13 ms·

My productivity system

197 points by nunodonato 4y ago

cube2222 4y ago
My productivity "hack" for 2022 was discovering Sunsama[0] a few weeks ago. I was usually using a single text file from which I was removing done items. The problem was that I then didn't remember all those small things I did that added up to big amounts of time. The feeling of time running away without remembering how is really demotivating. With this, I can see on a calendar view when I did what, it's very low ceremony, and I can easily plan for the week ahead. It also integrates with a ton of other tools. I switched off all the included rituals to start with, so no opinion about these. It's a bit on the expensive side at 20$/mo, but if it saves me just a little time every month, it's already paid for itself, so yeah. Overall, very recommended, happy user. And I'm definitely not one of those "maximize my daily productivity and optimize every waking hour around it" folks. I've also tried many other todo list / task board tools, but they don't really fit the "daily planner" bill. [0]: https://sunsama.com/ https://sunsama.com/
- flakeoil 4y ago
  If you prefer continue using a text file for your todo/done items, then I recommend Easyorg [1]. There you can see the todos from the text file in a more organized agenda. There is also a calendar view where you can scroll week by week to see what you have done and see what's coming up. Kind of what you explain. No need to remove the done items from the text file. [1]: https://easyorgmode.com/ https://easyorgmode.com/
- joegahona 4y ago
  There is almost no information about that product on the website.
account-5 4y ago
Text files and a paper notebook (squared). Text files are organised in yearly folders with a file per month. Each file is basically an ini setup, each day a section with either free text or boxed tasks: [ ] or [×]. If I need associated files, dated folders. Paper notebook is pretty much a bullet journal without the flowery nonsense you see on Pinterest.
chazeon 4y ago
The name “working memory” is neat. I have been trying to settle on a specific working memory, right now i am on Craft. The woking memory things can change from time to time, I just make sure everything can eventually go to an online note, a Markdown based online “notebook”.
- chazeon 4y ago
  I found being able to start up quickly, compress link, are the important features of the working memory.
- sumanthvepa 4y ago
  I think the term comes from Computer Architecture/Operating System Design. Working memory in that context is defined as the set of code and data pages that need to be in main memory for the program to function without incurring page faults. As long as the working memory of a program fits within available memory the performance will be constrained for the most part by CPU performance. If working memory set exceeds the size of available memory the program will 'thrash', i.e. excessing disk access that effectively stalls program execution.
- thomastjeffery 4y ago
  Working memory happens to be the technical term used in medicine/psychology. For example, one of the main symptoms of ADHD is limited working memory; thought to be caused by underdevelopment in areas of the frontal lobe.
conor_f 4y ago
Was really thrown by all the references to "GTD". It seems like a heavily commercialized productivity workflow? My entire productivity system revolves around Vikunja[1]. It's essentially just a todo list application, but it's super flexible (e.g. view as list, kanban, gantt, etc), supports having many lists (I keep one per different idea/topic), and so many other features. You can also self-host it for free, which has been a completely painless process for me personally, and gives you the standard peace of mind from being in control of your personal data. Highly suggest checking it out! [1] https://vikunja.io/ https://vikunja.io/
- esperent 4y ago
  Getting Things Done is a book that describes a system for... Well you get it. There doesn't have to be anything commercial about it, you can find synopses online for free and the system is simple so those are probably nearly as good as reading the book. I read it about ten years ago and still use some parts of it, it's a good system and probably becomes more and more useful the busier you are. I'm sure it could be used alongside the app you shared. Which looks nice btw, I've been looking for something self hosted to use for a small team. I'll check it out.
- bbkane 4y ago
  Vikunja looks really nice!! I might actually be able to replace MS TODO!
- alpaca128 4y ago
  Smooth UI and I can actually try it without an account, that looks promising. I guess I'll add Vikunja to my to-do list ;)
- maroonblazer 4y ago
  Vikunja looks good, thanks for sharing. The biggest drawback seems to be that the mobile app isn't at parity with the desktop version. I've been using Remember The Milk for the last several years. At $40/year it's been rock solid. https://www.rememberthemilk.com/ https://www.rememberthemilk.com/
- tengwar2 4y ago
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
omarhaneef 4y ago
There are three insights that David Allen had with GTD that I appreciate: - one inbox to absorb tasks you distribute later - lists go into working contexts so you do them while in that context - short term and long term are different The issue I have is that we also have different “recording” contexts. These days I can use an app on my phone, a note in my computer or a notepad in a meeting. I have multiple inboxes that have to be routed. In addition I think the relationship between project and tasks needs to be fleshed out. However I think those 3 insights persist across all good productivity systems.
