Using Delicious as an action checklist

Part of my blogging series, this is a handy off-topic tip on how you can use your Delicious account as a checklist for routine tasks that cannot be automated or you simply haven't gotten around to.

In theory, this is very simple and should work for WordPress blogging as well as a dozen other web design or web programming situations, in fact any project or task that requires a set of procedures to be followed can be done with this. During my Outsourcing My Life project I used it to communicate tasks that needed to be done to my business assistant.

I want to use my Delicious account to compliment my GTD implementation. For example, when a recurring task reminder to Update all plugins in a website comes up, there's a set number of steps I must follow to complete this task. I use Delicious to bring up the website as a tag, and then filter the search results by clicking on the matching action tag which really just contains a bunch of links arranged in a manner that helps me move along quickly. Here, take a look... a picture is worth a 1000 words.

Shows the main topic for this example, notagrouch, and the drop down displays all the other tags associated with the notagrouch tag.
Shows the main topic for this example, notagrouch, and the drop down displays all the other tags associated with the notagrouch tag.

For example, there's a number of tasks that I follow for this new website, https://notagrouch.com. In this case, the main keyword is notagrouch, and the second filtering option is the tag named todo. This displays any todo items pending for notagrouch.com. I can then open each one in a new tab and quickly complete the tasks. This is efficient for me and I can do full standard maintenance on a number of sites very quickly and effectively.

This shows that after I've selected notagrouch, the related tags offer other options to filter the resutls. I use the todo tag to then list the links that I need to complete a number of routine tasks.
This shows that after I've selected notagrouch, the related tags offer other options to filter the resutls. I use the todo tag to then list the links that I need to complete a number of routine tasks.

Each of the links, e.g., Add new Post, Edit Early Drafts, Plugins Featured, Publish Posts pending review ((Posts that are finished but need a bit of editorial polish like images, formatting or additional reference links)), represent a link for me to do something. These links available under the todo category for this website really help with the step-by-step and repetitive maintenance that this website needs to stay in good shape. You could use the same ones for your own site, or make your own. Other links I use for other sites are "Check PR," "Find new In-Links", and many others; get creative.

Quick steps to do maintenance on this site for example:
Open Delicious Sidebar
Find notagrouch tag
Filter by selecting sub-tag todo
Open the necessary links ((An example could be these links: Update links, Review Pending Posts, Moderate Comments)) on a new tab each.
Attend to each task and close the tab as you complete them.

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