9 ms·

How to organize yourself as a solo founder

207 points by gekkostate 5y ago

bdominy 4y ago
I use color coded Post-It notes to track my tasks. Red for high priority tasks, yellow for medium, green for low. Orange and blue for subtasks. Stick them on a whiteboard near your workspace and then move what you want to tackle into a row that acts as your queue. Finished tasks go in a stack you can watch grow.
- TastyJhinga 4y ago
  Why not just use something like jira or trello at that point? Having to remember the color associations for subtasks physically seems a bit too much for me. Also, software is something you can access from anywhere and you don't have to be in one single place.
  - j7ake 4y ago
    The physical act of writing notes, sticking them, removing them can get one in the zone more than the abstracted version on trello.
  - bdominy 4y ago
    Software solutions are fine and I have used them before, especially with a team, but as a solo founder, I just like simple Post-Its - to each their own.
    - viyiene 4y ago
      I think it's better to stick with the simple old ways too! Maybe as a solo founder you can get some more insights with our community on http://founderscafe.io/ http://founderscafe.io/, maybe you can share some of your practices too!
  - jacinda 4y ago
    Eh, whatever works. Some people like the ease of working anywhere, some people are more motivated by seeing a physical representation of their progress (possibly similar to how people remember chronological events better when read from a physical book vs an e-book or on-screen: https://www.fastcompany.com/40476984/this-is-how-the-way-you-read-impacts-your-memory-and-productivity https://www.fastcompany.com/40476984/this-is-how-the-way-you...).
  - csee 4y ago
    I don't like the added cognitive overhead (having to remember how the app works) and lack of physical tangibility of software solutions.
  - staticassertion 4y ago
    For me, all of those task trackers are radically slower than even a pen and paper or just a single document. Load times, the million buttons, search, etc are all worse. They're fine for teams that need to share work and make asks of other teams and prioritize etc, but for one person they're extremely inefficient.
urban_winter 4y ago
I've never found a way that I like to integrate dealing with email into a to-do list. Reading emails is a perpetual need but it is damaging to focus and I often find that it saps my energy by reminding me of all the things that are not yet done. I've tried having fixed times of the day where I always deal with emails; adding "30 minutes of email" to my task list; reading them between each switch of tasks. None of these approaches really cracked it for me. I haven't read "Getting Things Done" - I wonder whether it has a solution.
- rlayton2 4y ago
  I've found it helpful to deliberately identify if you are being the manager or the technician (to use E-myth's terminology). The manager goes through the lists of tasks and emails, and works out what needs to be done (next, or today, or this week, or this sprint). The manager tells the technician (usually via TODO list) what that task is. Then you switch modes to technician - its no longer your job to organise, its your job to do.
- atoav 4y ago
  Have you ever thought about doing the exact opposite? Instead of integrating email in your todo list you could run your todo-list via email. I worked on a job where this was done and it worked flawlessly (emails generated from various systems and people, including those in the shift before you). The one thing you have to make sure that your "job" communication is divided from your private communication or other non-actionable messages like newsletters etc. Writing Emails to your self is totally okay also : )
- timwis 4y ago
  Indeed it does! And the key lies in separating “defining work” from “doing work.” GTD’s “get clear” process involves going through everything in your inboxes (not just email but physical papers etc), and determining what is the actual _next action_ for this thing (if it’s actionable at all; some emails should just be referenced, delegated, or archived). You log that next action in your system and move on to the next one, rather than doing the action t then and there (unless it’s super quick to do so). By separating these two, you minimise mindset switching, and can be far more assured that you’re working on the right thing at any given time.
elias94 4y ago
I love org-mode, but the lack of mobile is really a wall for me. I need the flexibility to add notes in a second from my mobile (without emacs server etc). I switched to Bear atm, just because has the sync between all devices.
- TastyJhinga 4y ago
  You can try the orgzly mobile app to sync or edit orgmode files on your phone. Its equally good and I love it.
- stingraycharles 4y ago
  Have you seen beorg? It’s a mobile app for org-mode, and allows you to sync through a Dropbox folder. https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/beorg-to-do-list-agenda/id1238649962?l=en https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/beorg-to-do-list-agenda/id1238...
cseleborg 4y ago
I use a mix of bullet journaling and GTD, and it has worked quite well for me (though not perfectly, of course). The physical bullet journal (notebooks from Leuchtturm) is a log of sorts, a place where I can take notes from calls etc. and write down anything that comes to mind, in the spirit of capturing every idea. Pen and paper just works better for me. My GTD context lists with next steps for all ongoing projects are physical index cards that I just keep in there, I re-write them whenever they get full (one side only). For my projects list, I use Notion, where I have one page that holds the list of projects, and each project having its own page which, most of the time, is just a simple list of TODOs, but can be more elaborate, with kanban boards for more involved stuff or simply a loose collection of documentation, screenshots, drafts, etc.. And of course, Google Calendar. I was never super disciplined with the weekly review stuff, but it really worked well for holding stuff that my brain would shed in the blink of an eye. I was always very slow, but it's rare that I forget anything I need to get done.