- nunodonato 4y ago
  One inbox is not a hard rule. You need capture tools in many different places (home/office/car are a few examples). You can even use voice recorder (memos) or similar tools. Its important to note that many updates have been made to recommendations as we move forward in time and tech is more present in our day to day, compared to when it was when the first edition of GTD came about. Contexts, yes, I just found out that I currently was not benefiting from it. For me, nowadays, its more like "work mode" and "not-work mode". And simple and short lists are working efficiently enough. I don't know, maybe my life just got simpler ;)
  - xiwenc 4y ago
    The apple reminder app(s) work surprisingly well for many cases: * macbook: at a desk or whenever/wherever it is accessible * iphone: quick note pretty much anywhere like train ride * apple watch: running, in the pool, during sauna session or in the gym weightlifting * siri: while driving car or riding bike These all end into a single inbox. Unfortunately this requires full buy-in into the apple eco-system.
- ilteris 4y ago
  That's exactly my problem. After using all these apps I am having hard time routing these into one app and my lists are scattered across different apps. I wish there was a painless and easy way to jolt and knowing it would end up in my master Todo list. But instead I have to think which app list i should be using...
tnolet 4y ago
I’m always fascinated by people obsessed by productivity and its range of tools. I consider myself pretty highly productive. Typical week had 8+ meetings, calls, follow ups, research, thinking time and sometimes coding. Typical CTO and CPO stuff. I tend to get 90% of important things done. If not more. I’m fairly busy, but just use my inbox with search, Apple notes and Apple reminders. Works fine for me. Am I just missing out on something?
- mrelectric 4y ago
  Congratulations, you don't have ADD
  - Bakary 4y ago
    Sounds like a specialized productivity tool would be of little help there, since no tasklist can withstand the problem of just not being able to get started on a task. And something like GTD is only going to be another burdensome and anxiety-inducing task for someone with executive dysfunction. A simple but constant reminder system (perhaps with a smartwatch or phone) can be of more use.
    - deepnet 4y ago
      Breaking task down into small single actions can be very helpful for those with executive function disorders. This is part of GTD.
      - ParetoOptimal 4y ago
        And then if you use a system malleable enough to reduce starting effort to 0 across anything (project or task) you do... you just about solve that problem
        Apocryphon 4y ago
        How can a productivity system reduce the starting effort of any task to zero? There’s such a thing as activation energy. Sure, you can try breaking a task down to its smallest component, but not all problems can chunk like that. And even the smallest component will take non-zero work. I would be curious to learn about a system that could actually accomplish that.
lawgimenez 4y ago
I have been using GitHub’s new project for my personal and family use and I enjoyed it so much. The filtering is very good and flexible. I used Things but it seems I prefer Kanban style.
- eran- 4y ago
  What new project?
  - goplayoutside 4y ago
    GP may be referring to GitHub "Projects". * https://docs.github.com/en/issues/planning-and-tracking-with-projects/learning-about-projects/about-projects https://docs.github.com/en/issues/planning-and-tracking-with...
    - lawgimenez 4y ago
      Yes this is what I am using.
muldoc 4y ago
Ah, Cal Newport. Another BS self-help sales person.
- emptyparadise 4y ago
  never trust anyone who writes notes on taking notes
  - ParetoOptimal 4y ago
    I agree that without use in practice outside of "notes on notes" you are almost certainly improving the wrong things. However without reflection that may include notes on notes, you are doomed to the suboptimal or even counter-productive.
- nunodonato 4y ago
  Curious about that opinion. I find your comment rather negative and, slightly, toxic, but I'll bite. Care to share why you have that opinion about him? I've read three of his books, and although not all are "great", there's always some interesting thoughts about what he shares. I also like that he really gets people to develop a sense to actually think and work deeply, and move away from shallow and unsatisfactory busyness. His newsletter and now his podcast are excellent ways for people to ask questions and get suggestions and help for free. He has a bit of a big ego, but I wouldn't use that to call him "another BS self-help sales person".
  - Bakary 4y ago
    Cal Newport is probably one of the "best" salesmen in the space because he has an actual non-meme job and seems to have more good faith than most others. But at the end of the day, his actionable material can be easily compressed into maybe three blog posts. Even if he had good intentions at the start, he still got caught up in the nonfiction sales logic. Teaching productivity is not like teaching mathematics or philosophy. There is a limited range of things to learn and apply, and the core ideas are concise but difficult to put in practice. A good teacher in that space would essentially be able to impart their wisdom in maybe two hours, at which point the success of the teaching would lie in the student actually following what they were told. An ongoing productivity podcast or book series flies in the face of this. The mere act of commercializing productivity dooms the entire edifice. If the student is still on episode #23, the sales has succeeded but the teaching has failed.
