From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: David O'Toole Subject: Re: org-mode usage patterns Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 09:54:10 -0400 Message-ID: References: <1146034458.6335.7.camel@elrond.zur.novell.com> <679cece820913c1b5db5903c83b6c0d3@science.uva.nl> <3c12eb8d0604260608l586c2b88udb68c5d7885640d1@mail.gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Return-path: Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1FYkTB-0006rc-2O for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Apr 2006 09:54:17 -0400 Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1FYkTA-0006rQ-9E for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Apr 2006 09:54:16 -0400 Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1FYkTA-0006rM-44 for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Apr 2006 09:54:16 -0400 Received: from [66.249.82.205] (helo=xproxy.gmail.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.52) id 1FYkVr-00058b-4F for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 26 Apr 2006 09:57:03 -0400 Received: by xproxy.gmail.com with SMTP id s13so1059046wxc for ; Wed, 26 Apr 2006 06:54:15 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <3c12eb8d0604260608l586c2b88udb68c5d7885640d1@mail.gmail.com> (Piotr Zielinski's message of "Wed, 26 Apr 2006 14:08:06 +0100") List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: Piotr Zielinski Cc: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org, Frank Ruell , Carsten Dominik Hi Piotr, As a relatively new org user, I have been wanting to see a discussion of usage patterns and file structures. So, I'm glad you asked, and perhaps this will help get people talking. Here's a little about my org usage patterns. This isn't complete because I've only been using org less than a week. However, I have imported a fair amount of material into my orgfiles, from previous usage of Planner and Howm. So, I have had to make decisions about how to structure things. I keep one topic per file, called ~/org/Topic.org . All my org files are together in the ~/org folder. The filename is the default category for TODO items, so this is quite useful. Since I keep org-agenda-files list in alphabetical order, my tasks are grouped in alphabetical order by file when I look in the Global TODO list (C-c a t.) I have org-agenda-include-all-todo set to "nil". I don't like all the open tasks cluttering up my agenda. Instead, when I want to see a list of all open TODO, I use the Global TODO list. I don't put timestamps of any kind in a TODO until I'm ready to SCHEDULE it. I use C-c C-s to add a schedule timestamp. In this way, it's easy to use (C-c a t) to find open tasks to schedule, and easy to see what's scheduled for today with org-agenda (C-c a a). I mix tasks and notes. I often have ideas about a task or perhaps a phone number or address, so I put those under the TODO heading. For example if the headline says "TODO Implement feature X" I will often have several ideas about the shape of the feature, and possibly alternative implementation possibilities. I'll usually drop these in as subheadings to the TODO, but these aren't TODO items in themselves---the headlines are useful for organizing ideas, but it's usually too early at this stage to make the headings into TODO. Once the ideas and notes have coalesced into a more definite plan, the headings start to become TODOs. In addition, when writing a structured document with Org, I will use TODO headings simply to mark that a section needs filling in. When I want to really focus on a particular project that has multiple open TODOs, I hide the agenda buffer and just display the particular project's .org file, usually in OVERVIEW mode. This hides all the little notes, but shows all the TODO and gives me quick access to any part of the file. I try to keep TODO's in logical/temporal order when maintaining a .org file, so this view usually gives me an idea what the NEXTACTION should be. It's simple enough to navigate to that, and hit C-c C-s to schedule those for today. I use only TODO and DONE as keywords. I try to make todo items small enough so that they're either TODO or DONE. I never found much use for the "in progress" marking of Planner Mode. Who knows, this may change in the future. I haven't found as much use for Remember mode yet. I usually just add stuff where it needs to go, but perhaps when things are busier I will really want to be able to "braindump" to Remember.org and then file things away later. I have also thought about using Remember for journal entries / blogging (as described in the manual.) I haven't yet used Tags because I categorize things by placing them in the file for that topic. I have more to say on the subject of org usage, but I want to develop my ideas a little further first. "Piotr Zielinski" writes: > Hi, > > It seems that different people use TODOs in different ways. For > example, I use TODOs at the very lowest possible level to indicate the > next action in a particular project. That said, I'd welcome some > hierarchical propagation of TODO, as it is with tags. One can imagine > using two kinds of todos: TODO and NEXTACTION. TODO would be attached > to (high-level) projects I'm currently interested in doing, whereas > NEXTACTION attached to the low-level nodes of the tree that correspond > to the next physical action to take. The agenda could be configured > in such a way to display only these NEXTACTIONs that have an ancestor > marked as TODO. Note that this is already possible with tags. Is it > sensible to make org.el treat TODOs as a any other tag? > > To make most of org-mode, I think it would be very useful to compare > how people actually use it. I'm sure I could learn a lot of useful > things from such an exchange, and would be surprised by the variety of > organizing structures people use. The best way to achieve that is > probably to post deprivatized sample parts of our .org files with a > short explanation. What place do you think is the best: this email > list? some wiki? something else? > > Piotr > > On 26/04/06, Carsten Dominik wrote: >> >> On Apr 26, 2006, at 8:54, Christian Egli wrote: >> >> > On Tue, 2006-04-25 at 18:19 +0200, Frank Ruell wrote: >> >> The only thing I've missed was an option for items, which are >> >> fontyfied >> >> and checkable via some shortcut, but never ever show up in agenda (or >> >> rather clutter up your agenda). >> > >> > What would be a use case for that? I have been thinking I would not >> > want >> > to see TODO items in the agenda that for the following scenario: >> > >> > * TODO Organize event >> > ** TODO Choose a date >> > ** TODO Invite people >> > >> > Here I'd like my agenda to remind me only that I need to Organize the >> > event. I'd like to be able to check of the subtasks (which I'll do in >> > the org-mode buffer, not in the agenda), but I do not want them to >> > "clutter" my agenda. >> >> Interesting idea. I could make an option which would stop searching >> for TODO in the subtree below a TODO entry. >> >> - Carsten >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Emacs-orgmode mailing list >> Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org >> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Emacs-orgmode mailing list > Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org > http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode -- Dave O'Toole dto@gnu.org