One thing I’ve found necessary about a todo list is to have it synced to the phone (which I’ll have with me nearly always, as opposed to the laptop), so I can quickly note down a thought that I might otherwise forget by the time I open the laptop next. Other than that, a simple checklist has proved the most useful setup. I’ve tried fancier tools like Trello, Todoist, Evernote but none of them took. I keep my checklist sorted roughly in order of urgency, and always refer to it when trying to decide what to do next.