Review | status:incomplete and isRepeating:false and isTagged:true not tag:na not tagContains:+ | Tasks that have been organized, but not yet moved into Next Actions |
| 3_Next Actions | (status:incomplete and tag:na) or dueBefore:today or due:today | Next Up! |
| 4_Completed | status:completed | Tasks that have been completed |
| @Buy | tag:@buy | Things to buy |
| @Home | tag:@home | What you need to do at home |
| @Office | tag:@office | What you need to do at your office |
| @Someday | tag:@someday | Tasks that you may get your hands on someday |
You can use numbers and symbols like @ to sort the list in the order you want. Once it’s done, you’ll get a screen with tabs similar to the one below:
Let me explain a bit further why I setup the list the way I did.
First of all, all of new tasks are piled into 1_Bucket. According to the GTD Framework, all tasks that we can think of should be poured into the bucket. Once that’s done, we process tasks from the top. Tasks that can be done within 2 minutes must be taken care of promptly, but all others must be organized into other lists. We can do this by assigning tags. Here are some tag rules to get you started with:
- @buy: something that you need to buy. For example: books and groceries fall into this category.
- @contact: whether by calling on the phone or by email, your list of follow-up todos goes here.
- @home: tasks that you should do at home
- @office: tasks that you should do at your office
- @someday: tasks that you are going to do someday, but not right now. For example, a vacation trip to moon might fall into this category.
Notice that I’ve mixed context and action lists, which is not exactly the standard GTD. You should find a mix that matches your need best. There are two more tag rules that I use. Remember that you can use more than one tag on a single task.
- na: Next Actions. When you add “na” tag to your task, your task shows up in 3_Next Actions as well. For example, if you have to make a presentation for tomorrow’s meeting at work, you can tag that task “@office, na”
- +project_name: I add “+” to the front of all tasks that belong to a certain project. Anything that requires more than two tasks are considered a project in GTD. For example, if you need to paint your bedroom wall, you might have tasks like 1) buy a sky-blue paint, 2) paint the wall. Then you can tag these tasks “+bedroom_paint”
So, whenever a task is assigned with a tag, that task shows up in two places. First, a smart list assigned with that tag (e.g. @office) and 2_Review or 3_Next Actions.
You should focus on the tasks in 3_Next Actions on daily basis, and review the tasks in 2_Review on regular basis (by adding “na” tag). With a basic understanding of GTD, you now should be able to elaborate further on from this point. Go and create some smart lists that suit your taste.
3. On Managing Projects
As mentioned above, project means something that requires more than a single task in GTD. You should create an extra smart list for managing projects (e.g. Prj_Bedroom Painting) and tag the relevant tasks with tag:+bedroom_paint. By following the conditions above, project-tagged (tags with “+” at the front) tasks won’t show up on 2_Review, because it’s not really straightforward to consider all of the relevant tasks within a project from 2_Review tab.
So, you should review your tasks on regular basis by going around 2_Review tab and your project tabs.
That’s it!
Now with some adjustments, you should be able to GTD using Remember the Milk. There are plenty of useful keyboard shortcuts for RTM, so you should check them out if you want to harness the full productivity with RTM.
Tags: getting things done, GTD, guide, productivity tools, remember the milk, RTM, tutorial
I really love your tutorial. I have read many of them on the forums of RTM but yours seems the most spot on! Thanks!
I would love to see more how you use locations, priorities etc.
Also why do you use “+” for projecttags. Why not just use the same name of the project as a tag. For your smartlist to work, just make sure Projectnames always include “Prj_” and use this also as search term in Review.
Will there be a part3? Please inform me.
I am waiting to implement GTD in RTM untill I read your reply, so I don’t have to change it all later
Hey Eric! Thanks for your kind comment.
Right now, I don’t have any plan for part.3 of the tutorial, but maybe when I have gathered enough things to share again, there might be one!
I use “+” for project tags for ease of use. I tend to have many projects at once and many tasks assigned to each project, so wanted to save a few key strokes. Typing + is shorter than typing Prj_
And from my experience, people tend to make their own set of custom tag rules to suit their taste, so I guess you might want to give it a run first, then customize bit by bit later on.
Could there be a mistake or am I misunderstanding anything? You say that a task assigned mit the + tag shows up in 2_Review but that is not possible because your list conditions for 2_Review contains “not tagContains:+”. When I tag anything with the + and nothing else in your system it will only be shown in the standart RTM IN Folder.
Hi John,
this is by far the best tutorial for GTD with RTM, will and have recommend it (and was actually recommended here as well) - thanks for the insight.
don’t you use a “Waiting-For” List?
i made a smart list with “tag:@waiting-for” which i add to tasks i can’t “do” until i hear back from someone. But i don’t want to remove their first tag like “@office” first, so i edited the smartlist for office like this:
tag:@Office and not tag:@waiting-for