I totally agree with you. todo lists are necessary to reduce cognitive burden. It is absolutely necessary due to the non-linear way that tasks appear in your linear timeline of life..

But maybe Jeff Atwood in his position doesn't need a todo list. He can probably afford to not have a todo list. Or more specifically to have only 2-3 things to do for the next day.

Probably, less "successful" people than him have to do daily a more diverse things, from grocery shopping to coding.

But maybe I am just wrong, tied in my todo-list-mania...