Timeline View Ouput for a Project

Timeline View Ouput for a Project

[Xiaolong Tang]

Hi all,

I am in the case of keep tracking of my development on a project in org-mode.
Suppose that I have a project called "lambda". Preferably I set up a file "lambda.org" for this project. 

Each day I may push more TODO lists into the project while making some progress on those TODO lists set up before (All of the TODO lists are with the same tag, for example, "lambda"). In order to report my performance, each time I start to work on the project, I check in by "C-c C-x C-i", namely, clock-in, and check out by "C-c C-x C-o", namely, clock-out. So far so good with the org-mode. 

Next, I expect to have the per day report of the project in terms of the items and the daily time length I spend on these times. In my mind, the view looks like something as below:

Monday     11 January 2010 
  Scheduled [Headline] 
  TODO [Headline]   [Time Length]                                 :@lambda::
  TODO [Headline]   [Time Length]                                 :@lambda::
  ...
Tuesday    12 January 2010
  Scheduled [Headline] 
  TODO [Headline]   [Time Length]                                 :@lambda::
  TODO [Headline]   [Time Length]                                 :@lambda::
  ...
...

The timeline view of a single org file does not fit, and neither does the agenda view with clock report. So, I am wondering how I can achieve to have the daily report on a project. If my mental model on a project tracking does not make much sense, is there any suggestions or advices for using Org-mode to keep track of the development of a project?

Thanks,

  Xiaolong

Re: Timeline View Ouput for a Project

[Russell Adams]

On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 01:36:24AM -0600, Xiaolong Tang wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I am in the case of keep tracking of my development on a project in org-mode.
> Suppose that I have a project called "lambda". Preferably I set up a file "lambda.org" for this project. 

I use Org to execute every one of my professional projects. Outside of
two files I use for my Agenda and as a Remember target, every project
gets its own file just like that. Most of my projects are fairly short
and get closed up completely and archived.

> 
> Each day I may push more TODO lists into the project while making
> some progress on those TODO lists set up before (All of the TODO
> lists are with the same tag, for example, "lambda"). In order to
> report my performance, each time I start to work on the project, I
> check in by "C-c C-x C-i", namely, clock-in, and check out by "C-c
> C-x C-o", namely, clock-out. So far so good with the org-mode. 

Another item you may consider is that while you are working, you may
not close anything immediately. Each time I switch tasks in the Org
tree or come back to my computer I insert an inactive timestamp into
my file. Suddenly, it's a timestamped project journal!

You can use C-u C-c . , or I posted a piece of elisp a while back that
binds that to F9.

> 
> Next, I expect to have the per day report of the project in terms of the items and the daily time length I spend on these times. In my mind, the view looks like something as below:
> 
> Monday     11 January 2010 
>   Scheduled [Headline] 
>   TODO [Headline]   [Time Length]                                 :@lambda::
>   TODO [Headline]   [Time Length]                                 :@lambda::
>   ...
> Tuesday    12 January 2010
>   Scheduled [Headline] 
>   TODO [Headline]   [Time Length]                                 :@lambda::
>   TODO [Headline]   [Time Length]                                 :@lambda::
>   ...
> ...
> 
> The timeline view of a single org file does not fit, and neither
> does the agenda view with clock report. So, I am wondering how I can
> achieve to have the daily report on a project. If my mental model on
> a project tracking does not make much sense, is there any
> suggestions or advices for using Org-mode to keep track of the
> development of a project?

The view I use is the logbook mode in Agenda.

Given my file is composed of todo's with lots of inactive timestamps
and the occasional logged todo state change there is plenty to view.

Load agenda, and press L for logbook. You can adjust the duration
covered by the view (day/week/month), and by default the inactive
timestamps are not shown. Use '[' to enable the display of the
inactive timestamps.

The output will be very similar to what you're asking for. In fact, it
may be identical. You'll see task by day & time, with status and
duration clocked.

When I have finished a project, I will frequently mail my customer the
project notes exported to HTML and include an html export of the
logbook so they can see what was done when, and to justify the hours.

Good luck!


------------------------------------------------------------------
Russell Adams                            RLAdams@AdamsInfoServ.com

PGP Key ID:     0x1160DCB3           http://www.adamsinfoserv.com/

Fingerprint:    1723 D8CA 4280 1EC9 557F  66E8 1154 E018 1160 DCB3

Re: Timeline View Ouput for a Project

[Xiaolong Tang]

At Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:24:15 -0600,
Russell Adams wrote:
> 
> On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 01:36:24AM -0600, Xiaolong Tang wrote:
> > Hi all,
> > 
> > I am in the case of keep tracking of my development on a project in org-mode.
> > Suppose that I have a project called "lambda". Preferably I set up a file "lambda.org" for this project. 
> 
> I use Org to execute every one of my professional projects. Outside of
> two files I use for my Agenda and as a Remember target, every project
> gets its own file just like that. Most of my projects are fairly short
> and get closed up completely and archived.
> 
> > 
> > Each day I may push more TODO lists into the project while making
> > some progress on those TODO lists set up before (All of the TODO
> > lists are with the same tag, for example, "lambda"). In order to
> > report my performance, each time I start to work on the project, I
> > check in by "C-c C-x C-i", namely, clock-in, and check out by "C-c
> > C-x C-o", namely, clock-out. So far so good with the org-mode. 
> 
> Another item you may consider is that while you are working, you may
> not close anything immediately. Each time I switch tasks in the Org
> tree or come back to my computer I insert an inactive timestamp into
> my file. Suddenly, it's a timestamped project journal!
> 
> You can use C-u C-c . , or I posted a piece of elisp a while back that
> binds that to F9.
> 

Certainly inserting an (inactive) timestamp in the case as you mentioned is necessary (to me). Your code is preferred, of course, if you had time. 