nojito 4y ago
The only productivity hack is to not be terminally online. Every year there are new apps/tools/"systems". There is an entire industry catered to making you "productive"
- nunodonato 4y ago
  True that. For me it was not about not being online, but actually being online without getting distracted from useless websites (mostly social media or chat). I wrote about that in my previous blog post. Ever since I cut out all the noise I've found lots of time to read and write, which I love.
ryyr 4y ago
my productivity system: not having a productivity system
nonoesp 4y ago
I used Dropbox Paper heavily but ended up migrating all of my documents to Notion.
JestUM 4y ago
I generally break down goals into tiny actions and try to combine tiny actions to goals to see if there is any confusion. Tasks -> Projects -> Streams -> Goals I think in this format.
howmayiannoyyou 4y ago
I've been using whatboard.app to manage my tasks. I pin ongoing tasks, unpin to-do's, archive things I may have to tackle or recall later.
ThomPete 4y ago
To be more productive. Be more selective.
ChildOfChaos 4y ago
I adore Trello. It's the only productivity/todo list type app that I have ever stuck too. I think it's mostly because of the flexibility it overs. I put everything into it. I have a whole board called 'Spark File' which is just lists of stuff, so whenever I need an idea for something it's there. Want to watch a movie? I've made a note of every trailer I saw that looked intreasting, every movie i've had recommended etc, I can find something on there to watch, Want to get someone a gift? I've noted down anything they have said or I have seen that is relevant, so i've got a list of stuff to consider to go. Black Friday? I've already got a list of things I am looking to get sometime, so i can simply check if anything is on offer, etc etc. My main todo list has Inbox, todo, Doing, done. I capture everything to the 'inbox' and then when i sought through it, it either becomes an entry in the relevant list in the 'spark file' or I figure out an action i can take on the idea and it becomes a todo.
dasil003 4y ago
I dabbled with GTD in the late 00s/early 10s. This coincided with growing the team at my startup and generally needing to keep more balls in the air from a management perspective. I even used OmniFocus for a while. But as I moved into larger companies where efficient collaboration is the limiting function, I realized that my personal productivity system is not where the value is. Essentially as a leader in a larger engineering org, the productivity systems that generate more value are the ones that are shared. Even though I can't control them directly I can create more value by A) getting onboard with the way that collaborating teams want to work and B) influencing people and nudging these systems in the direction that makes sense based on my expertise. This often feels like herding cats, but it's a core job of a manager. In addition, all software workers, whether manager or IC, need space for deep freeform thinking. It's imperative that whatever systems we use not come in the way of this. With this in mind, my personal system has to be lightweight and flexible so that it minimizes overhead and doesn't impose any constraints on how I am working with others. To that end, I've largely reduced to using Workflowy for all tasks / notes / plans. I do this in a reverse chronological style w/ regular chunked archiving. I also star every "important" email thread and bookmark every relevant doc or page that comes across my desk. In this manner I can go back and search history comprehensively as needed, but my working space for any given project or domain is always small and generally fits above the fold in the Workflowy context. There are a few little tactical hacks I use (eg. #action hashtag for todos), but those are ephemeral and I will discard or change them whenever it suits me. The key thing overall is that the system requires less than an hour a week of maintenance and is a single source of truth for my personal focus.
galfarragem 4y ago
The system I’ve been polishing[0] along the years is similar to the one from this article. I believe that there is an ultimate solution from where is hard to deviate. [0] https://github.com/slowernews/hamster-system https://github.com/slowernews/hamster-system
Archelaos 4y ago
> Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing else to take away. > Antoine St. Exupery (author of the little prince) "(author of the little prince)" could have been taken away.
- nunodonato 4y ago
  :D
mawadev 4y ago
My productivity system: I turn off the internet
tanin 4y ago
My working memory file is just a giant txt file that is synced using git to github. It's free and fast (because a text file editor like Sublime is fast and can handle a very large text file). You can also use it offline. The conflict is handled by git, which is familiar to a programmer. It also feels more permanent. I used to use other note taking apps where the notes were thrown away after migrating to a new app because it wasn't that convenient to transfer between apps. Plain text can't go wrong in this matter. I used Dropbox Paper and Google Docs before. Once you reach certain size, it is very very slow. The caveat with the text file is the lack of fuzzy searching capability... but it's tolerable so far. PS. I've built my own git sync: https://github.com/tanin47/git-notes https://github.com/tanin47/git-notes -- it is written in Go.