- stingraycharles 4y ago
  I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to ask, but what kind of layout / system do you use with your bullet journal? What I understand is that bullet journals are typically most effective when you adapt it to your own work / domain, but most examples of what others use (including the subreddit community) are almost art projects. I would be very curious what a more “HN-approved” bullet journal would look like.
  - donatzsky 4y ago
    I put together a YouTube playlist with the best videos I've found [1], exactly because it's so hard to find any that treat it as a tool and not an art project. It's roughly in the order I recommend watching. The main bullet Journal reddit has also been taken over by the art crowd, but there are two others that are specifically about journaling and productivity. [2][3] [1] https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL50SnCmB2W7tUaHuUzeB8OLC2JrC2Hrl1 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL50SnCmB2W7tUaHuUzeB8OLC2... [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/BasicBulletJournals https://www.reddit.com/r/BasicBulletJournals [3] https://www.reddit.com/r/bujo https://www.reddit.com/r/bujo
paul_f 4y ago
Having tried everything, nothing works better than 5x8 yellow pads. Write down everything you need to do. Draw a line thru when done. Every few days, rebuild the list. Everything has to be on one page, or there are too many to-do's, and you can delete ones that just don't make the cut. No technology, just pen and paper.
- staticassertion 4y ago
  I had one Dropbox Paper document for years called "Next Steps". It was literally just a freeform list of things I needed to get done for the project. Every day I would expand the list and cross off/ checkmark what had been done. It got pretty massive. Now I have a company and a team so we use an issue tracker, which I find to be much much heavier but it's easier to use across multiple people.
- dnndev 4y ago
  This would be a good idea if I could read my own handwriting. I get this works for some, but never has for me. I have never been a notebook type of person. I love your general approach and very similar to a digital version I use.
  - mellavora 4y ago
    You could work on improving your handwriting. You might notice other benefits. I read about one person whose math comprehension increased dramatically when they improved their penmanship; something about a mental link between the ability to visualize the formulas in their mind and the ability to create/visualize them on paper.
    - journey_16162 4y ago
      Not OP. I don't see how handwriting is better. I'm already working on the laptop, notepad app is almost integrated with everything else, I can access it in miliseconds with keyboard shortcuts. I can create a similar list in a simple notepad app, i.e.: x Task 1 x Task 2 - Task 3 - Task 4
    - 4y ago
imtemplain 4y ago
pdevr 4y ago
After using a lot of different tools, now I use a plain text file. It works for me. I move things down as I finish them. The top part always have my pending tasks in there. The file is more than ten years old now, and have been the best productivity tool for me that I started using the same approach at office as well. I had some sticky notes at office, but now with the world having changed, I took a screenshot of all of them and manually transferred them to my text file as well. If I need to refer to a diagram or something, I just add a pointer (the path - local file system or URL) to that in my text file.
- kag0 4y ago
  How do you keep this synchronized between devices? I had tried this with a git repo but pull/pushing before/after jotting down a note on my phone got tedious.
  - pdevr 4y ago
    I have disciplined myself to do it only one way. That is enough, and keeps it simple for most purposes. Copy from the phones and other devices, paste to the main device. It being just one file makes it much easier to do so. It is backed up regularly using rsync, as part of my daily backup of everything. The hardest part - for me, at least - was to let go of the myth of the need for multi-directional syncing.
    - kag0 4y ago
      I think manual copying would kill it for me. I'm just back and forth between multiple devices throughout the day and it seems like that would amount to a lot of copying. Although there's only one of me, so there's never a need to merge. So it's not really multi-directional syncing, it's more like broadcast from whatever I'm using currently to everything else.
- p0nce 4y ago
  I do exactly like this. Top task have a small minus sign "-" and bottom tasks get a little plus sign "+" (means: done).
dnndev 4y ago
Use text editor for the short list that must be done today/tomorrow. (These are my manager tasks) Everything else I create tickets in our tracking system which is divided by client / project. (These are my technician tasks for the most part) Things move fast, make sure your system works for you and not the other way around. At times, I simply go by the idea, if I can’t retain it in memory then it’s not on my short list. Fancy to do lists seem logical but not practical. I spent my time managing a list rather than doing the tasks.