> > 
> > Next, I expect to have the per day report of the project in terms of the items and the daily time length I spend on these times. In my mind, the view looks like something as below:
> > 
> > Monday     11 January 2010 
> >   Scheduled [Headline] 
> >   TODO [Headline]   [Time Length]                                 :@lambda::
> >   TODO [Headline]   [Time Length]                                 :@lambda::
> >   ...
> > Tuesday    12 January 2010
> >   Scheduled [Headline] 
> >   TODO [Headline]   [Time Length]                                 :@lambda::
> >   TODO [Headline]   [Time Length]                                 :@lambda::
> >   ...
> > ...
> > 
> > The timeline view of a single org file does not fit, and neither
> > does the agenda view with clock report. So, I am wondering how I can
> > achieve to have the daily report on a project. If my mental model on
> > a project tracking does not make much sense, is there any
> > suggestions or advices for using Org-mode to keep track of the
> > development of a project?
> 
> The view I use is the logbook mode in Agenda.
> 
> Given my file is composed of todo's with lots of inactive timestamps
> and the occasional logged todo state change there is plenty to view.
> 
> Load agenda, and press L for logbook. You can adjust the duration
> covered by the view (day/week/month), and by default the inactive
> timestamps are not shown. Use '[' to enable the display of the
> inactive timestamps.
> 
> The output will be very similar to what you're asking for. In fact, it
> may be identical. You'll see task by day & time, with status and
> duration clocked.

Yes, you are correct. Yet I have a few questions. 

1. The agenda view with logbook-mode enabled does not show the deadline for a project in some cases. For example, I scheduled a project on Monday January 11, and set up its deadline, say, March 20. Thus, the original headline looks like:

* TODO XXXXXX
  SCHEDULED: <2010-01-11 Mon> DEADLINE: <2010-03-20 Sat>

The view output, however, does not show the deadline. I guess that the logbook-mode wold not show just because the deadline is far away from today, and it in principle only shows those happenings. Am I right?

2. Generally creating the agenda view works for all agenda files. So, in case that one want to create the view for an org file, is there any efficient way to do that? I have not figured out a satisfying method. Do you have any comment on this? 

3. As you mentioned below, you export the view to HTML. How do you get this done? 

> 
> When I have finished a project, I will frequently mail my customer the
> project notes exported to HTML and include an html export of the
> logbook so they can see what was done when, and to justify the hours.

I agree with you on this opinion. 
A lot of thanks to Russell.

  Best, 

Xiaolong



> 
> Good luck!
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------
> Russell Adams                            RLAdams@AdamsInfoServ.com
> 
> PGP Key ID:     0x1160DCB3           http://www.adamsinfoserv.com/
> 
> Fingerprint:    1723 D8CA 4280 1EC9 557F  66E8 1154 E018 1160 DCB3
> 
> 
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Re: Timeline View Ouput for a Project

[Russell Adams]

On Fri, Jan 15, 2010 at 09:38:39AM -0600, Xiaolong Tang wrote:
> Certainly inserting an (inactive) timestamp in the case as you
> mentioned is necessary (to me). Your code is preferred, of course,
> if you had time.

Add this to your .emacs, and F9 will insert an inactive timestamp for
"now". C-u C-c . RET is four keystrokes, this is a single. Its a great
shortcut. Forgive the duplication, I think I posted this twice to the
ML in the last six months.

;; Insert immediate timestamp
(define-key global-map (kbd "<f9>")
  '(lambda () (interactive)
     (when (eq major-mode 'org-mode)
       (org-insert-time-stamp nil t t)
       (insert "\n"))))

> Yes, you are correct. Yet I have a few questions. 
> 
> 1. The agenda view with logbook-mode enabled does not show the
> deadline for a project in some cases. For example, I scheduled a
> project on Monday January 11, and set up its deadline, say, March
> 20. Thus, the original headline looks like:
> 
> * TODO XXXXXX
>   SCHEDULED: <2010-01-11 Mon> DEADLINE: <2010-03-20 Sat>
> 
> The view output, however, does not show the deadline. I guess that
> the logbook-mode wold not show just because the deadline is far away
> from today, and it in principle only shows those happenings. Am I
> right?

I just checked my agenda in logbook mode, I do see scheduled and
deadline items, but only on *today*. It won't tell you if you met
them.

> 2. Generally creating the agenda view works for all agenda
> files. So, in case that one want to create the view for an org file,
> is there any efficient way to do that? I have not figured out a
> satisfying method. Do you have any comment on this?

When I'm working in a project file, I'll call agenda and restrict it
to the current file (C-c a 1 a). I don't typically add a project file
to my main agenda list. This also helps with exporting, a customer
doesn't need to see *my* agenda, just the project items.

> 3. As you mentioned below, you export the view to HTML. How do you
> get this done?

http://orgmode.org/manual/Exporting-Agenda-Views.html#Exporting-Agenda-Views

I do not setup export views for C-c a e, I don't do them often
enough. I'll just goto the logbook view, and C-x C-w.

Alternatively I think you can just call M-x htmlize-buffer.

Enjoy!

------------------------------------------------------------------
Russell Adams                            RLAdams@AdamsInfoServ.com

PGP Key ID:     0x1160DCB3           http://www.adamsinfoserv.com/

Fingerprint:    1723 D8CA 4280 1EC9 557F  66E8 1154 E018 1160 DCB3