From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Russell Adams Subject: Re: Overall organization/setup for org mode: Projects and Tasks Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2011 13:40:09 -0500 Message-ID: <20110914184009.GH2773@x201> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([140.186.70.92]:34824) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1R3uNh-00019O-4A for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:40:22 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1R3uNf-0005Ro-Q9 for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:40:21 -0400 Received: from jack.asmallorange.com ([74.52.119.82]:58014) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1R3uNf-0005QG-JP for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:40:19 -0400 Received: from m864036d0.tmodns.net ([208.54.64.134] helo=localhost) by jack.asmallorange.com with esmtpsa (TLSv1:AES128-SHA:128) (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1R3uNZ-00028Y-1k for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Wed, 14 Sep 2011 14:40:13 -0400 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: 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: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Russell Adams RLAdams@AdamsInfoServ.com PGP Key ID: 0x1160DCB3 http://www.adamsinfoserv.com/ Fingerprint: 1723 D8CA 4280 1EC9 557F 66E8 1154 E018 1160 DCB3