I'm looking for suggestions on effective methods that I can use to document, remember and prioritize tasks at work.  Many of the these tasks belong to a primary project, but they also exist for independent initiatives.  The tasks themselves cover everything from development to documentation to discussions, with varying priorities, and deadlines ranging from right away to a few months from now.Historically I have used a notepad to keep track of these tasks, with a star next to an item indicating it needs to be done and a check mark when it's completed.  However, as I gain more responsibilities and more things to manage:it becomes harder to make sure I've done everything (because some things get lost 5 pages back)it becomes harder to remember what's most important to do nextit becomes harder to keep track of dependencies between tasksHas anyone found methods that have made their tasks easier to manage?  I've considered adding some meta-data to keep track of what's most important and dependencies, or possibly switching to an app that could automate this (if such a thing exists).  Something that's accessible anywhere would definitely be a plus.
Effective methods for managing work tasks? (documenting/remembering/prioritizing)
productivity;time management
For the paper solutionI usually get an unlined sketch book with perforated pages like the type you can find at Barnes & Noble with an attached ribbon to mark the page. Note: I'd share a link but I couldn't find them on their online store. What I'm talking about are the 8 1/2 X 11 hardcover booksI prefer paper for daily work because I tend to draw a lot of diagrams to describe my ideas (which is hard to do with normal software TODO lists) and it's sometimes useful to be able to tape stuff into the book. For each cycle (a day/week or some other preferred time increment) I allocate a few pages for one-liner todos. Subsequent pages are for detailed info. As I finish work I cross out the todos on the index and tear out pages that are no longer relevant (that's why the perforated pages are necessary). The ribbon is used to mark the todo page so you can quickly open the book to where you left off (I also usually clip a pen to the page I'm currently adding notes to if I close the book).As I finish items on the todo I cross them out and tear out the related pages.Note: It takes a little practice to get used to isolate tasks by page boundaries but mentally it gets you into the habit of separating tasks on a finite boundary. It's important to develop this ability because, if you aren't able to focus on one thing at a time, your brain will waste a lot of time unnecessarily switching contexts between different tasks. When the next cycle starts I create a fresh todo. I'll do a quick once-over of the previous todos re-assess whether the unfinished items are still relevant. If they are, I copy them to the new todo. If not, I locate the related pages and tear them out (to either trash or save in a different book for later).The idea here is, remove everything that you don't need to know now (in the current cycle). Keep the todo short and simple (one liners) but don't sacrifice the ability to keep more detailed notes.The interesting thing is, if you wait a week or two to take a look at the items you pulled out of the book for later; you'll often find that they're no longer relevant (and ready for the trash).If you're not diligent about trimming the stack regularly it just builds up over time until it becomes overwhelming. If you don't you may start to suffer from what I like to call Shlemiel the Painter syndrome where you spend so much time shuffling through residual tasks that you never really get to the important/urgent stuff.As for managing different projects concurrently... Use one book for each project.Think of your brain like a computer. If switching tasks were like doing a context switch (not very expensive but distracting to work) then switching projects would be like doing a full cache swap (expensive because you have to unload all the info your currently using and load all the info related to the other project.