Using Paper for Everyday Tasks
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Using Paper for Everyday Tasks
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Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks
#2This is a good writeup. I tried paper, maybe I should try it again.
I think one benefit of this journaling is that you could easily do a personal retro weekly or so and update a digital brag file. As a manager I loved when reports have a brag file, as this helps immensely during a performance review cycle.
Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks
#3I’ve turned to using text editor and then paper too, mainly for its simplicity. “Running out of battery” was never a problem for me, but maintenance and getting used to the complex UI of today’s task / knowledge management systems definitely was a painful experience.
Like many others, I have decided to create something new. A tool which would be simple to use just like a text editor / paper but functional like a full fledged app. It’s a hard problem. Though I feel like new approaches are needed, especially because the way the alternative tools are designed today seems a bit obsolete. The 21st century deserves something better..
happy to share the access https://acreom.com/ and receive some feedback.
Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks
#4> If the item either can't or won't be done, cross out the - to make it into a *.
How about put a circle around the - to make it a "stop" sign?
Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks
#5I only use paper to capture the 3-5 most important things du jour. All the other notes go into Bear.app — Tried all-paper a gazillion times but if you work a lot with links, visual inspirations, code snippets, etc. it just doesn't make sense — no matter how much I love sharpening that Blackwing pencil.
Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks
#6What a lovely piece of writing. It’s good advice.
Index / record cards and a binder clip work wonders for me. I used to write in a notebook but the anxiety of losing it is real, especially when reaching the end of a notebook filled with precious knowledge.
80% of read-usage was for either the current day or the previous day. Deeper history is very useful but often done at my desk. You can keep a rolling N day history with a binder clip. Having pieces of card is very useful too. Rip em up, fold em, flick em when you need to give an impromptu demonstration of how TCP works*.
Get a Fujitsu ScanSnap too: digitising index cards is much easier than digitising bound notebooks, and it now means you can access your note taking history from any device — essential for all the notes that didn’t get converted into project manager tasks but which need to be referenced, retrospectively.
Paper only works for private task tracking so it won’t work for everything but it’s the best tool for the top of the getting-things-done funnel.
*I am a high school CS teacher, former FAANGSWE.
Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks
#7I love the idea of wasting trees because you just prefer to write things down on paper.
Been in the workforce for decades and I've met more than a handful of people who love writing things down and, of course, drawing stuff.
I've had a guy justify not taking notes because he didn't have a pen and paper on hand...WHILE having an online meeting. On a computer.
Now, these people don't have much in common but they tend to advertise this behaviour as benefitial to me and we always end up resenting each other.
In my experience, the same people often fill the white boards with incomprehensible junk. Again, for my benefit...
Edit:downvotes are not surprising. Waste is good, people. Waste is good.
Anyway, didn't have much sleep last night, so I am a bit cranky
Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks
#8I feel bad but that page feels super cringy.
And its surprisingly hard to just ignore it. why?! :|
Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks
#9I love the idea of wasting trees because you just prefer to write things down on paper. Been in the workforce for decades and I've met more than a handful of people who love writing things down and, of course, drawing stuff. I've had a guy justify not taking notes because he didn't have a pen and paper on hand...WHILE having an online meeting. On a computer. Now, these people don't have much in common but they tend t…
You seem to have strong negative feelings about this.
But I very much struggle to take reasonable notes on a computer. Something feels “limiting” in a way, even if I’m consciously aware that you can reasonably do everything on a laptop that I would use paper for, and there are benefits like search-ability.
For writing notes I feel flexibility and freedom to redirect my future attention to different parts of the text or accentuate different sections with emphasis or tag a task to be done (with a diamond, in my case).
It’s also the case that if I need to break out into a logical diagram I can easily do so.
There’s something to be said for how it’s viewed by others too… writing notes looks focused. Tapping into a laptop looks distracted.
Re: Using Paper for Everyday Tasks
#10I love the idea of wasting trees because you just prefer to write things down on paper. Been in the workforce for decades and I've met more than a handful of people who love writing things down and, of course, drawing stuff. I've had a guy justify not taking notes because he didn't have a pen and paper on hand...WHILE having an online meeting. On a computer. Now, these people don't have much in common but they tend t…
Depends. If you throw the paper away then sure, it's waste.
But... if you keep it then suddenly you're doing carbon capture. Saving the environment one bad meeting at a time. Or riveting collections of todo-done.
But yeah the idiots who use the "I don't have paper therefore can't take notes." They're the worst.