Tool — run your own
Helm / Compass
A wall of post-it notes is the best task system ever invented: it's always visible, it never sends a notification, and moving a note feels like progress. Its only flaw is that you can't update it from the grocery store. So I put the wall on a TV.
How it works
Helm is the display — four columns (To Do / Doing / Waiting / Done) that live on a TV screen. It's read-only and updates in real time. You point the TV's browser at it once and never touch it again.
Compass is the controller — a page on your phone where you actually manage things: add tasks, star what matters (★), flag what's urgent (⚡), drag things between columns, organize by category. Change something on your phone in line at the store, and the wall at home updates before you're through checkout.
The result is a task system with the glanceability of paper and none of the ceremony of a "productivity app." It's ambient. You see your week every time you walk past the living room.
Run your own
Helm / Compass is a static web app backed by Firebase — no server to maintain, and Firebase's free tier is more than enough for a household. The code is open at github.com/jpaul156/helm-compass, and it runs in demo mode with sample data out of the box, so you can try it before setting anything up.
Making it yours takes about fifteen minutes: create a free Firebase project, enable Google sign-in, paste your config into one file, and host it anywhere static files live (GitHub Pages works great). The README walks through every step.