- nunodonato 4y ago
  I think that if your memory file is too big, you are implement the idea wrong. It is supposed to be a daily thing, not a permanent memory.
  - tanin 4y ago
    I used to have multiple files, but that didn't work well either. It's nicer to have everything in a single file where you can scroll through quickly. But as mentioned the fuzzy search isn't there though.
Shank 4y ago
On macOS, Tot [0] is a great app that replaces the "working memory dot txt" format that Cal Newport likes. The upshot with Tot is that you get a fixed number of pages, and they're synchronized via iCloud. So, you can add to your "working memory text file" from anywhere you have an iOS or macOS device, and it's simple enough that it can't grow into a more complex system. [0]: https://tot.rocks/ https://tot.rocks/
- kstrauser 4y ago
  I wanted to love Tot, but its iCloud sync just isn’t good. In my first week or so of ownership, sync between my devices stopped working a couple of times. I followed the instructions (https://support.iconfactory.com/kb/tot/icloud-sync-not-working https://support.iconfactory.com/kb/tot/icloud-sync-not-worki...), and that worked for a while, but then it un-synced again. I ended up getting a refund for it. In the end, I stuck with Drafts. It doesn’t have the 7-item feature/gimmick, and it’s not as pretty, but it’s been 100% rock solid for me for years.
rodolphoarruda 4y ago
I've used paper notebooks as working memories for almost 10 years, until I learned about Evernote, which I had adopted ever since. I quickly became addicted to it. I was storing absolutely everything in it. It was around 1000 or 1300 notes when I began to lose track of things, meaning, information and documents. Search stopped being effective to me and I ended of with too many tags. I decided to adopt the model which uses only 2 notebooks: .Inbox and Archive. Everything else is organized via tagging. Today I have around 3500 notes which are mostly a personal archive. I simply gave up trying to be productive finding things in that ocean of information. So I'm using Google Keep for basic note taking and txt files with long descriptive names in project folders when I need to keep specific notes isolated from all the rest. Nautilus search works fine in finding those files as I type parts of their names.
tmshkr 4y ago
You can do all of this in https://noteplan.co/ https://noteplan.co/
- kstrauser 4y ago
  I bailed on Noteplan when the author doubled the annual subscription price to $120. I switched from Obsidian to Noteplan because I greatly preferred the native app to Electron, but it’s not that much better to justify costing $70 per year more. I do love how Noteplan handles daily notes, and used Shortcuts to script up my replacement app of choice to emulate my favorite bits of it.
  - tmshkr 4y ago
    I think I'm locked in at the old price, thankfully. The Daily Notes are essential, especially with templates.
ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago
I posted my own tracking/productivity system, a few days ago[0]. TL;DR, I use a PostIt pad. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32799964 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32799964
epolanski 4y ago
I like using Notion + PARA[1]. I have a journal where I write notes with daily todos or make notes about systems/code, etc. It's okay for everyday stuff. Then I have a separate PARA for larger ongoing stuff. [1] https://fortelabs.com/blog/para/ https://fortelabs.com/blog/para/
synicalx 4y ago
It's refreshing to see a productivity system that isn't 12 different note taking/organisational apps + Notion all strung together with Zapier.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
GSGBen 4y ago
I used to use Trello for my entire personal KB, but the description editor grows unwieldy with large cards and you only get a few levels of nesting. It's still great software. It took a few times to stick, but I've now fallen in love with Obsidian and am migrating everything except a large project's task-tracking system to it. The WYSIWYG editor, fully nested hierarchy and fast full-text search is fantastic and makes it better for my personal documentation. I'm extending my Trello backup project to make the migration easier. Take a look if you're considering the same move. https://github.com/GSGBen/t2md https://github.com/GSGBen/t2md
alchemist1e9 4y ago
https://checkyourlist.app/ https://checkyourlist.app/ For me this little app is so useful and flexible that it has definitely improved my productivity. It’s not GTD and I use it both for it’s original purpose but also to capture and manage tasks I need to do. Wanted to throw this out there for anyone looking for something super simple but also genius.
LittleFishyChan 4y ago
As far as productivity goes, I use a text document to track when I begin a new task and I don’t “start” the next task until I finish the previous one. Doing this has made me really conscious of finishing something before I start something else. As far as studying goes, I use SuperMemo to keep track of useful bits of knowledge and my Notes app on my iPhone to keep track of what goes into SuperMemo. I use Things 3 on my iPhone to keep track of recurring To Dos and I work every day to get that list to zero. I have made sure that my Things 3 to do list gets to zero by the end of the day, and I’ve been doing that for the last 554 days.

