GTD, Pomodoro etc.

[machinebacon]

Is anyone here actively using any of these or other productivity techniques? How do you plan tasks/projects?

Some links if you haven't started yet:

http://transhumanism-russia.ru/document ... tivity.pdf
http://pomodorotechnique.com

org-mode works quite well for GTD, I follow Sacha here: http://sachachua.com/blog/2007/12/emacs ... org-basic/ (instructions are partly outdated)

[GekkoP]

I usually stick to org-mode.
I got a todo-today.org which everday reminds me of the important task I have to do. For the rare occasions I'm not in front of a computer, I always have my Moleskine with me.

[franksinistra]

^^ off topic, that was a damn nice keyboard in pomodoro video

[machinebacon]

^^ Thank you :)

^ clicky clicky :)

[wuxmedia]

Guy at work tried the same technique, I observed, as he is a little bit err.. let's say fidgety, that he hadn't really made any change to his day :) always scampering off to make tea of toast or something.

[DebianJoe]

Maybe worth putting here (semi-topic related), but I'm a strong believer in the ZenHabits theory of "If you're forced into finding ways to fit everything into your day, then you're doing too much." I do use org-mode, as it covers most of my needs, but I also am the first one to start paring down projects when I begin to get stressed about them.

There's a lot to be said for getting cool stuff done, but trying to do everything at once is a sure way to accomplish nothing at all, or to simple half-ass all the things. That's stupid. Simply prioritizing the most important things to me and saying "no" to some things, or putting them on the back-burner seems to make life better.

[dkeg]

Not necessarily a productivity technique, but a learning technique. Brains tend to do better in short spurts, with short breaks in between. When I was studying alot for school I would do like 15 or 30 min spurts, then rest for like 10 minutes, get a drink or whatever. But in that time frame it was full on focus.

With books, I would write in the margins and use post it notes for highlights and stick so it was a tab for that page. I would then take those notes and type them all up, chapter by chapter. When complete, print it all out and staple. So in the end, now I have taken that full book to a set of notes of 20 or so pages. That is the study guide. From there I would write in the margins, highlight, whatever. And because its so minimal, easy to carry around and read anywhere; bus, commercials, etc.

When it came to flash cards. Set up three containers; 1, 2, 3. All flash cards start in 1. Once you get it right, it goes to 2; wrong goes back to 1. Then you start again with 1. Once you get them all in 2; start again. then right goes to 3; wrong back to 1. Once you get them all to 3; you have achieved awesomeness.

These things really helped me. Plus I would always learn what was expected so I could study smart.

[machinebacon]

Thank you for your ideas, Joe and Drew.

The flashcard system is the same as what I used anno dazumal. I think it was even invented by a German (or so) guy in the 1970s. A few days ago I saw a TEDx talk about 'tiny habits makking big changes'. Was quite interesting, if somebody is interested (in TTY now, can't find and paste the link).

[ivanovnegro]

I do it in a time management fashion using the calendar and writing down what I have to do first and when it should end and then begin with it step by step destroying complex sections of a subject into chapters for all the days I planned to work on it. Damn, sounds very theoretical.

[machinebacon]

Just some notes about how I did it:

* Set up GTD for org-mode in Emacs

** Add the following to the .emacs file

Code: Select all

  (defun gtd ()
     (interactive)
     (find-file "~/organizer.org")
   )

  (setq org-remember-templates
        '(("Tasks" ?t "* TODO %?\n  %i\n  %a" "~/organizer.org")
          ("Appointments" ?a "* Appointment: %?\n%^T\n%i\n  %a" "~/organizer.org")))
  (setq remember-annotation-functions '(org-remember-annotation))
  (setq remember-handler-functions '(org-remember-handler))
  (eval-after-load 'remember
    '(add-hook 'remember-mode-hook 'org-remember-apply-template))
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-c r") 'remember)

  (require 'org)
  (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.org$" . org-mode))
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-c a") 'org-agenda)
  (setq org-todo-keywords '("TODO" "STARTED" "WAITING" "DONE"))
  (setq org-agenda-include-diary t)
     (setq org-agenda-include-all-todo t)

Remember to eval-buffer (or restart the Max)

** Create a new file name ~/organizer.org and add on top:

Code: Select all

#+STARTUP: overview
#+TAGS: HOME(h) SHOPPING(x) READING(r) COMMUNICATION(c) FINANCE(f) WORK(w)
#+STARTUP: hidestars

Of course, all these tags should be tuned to your life. Eg., if you play in a band, you would add BAND(b) as tag. Students would replace WORK(w) with STUDY(s).

Usually, you are required to write down all tasks, projects, plans, unfinished stuff, really anything related to work and private life into the organizer.org file.
The asterisk is a headline, the double asterisk are subheaders, etc. They can be folded and unfolded using =Tab= on the headline's asterisk.