aetherspawn 4y ago
Microsoft Todo is great for this. It syncs between all your devices, Office365 and integrates with outlook (flagged emails become todo items). You can make hierarchical folders and the recurring option is super handy.. I run much of my invoicing/AR/AP as just a recurring todo item.
- codazoda 4y ago
  Microsoft threatened to kill my favorite tool, wunderlist, so I stopped using it and avoided their new tool too. I just can’t seem to forgive them. I am not sure what wunderlist provided that I loved, or I might write my own replacement, but nothing has felt as good since.
  - drifty-t-sleep 4y ago
    Amazing Marvin. All the tools of every to do app out there. With the ability to customize everything. You add and remove only the features you need and use. You can even theme it to look exactly like Wunderlist.
Kharvok 4y ago
I'm absolutely paralyzed by this at the moment. I want the mobility of a digital solution, so much of my documentation and task items are spread across Evernote and Trello. Except an analog solution such as a note card or post-it notes has a physical prescense that's very focused and attention grabbing.
- dv_dt 4y ago
  Dedicate an iPad for notes?
  - bnj 4y ago
    This is what I ended up doing, and even though the majority of the notes I take aren't things I'll need to return to -- they're more about processing in the moment -- just consistently using an iPad to capture into apple notes has scratched the itch in my brain that I might need to look back at something someday, and it's well worth it. I also am pleased that I can use it to scan any piece of paper I'm given straight into a note and that same scan will pop up when I search for it.
TruthWillHurt 4y ago
Who's this guy to tell me how a founder should behave?
- lexx 4y ago
  He was talking to me
ezekg 4y ago
I literally just use the Notes app on my phone for planning and brainstorming, synced to my desktop. Lists upon lists. Everything else code-related is in GitHub issues and PRs.
smartmic 4y ago
Hey, a little bit off-topic, but: here comes a very original HN experience. The author himself writes that tools are the least important, but for the HN crowd, it seems that tools are above anything. In consequence, the thread here is mostly about the tools only. Combined with the favorite topic of self-organization, this can serve as highly illustrative material about HN.
- gekkostate 4y ago
  OP here. Thanks for reading the post! I agree with you. It seems that the HN crowd is very much interested in tools while I explicitly mention that the tool question is the least important one. I'm curious to know why folks are more interested in tools than principles or why there is little discussion about the principles.
  - 1123581321 4y ago
    Re-reading your post, I would say it comes from implied disagreement with your deprioritization of the right tools. You also use the word system a lot in the essay, which mentally translates to tool for a lot of people (myself included, if I’m not careful.) It’s also hard to do more than mildly agree or disagree with GTD and energy management principles. I also suspect anyone disagreeing with your main point, coming into this thread to insist they can remember everything to do, would be attacked. I agree more variety in the discussion would be nice.
- bachmeier 4y ago
  I think part of it is that the nature of the work done by a solo founder is very different from that of many HN readers. It's a matter of scale. "Why use a database? CSV files do everything I need." That's true for many projects but not as much when you have a few TB of data. Some jobs require you to scale in several dimensions: types of projects/data, number of observations of data like email, number of reference files, and people you interact with. I'm not a solo founder but I've been there too. Once you're managing data that's too large for your brain, you need a system that scales, like GTD. Tools are useful but not at all as important as the system. I've tried a lot of tools, but GTD has been the constant that has (to some extent) kept me from giving in to the stress. You can't understand the scaling issues until you've worked in that type of position, where the stress of managing stuff and dealing with stuff constantly coming at you can overwhelm you.
revicon 4y ago
I’m addition to the other great ideas posted in this thread, I’ll throw out something that has helped me a lot… I have a folder called "Captain's Log" that I constantly post things into. Everytime I hear something on the radio I want to look up, I type a few of the lyrics into a file and save it and it goes into the Captain's Log for perusal later. Everytime I have something I need to remember to do I post a note into the Captain's log and add a "todo" tag to it so I can sort those out when needed. All meeting notes go in there too. When I start coding something I take notes on what I'm working on in a note so that I can go back and remember what I did when I was working on that thing I can't quite remember. I can sort that folder by "date created" and see a log of my life going back in time and I've found it very useful.
- anon2020dot00 4y ago
  Makes sense actually. Most people I think would just use one notepad text file per day I think but I can see the advantage of creating one text file per idea or note.
nickmotedotcom 4y ago
Great article. I really enjoy using Notion's bullet lists to stay organized as a solo founder.
intrasight 4y ago
Since I only have a hammer (emacs), everything is a nail (text file). Every project has a root folder with a file "diary.txt". Many of those files are multi-megabyte long. Only other tool is Google Calendar - for things that are time-sensitive

