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

[tsd@tsdye.com (Thomas S. Dye)]

Aloha Alan,

I found myself in a similar situation a while back and it helped me to
do a weekly review.  I base mine on Bernt Hansen's experience:

http://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html#sec-11-1

Every Monday a task pops up reminding me to complete the weekly review.
Clicking on the task takes me to a checkbox list that gives a label to
the individual review task and the keystrokes needed to invoke the
corresponding agenda view.

I'm typically monitoring 1-2 dozen projects and the whole review, which
is now 12 steps, takes me a couple of hours to complete.  I suppose I
could cut this time down if I were more organized during the week, but
I'm not, which is why I value the tools in Org-mode.

Also, I found Bernt's ideas on how to structure org-mode files very
helpful.  I'm not able consistently to pick the best option among the
very many that org-mode makes possible, so I've come to rely on the
advice of Bernt and others.

hth,
Tom

"Alan E. Davis" <lngndvs@gmail.com> writes:

> 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
> I&#39;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&#39;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&#39;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

-- 
Thomas S. Dye
http://www.tsdye.com