From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Max Mikhanosha Subject: Re: Overall organization/setup for org mode: Projects and Tasks Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2011 15:32:25 -0400 Message-ID: <871uvf3qye.wl%max@openchat.com> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 (generated by SEMI 1.14.6 - "Maruoka") Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([140.186.70.92]:35400) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1R50co-00052O-UH for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Sat, 17 Sep 2011 15:32:32 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1R50cn-000082-8I for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Sat, 17 Sep 2011 15:32:30 -0400 Received: from p84-72.acedsl.com ([66.114.84.72]:48447 helo=momoland.openchat.com) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1R50cm-00007m-P0 for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Sat, 17 Sep 2011 15:32:29 -0400 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: "Alan E. Davis" Cc: org-mode Below is infodump on how I use org-mode personally.. You are welcome to poach ideas. Generally I'm pretty happy with my setup, and do not plan to do any radical changes to it. Wall of text warning. 1. Org file per project, with single top level heading.. Each file has a #+TAGS cookie that assigns default tags. Such project files would have more then one level heading, usually when project logically splits into sub-projects Example: Emacs.org, top level headings. This one has unusually large amount of top level headings. =20 - Emacs=20 - Org-Mode - Paredit-Magic - C-Paredit - Cycle-buffer A few special org files which are not projects, one is called Assorted Accounts for recording acc/pass/email info on various accounts, and one is called Assorted Info for basically a knowledge base of anything that is not a TODO. The way I access these are through C-c / search, seems to work very well.. Another "special" project is Finances.org and has everything to do with investments, encrypted entries for all financial accounts, all recurring TODOS for bills, or portfolio review, investment ideas, spreadsheets etc. =20 Capture often. Write down just enough so you can re-construct idea later.. If you often wondering "wtf did I meant by that, then you are not writing down enough.. If possible write/assign yourself a shortcut key to your window manager so you can capture a short sentence with 1 key stroke even when in the other programs. If it takes less then 1 minute to do what you are capturing, especially if it involves emacs customization, do it right there, and mark it it done, or C-c C-k it.. I usually mark it done and C-c C-c it. All captures go to Mind-Sweep.org, under top level heading.. Every few days (once I have 10-20 items) in there, I go ahead and refile them to appropriate projects, assigning priorities and efforts if these are not there. Have two agenda keys to show agenda sorted by priority, and by effort up..I use block agenda that shows day agenda first, then all NEXT items, then all TODO items. Learn to use / key in agenda to quickly filter out stuff by tags.. For me /e switches agenda to filter out be :emacs tag. Have areas of focus. The mind is like a process working set. If I had been working on some emacs problem and have Emacs "booted up" in my brain, it takes a while to switch reboot my brain into "Looking at my investments mode". So as long as I'm working on lets say fixing something with paredit, you can just as well knock out some other emacs things.. That is where agenda sorted by effort comes up. Since I'm hacking on my emacs setup anyway, I bring up my effort-up agenda view, filter by "emacs" and just knock out every item estimated at 10 minutes or less. Sometimes knocking out up to 20 or so small TODO's in 2 hour burst, taking care of everything that was annoying me with Emacs in last 2 weeks. Assign priorities to prune aggressively. If you have that #A item starting you for last 5 days, its not #A.. Demote it until it sits in the #F pile way down in agenda. Temporary move projects out of agenda. Lets say you have a well defined project and a bunch of nicely prioritized items, some of them #A (which they are in the context of that project) but right now you just don't feel like working on that project. Starting at these #A items on top of your agenda every day without starting to work on them, may be demoralizing. Way I deal with it, is that I have "hold" tag, which I put on top level headings of the projects, and its excluded from my agenda by default... If you have not touched a project for 2 weeks, it probably should be on hold.. When you bored and looking for things to work on, they you can use agenda view without filtering out the "hold" projects, and see if you can get a start on some of them.. This way I have only 3-4 projects that are "in focus" rather then 30..=20 Review low priority items once a week, if you remember reviewing that item last few weeks, just delete it.. If you are type of person who can't let go, move it to MAYBE state. If something computer related annoys you and interrupts your work flow often, it should be #A item and needs to be fixed. Ie if you Emacs session consists of 50% beeps, you need to fix something in your setup.. If you dread doing something because its just too much effort, you need to automate/rethink/change that process. Don't burn out.. The bodybuilders and athletes have it right, you have to cycle. If you go 100% all the time, generating ideas and knocking out TODO's like a robot, you'll burn out. Take it easy for 1 week each month. Does not mean eat pizza and party every day, but basically its "relax and don't kill yourself" time. Do any health, work, and lifestyle related TODO's first over any computer related ones. Get that physical. Update/re-balance those investments Deposit them checks and pay them bills. Switch to online bill payment for everything, and synchronize your bill cycle dates, so that you can pay all your bills in 30 minutes once a month.. If company offers automatic billing feature, use it. I have a "Pay bills" monthly recurring TODO, with 7 checkboxes. Of which 4 pay themselves with automatic bill pay, and are checked when I receive saying "your bill had been paid", and it takes me 10 minutes to pay the rest. My stats if you want to compare: Number of projects: 37 Number of "hold" projects 31 Number lines in all .org files: 16000 Number lines in all .org_archive files: 20000+ Number of TODO: 350 Number of #A todos: 8 Number of #B todos: 21 Number of #C todos: 30 Number of #F todos: 100 or so Most important tags I have: focus <- set on projects i should be working _right_now_, kind of oppos= ite of "hold".=20 emacs <- stuff to configure/fix in emacs hold <- projects on hold bind <- todos "bind some key to do whatever" which I have a lot of browse <- todos "check out X, or research X on the web". Use this when you feel like browsing the web, can just as well make web browsing useful, instead of going to "waste your time" sites like reddit. =20 health <- any health / fitness related stuff finance <- investemnts, payroll, salary, bills Plus private tags for various projects, which only make sense in the context of the project At Wed, 14 Sep 2011 10:43:28 -0700, Alan E. Davis wrote: >=20 > I've been using org-mode for a few years.  My agenda is cluttered with t= asks that are weeks and > even months past due.  I am "this close" to declaring "orgmode bankruptc= y" and starting from > scratch, except my current setup works so well for other things.   Migh= t still do that, but I want > to ask for ideas.  >=20 > 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 ter= m projects that I need to > remind myself of (and there are dozens of these).   >=20 > 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 pu= blication ten years ago) >=20 > TODOS: perhaps tasks could be anything, >       - bills (marked by tag "bill" >      - phone calls to make >=20 >      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 prev= ents me from searching > for tags or todos.  SO where is the happy medium? >=20 > Some thoughts: >      -  I tried to write a custom agenda command that defined the ag= enda 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 t= o do it.  >      -  Again, the number of agenda files seems to be constraining.  >      -  There seem to be issues between defining the agenda files ex= plicitly, or adding them one > at a time. >      -  It would be useful if agenda searches automatically picked u= p the recent files I had > worked on during the session, >         however, in as streamlined a way as possible. >   Â= >=20 > I don't need to be reminded everyday that I have to organize bibliographi= c 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. >=20 > I do need to have a list of bills that I can access without having to sor= t through the list of > projects that are 3 months overdue. >=20 > 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. >=20 > These thoughts are somewhat disconnected, and I apologize for this.  >=20 > And I would be grateful for any comments that would shed light on how to = solve these issues.  >=20 > Alan Davis >=20 >=20