207 points by gekkostate 5y ago

I use color coded Post-It notes to track my tasks. Red for high priority tasks, yellow for medium, green for low. Orange and blue for subtasks. Stick them on a whiteboard near your workspace and then move what you want to tackle into a row that acts as your queue. Finished tasks go in a stack you can watch grow.

TastyJhinga 4y ago
Why not just use something like jira or trello at that point? Having to remember the color associations for subtasks physically seems a bit too much for me. Also, software is something you can access from anywhere and you don't have to be in one single place.
- j7ake 4y ago
  The physical act of writing notes, sticking them, removing them can get one in the zone more than the abstracted version on trello.
- bdominy 4y ago
  Software solutions are fine and I have used them before, especially with a team, but as a solo founder, I just like simple Post-Its - to each their own.
  - viyiene 4y ago
    I think it's better to stick with the simple old ways too! Maybe as a solo founder you can get some more insights with our community on http://founderscafe.io/ http://founderscafe.io/, maybe you can share some of your practices too!
- jacinda 4y ago
  Eh, whatever works. Some people like the ease of working anywhere, some people are more motivated by seeing a physical representation of their progress (possibly similar to how people remember chronological events better when read from a physical book vs an e-book or on-screen: https://www.fastcompany.com/40476984/this-is-how-the-way-you-read-impacts-your-memory-and-productivity https://www.fastcompany.com/40476984/this-is-how-the-way-you...).
- csee 4y ago
  I don't like the added cognitive overhead (having to remember how the app works) and lack of physical tangibility of software solutions.
- staticassertion 4y ago
  For me, all of those task trackers are radically slower than even a pen and paper or just a single document. Load times, the million buttons, search, etc are all worse. They're fine for teams that need to share work and make asks of other teams and prioritize etc, but for one person they're extremely inefficient.

