Personally, I feel that Todoist[1] has revolutionized how well I can track things. You can use it exactly like a text file, where each line / task is tracked individually. I'll often add tasks for my current day (that will fail over to tomorrow if I don't get to them). However it's real strength (compared to a text file) is in its features for repeating periodic tasks. Other products I've used struggle with irregular timing structures, but todoist simply understood (for example) "the first monday of every month" for street sweeping.
I still keep daily notes at times and track what I'm doing in other spots, but getting used to using Todoist to help me do periodic tasks at the proper rate has been one of the only productivity tools that felt like they "really worked." I pay for the app because not doing so would feel ungrateful, but I don't really use any of their premium features. The base app is more than good enough in my view.
+1 for Todoist here. Here is how I use it. Each project I do (dev stuff, research stuff) gets a ‘project’ in todoist, and I use the ‘boards’ view. Then, each project is going to have a bunch of mini-projects (e.g. end-to-end data project needs to build web scraper, set up database, set up backups, set up frontend) — then each column on the board is one of these sub-projects and all the tasks go underneath them. It is really great software and I’ve used it for many years and pay for it now.
I've used Todoist during my university period for writing my thesis. I've setup a project and laid down every section of the thesis as a task, then, night after night, I wrote some section and marked off the task. I didn't do anything particular that I remember of, but I had a great time, the interface was polished and it felt rewarding.
I abandoned ever since I got my degree and started exploring other apps when I got a job.
Big fan of todoist. I've been using it for less than a month, but have already switched to the yearly subscription. I use Obsidian for my notes, but for remembering to do something, I now use Todoist. Any passing thought that I want to deliberately go back to (or even patterns of thinking, like every 6 months, reflect on this concept) can be put into Todoist and I know that I'll see it again.
I contemplated trying to do all of this in Obsidian but the conventional advice seems that while you can, it isn't worth it. Todoist offering a simple mobile interface where I can quickly add a task is great. I wish reminders worked a little better (I'd been using alarms on my phone for reminders I want at a specific time, and Todoist reminders aren't nearly as attention grabbing).
I know they offer time-based tasks, but I've never used them. I limit myself to a resolution of one day and then setup alarms in the morning if I need.
I still keep daily notes at times and track what I'm doing in other spots, but getting used to using Todoist to help me do periodic tasks at the proper rate has been one of the only productivity tools that felt like they "really worked." I pay for the app because not doing so would feel ungrateful, but I don't really use any of their premium features. The base app is more than good enough in my view.
[1] https://todoist.com/features