197 points by nunodonato 4y ago

My productivity "hack" for 2022 was discovering Sunsama[0] a few weeks ago. I was usually using a single text file from which I was removing done items. The problem was that I then didn't remember all those small things I did that added up to big amounts of time. The feeling of time running away without remembering how is really demotivating. With this, I can see on a calendar view when I did what, it's very low ceremony, and I can easily plan for the week ahead. It also integrates with a ton of other tools. I switched off all the included rituals to start with, so no opinion about these. It's a bit on the expensive side at 20$/mo, but if it saves me just a little time every month, it's already paid for itself, so yeah. Overall, very recommended, happy user. And I'm definitely not one of those "maximize my daily productivity and optimize every waking hour around it" folks. I've also tried many other todo list / task board tools, but they don't really fit the "daily planner" bill. [0]: https://sunsama.com/ https://sunsama.com/

flakeoil 4y ago
If you prefer continue using a text file for your todo/done items, then I recommend Easyorg [1]. There you can see the todos from the text file in a more organized agenda. There is also a calendar view where you can scroll week by week to see what you have done and see what's coming up. Kind of what you explain. No need to remove the done items from the text file. [1]: https://easyorgmode.com/ https://easyorgmode.com/
joegahona 4y ago
There is almost no information about that product on the website.

account-5 4y ago

Text files and a paper notebook (squared). Text files are organised in yearly folders with a file per month. Each file is basically an ini setup, each day a section with either free text or boxed tasks: [ ] or [×]. If I need associated files, dated folders. Paper notebook is pretty much a bullet journal without the flowery nonsense you see on Pinterest.

chazeon 4y ago

The name “working memory” is neat. I have been trying to settle on a specific working memory, right now i am on Craft. The woking memory things can change from time to time, I just make sure everything can eventually go to an online note, a Markdown based online “notebook”.

chazeon 4y ago
I found being able to start up quickly, compress link, are the important features of the working memory.
sumanthvepa 4y ago
I think the term comes from Computer Architecture/Operating System Design. Working memory in that context is defined as the set of code and data pages that need to be in main memory for the program to function without incurring page faults. As long as the working memory of a program fits within available memory the performance will be constrained for the most part by CPU performance. If working memory set exceeds the size of available memory the program will 'thrash', i.e. excessing disk access that effectively stalls program execution.
thomastjeffery 4y ago
Working memory happens to be the technical term used in medicine/psychology. For example, one of the main symptoms of ADHD is limited working memory; thought to be caused by underdevelopment in areas of the frontal lobe.

conor_f 4y ago

Was really thrown by all the references to "GTD". It seems like a heavily commercialized productivity workflow? My entire productivity system revolves around Vikunja[1]. It's essentially just a todo list application, but it's super flexible (e.g. view as list, kanban, gantt, etc), supports having many lists (I keep one per different idea/topic), and so many other features. You can also self-host it for free, which has been a completely painless process for me personally, and gives you the standard peace of mind from being in control of your personal data. Highly suggest checking it out! [1] https://vikunja.io/ https://vikunja.io/

esperent 4y ago
Getting Things Done is a book that describes a system for... Well you get it. There doesn't have to be anything commercial about it, you can find synopses online for free and the system is simple so those are probably nearly as good as reading the book. I read it about ten years ago and still use some parts of it, it's a good system and probably becomes more and more useful the busier you are. I'm sure it could be used alongside the app you shared. Which looks nice btw, I've been looking for something self hosted to use for a small team. I'll check it out.
bbkane 4y ago
Vikunja looks really nice!! I might actually be able to replace MS TODO!
alpaca128 4y ago
Smooth UI and I can actually try it without an account, that looks promising. I guess I'll add Vikunja to my to-do list ;)
maroonblazer 4y ago
Vikunja looks good, thanks for sharing. The biggest drawback seems to be that the mobile app isn't at parity with the desktop version. I've been using Remember The Milk for the last several years. At $40/year it's been rock solid. https://www.rememberthemilk.com/ https://www.rememberthemilk.com/
tengwar2 4y ago