urban_winter 4y ago

I've never found a way that I like to integrate dealing with email into a to-do list. Reading emails is a perpetual need but it is damaging to focus and I often find that it saps my energy by reminding me of all the things that are not yet done. I've tried having fixed times of the day where I always deal with emails; adding "30 minutes of email" to my task list; reading them between each switch of tasks. None of these approaches really cracked it for me. I haven't read "Getting Things Done" - I wonder whether it has a solution.

rlayton2 4y ago
I've found it helpful to deliberately identify if you are being the manager or the technician (to use E-myth's terminology). The manager goes through the lists of tasks and emails, and works out what needs to be done (next, or today, or this week, or this sprint). The manager tells the technician (usually via TODO list) what that task is. Then you switch modes to technician - its no longer your job to organise, its your job to do.
atoav 4y ago
Have you ever thought about doing the exact opposite? Instead of integrating email in your todo list you could run your todo-list via email. I worked on a job where this was done and it worked flawlessly (emails generated from various systems and people, including those in the shift before you). The one thing you have to make sure that your "job" communication is divided from your private communication or other non-actionable messages like newsletters etc. Writing Emails to your self is totally okay also : )
timwis 4y ago
Indeed it does! And the key lies in separating “defining work” from “doing work.” GTD’s “get clear” process involves going through everything in your inboxes (not just email but physical papers etc), and determining what is the actual _next action_ for this thing (if it’s actionable at all; some emails should just be referenced, delegated, or archived). You log that next action in your system and move on to the next one, rather than doing the action t then and there (unless it’s super quick to do so). By separating these two, you minimise mindset switching, and can be far more assured that you’re working on the right thing at any given time.

elias94 4y ago

I love org-mode, but the lack of mobile is really a wall for me. I need the flexibility to add notes in a second from my mobile (without emacs server etc). I switched to Bear atm, just because has the sync between all devices.

TastyJhinga 4y ago
You can try the orgzly mobile app to sync or edit orgmode files on your phone. Its equally good and I love it.
stingraycharles 4y ago
Have you seen beorg? It’s a mobile app for org-mode, and allows you to sync through a Dropbox folder. https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/beorg-to-do-list-agenda/id1238649962?l=en https://apps.apple.com/nl/app/beorg-to-do-list-agenda/id1238...

cseleborg 4y ago

I use a mix of bullet journaling and GTD, and it has worked quite well for me (though not perfectly, of course). The physical bullet journal (notebooks from Leuchtturm) is a log of sorts, a place where I can take notes from calls etc. and write down anything that comes to mind, in the spirit of capturing every idea. Pen and paper just works better for me. My GTD context lists with next steps for all ongoing projects are physical index cards that I just keep in there, I re-write them whenever they get full (one side only). For my projects list, I use Notion, where I have one page that holds the list of projects, and each project having its own page which, most of the time, is just a simple list of TODOs, but can be more elaborate, with kanban boards for more involved stuff or simply a loose collection of documentation, screenshots, drafts, etc.. And of course, Google Calendar. I was never super disciplined with the weekly review stuff, but it really worked well for holding stuff that my brain would shed in the blink of an eye. I was always very slow, but it's rare that I forget anything I need to get done.

stingraycharles 4y ago
I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to ask, but what kind of layout / system do you use with your bullet journal? What I understand is that bullet journals are typically most effective when you adapt it to your own work / domain, but most examples of what others use (including the subreddit community) are almost art projects. I would be very curious what a more “HN-approved” bullet journal would look like.
- donatzsky 4y ago
  I put together a YouTube playlist with the best videos I've found [1], exactly because it's so hard to find any that treat it as a tool and not an art project. It's roughly in the order I recommend watching. The main bullet Journal reddit has also been taken over by the art crowd, but there are two others that are specifically about journaling and productivity. [2][3] [1] https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL50SnCmB2W7tUaHuUzeB8OLC2JrC2Hrl1 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL50SnCmB2W7tUaHuUzeB8OLC2... [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/BasicBulletJournals https://www.reddit.com/r/BasicBulletJournals [3] https://www.reddit.com/r/bujo https://www.reddit.com/r/bujo

paul_f 4y ago

Having tried everything, nothing works better than 5x8 yellow pads. Write down everything you need to do. Draw a line thru when done. Every few days, rebuild the list. Everything has to be on one page, or there are too many to-do's, and you can delete ones that just don't make the cut. No technology, just pen and paper.

