Todoist deserves awesome props on two counts having to do with its very Taoist inspired design. Is there a design? In a very minimalist, get-out-of-your-way sense there certainly is. And this is a good thing; software design should know its place. Todo lists are (let’s be honest) a dime a dozen. Todoist seems to implicitly acknowledge this by not adding a lot of graphics and fuss. It is, after all, a list.

But do not be fooled by its simple aesthetic! The site makes massive use of AJAX that really dazzles once you get the hang of it. And it integrates with LOTS of other applications. Todoist would seem to have the ultimate API, integrating with every application I could possibly think of. Gmail integration, widgets, iGoogle and on and on. The premium account is $3 a month! That’s the right price for these kinds of web services. The only thing left for me to do now is build WordPress integration plugin. I love it that much!

Possibly one of the most brilliant features (and there are a lot to choose from) is the semantics of the date entry. You don’t say that a todo has a deadline on 3-28-09. You just type “tomorrow” or “Sunday” or “Monday” Brilliant!

I’ve used them all, folks: tadalist, rememberthemilk, and backpack, and todoist just rules them all. They have a nice catchphrase on their site:

>Warning: High usage of Todoist may result in an organized life

You better believe it!

Now that I’ve evangelized this gorgeous piece of software; here’s my one wish: some way to track my todos once they’re done. There is a history and an archive feature and you can see every todo you’ve finished; but given that there is a feature that lets you repeat todos every day or two days or every week, it would be really nice to see a chart of my accomplishments. Hey, Amir, I program–want help!? Did I already say that I love todoist that much?

But anybody can dream up features. Sign up for this service because it will deliver on its tagline: you will become more organized. And for someone like me—in which case that’s a struggle—oh, todoist makes it so easy.

The real economic factor that so many firms miss is that good design makes a profit. I’m talking about software design, product design, automobile design. Once an object loses its status as some unique category it becomes a commodity. Once it becomes a commodity people become more concerned with price. Design something really well and it gains in personal value and loses the stigma of commodity. Invest in design (and maybe use a real design firm like Apple does) and you will be rewarded for it. Consider vacuum cleaners. They’re a commodity. Everyone’s got one. So how do sell a vacuum cleaner for $500 when anyone can get one for $100. Simple. Re-design it. Look at the reviews! People are swearing up and down that this Dyson vacuum cleaner is the best vacuum they’ve ever used. It’s likely that Dyson won’t take over the market. But it is likely that they will have a stable totally loyal users that will buy only that brand. Hmmm. Sound like anyone you know? (Of course it sounds like Apple, but were you also thinking Saturn? Google?)

It never ceases to amaze me when people claim that Apple is not important because they only have 4-5% of the market. They’re not in the commodity business! BMW does not have more than 4-5% of the market. Neither will Dyson. Because they are not commodity firms. The companies I’m talking about are design firms (as in designer goods). Taking over huge amounts of the market by make cheap unattractive crap is not what they do.

To sum up: 1. Design 2. Profit!!!