On Jan 19, 2008 10:44 PM, Sven Bretfeld <sven.bretfeld@gmx.ch> wrote:

Hello to all

Org mode is powerful. This well-known, almost trivial, statement
contains a problematic dimension that is so far not solved in neither
the documentation nor in the various howtos all over the web: How do
newbies learn to make optimal use of all it's power?

Hear Hear Sven!
I too must confess to increasing depression at the fact that -- in my little world -- the imminent marriage of GTD with org is far from consummated. Two months back I told my friends Give me 2 days of 'leave-me-alone' and I'll grok this org-thing and soon have my life in order.

2 months on and I am yet to figure out how to match the org notion of agenda with the corresponding GTD lists. Not yet figured out how to use remember... Just 2 examples... Much else that has me at sea...

I read quite a few descriptions of how to use org mode for GTD,
day-planning, even LaTeX-writing. But when reading this list I have
the impression that many members use org mode in a much more creative
way than I can imagine from reading what is to be found on the web.

I'm sure that I don't use the possibilities of org mode in an optimal
way, and that my concept of ordering data and using features is not
the best suitable for me. The major problem is as follows:

- Even if one knows what features are available in org-mode, it's hard
to imagine what fine things you can actually do with them and how
they could be used to complement each other in order to build up a
meaningful overall concept.

This may be so Sven but I see the problem as more basic:

I never learnt how to be organized
I do not know the intricacies of orgmode
The use of org for organizing (a la GTD or anything else) is clearly a second order problem

In other words, it's a problem of imagination. This might be *my*
problem, but yet I believe that many users will have this same
difficulty, especially the new ones. John Wiegley's and Charles Cave's
howtos are fine and most instructive in this respect, but I have
different needs. I need more of these suggestions in order to pick out
ideas for my own style. On the org mode homepage there are several
descriptions of setups (Lisp code), but AFAIK only these two
explanations of concepts. We had many postings that gave a glimpse on
some concepts, but this is piecemeal.

What I would really like to see -- and now I come to my suggestion --
are some snapshots of org files by other users. What features are they
using and what for? What is the underlying concept of their
organization structure? What I need is the: "Aah, you are doing it
that way ..."

Of course this would be useful.
Also would be useful to see the lisp setups, makefiles/shell scripts people are using showing how remember, diary, bbdb and much else hang together

How do you think about making a space on the tutorial page of the org
mode homepage where people can upload example org-files, maybe
together with a short description of their concepts? Of course these
files have to be prepared in order to disguise their personal tasks
and dates, which are (of course) of no concern to the public, but they
should have to be recognizable as snapshots of a work-in-progress
("project A", "project B" isn't very instructive, I think. "Writing
chapter 4 of my dissertation thesis" would be much more informative).

I think this could be a valuable source for ideas how to optimize the
use of org mode, and it could give newbies (as well as experts) a
major clue to orientate themselves in the world of org mode.

I hope this request is not too silly. Of course, I would be willing to
become the first person to submit a file, although I believe that
there is not much to be learned from it.

Thanks for considering my request (and for reading this long message)

Sven