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Keeping a plaintext “did” file

theptrk.com

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Re: Keeping a plaintext “did” file

#111

Post by theptrk »

henrik_w wrote: post #36

I keep a bugs.txt text file (complete with alias for opening it), in which I record particularly difficult or tricky bugs. It's a really good way to learn from hard bugs. At the top of the file I have a template that I copy each time I add an entry. It has the following fields: Date: Symptom: Cause: How found: Fix: Fixed in file(s): Caused by me: Time taken to resolve bug: Lessons: I've used this system for 15 years…

"By writing down an entry in the bugs file for each interesting bug, I find that I learn much more easily. There is something with the act of writing that makes me think more deeply about what happened." - linked post

I like this a lot, I've been using my blog as an extension of my brain and the act of formulating a single post about a text file forced me to clarify my thoughts. Ill try this the next time I find bugs. Also +1 for split keyboards!

Re: Keeping a plaintext “did” file

#112

Post by CiPHPerCoder »

supremeApy wrote: post #110

I would recommend, http://jrnl.sh it's made for the purpose described but in a much better and simpler way (also allows tagging and searching in a simple way).

It's interesting that they boast "256-bit AES" on the Github README, but when I look at the source code, they're not doing authenticated encryption:

https://github.com/maebert/jrnl/issues/549

Re: Keeping a plaintext “did” file

#113

Post by theptrk »

caio1982 wrote: post #108

I sort of had a did.txt for 3 years, updated quite often during my working hours (at least once a day, if I were super busy, to dump all my daily activities and notes). It was quite useful for standup meetings and such. It is a pretty gigantic did.txt now, and in 3 years can you guess how many times I needed the info sitting there? Zero... go figure :-(

Totally, i've never actually fully read my did file (just started), but I find the act of writing a concise summary of what I've done to be the major benefit.

Re: Keeping a plaintext “did” file

#114

Post by justjash »

Not sure I understand the reason for needing to keep track of things like the examples shown...

On the other hand, if I am in the middle of some large changes I will make notes at the end of the day before I leave the office. I usually write down what I accomplished and what remains to be done as well as anything I need to come back to. I don't get too fancy with it, usually just use Sticky Notes on my Windows PC at work.

Re: Keeping a plaintext “did” file

#115

Post by JustSomeNobody »

contravariant wrote: post #99
Tade0 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would do the same if I weren't afraid of coming off as passive-aggressive given that I voiced my opinions in the past but received a reply in the vein of: "We're aware that this old code is really bad, but with our constrained resources we need to prioritize keeping this boat afloat.".

At some point you do need to stop baling water and actually plug the hole though.

They should teach this at MBA school. But they don't.

Re: Keeping a plaintext “did” file

#116

Post by tomjen3 »

tripzilch wrote: post #68
csmattryder wrote: post #41

I've got a small A6 notebook for this, computers are great, but there's still work to be done in translating the abstract diagram/flowchart/sketch amalgamation that's in my brain to a digital representation. A picture tells a a thousand words, there's pages where I tried redesigning a scene graph implementation, it'd take hours to transcribe the knowledge that I gleaned from those (roughly drawn) images into words.

Paper rocks. I really like its battery life, negligible boot-up time, customisability, interoperability and extensive unicode support.

The number of hours I have spent trying to find an alternative note taking system to paper is rather more than I like. Unfortunately search sucks, they tend to get lost and I have horrible handwriting.

Re: Keeping a plaintext “did” file

#117

Post by tomjen3 »

commandlinefan wrote: post #98
keyle wrote: post #5

This reminds me of the `plan` files used by John Carmack and and ID software. It's a good way to look back at things and remember how far you've gone and give some perspective on how some big problems at the time were not so big today...

I've gotten into the habit of defensively tracking every interruption - if somebody stops by my desk or slacks me or asks me to come by and look at something, I keep a text file of exactly when and how long. Then, if anybody ever asks why such-and-such is taking so long, I have a detailed record of _exactly_ why.

What do you do when somebody interupts you on the way back from your interruption? Do you just log it as "interruption"?

Re: Keeping a plaintext “did” file

#118

Post by posixplz »

na85 wrote: post #86
ocharles wrote: post #27

For those who use Emacs, org-capture is probably the way to go: https://orgmode.org/manual/Capture.html#Capture

Honestly even without using org-capture, org mode is perfect for a "did.org" file.

Yep. I'm amazed by how many different hacks, tools, and one-offs get proposed in threads like this when an amazing plain-text note/organization/GTD/life management ecosystem already exists and is supported by endless configurability. Of course, we're talking about org-mode.

(Religious org-mode user for approximately four years.)

Re: Keeping a plaintext “did” file

#119

Post by superkuh »

Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s I experimented with a number of complex rich text, database, and proprietary formats for my notes files. It was a disaster in terms of long term accessibility. Since ~2004 or so I've used exclusively a single plain text file with embedded filepaths if media references were required.

This has worked far better and now offers a remarkable resource for both nostalgia and getting stuff done. It's huge and search is pretty much the only way through it but I still add every day.

Plain text is best. I feel that even using vim to automate time stamps is too complex. I just write it once by hand. It's easy and literally takes half a second.

Re: Keeping a plaintext “did” file

#120

Post by Lio »

JdeBP wrote: post #30

No need for "normal Go". ex commands like r take addresses. vim +'$r!date' did.txt

At first when I read this I thought why not use Vimwiki or org-mode or taskwarrior, etc... but actually I really like these simple aliases.

I use the same approach for a super simple "pomodoro" timer:

  alias pomo='echo "Starting timer for 25 minutes"; sleep 1500 && zenity --info --text "Pomodoro break; 5 minutes"; sleep 300 && zenity --info --text "Pomodoro: back to work"'
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