From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: John Hendy Subject: Re: Input on organization of files for multiple projects? Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2011 15:57:34 -0500 Message-ID: References: <8762mvdmzc.fsf@norang.ca> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([140.186.70.92]:39117) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QkMmv-0000dJ-W7 for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:57:39 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QkMmu-0008O3-J7 for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:57:37 -0400 Received: from mail-fx0-f52.google.com ([209.85.161.52]:64778) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QkMmu-0008Ns-9X for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Fri, 22 Jul 2011 16:57:36 -0400 Received: by fxd18 with SMTP id 18so4765702fxd.39 for ; Fri, 22 Jul 2011 13:57:34 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <8762mvdmzc.fsf@norang.ca> List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: Bernt Hansen Cc: emacs-orgmode On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 10:15 PM, Bernt Hansen wrote: > John Hendy writes: > >> In any case, this works pretty well, but I think I'm becoming more and >> more sensitive to the fact that I'm not as interested in just tracking >> "journal" type entries. I now have bigger projects that are more >> coherent and on-going vs. just supporting other people's projects and >> noting what I contributed and test results. I find more often that I >> used C-a s to search for something and end up in a file a couple >> months back with some open todo items that I need to take care of. >> >> But then I run across and update or new data... and I find myself >> debating about whether to add it to 2011-05May.org or create a new >> timestamp for it in 2011-07Jul.org. >> >> So, I'm in the mood for input and suggestions. I've read a lot of the >> org tutorials (norang in particular), but not a lot quite put the >> whole picture out there -- how many files, how are they organized, >> etc. A lot of people describe having files per "activity" (writing, >> chores, research), but I'm in the same job, but contributing to >> perhaps 5 or so main projects as well as my ideas/brainstorming stuff >> (I work in R&D engineering/product development). >> >> I'm hoping to hear some input about big picture structuring, keeping >> track of year+ long projects, todo flows, if files have ever gotten >> too big (a fear of mine), if and how you archive, etc. >> >> I've thought of going to a structure with proj1.org, proj2.org, etc. >> and then archiving into an archive_yyyy.org with main headings for >> each project as I finish todos or as things get old. Or maybe I won't >> need to. Maybe an org file can survive an entire project and just get >> archived for reference when I'm done working on it. I'll probably >> still need some kind of "odds and ends" file for things that don't >> belong to a specific project. > > Hi John, > > I've been using org-mode for 5+ years now and I'm still using the same > structuring for tasks and notes that I originally set up. > Wow, seems like it's really working well, then! > I have a miscellaneous todo.org that I dump miscellaneous non-project > tasks into. Out of curiosity, are these just "loose" todos (no headlines or anything)? Maybe I'm a digitial neat freak, but having long lists like that without organization just bugs me. Or do you access almost all todos via agenda and so it doesn't really matter? > Diary stuff goes in diary.org (i d in the agenda) and > anything that should be grouped together (for some definition of a > group) lives in a separate org file. =C2=A0I archive old entries from X.o= rg > to X.org_archive monthly. Good to know. > > I now dump org files into directories and the directories contribute to > org-agenda-files (so new files just show up as the are created), and I > can add/drop entire directories of org files from my agenda easily. I must have missed that directories work. Very cool and saves me having to add them manually all the time! This is great. > > This has the advantage that I'm free to split or consolidate org files > anytime I want - the agenda will still find the entries as long as they > are in directories that contribute to the agenda. > > If you have 5 main projects that are unrelated I'd probably have one org > file for each project and group stuff in there in whatever order makes > sense to you. =C2=A0I tend to keep project notes in project files. =C2=A0= When > notes for a project are generally useful I'll split that into a > notes-only org-file by itself and publish the results to HTML. I re-read your setup page on norang.ca, and it looks like it's actually a bit updated since I saw it last. I think I'll move in the project file direction and try to implement capture as well (haven't been using that at all). I'm still a little hazy on how this will all pan out, as I have really liked my "journal" method of documenting what I work on in terms of it making sense (just write what I did under a headline timestamped with today's date -- simple). The on-going projects thing was the main irk I've had. It just *doesn't* make sense to update data or info on a headline from 2 months ago when new information comes up. But I don't want to split the data, either. I've done that before and linked between different file headlines for ongoing data collection and it's a hassle to follow all those links around to compare data that should be in one place. In your block agenda view, how do you get the "=3D=3D=3D=3D" line separatin= g sections? Mine just pile on top of each other. Thanks for the input! John > > HTH, > -- > Bernt >