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Use a work journal

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Re: Use a work journal

#151

Post by sudhirkhanger »

mistahenry wrote: post #135
hubraumhugo wrote: post #96

It's surprising how many devs are trying to overoptimize for productivity with various fancy tools and techniques, when it actually comes down to simple basics. Here is what I rely on as a founder who does a lot of context switching: - a never-ending text file for todos and work journal [0] - calendar for planning (and blocking focus time) - website blocker - turned off notifications [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/…

For the never-ending text file for todos and work journal, I've found great success with org-mode, especially since deadlines automatically end up in my calendar with org-agenda. The outline format of org-mode is quite nice and it took all of 1 day to learn the key commands for making / manipulating the outline, creating links, and cycling through TODO states (using Doom emacs made the start super easy since I alread…

How does one hide completed tasks from org mode?

Re: Use a work journal

#152

Post by submeta »

FranklinMaillot wrote: post #148
submeta wrote: post #105

I cannot work without taking notes. It is a process of thinking, sorting my ideas, documenting steps and outcomes, pausing, practicing meta-cognition, gaining clarity and confidence along the process. Plus I have the benefit to go back to my notes and have instant access to what I did days, months, years ago. So I can’t understand how people are working without taking notes, documenting (for themselves), and journali…

Same here. Taking notes is incredibly helpful, especially when I'm stuck or unfocused. I just start writing anything that's on my mind and it's like the writing does the thinking for me. While I used to type notes digitally, I've recently discovered the superiority of pen and paper. Writing by hand offers more flexibility - you can start anywhere on the page, sketch, or create mind maps effortlessly which encourages…

Both digital and handwritten notes have their values. - I‘ve used moleskine notebooks and fountain pens for over two decades. Fountain pens are unbelievably smooth to write with, and the text looks beautifully. So I can relate to your experience.

Re Keyboards: I switched to mechanical keyboards lately and will never go back. It’s like the fountain pen of typing.

Re: Use a work journal

#154

Post by criddell »

borghives wrote: post #80

Is there a benefit difference between digital journal and analog (pen) ? I’ve been having this internal debate. Any thoughts?

If analog works better for you, maybe a good stylus would be a usable middle ground? Don’t cheap out on it though. The inexpensive ones aren’t worth it.

Re: Use a work journal

#155

Post by rpdillon »

leetrout wrote: post #145
slyfox125 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually, ths simplest solution is best and your approach exemplifies it: no need for a special application, simply open the text file and then go to work.

I have found, and advise teams I lead or work with, that the tool absolutely does not matter because it is the discipline to use the tool consistently that makes a difference. Now, having said that, shoving jira down peoples throats with all kinds of rules around tagging and whatever wears people out. So, yes, a text file, a google doc, linear or a few post-its on the wall.

> because it is the discipline to use the tool consistently that makes a difference.

Agree, though I advise folks that tooling matters tremendously, because a bad tool requires more discipline to continue using than a streamlined tool.

Re: Use a work journal

#156

Post by esskay »

Evey time I've tried essentially journaling for my own sanity I get too bogged down in the way to actually do it. Logseq and Obsidian are often mentione but by the time I've figured out how the hell to use thier obscure syntax (why the hell am I programming, its a journal) I've lost interest.

I'd like for there to be an out of the box option, but there doesnt seem to be any. When you bring this up in discussions like this it often ends up just proving the point when someone tells you "Oh its easy just install X and then add this plugin, that plugin, tweak this file to do such and such...and my adhd brain lost interest.

There's a real hole in the market for a good out of the box, opensource and self hoated tool that you open the app and write tool, not a note pad, we've all got one of those, I'm talking about somethinh you open, you've got your current day to dump notes into and and they're stored. Sure, theres tools like DayOne, but it's cloud based storage is a catagorical no for me, and many others - theres been countless discussions about this on Reddit, and the answer is always spend half a day screwing around with Logseq or Obsidian and then try to remember their syntax.

The out of the box on both of those is pretty awful, and if the solution is spending hours tweaking it it's not really a solution, its a patch, one that shouldn't really need to be made if it's supposed to be the tool to use.

Re: Use a work journal

#157

Post by michaelsalim »

galaxyLogic wrote: post #54
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…

I write a lot of notes in fact I write more than I read. It helps. However I have some issues: 1. How much commentary should I write? I try to write not too many notes because I write code, and some say code should be self-documenting. So it's the same old question of how many comments should there be along the code. 2. How do I retrieve a note I've written earlier? I can use tags and search for them but it is not ea…

I think you need to have a clear separation on what you're trying to achieve. From what you've written, I get the sense that you're combining documentation, wiki and your personal notes together.

For example, code documentation is very subjective. I'd combine code comments with readmes and potentially a separate wiki. All depending on the complexity of it.

For personal notes like reminders or thoughts, there's no need to keep it up to date. It's ordered by date. And when I need it, I roughly remember when I wrote it. If something needs to be updated? Write a new entry today. I use pen and paper for this. This is also where I sketch one-off diagrams and the like.

Separately, I also have a personal wiki for things I learn or teach among other things. Since these are limited in numbers and are quite important, keeping them up to date is not a big task

Re: Use a work journal

#158

Post by merlincorey »

sudhirkhanger wrote: post #151
mistahenry wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the never-ending text file for todos and work journal, I've found great success with org-mode, especially since deadlines automatically end up in my calendar with org-agenda. The outline format of org-mode is quite nice and it took all of 1 day to learn the key commands for making / manipulating the outline, creating links, and cycling through TODO states (using Doom emacs made the start super easy since I alread…

How does one hide completed tasks from org mode?

Like many things in Software the question is why do you want to hide them?

One way to do it is to archive[0] it which will move it into a local _archive file.

Another way which I'm currently using is to periodically manually archive tasks into a tree of folders and files by date then category (and sometimes subcategory) which allows me to publish an HTML or PDF file of everything from say 2023 for a particular client.

[0] https://orgmode.org/manual/Archiving.html

Re: Use a work journal

#159

Post by Ezhik »

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…

That was my trick for Obsidian. No organization or fancy plugins, just interlinked notes. Backlinks alone work amazingly well for me for retrieval.

Re: Use a work journal

#160

Post by Forge36 »

sudhirkhanger wrote: post #151
mistahenry wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the never-ending text file for todos and work journal, I've found great success with org-mode, especially since deadlines automatically end up in my calendar with org-agenda. The outline format of org-mode is quite nice and it took all of 1 day to learn the key commands for making / manipulating the outline, creating links, and cycling through TODO states (using Doom emacs made the start super easy since I alread…

How does one hide completed tasks from org mode?

Archive is an option, it'll move the heading and children into a new file. Agenda can also find and filter by state.

Perhaps to clarify: hide from where?

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