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Use a work journal

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Re: Use a work journal

#111

Post by phoh »

dr_kiszonka wrote: post #77
brightball wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve been seriously considering using Logseq for this reason. When I first started with Obsidian I used it that way, but the more I put in it the more I started organizing everything. It became less of a journal and more of a repository for long form stuff. I’m thinking about using both just so I have a dedicated tool just for the journaling side of things.

I use different editors for different purposes, e.g., Obsidian for long form and planning, OneNote for meetings. I wouldn't overthink it, though, and just use the simplest tools available. I use Sublime Text 3 with a few shortcuts to add the current timestamp, etc. and log everything in a long file. I was too ambitious in the past and wanted to learn how to use Emacs for everything, but it just held me back, and I en…

do you have a decent system to get entries between(both in and out) Obsidian and OneNote?

I have a similar system to you, but getting things in and out of OneNote is such a massive pain.

Everything I have tried requires significant reformatting (even Word).

Re: Use a work journal

#112

Post by lelanthran »

simpaticoder wrote: post #30

The benefit of journaling is not just reentry, but that you begin to solidify the mental model into a concrete branching of possibilities that is tightly coupled to the specific problem. Your work becomes traversal and mutation of this tree. Several benefits accrue: you begin to see gaps in the tree, and can fill them in. You begin to have confidence in your mental model, recovering the time you used to spend going o…

> solidify the mental model into a concrete branching of possibilities that is tightly coupled to the specific problem. Your work becomes traversal and mutation of this tree.

I wrote a program (used from a CLI, but I mostly use the GUI I developed for it) to do something similar for my own use: https://github.com/lelanthran/frame/blob/master/docs/FrameIn...

I use it daily.

Re: Use a work journal

#113

Post by sublinear »

nlawalker wrote: post #21

What finally got this to stick for me was abandoning all notion of structure and organization (and formal concepts like “logging” and “journaling”) and optimizing fully for capture over retrieval, then relying on search tools and proximity for the latter. I have the OneNote icon in the notification area configured to create a new quick note and use it liberally. Occasionally I look through all the pages, especially t…

> The faintest - and most disorganized - ink is more powerful than the strongest memory.

Very true words. Thank you.

Re: Use a work journal

#114

Post by brador »

Journaling can be a lot of things and they’re moxed here.

Brainstorming, real-time todo, planning, decision making.

Each requires the tool be used differently.

Re: Use a work journal

#115

Post by dhc02 »

lelanthran wrote: post #112
simpaticoder wrote: post #30

The benefit of journaling is not just reentry, but that you begin to solidify the mental model into a concrete branching of possibilities that is tightly coupled to the specific problem. Your work becomes traversal and mutation of this tree. Several benefits accrue: you begin to see gaps in the tree, and can fill them in. You begin to have confidence in your mental model, recovering the time you used to spend going o…

> solidify the mental model into a concrete branching of possibilities that is tightly coupled to the specific problem. Your work becomes traversal and mutation of this tree. I wrote a program (used from a CLI, but I mostly use the GUI I developed for it) to do something similar for my own use: https://github.com/lelanthran/frame/blob/master/docs/FrameIn... I use it daily.

This is really interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Use a work journal

#116

Post by karencarits »

I've concluded that I need different note taking tools for various contexts.

* LogSeq for day-to-day notes. Append only. Since everything is bullet points, I don't have to worry about structure, and it's easy to just add a comment instead of revising a paragraph.

* TiddlyWiki for write-ups. I've tested many wiki solutions but always return to TiddlyWiki. Mainly because it is so easy to adapt how things look, and various entries may need different presentation.

* E-mail. Should not be underestimated as a knowledge base for discussions and decisions. Unfortunately, the search function in outlook is terrible

Re: Use a work journal

#117

Post by singhrac »

karencarits wrote: post #116

I've concluded that I need different note taking tools for various contexts. * LogSeq for day-to-day notes. Append only. Since everything is bullet points, I don't have to worry about structure, and it's easy to just add a comment instead of revising a paragraph. * TiddlyWiki for write-ups. I've tested many wiki solutions but always return to TiddlyWiki. Mainly because it is so easy to adapt how things look, and vari…

I use Obsidian for the first two. Email was very useful but you need to essentially categorize the data yourself manually. I’m very surprised there isn’t a bot that will automatically attempt to categorize your emails for you via IMAP access.

Re: Use a work journal

#118

Post by philwelch »

One format I like to use is to organize my most immediate tasks in the form of a stack. So if I’m working on feature A, that’s the bottom of the stack. Need to solve sub problem A1, push that to the top of the stack. Subproblem A1 requires me to shave yak number A1(a) so now my stack is three deep. Someone asks me for something unrelated. I pause, make sure I’ve fully written down my current stack, and then patiently listen to the person (or read their message). If I need to context switch and do something right now, fine, now interrupt B is the top of the stack, and when it’s done, I go back to shaving yak number A1(a). If I’m blocked, I pull the front task in my priority queue and push that to the stack. If the stack gets too deep with unrelated tasks and interrupts, I usually pull it apart and put everything into a priority queue.

At a higher level of granularity it also helps to record what you’ve actually done for performance reviews and the like.

Re: Use a work journal

#119

Post by parasti »

I sometimes use this approach for untangling unfamiliar undocumented code and for keeping track of what worked/didn't work for a particularly complex task. I found that it's a real life superpower, a literal augmentation of my flawed, forgetful human brain. The biggest downside is that I don't use it enough in fear that it takes up too much time to write everything down, so I feel I'm wasting my employer's time.

Re: Use a work journal

#120

Post by ravetcofx »

lelanthran wrote: post #112
simpaticoder wrote: post #30

The benefit of journaling is not just reentry, but that you begin to solidify the mental model into a concrete branching of possibilities that is tightly coupled to the specific problem. Your work becomes traversal and mutation of this tree. Several benefits accrue: you begin to see gaps in the tree, and can fill them in. You begin to have confidence in your mental model, recovering the time you used to spend going o…

> solidify the mental model into a concrete branching of possibilities that is tightly coupled to the specific problem. Your work becomes traversal and mutation of this tree. I wrote a program (used from a CLI, but I mostly use the GUI I developed for it) to do something similar for my own use: https://github.com/lelanthran/frame/blob/master/docs/FrameIn... I use it daily.

That is one of those novel once in a generation kind of tools and concepts I feel. Outstanding
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