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

omarhaneef 4y ago

There are three insights that David Allen had with GTD that I appreciate: - one inbox to absorb tasks you distribute later - lists go into working contexts so you do them while in that context - short term and long term are different The issue I have is that we also have different “recording” contexts. These days I can use an app on my phone, a note in my computer or a notepad in a meeting. I have multiple inboxes that have to be routed. In addition I think the relationship between project and tasks needs to be fleshed out. However I think those 3 insights persist across all good productivity systems.

nunodonato 4y ago
One inbox is not a hard rule. You need capture tools in many different places (home/office/car are a few examples). You can even use voice recorder (memos) or similar tools. Its important to note that many updates have been made to recommendations as we move forward in time and tech is more present in our day to day, compared to when it was when the first edition of GTD came about. Contexts, yes, I just found out that I currently was not benefiting from it. For me, nowadays, its more like "work mode" and "not-work mode". And simple and short lists are working efficiently enough. I don't know, maybe my life just got simpler ;)
- xiwenc 4y ago
  The apple reminder app(s) work surprisingly well for many cases: * macbook: at a desk or whenever/wherever it is accessible * iphone: quick note pretty much anywhere like train ride * apple watch: running, in the pool, during sauna session or in the gym weightlifting * siri: while driving car or riding bike These all end into a single inbox. Unfortunately this requires full buy-in into the apple eco-system.
ilteris 4y ago
That's exactly my problem. After using all these apps I am having hard time routing these into one app and my lists are scattered across different apps. I wish there was a painless and easy way to jolt and knowing it would end up in my master Todo list. But instead I have to think which app list i should be using...

tnolet 4y ago

I’m always fascinated by people obsessed by productivity and its range of tools. I consider myself pretty highly productive. Typical week had 8+ meetings, calls, follow ups, research, thinking time and sometimes coding. Typical CTO and CPO stuff. I tend to get 90% of important things done. If not more. I’m fairly busy, but just use my inbox with search, Apple notes and Apple reminders. Works fine for me. Am I just missing out on something?

mrelectric 4y ago
Congratulations, you don't have ADD
- Bakary 4y ago
  Sounds like a specialized productivity tool would be of little help there, since no tasklist can withstand the problem of just not being able to get started on a task. And something like GTD is only going to be another burdensome and anxiety-inducing task for someone with executive dysfunction. A simple but constant reminder system (perhaps with a smartwatch or phone) can be of more use.
  - deepnet 4y ago
    Breaking task down into small single actions can be very helpful for those with executive function disorders. This is part of GTD.
    - ParetoOptimal 4y ago
      And then if you use a system malleable enough to reduce starting effort to 0 across anything (project or task) you do... you just about solve that problem
      - Apocryphon 4y ago
        How can a productivity system reduce the starting effort of any task to zero? There’s such a thing as activation energy. Sure, you can try breaking a task down to its smallest component, but not all problems can chunk like that. And even the smallest component will take non-zero work. I would be curious to learn about a system that could actually accomplish that.

lawgimenez 4y ago

I have been using GitHub’s new project for my personal and family use and I enjoyed it so much. The filtering is very good and flexible. I used Things but it seems I prefer Kanban style.

eran- 4y ago
What new project?
- goplayoutside 4y ago
  GP may be referring to GitHub "Projects". * https://docs.github.com/en/issues/planning-and-tracking-with-projects/learning-about-projects/about-projects https://docs.github.com/en/issues/planning-and-tracking-with...
  - lawgimenez 4y ago
    Yes this is what I am using.

muldoc 4y ago

Ah, Cal Newport. Another BS self-help sales person.

