All Collections
Basic features & How to
Master List
Categories, Projects and Tasks
Categories, Projects and Tasks

The three main item types in Marvin

Christina avatar
Written by Christina
Updated over a week ago

Summary

  • Categories -> static folders to organize projects and tasks into

  • Tasks -> single actions to be taken

  • Projects ->  a large to-do with multiple actions to be taken

Categories (folder icon)

Categories are static folders that give your Master List a structure. 

They can hold projects and tasks.

You can nest them infinitely. 

Think of a category as an area of responsibility. 

There should be no overlap between the categories. For each task and project it should be clear where they belong.
​

Examples

  • Household (e.g. taxes, bills, cleaning, errands)

  • Your Job (if you use Marvin for both personal and work tasks)

  • Different areas of job responsibility (admin, marketing, product, pitches)

  • Client A (for freelancers with a few big clients)

  • Health & Self Care (e.g. exercise, doctors appointments, meditation, reading books)

  • Side Project (e.g. building a business, creative projects)

  • School (as a main category, subcategories for each subject)

  • Hobbies (general or create separate main categories for specific hobbies)

  • Social (e.g. remembering to call or write people, doing things for others)

  • Learning (e.g. learning languages or a new skill, educational reading, online courses)

  • Volunteering

Tasks (checkbox)

Tasks are your single actionable steps.

Ideally, it is something you can complete in one work session with no break. 

For most people it is ideal to keep a task under 1h. 

Tasks can have subtasks that act like a checklist. Subtasks can't have their own dates, labels etc. 

Projects (flag icon)

Projects are large multi-step to-dos. 

Anything you would consider a project in real life should be a project in Marvin. 

Projects can contain subprojects and tasks. 

Examples

  • Redesign Website (Pick color scheme, Collect inspiration, Design header, etc.)

  • Final Essay for "Intro to Literature" (Brainstorm topic ideas, Outline paper, Write Introduction, etc.)

  • Plan Paul's Birthday Party (Order cake, Make invite list, Book clown, etc.)

  • Lose 10lbs (Research exercise programs, Buy/download exercise program, Make weekly workout plan, Book appointment with nutritionist, etc.)

  • Guest Blogging Experiment (Make list of 50 blogs, Brainstorm topic ideas, Write draft for post XYZ, etc.)

  • Get House Organized (Buy boxes for donation items, Sort out clothes to donate, Organize kitchen drawer, etc.)

Did this answer your question?