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Using Obsidian to manage goals, tasks, notes, and software dev knowledge base

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Re: Using Obsidian to manage goals, tasks, notes, and software dev knowledge base

#51

Post by raytracer »

fn1 wrote: post #24

One question for all users of knowledge-bases like this: How often do you write something down and look it the next day and realize it's not relevant anymore because of reasons like: • you memorized it • it's not as important as it seemed yesterday • it's a todo and having it there actually nags you and prevents you from completing it • it creates some other kind of mental load: while skipping over it, it grabs your…

> it creates some other kind of mental load:

I find it's actually the opposite. Writing things down means I can forget about whatever it is and focus on the task at hand.

> it's not as important as it seemed yesterday

This is a good thing in some situations. I generally write down ideas whenever they appear. Coming back to the ideas in days/weeks/months helps to provide some perspective. If it still looks like a good idea, it can be acted on.

Bad ideas can be discard or ignored.

It's a better outcome than spending a day getting side tracked only to wake up the next day to realise the idea was rubbish.

It doesn't hurt to have a backlog of things for those slow, inspiration free days either.

Re: Using Obsidian to manage goals, tasks, notes, and software dev knowledge base

#52

Post by flo123456 »

dmortin wrote: post #45
myrandomcomment wrote: post #27

Canceled Evernote a month ago. To many bugs. Using VIM at this point. Honestly thinking of going back to a notebook. Only issue is I cannot read my own handwriting sometimes ;)

A knowledgebase is for storing thousands of notes and quickly retrieve them when needed. Searching dozens of notebooks for the relevant info is not scalable.

With plain text formats such as Markdown search is just one grep away. Using ripgrep it’s also quite fast.

Re: Using Obsidian to manage goals, tasks, notes, and software dev knowledge base

#53

Post by randomchars »

smabie wrote: post #46
read_if_gay_ wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but I feel desperately uncomfortable tying my notes to a piece of proprietary software Obsidian is proprietary, but Markdown isn’t. And there will always be Markdown personal wikis. I guarantee it. > What about if I want to style a real PDF in Asciidoc? Pandoc can export MD to PDF, HTML, .doc, anything. And you can style with CSS. But once you add spreadsheets and sketches into the mix, there’s basically no way aro…

What about org-mode?

I had a look at it a few months ago, and my impression is that while it's very powerful, it's not for the average user.

Heck, I work as a developer, spend a third of my day in the terminal, and I still wouldn't use it.

Re: Using Obsidian to manage goals, tasks, notes, and software dev knowledge base

#54

Post by z3ncyberpunk »

capnorange wrote: post #36
gorgoiler wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate as to why?

The reason is mostly I couldn't replace my current workflow using other tools. 1. open-source. 2. One command away from my editor(I only use desktop for taking notes), also synced to my dropbox in case. 3. Amazing extensibility with plugins and custom scripts. Eg: bugwarrior + pomodoro(using Timewarrior, I've used this a lot when freelancing, not so much now) + some custom scripts. 4. Journaling - custom generated te…

Check out Trillium. Open source, has a web clipper extension as well as a self hosted docker instance for Dropbox like syncing

Re: Using Obsidian to manage goals, tasks, notes, and software dev knowledge base

#55

Post by randomchars »

flo123456 wrote: post #52
dmortin wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A knowledgebase is for storing thousands of notes and quickly retrieve them when needed. Searching dozens of notebooks for the relevant info is not scalable.

With plain text formats such as Markdown search is just one grep away. Using ripgrep it’s also quite fast.

I think parent was referring to this:

> Honestly thinking of going back to a notebook

Re: Using Obsidian to manage goals, tasks, notes, and software dev knowledge base

#56

Post by kavir »

fn1 wrote: post #24

One question for all users of knowledge-bases like this: How often do you write something down and look it the next day and realize it's not relevant anymore because of reasons like: • you memorized it • it's not as important as it seemed yesterday • it's a todo and having it there actually nags you and prevents you from completing it • it creates some other kind of mental load: while skipping over it, it grabs your…

> it creates some other kind of mental load

Agree with raytracer, that it works contrary to this. Writing things down in a system that you can reliably go back and check, tells your brain to calm down about this thought. If required, you can always reference it later.

You will need to classify points as either tasks or general information you want to store for later.

The cool part of tools like Roam, Obsidian, is that you can create bi-directional links. So if you are intentional about this and if you're referencing something related later, you will come across this point and it may be useful then.

Re: Using Obsidian to manage goals, tasks, notes, and software dev knowledge base

#58

Post by Maha-pudma »

rsa25519 wrote: post #21
gorgoiler wrote: post #14

After having used Bear, Notable, and Atom + plugins, I’m realizing I don’t really want an app to manage my notes. I just want the notes, plus a tool to traverse them that’s got a bit more beef to it than Finder.app. I’d like to use a more powerful app like the one promoted here, but I feel desperately uncomfortable tying my notes [in] to a piece of proprietary software . I feel like that was a mistake I made already,…

Honestly, I recommend paper. I know, I know, no full-text search, no backup, etc. But files are really easy to misplace, accidently delete, or lose due to a hardware/software failure. They're just so small. I've found that if I write something down on paper, I'll physically remember where it is. It's really hard to get past the permanent aspect of pen and paper, but once you do, and you're willing to write down imper…

I like to take notes on paper however my notes are always messy. I'm not able to take notes on anything without having to go back and reorganise them, make sense of them, and add to them. Paper and pen (pencil in my case) are limited in this respect. I'd love to be able to take notes perfectly the first time but find I'll take notes and rewrite them in text (currently zim-wiki) which for me reinforces them in my mind. I can then add/change them when needed. My notes evolve over time, which means paper notes would have to be rewritten continuously with the same information with additions/deletions/expansions/etc. This is much easier electronically, especially when you version your notes (I do this with fossil in zim-wiki).

I find also pen and paper to be limited for programming notes.

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