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Ask HN: How do you manage your day to day work logs?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your day to day work logs?

#51

Post by borncrusader »

rexpop wrote: post #42

tl;dr — Pivotal Tracker is the be-all and end-all of software development tracking. As a developer, I don't hold myself accountable to any work that isn't written down in a user story prioritized by my product manager — the only person to whom I answer. Requirements don't come from meetings; they come from this backlog. I take work off the top, and when it's delivered I can easily filter into a historical view of my…

This is wonderful but with a huge catch. :)

For me, things aren't as rosy as it is for you. I do a lot of research-y learnings on the side and that isn't really tracked through any board.

750words.com looks cool though. I use vim to document my journal once in a while but should give this a try once.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your day to day work logs?

#52

Post by borncrusader »

irpapakons wrote: post #28

I try to write anything complex, easy to be forgotten and relevant to the project at an official place like a shared functional spec document, a wiki or edited into a jira ticket. For my own day-to-day todo list I use workflowy. These are things that I just delete once dealt with.

I tried workflowy but their limit on having 250 items on the free tier is limiting. I don't like the fact that they categorize every bullet as an "item". Some bullets can just be simple text stub rather than representing a whole item.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your day to day work logs?

#53

Post by borncrusader »

molecule wrote: post #11

Shell script, markdown files and MacDown markdown app $ today created TODAY-20170726.md - https://github.com/erikj/bin/blob/master/bin/today - https://macdown.uranusjr.com/

Macdown is nice. I use markdown and vim for my journal and use some shell aliases to create the files with some snippets. Macdown will be a good addition.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your day to day work logs?

#54

Post by borncrusader »

lkesteloot wrote: post #8

I use a Google Doc. I insert each entry at the top, with the date and a bulleted list of things I did (each check-in, each meeting with notes, and anything else I discovered or decided). It's also a good place to jot down who I had lunch with (and things discussed), Meetups I went to, vacation days I took, etc. I keep this in an open tab and write stuff as it happens. I name the Doc after the year, like "Work Log 201…

Simple and neat. :)

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your day to day work logs?

#55

Post by transitorykris »

monknomo wrote: post #45
steve-howard wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll second this. I keep a fountain pen with my notebook because fountain pens make me want to write more.

The pen is the toughest choice! I like the Uniball Vision Elite with the bold point in blue. I've run out today and am reduced to a US Government Skilcraft pen. A decided downgrade

Definitely! Second hardest is paper for me. I've finally settled on Muji's .7 pens and .5 grid notebooks. Very cheap, and the notebooks are thin enough that you get a frequent fresh start.

I choose physical notebooks over digital because it's easier to go freeform when needed and you don't need most of what you think is important at the time.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your day to day work logs?

#56

Post by open_bear »

borncrusader wrote: post #50
steve-howard wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll second this. I keep a fountain pen with my notebook because fountain pens make me want to write more.

I've been meaning to get a fountain pen myself. Never did I expect to know about pens in this thread. :) The Pigma Micron looks fabulous (and not so expensive too) as well.

Try Pilot Metropolitan, they are nice entry-level fountain pens.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your day to day work logs?

#57

Post by zimpenfish »

steve-howard wrote: post #5
monknomo wrote: post #4

I use a notebook with a pen and something roughly corresponding to the bullet journal format. Portable, power outage safe, hard to steal remotely and easy-ish to slot into the legal process if required.

I'll second this. I keep a fountain pen with my notebook because fountain pens make me want to write more.

Pilot Capless (Matt Black, slowly turning bronze) - best pen I own by a long way.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your day to day work logs?

#58

Post by zimpenfish »

monknomo wrote: post #45
steve-howard wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll second this. I keep a fountain pen with my notebook because fountain pens make me want to write more.

The pen is the toughest choice! I like the Uniball Vision Elite with the bold point in blue. I've run out today and am reduced to a US Government Skilcraft pen. A decided downgrade

Can recommend OHTO Horizon as a general fine ballpoint (and I have an OHTO Minimo in my card case for emergencies.)

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your day to day work logs?

#59

Post by jdormit »

patrickdavey wrote: post #15
TeMPOraL wrote: post #13

Org Mode stored on Dropbox. At any given moment I have two "running" files - one being a general tasklist, and one being this month's notes. On the general tasklist I maintain my own, much more detailed, copy of what's in the issue tracker we use. I rotate that file every few months, copying over unfinished tasks. I also use it to record any bug and weird thing I spot with the application, if I don't have time to inv…

And for the millionth time I wish vim had orgmode! I use vimwiki and have a per project wiki for notes and issues, but I need to formalize it. I use timetrap for the basic "what am I working on" notes. Works ok.

Try Spacemacs! Its vim keyndings are excellent, and then you get all the advanced stuff emacs has to offer.

I generally use vim for day to day editing, but switch to Spacemacs when I need something more powerful. It's a pretty seamless experience.

Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your day to day work logs?

#60

Post by mercer »

I made a logger web app that I run locally that allows me maintain logs, visually grouped by day, and with an arbitrary number of extra fields per log (so, 'mood' for my journal log, 'minutes' and 'tags' for my various client logs, just 'tags' for my code experiment log, etc.).

In the web interface I can simply append something to the /logs/ url, so usually for a new work project I'll go to the /logs/work- url and start keeping track of things.

Making a nice visualization of all this is high on my list of things to build, but even just scrolling back through the various logs has been extremely valuable to me. Especially for projects that have a lot of downtime (I'm a freelancer).

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