staticassertion 4y ago
I had one Dropbox Paper document for years called "Next Steps". It was literally just a freeform list of things I needed to get done for the project. Every day I would expand the list and cross off/ checkmark what had been done. It got pretty massive. Now I have a company and a team so we use an issue tracker, which I find to be much much heavier but it's easier to use across multiple people.
dnndev 4y ago
This would be a good idea if I could read my own handwriting. I get this works for some, but never has for me. I have never been a notebook type of person. I love your general approach and very similar to a digital version I use.
- mellavora 4y ago
  You could work on improving your handwriting. You might notice other benefits. I read about one person whose math comprehension increased dramatically when they improved their penmanship; something about a mental link between the ability to visualize the formulas in their mind and the ability to create/visualize them on paper.
  - journey_16162 4y ago
    Not OP. I don't see how handwriting is better. I'm already working on the laptop, notepad app is almost integrated with everything else, I can access it in miliseconds with keyboard shortcuts. I can create a similar list in a simple notepad app, i.e.: x Task 1 x Task 2 - Task 3 - Task 4
  - 4y ago

imtemplain 4y ago

pdevr 4y ago

After using a lot of different tools, now I use a plain text file. It works for me. I move things down as I finish them. The top part always have my pending tasks in there. The file is more than ten years old now, and have been the best productivity tool for me that I started using the same approach at office as well. I had some sticky notes at office, but now with the world having changed, I took a screenshot of all of them and manually transferred them to my text file as well. If I need to refer to a diagram or something, I just add a pointer (the path - local file system or URL) to that in my text file.

kag0 4y ago
How do you keep this synchronized between devices? I had tried this with a git repo but pull/pushing before/after jotting down a note on my phone got tedious.
- pdevr 4y ago
  I have disciplined myself to do it only one way. That is enough, and keeps it simple for most purposes. Copy from the phones and other devices, paste to the main device. It being just one file makes it much easier to do so. It is backed up regularly using rsync, as part of my daily backup of everything. The hardest part - for me, at least - was to let go of the myth of the need for multi-directional syncing.
  - kag0 4y ago
    I think manual copying would kill it for me. I'm just back and forth between multiple devices throughout the day and it seems like that would amount to a lot of copying. Although there's only one of me, so there's never a need to merge. So it's not really multi-directional syncing, it's more like broadcast from whatever I'm using currently to everything else.
p0nce 4y ago
I do exactly like this. Top task have a small minus sign "-" and bottom tasks get a little plus sign "+" (means: done).

dnndev 4y ago

Use text editor for the short list that must be done today/tomorrow. (These are my manager tasks) Everything else I create tickets in our tracking system which is divided by client / project. (These are my technician tasks for the most part) Things move fast, make sure your system works for you and not the other way around. At times, I simply go by the idea, if I can’t retain it in memory then it’s not on my short list. Fancy to do lists seem logical but not practical. I spent my time managing a list rather than doing the tasks.

aetherspawn 4y ago

Microsoft Todo is great for this. It syncs between all your devices, Office365 and integrates with outlook (flagged emails become todo items). You can make hierarchical folders and the recurring option is super handy.. I run much of my invoicing/AR/AP as just a recurring todo item.

codazoda 4y ago
Microsoft threatened to kill my favorite tool, wunderlist, so I stopped using it and avoided their new tool too. I just can’t seem to forgive them. I am not sure what wunderlist provided that I loved, or I might write my own replacement, but nothing has felt as good since.
- drifty-t-sleep 4y ago
  Amazing Marvin. All the tools of every to do app out there. With the ability to customize everything. You add and remove only the features you need and use. You can even theme it to look exactly like Wunderlist.

