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Textfiles, undated. Normally 1 master todo list, and 1 DONE file. Every time I check an item off, I go through the following ritual: put DONE before the todo it

Textfiles, undated. Normally 1 master todo list, and 1 DONE file. Every time I check an item off, I go through the following ritual: put DONE before the todo item. Save the file. Cut that todo item out and put it in the DONE file. Save both files. It's a great feeling. This is my way of celebrating each win. For larger wins, and major todos I'll do some other form of celebrating. I'll also reorganize and reorder the todo list as priorities change. I indent sub todos under their logical parent task. Sometimes I'll break whole sections of todos out into a smaller %task_name%.todo file when they're no longer critical and can be somehow grouped together.

600frogs 6y ago
Interesting - it sounds fairly similar in terms of cutting plaintext TODOs into a DONE list, but with greater visibility on a macro scale. Do you never date anything in the DONE list though? I might have a hard time remembering when I achieved big milestone X, or how long problem Y took to solve, which is part of why I want to track my work.
- graderjs 6y ago
  I don't date it but the files are in the repo I'm working on, so they're automatically versioned and dated. But I never go back and check them. After I've solved a problem I don't care. But when people ask me, "Describe a bug you recently solved" I can't remember. So maybe I could have a "greatest hits" file and copy some of those todos into there. Sometimes I also put the todos into GitHub issues, either as separate issues, or as check lists in a single issue. And sometimes for multiple projects and tasks across work, life, etc, I'll make a todo list in my Gmail, then leave it at the top of my inbox, and reply with DONE %todo desc% when I complete one. I guess another idea I came up with now is have a master todo repo, that only contains todo lists, and can organize them by project, etc. Then all todos and dones are in one place and in a github repo. But I need email as well sometimes. Meh...;P ;) xx
  - 600frogs 6y ago
    Ah if the files are in version control you're golden, but for personal tracking using a git repo seems a bit overkill and not frictionless enough. The email idea isn't bad though, simple and effective!
    - graderjs 6y ago
      Oh, I didn't mean it for personal tracking. Just if I had a lot of projects running, put all todos in a github repo, and I wouldn't put personal in there, because it would feel too "worky". I haven't really done that centralized todo repo. Just an idea for you. Email is good for personal todos for me. Or just a notebook...pen and paper :p :) xx
marto1 6y ago
Oh, you'll love https://orgmode.org/ https://orgmode.org/ then.
- graderjs 6y ago
  Interesting. I've always been a vim person (well since I discovered it when using an Ubuntu laptop back in 2011 after being a notepad person, before that an edit.com person). I've always regarded emacs users with a sort half-fearful half-snobbish "wtf". I'm a little scared I can't be both a vim person and an emacs person. Like I'd be betrayin' something or somebody or other ;p ;) xx

600frogs 6y ago

Interesting - it sounds fairly similar in terms of cutting plaintext TODOs into a DONE list, but with greater visibility on a macro scale. Do you never date anything in the DONE list though? I might have a hard time remembering when I achieved big milestone X, or how long problem Y took to solve, which is part of why I want to track my work.

graderjs 6y ago
I don't date it but the files are in the repo I'm working on, so they're automatically versioned and dated. But I never go back and check them. After I've solved a problem I don't care. But when people ask me, "Describe a bug you recently solved" I can't remember. So maybe I could have a "greatest hits" file and copy some of those todos into there. Sometimes I also put the todos into GitHub issues, either as separate issues, or as check lists in a single issue. And sometimes for multiple projects and tasks across work, life, etc, I'll make a todo list in my Gmail, then leave it at the top of my inbox, and reply with DONE %todo desc% when I complete one. I guess another idea I came up with now is have a master todo repo, that only contains todo lists, and can organize them by project, etc. Then all todos and dones are in one place and in a github repo. But I need email as well sometimes. Meh...;P ;) xx
- 600frogs 6y ago
  Ah if the files are in version control you're golden, but for personal tracking using a git repo seems a bit overkill and not frictionless enough. The email idea isn't bad though, simple and effective!
  - graderjs 6y ago
    Oh, I didn't mean it for personal tracking. Just if I had a lot of projects running, put all todos in a github repo, and I wouldn't put personal in there, because it would feel too "worky". I haven't really done that centralized todo repo. Just an idea for you. Email is good for personal todos for me. Or just a notebook...pen and paper :p :) xx

marto1 6y ago

Oh, you'll love https://orgmode.org/ https://orgmode.org/ then.

graderjs 6y ago
Interesting. I've always been a vim person (well since I discovered it when using an Ubuntu laptop back in 2011 after being a notepad person, before that an edit.com person). I've always regarded emacs users with a sort half-fearful half-snobbish "wtf". I'm a little scared I can't be both a vim person and an emacs person. Like I'd be betrayin' something or somebody or other ;p ;) xx