Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?
11–20 of 62 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?
#12omnifocus
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?
#13I use Evernote for involved planning and note taking and Things for tasks(including tasks that are already in Jira, PT, Issues...).
I've spent a lot of time trying different tools... there isn't a magical one size fits all 😔
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?
#14For time-tracking and task-management:
- Personal Hourly timesheet.
- Outlook Tasks.
- Old-school post-it notes.
This works extremely well for me as i get new tasks from:
- Emails
- Meetings
More important is generating metrics about what you did with your time. I rely on a timesheet(xls with 24slots a day). Basically filling the slots upfront with task-ids when i need to plan for a few upcoming tasks, estimate effort etc. Also everyday i fill any empty timeslots in the sheet with what i did then.
2Months of this and i have:
- A better idea on my actual burn-down rate.
- Improved schedule estimates.
- No feeling of constantly being pushed to the limit.
- Not missed any important deadlines.
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?
#15By not having so much stuff that it's untrackable.
Your question is too open ended. Projects? Basecamp. Todos? My own brain. Random stuff? Evernote. Files? Dropbox.
This is all fairly standard stuff, but I suspect I'd go back to my original point, which is that if you feel overwhelmed by "track"ing "everything" then there's a chance that you've just got too much stuff. Delegate. Trash things that aren't truly important. Pare down your list ruthlessly.
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?
#16I keep important things in mind and let the world remind me whenever I've missed anything.
I have two tools I use when this becomes unmanageable. I'll get out a pad of paper and a pen when the number of important open loops (things I can't just let go and let the world remind me of) exceeds the ability of my brain to focus on. I've had to seriously do this twice in the last two years. Open loops go one to a line, and get crossed off when they stop being open, i.e. I can leave them alone and the world will tell me when they become important again.
Second I can open up a project file. I'll start with a collection of ideas which will accrete until I'm ready to start a git repo, define some dependencies, flesh out the ideas in code. Since I started doing this, my reliance on the first tool has diminished.
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?
#17Nothing public I found was really simple and advanced at same time. Evernote, Google Keep/Task, Trello, even Jira and thousands of other things I tried. All failed - either UIX is crap or the basic things take ages.
I'm now using my own system called Kemu Note, Kemu tasks, Kemu links etc. (I'm the owner of Kemu as you can see ;) ). But it's not public yet.
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?
#18I use Notational Velocity (and its fork, nvALT) on Mac for almost everything. This replaced everything, including Evernote, etc. The text files are saved to git repository daily.
On Linux, I use vim (with lots of plugins that gives me similar functionality to NV).
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?
#19Given the question is broad, I'll answer broadly:
There is no single solution to track everything. And I believe there won't be, because for a tool to provide value for a specific subdomain of information, it needs to be tailored to that subdomain. For example, Evernote is great for capturing and tracking unstructured information, but bad for tracking numerical information (because aggregating numbers requires structure). If you look my list below, you see that each subdomain can have very specific use flow (e.g. passwords) and generic tool would likely to be really bad for that subdomain.
Evernote for capturing unstructured (or semi-structured) information: thoughts, links, excerpts.
Asana for tasks that need to be done.
Google Calendar for events and alerts.
Dropbox for files & media. For example, I put things like work contracts or flight tickets and other travel documents there instead of Evernote.
Keychain and 1password for passwords.
Various programs to track exercise: different programs for different sports: Strava for running, swimming and cycling, my own prototype iOS app for gym.
Re: Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything?
#20A combination of text files in Dropbox for unstructured data and Airtable[1] for structured data. Disclaimer: I work on Airtable.