emptyparadise 4y ago
never trust anyone who writes notes on taking notes
- ParetoOptimal 4y ago
  I agree that without use in practice outside of "notes on notes" you are almost certainly improving the wrong things. However without reflection that may include notes on notes, you are doomed to the suboptimal or even counter-productive.
nunodonato 4y ago
Curious about that opinion. I find your comment rather negative and, slightly, toxic, but I'll bite. Care to share why you have that opinion about him? I've read three of his books, and although not all are "great", there's always some interesting thoughts about what he shares. I also like that he really gets people to develop a sense to actually think and work deeply, and move away from shallow and unsatisfactory busyness. His newsletter and now his podcast are excellent ways for people to ask questions and get suggestions and help for free. He has a bit of a big ego, but I wouldn't use that to call him "another BS self-help sales person".
- Bakary 4y ago
  Cal Newport is probably one of the "best" salesmen in the space because he has an actual non-meme job and seems to have more good faith than most others. But at the end of the day, his actionable material can be easily compressed into maybe three blog posts. Even if he had good intentions at the start, he still got caught up in the nonfiction sales logic. Teaching productivity is not like teaching mathematics or philosophy. There is a limited range of things to learn and apply, and the core ideas are concise but difficult to put in practice. A good teacher in that space would essentially be able to impart their wisdom in maybe two hours, at which point the success of the teaching would lie in the student actually following what they were told. An ongoing productivity podcast or book series flies in the face of this. The mere act of commercializing productivity dooms the entire edifice. If the student is still on episode #23, the sales has succeeded but the teaching has failed.

nojito 4y ago

The only productivity hack is to not be terminally online. Every year there are new apps/tools/"systems". There is an entire industry catered to making you "productive"

nunodonato 4y ago
True that. For me it was not about not being online, but actually being online without getting distracted from useless websites (mostly social media or chat). I wrote about that in my previous blog post. Ever since I cut out all the noise I've found lots of time to read and write, which I love.

ryyr 4y ago

my productivity system: not having a productivity system

nonoesp 4y ago

I used Dropbox Paper heavily but ended up migrating all of my documents to Notion.

JestUM 4y ago

I generally break down goals into tiny actions and try to combine tiny actions to goals to see if there is any confusion. Tasks -> Projects -> Streams -> Goals I think in this format.

howmayiannoyyou 4y ago

I've been using whatboard.app to manage my tasks. I pin ongoing tasks, unpin to-do's, archive things I may have to tackle or recall later.

ThomPete 4y ago

To be more productive. Be more selective.

ChildOfChaos 4y ago

I adore Trello. It's the only productivity/todo list type app that I have ever stuck too. I think it's mostly because of the flexibility it overs. I put everything into it. I have a whole board called 'Spark File' which is just lists of stuff, so whenever I need an idea for something it's there. Want to watch a movie? I've made a note of every trailer I saw that looked intreasting, every movie i've had recommended etc, I can find something on there to watch, Want to get someone a gift? I've noted down anything they have said or I have seen that is relevant, so i've got a list of stuff to consider to go. Black Friday? I've already got a list of things I am looking to get sometime, so i can simply check if anything is on offer, etc etc. My main todo list has Inbox, todo, Doing, done. I capture everything to the 'inbox' and then when i sought through it, it either becomes an entry in the relevant list in the 'spark file' or I figure out an action i can take on the idea and it becomes a todo.

dasil003 4y ago

I dabbled with GTD in the late 00s/early 10s. This coincided with growing the team at my startup and generally needing to keep more balls in the air from a management perspective. I even used OmniFocus for a while. But as I moved into larger companies where efficient collaboration is the limiting function, I realized that my personal productivity system is not where the value is. Essentially as a leader in a larger engineering org, the productivity systems that generate more value are the ones that are shared. Even though I can't control them directly I can create more value by A) getting onboard with the way that collaborating teams want to work and B) influencing people and nudging these systems in the direction that makes sense based on my expertise. This often feels like herding cats, but it's a core job of a manager. In addition, all software workers, whether manager or IC, need space for deep freeform thinking. It's imperative that whatever systems we use not come in the way of this. With this in mind, my personal system has to be lightweight and flexible so that it minimizes overhead and doesn't impose any constraints on how I am working with others. To that end, I've largely reduced to using Workflowy for all tasks / notes / plans. I do this in a reverse chronological style w/ regular chunked archiving. I also star every "important" email thread and bookmark every relevant doc or page that comes across my desk. In this manner I can go back and search history comprehensively as needed, but my working space for any given project or domain is always small and generally fits above the fold in the Workflowy context. There are a few little tactical hacks I use (eg. #action hashtag for todos), but those are ephemeral and I will discard or change them whenever it suits me. The key thing overall is that the system requires less than an hour a week of maintenance and is a single source of truth for my personal focus.

