Re: Overall organization/setup for org mode: Projects and Tasks

[Russell Adams <RLAdams@AdamsInfoServ.Com>]

On Wed, Sep 14, 2011 at 10:43:28AM -0700, Alan E. Davis wrote:
> I've been using org-mode for a few years.  My agenda is cluttered with tasks
> that are weeks and even months past due.  I am "this close" to declaring
> "orgmode bankruptcy" and starting from scratch, except my current setup
> works so well for other things.   Might still do that, but I want to ask for
> ideas.
>
> I stumble consistently over the distinction between projects and tasks.  I
> think there is not clear distinction, but I need to find a way to organize
> them so that, at least, agenda displays the day to day TODO tasks separated
> in a meaningful way from the long term projects that I need to remind myself
> of (and there are dozens of these).
>
> PROJECTS: I can define projects as
>        - an overall series of tasks related to a single purpose
>        - a recurring task (monthly calendars that I need to remind myself to
> make each month)
>        - an actual project I am working on (writing a proposal, or a
> research project about a coral, or a recipe database, or reconstructing a
> LaTeX file tree for a publication ten years ago)
>
>
> TODOS: perhaps tasks could be anything,
>       - bills (marked by tag "bill"
>      - phone calls to make
>
>      I am starting to understand how I TODOS can be scattered through all my
> other files.   However, the greater the number of agenda files, the greater
> the clutter.   And, as a recent thread called to mind, there are times when
> the list of agenda files prevents me from searching for tags or todos.  SO
> where is the happy medium?
>
> Some thoughts:
>      -  I tried to write a custom agenda command that defined the agenda
> files to encompass all *org files in a directory.  This actually set the
> agenda-files variable to all files for the rest of the session, so I gave
> that idea up----although I know it's possible to do it.
>      -  Again, the number of agenda files seems to be constraining.
>      -  There seem to be issues between defining the agenda files
> explicitly, or adding them one at a time.
>      -  It would be useful if agenda searches automatically picked up the
> recent files I had worked on during the session,
>         however, in as streamlined a way as possible.
>
>
> I don't need to be reminded everyday that I have to organize bibliographic
> references for my next trip to the library, but I have to have a way to keep
> these organized to jog my memory in planning my time in some loose sense.
>
> I do need to have a list of bills that I can access without having to sort
> through the list of projects that are 3 months overdue.
>
> Almost every week I have new insights into how to use tags, so perhaps I
> need to junk alot of the tags I set up long ago.
>
> These thoughts are somewhat disconnected, and I apologize for this.
>
> And I would be grateful for any comments that would shed light on how to
> solve these issues.
>
> Alan Davis

Alan,

I keep two main Org files (Biz, Personal) which are the only two files
in my agenda. I use Capture almost exclusively to add to these files.

Every project I do is a separate Org file, which I timestamp heavily
but I don't typically add them to my agenda. If they need an agenda
item, I may temporarily add them to the agenda, or put an entry in my
main pair of files.

This really keeps the clutter down. I can run agenda inside a project
by restricting agenda to the current file.

I hope that helps.

Thanks.

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Russell Adams                            RLAdams@AdamsInfoServ.com

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