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Ask HN: What do you guys use to help organize daily tasks and things to do?

14 points by gallonofmilk ↗ HN
I'm currently doing software consulting for a company while also launching a startup I am cofounding. I'm starting to feel the crunch of my daily tasks piling up and I'm afraid of not organizing things properly. How do you guys manage and organize tasks as simply and efficiently as possible? I'm just looking for suggestions, thanks!

28 comments

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qwertyuiop924
A pencil and a piece of paper, or an organizer from Staples. :-D

If you're an Emacs user, org-mode is very powerful and quite useful as well. It's what I would be using, if I actually had a computer with me everywhere I go that could run it. http://orgmode.org/

If you aren't an emacs user, or are looking for an alternative, Taskwarrior is a quite popular CLI todo list management app, which has a similar (although not as extensive: org is frankly massive) featureset. It has a companion, Timewarrior, which is designed for tracking time and displaying reports. IIRC, this is an org feature as well. Both have significantly better mobile support than Org, so take that as you will. Either way, if you are going to support mobile, you have need to host the files yourself, or use dropbox. https://taskwarrior.org/

Pomodoro and GTD are both popular methodologies, which you can look into if you're interested in that sort of thing (I'm not, but I've heard good things about them both from people who are). They are applicable to just about any tool, including any of the above (yes, that means pencil and paper).

But ultimately, the only wrong way to organize yourself is one that doesn't work for you. So if anything I've listed works, and you want to use it, do. If it doesn't work, throw it away.

It doesn't matter what tools you use, just so long as they help you Get Shit Done (TM).

gallonofmilk
thanks! yeah the problem I've encountered when using just paper and pencil is that I seem to stick with it for a day or two and then slowly stop... I guess part of that is training myself to be diligent
qwertyuiop924
Yeah, it turns out I'm bad at convincing myself that I won't remember the thing. And then I forget the thing.
Jtsummers
I've gotten to like Staples' Arc notebooks. They fold over like a spiral notebook, but pages can be moved freely like a 3-ring binder. Downside, instead of holes, sheets have notches in them to keep them attached to the rings that form the binding. This can be problematic sometimes if you keep moving a sheet around a lot, but I typically don't move a sheet more than twice (once to put it w/ related content, again to archive it if I get around to that). And they aren't suitable as pocket notebooks, but I don't consider that a major issue for myself.

But this helps me a lot for pen and paper notebooking. One of my biggest issues with getting a spiral notebook or moleskine-styled notebook is that entries are completely jumbled, organized only by when they were entered. These let me reorder my pages freely as different projects and types of entries are inserted.

qwertyuiop924
That's actually super handy. I might check them out.
tedmiston
That sounds like the Levenger Circa system. I never tried them myself (thought they were too pricy), but they are popular in the GTD crowd.

http://www.levenger.com/circa-notebooks-339.aspx

I did Hipster PDA for a while, which you could kind of consider a poor man's version.

http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/03/introducing-the-hipster-...

Jtsummers
The Circa notebooks were my introduction to the concept. Arc is cheaper by a good bit. The rings are slightly different but paper from one will work on the other, maybe not perfectly but functionally.
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smartmic
Honestly, for logging and tracking my daily business tasks, I use a plain old notebook where I write notes or draw sketches with a pen. It is the fastest and and most comprehensive solution. It accompanies me throughout the day and has more style than an electronic solution like a tablet. Of course searching is not easy but I can remember topics based on approximate dates, that works well for me.

For higher level "management" of longer-term and recurring tasks I also use taskwarrior.

gallonofmilk
thanks, you've encouraged me to go buy a new notebook
Jugurtha
Did you take a look at Wunderlist? The common problems everyone faces at the beginning are:

* Putting todo list items on the same system.

* Making it a habit. Discipline and consistency are areas I'm always trying to work on personally (these will cause my end). The few times I was consistent, I just demolished whatever I was trying to do and felt like a 20GW laser pulverizing a problem.

https://www.wunderlist.com/

Nicholas_C
I've started using Wunderlist with some success. I really like having a notebook for a task tracker but the issue is that the notebook isn't with me always. The problem with Wunderlist, as with any method, is that it requires discipline to keep checking and updating it.
tmaly
Trello is nice if you have access to it.

If you have Jira or other task/bug system you can also use that.

I personally think a TODO.txt file is easier than both.