Kharvok 4y ago

I'm absolutely paralyzed by this at the moment. I want the mobility of a digital solution, so much of my documentation and task items are spread across Evernote and Trello. Except an analog solution such as a note card or post-it notes has a physical prescense that's very focused and attention grabbing.

dv_dt 4y ago
Dedicate an iPad for notes?
- bnj 4y ago
  This is what I ended up doing, and even though the majority of the notes I take aren't things I'll need to return to -- they're more about processing in the moment -- just consistently using an iPad to capture into apple notes has scratched the itch in my brain that I might need to look back at something someday, and it's well worth it. I also am pleased that I can use it to scan any piece of paper I'm given straight into a note and that same scan will pop up when I search for it.

TruthWillHurt 4y ago

Who's this guy to tell me how a founder should behave?

lexx 4y ago
He was talking to me

ezekg 4y ago

I literally just use the Notes app on my phone for planning and brainstorming, synced to my desktop. Lists upon lists. Everything else code-related is in GitHub issues and PRs.

smartmic 4y ago

Hey, a little bit off-topic, but: here comes a very original HN experience. The author himself writes that tools are the least important, but for the HN crowd, it seems that tools are above anything. In consequence, the thread here is mostly about the tools only. Combined with the favorite topic of self-organization, this can serve as highly illustrative material about HN.

gekkostate 4y ago
OP here. Thanks for reading the post! I agree with you. It seems that the HN crowd is very much interested in tools while I explicitly mention that the tool question is the least important one. I'm curious to know why folks are more interested in tools than principles or why there is little discussion about the principles.
- 1123581321 4y ago
  Re-reading your post, I would say it comes from implied disagreement with your deprioritization of the right tools. You also use the word system a lot in the essay, which mentally translates to tool for a lot of people (myself included, if I’m not careful.) It’s also hard to do more than mildly agree or disagree with GTD and energy management principles. I also suspect anyone disagreeing with your main point, coming into this thread to insist they can remember everything to do, would be attacked. I agree more variety in the discussion would be nice.
bachmeier 4y ago
I think part of it is that the nature of the work done by a solo founder is very different from that of many HN readers. It's a matter of scale. "Why use a database? CSV files do everything I need." That's true for many projects but not as much when you have a few TB of data. Some jobs require you to scale in several dimensions: types of projects/data, number of observations of data like email, number of reference files, and people you interact with. I'm not a solo founder but I've been there too. Once you're managing data that's too large for your brain, you need a system that scales, like GTD. Tools are useful but not at all as important as the system. I've tried a lot of tools, but GTD has been the constant that has (to some extent) kept me from giving in to the stress. You can't understand the scaling issues until you've worked in that type of position, where the stress of managing stuff and dealing with stuff constantly coming at you can overwhelm you.

revicon 4y ago

I’m addition to the other great ideas posted in this thread, I’ll throw out something that has helped me a lot… I have a folder called "Captain's Log" that I constantly post things into. Everytime I hear something on the radio I want to look up, I type a few of the lyrics into a file and save it and it goes into the Captain's Log for perusal later. Everytime I have something I need to remember to do I post a note into the Captain's log and add a "todo" tag to it so I can sort those out when needed. All meeting notes go in there too. When I start coding something I take notes on what I'm working on in a note so that I can go back and remember what I did when I was working on that thing I can't quite remember. I can sort that folder by "date created" and see a log of my life going back in time and I've found it very useful.

anon2020dot00 4y ago
Makes sense actually. Most people I think would just use one notepad text file per day I think but I can see the advantage of creating one text file per idea or note.

nickmotedotcom 4y ago

Great article. I really enjoy using Notion's bullet lists to stay organized as a solo founder.

intrasight 4y ago

Since I only have a hammer (emacs), everything is a nail (text file). Every project has a root folder with a file "diary.txt". Many of those files are multi-megabyte long. Only other tool is Google Calendar - for things that are time-sensitive