Code: Select all

* Office
** Call James wrt business plan
** Buy 43 manila folders
** Wire USD2000 to the LinuxBBQ project
** Receive and Read business plan

* Computer stuff
** Read about inline formatting in org
** Buy more RAMz (not)
** Troll the munchwhistle forums

Each time you finished a line, you can press =C-c C-c= and then choose a tag that should be attached.
You can also mark the progress (TODO - WAITING - DONE - etc). Personally, I don't set this explicitly, but you can play around with =S-Left/Right= on the (sub)headline.

* Date, time and agenda

You probably have deadlines or scheduled dates. Use =C-c C-s= for a scheduled date or =C-c C-d= for a deadline. The calendar will pop up, and you can use =S-Left/Right= to set the date.
Reccuring dates have the format =<Date Time +1w>=, where +1 means 'every' and 'w' stands for week. Guess how to set it for every 2 months ;)

To show tasks in different view modes, use Agenda by typing =C-c a=. You will see a list of display options. I like 'L' and 'n', as I usually don't set TODO marks. YMMV.

* Readings

More or less, these:
http://orgmode.org/worg/org-gtd-etc.html
http://sachachua.com/blog/2007/12/emacs ... org-basic/ (partly outdated, but you get the idea)


Thanks for reading :)

[GekkoP]

Cool, thanks for that. I still have to get used to tags and learn how to use them better. I'll apply this kind of workflow to my todo lists.

[machinebacon]

That was the hardest part for me, too. I have now 8 tags (company, linux, shopping, travel, finance, reading, family, contact) which are actually too many. If I buy a ticket online, is it travel or shopping? Of course I can make a section with headline "Holidays", tag it as :TRAVEL: and then put the ticket purchase there as :SHOPPING: -- I think this is the 'trick' about it.

For example, you could have (i)IT (l)LANGUAGE (c)CONTACT (f)FAMILY and then decide if you want, for example, all your 'repartition work laptop' tagged with IT or give it an own tag like WORK (because it is the office computer). 'Call LUG to ask for Ubuntu support' could be then in either IT or CONTACT, because you have to make an appointment first. ;)
Whatever suits you better in the agenda view, I think.

[GekkoP]

^ Yes, it is not easy to get the right tags for different contexts. Tags will help me have create better todo-lists though. Right now they are just endless TODO items. :)

[machinebacon]

^ I hear you. This was it for me, just a long todo list which I was even too lazy to "DONE" off :) I love that you use the word "context", because it is really just about this :)

One nice addition could be this, at the very bottom of your organizer.org file:

Code: Select all

* Birthdays and similar stuff
#+CATEGORY: Holiday
%%(org-calendar-holiday)   ; special function for holiday names
#+CATEGORY: Ann
%%(org-anniversary 2012  9 16) LinuxBBQ is %d years old
%%(org-anniversary 1989 10  2) %d years ago I smoked my first cigarette
%%(org-anniversary 1 12  24) Jesus would be %d years old

No more forgotten birthdays.

[GekkoP]

^ Oh that's a nice one, I have never used org-anniversary.

[slartie]

There's a ton of ways of doing it, and all the ideas brought up are good ... For some people. As I'm sure you've already realized, there's not one singular best way of managing your time. We all think differently.

Personally I use org-mode, but only for techie / gaming / hobby stuff. The rest of my life is stored in the old porridge lump inside my head skull place.

My org file, before I archived some of it, was more than 10MB in size. That's 2 years of stuff. But that's because org also became the place where I write ideas and notes.

[machinebacon]

^ Just collecting ideas here, as I'm curious about how others do it :)
There's even not a singular good way for oneself, just one that sucks less.

[slartie]

http://taskwarrior.org ... I want to delve a little more into this one. While emacs is our lord and savior, we shouldn't shun other applications.

[stark]

Has anyone tried Tofu ? Came up on onethingwell

[machinebacon]

slartie: thanks for the mention, I completely forgot about this!
maybe a bit more accessible for some with http://tasktools.org/projects/vit.html

stark: Yes, I've tried it. Might fit those who love to remember command options ;)

tudu, w2do, devtodo, hnb, calcurse, pal, wyrd, tina - you can try these and compare. It all boils down to personal taste, I guess.

hnb is maybe the one which is most intuitive for notes. hierarchical notebook. good exports function. previously BBQ approved.
calcurse and wyrd have a calendar, latter even a day view with hours. They are more like planners. Both were a BBQ staple in previous releases.
pal only displays a calendar much like 'cal' does, from the command line.
tina sees notes as items. probably least interesting here.
tudu has some vi keybinds and behaves a bit like hnb. Was a staple in recent BBQs.
w2do also need options to the commands. not my cup of tea.
devtodo seems like the father of tofu. If you like one you'll like the other.

My vote would go to hnb for todo lists, and wyrd as planner. But org can do the same (and more) without additional learning curve.