Re: An Org-based productivity tool

[Marcin Borkowski <mbork@mbork.pl>]

On 2018-10-16, at 23:43, Sacha Chua <sacha@sachachua.com> wrote:

> Thanks for bringing me into the conversation! :) I'm sooooo far from that
> sort of thing right now. Rough activity tracking by buttons and voice
> shortcuts on my phone is all I can manage with a toddler around.

I can imagine, I have a 2-year-old son.  Working near to him is next to
impossible (though if my wife or his 8-year-old sister is around, it
might be accomplished).  This project is meant for when I'm at work,
I don't even try (nor want) to use it at home.

> Marcin, I wonder if you might like to adapt some code from
> sachachua.com/dotemacs for clocking into a task by taking advantage of the
> org refiling system, and the idea of setting up a hydra or other shortcuts
> for common tasks. The code might need to be updated, not sure. If you're

Well, I think I have something even better -
https://github.com/akirak/counsel-org-clock (I find Counsel/Ivy
interface much superior to the default refiling one).  I have my
org-clock-history-length set to 144, and I populate it on Emacs start
with org-mru-clock.  Also, I have a 10-head hydra for Org-related stuff
(8 heads are related to clocking).

> using Org and another time tracking system that might have better reports,
> you might like to set up something like what I have, where I can use a
> single key to clock into both Org and Quantified Awesome with a pre-defined
> or prompted category.

For the purposes of my work, I have written a simple Toggl integration.
I also think about writing some stuff to generate nice reports within
Emacs.

> I find time analysis useful for things like calibrating my estimates and
> expectations, learning about my revealed preferences and trends over time,
> and feeling more satisfied about my days/weeks/months. I liked using the
> data to build on my strengths and work around my limits instead of giving
> in to the temptation to use it as a harsh taskmaster. :) I wonder if
> something similar might be helpful for you.

Definitely!  As of now, the main use is to make sure I don't get
distracted too much at work so that I can actually make ends meet (I'm
paid by an hour), so this is a crucial part of my work infrastructure.
Also, this means it /must/ be a harsh taskmaster (at least for some
time).

Doing some QS-y stuff would be nice, but this is not the priority now.

> Have fun!

I do, thanks!

Best,

--
Marcin Borkowski
http://mbork.pl