A nice paper sketch book is also good, but if you lose it, your out of luck.

qwertyuiop924
Better yet, if you use Emacs, have a TODO.org

Seriously. There's a reason I've been singing org's praises throughout this thread. It hasn't been amazingly useful to me personally (I take my notes on paper), but it's a really high-quality tool, and if you're already using TODO.txt it's like that, but with agendas, sorting, organization, calendars, and countless other useful features.

tmaly
I am a vim person, but I agree a text file is a far simpler interface.
Jtsummers
For daily tasks, at work, the first thing I do is fire up Outlook and emacs.

Outlook has my calendar (very MS heavy corporate environment) so it displays every task, meeting, appointment easily. Mails that come in get put away (ok, not great with the zero-inbox thing, but I try).

In emacs I have a "daily activity log", it's the second thing I open each day. I create an entry for the day, tagging it with the project(s) I'm working on (these get added through the day as things come up, or at the start if I know it's on my agenda). I usually know what I'll work on that day so I'll create an entry for it, and open the linked org file for the project itself. So an entry might look like:

  ** <<2016-09-23>>                    :foo:
  *** TODO [[file:foo.org][foo]] [0/2]
  - [ ] Deal with PR-128
  - [ ] Build and install image
(NB: <<STRING>> in a headline in org-mode makes it a target for links like [[STRING]] or [[file:foo.org::STRING]])

Those bulleted tasks are what I intend to work on that day. If they don't get checked off, I can't mark the project's work as DONE, and I'll refile them later. I should probably automate this somehow, perhaps collect all incomplete tasks at the top of the log file for easier refiling. Presently `C-c / t` does the trick for finding them. foo.org will have a more detailed description of what I'm doing, possibly linking to other things. The bullets vary in detail by the end of the day, and may have several sub-bullets and links. Sometimes project boundaries are fuzzy, I just pick something or create more levels:

  *** TODO Related projects
  **** TODO foo
  **** TODO bar
stuxnet79
Just started using org mode recently. It is fantastic. I still haven't figured out how to date TODOs and organize them around different org files. The org file fragment you've provided is interesting and has given me some ideas. I've also gotten into the habit of encrypting my org files - it is somewhat annoying having to type in the password every time you launch or save but it's worth it for the peace of mind.
qwertyuiop924
One nice thing about having your calendar, or a todo list longer than a day, in org, is that you can use the fantastic agenda mode.

Also, org has support for literate programming, multiple files in one org file (at least one person stores all their config files in an org file). It also supports publishing, a rudimentary spreadsheet system, and countless other things. There's a reason why so many swear by it.

Tiksi
Kinda related but does anyone know of some sort of software like Jira that isn't oriented towards software devs? I've tried Trello and Taiga but neither have a way to build a dependency chain (issue a requires issues b and c which require...) like you can in Jira. However I don't really wanna push Jira onto non-technical people and tell them to ignore half of what's on the screen.
tedmiston
I'm a big fan of FoldingText / TaskPaper (the underlying engine is the same).

http://www.foldingtext.com/

You can tag and add contexts arbitrarily.

    Some Project.todo
    - my task #foo @due(2017-01-01) @blocked
    - another
sharmi
I use the zim notebook wiki. Physical Notebooks are great in that you can dump all your thoughts in it. So you can go into your next task clear headed. Unfortunately, I tend to misplace notebooks a lot.

Zim is quite flexible as in it can be used as a wiki or a to-do list. Bonus points for allowing nesting of tasks. I sync between laptops using Dropbox. I doubt it has a mobile option. This is the option closest to a notebook.

Zim or physical notebook, The most difficult thing is that we have to use the tool diligently to reap the benefits. One can often let the practice slide due to time/work pressure. If done properly, you realize how much of your cognitive processes are actually devoted to just remembering the list of things to do

pedrodelfino
I use a physical notebook. Like the ones kids use at school. I like to scratch the tasks after they are done. I have been using this method since 2012. It is funny to see the old notebooks. It also works as an unstructured and bad written diary.
andwaal
I use mind maps in Freemind. Every project has a root node with project name and date last updated. I then try to go through all projects at least once per day, look for any follow ups I have forgotten and then update the date. This combined with use of appropriate icons gives me confidence I have not forgotten anything. On each project I note everything, last contact with client, meeting summaries, progress, remaining todos, specs. Basically everything of importants.
MegaLeon
Workflowy fan here: http://www.workflowy.com

I start with a set of bullets for general to dos, personal projects, work projects, backlog (books, movies and games to catch up) and notes.

Then I have sub-pages for each category with individual to-do for projects, features to implements and such.