galfarragem 4y ago

The system I’ve been polishing[0] along the years is similar to the one from this article. I believe that there is an ultimate solution from where is hard to deviate. [0] https://github.com/slowernews/hamster-system https://github.com/slowernews/hamster-system

Archelaos 4y ago

> Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing else to take away. > Antoine St. Exupery (author of the little prince) "(author of the little prince)" could have been taken away.

nunodonato 4y ago
:D

mawadev 4y ago

My productivity system: I turn off the internet

tanin 4y ago

My working memory file is just a giant txt file that is synced using git to github. It's free and fast (because a text file editor like Sublime is fast and can handle a very large text file). You can also use it offline. The conflict is handled by git, which is familiar to a programmer. It also feels more permanent. I used to use other note taking apps where the notes were thrown away after migrating to a new app because it wasn't that convenient to transfer between apps. Plain text can't go wrong in this matter. I used Dropbox Paper and Google Docs before. Once you reach certain size, it is very very slow. The caveat with the text file is the lack of fuzzy searching capability... but it's tolerable so far. PS. I've built my own git sync: https://github.com/tanin47/git-notes https://github.com/tanin47/git-notes -- it is written in Go.

nunodonato 4y ago
I think that if your memory file is too big, you are implement the idea wrong. It is supposed to be a daily thing, not a permanent memory.
- tanin 4y ago
  I used to have multiple files, but that didn't work well either. It's nicer to have everything in a single file where you can scroll through quickly. But as mentioned the fuzzy search isn't there though.

Shank 4y ago

On macOS, Tot [0] is a great app that replaces the "working memory dot txt" format that Cal Newport likes. The upshot with Tot is that you get a fixed number of pages, and they're synchronized via iCloud. So, you can add to your "working memory text file" from anywhere you have an iOS or macOS device, and it's simple enough that it can't grow into a more complex system. [0]: https://tot.rocks/ https://tot.rocks/

kstrauser 4y ago
I wanted to love Tot, but its iCloud sync just isn’t good. In my first week or so of ownership, sync between my devices stopped working a couple of times. I followed the instructions (https://support.iconfactory.com/kb/tot/icloud-sync-not-working https://support.iconfactory.com/kb/tot/icloud-sync-not-worki...), and that worked for a while, but then it un-synced again. I ended up getting a refund for it. In the end, I stuck with Drafts. It doesn’t have the 7-item feature/gimmick, and it’s not as pretty, but it’s been 100% rock solid for me for years.

rodolphoarruda 4y ago

I've used paper notebooks as working memories for almost 10 years, until I learned about Evernote, which I had adopted ever since. I quickly became addicted to it. I was storing absolutely everything in it. It was around 1000 or 1300 notes when I began to lose track of things, meaning, information and documents. Search stopped being effective to me and I ended of with too many tags. I decided to adopt the model which uses only 2 notebooks: .Inbox and Archive. Everything else is organized via tagging. Today I have around 3500 notes which are mostly a personal archive. I simply gave up trying to be productive finding things in that ocean of information. So I'm using Google Keep for basic note taking and txt files with long descriptive names in project folders when I need to keep specific notes isolated from all the rest. Nautilus search works fine in finding those files as I type parts of their names.

tmshkr 4y ago

You can do all of this in https://noteplan.co/ https://noteplan.co/

kstrauser 4y ago
I bailed on Noteplan when the author doubled the annual subscription price to $120. I switched from Obsidian to Noteplan because I greatly preferred the native app to Electron, but it’s not that much better to justify costing $70 per year more. I do love how Noteplan handles daily notes, and used Shortcuts to script up my replacement app of choice to emulate my favorite bits of it.
- tmshkr 4y ago
  I think I'm locked in at the old price, thankfully. The Daily Notes are essential, especially with templates.

ChrisMarshallNY 4y ago

I posted my own tracking/productivity system, a few days ago[0]. TL;DR, I use a PostIt pad. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32799964 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32799964

epolanski 4y ago

I like using Notion + PARA[1]. I have a journal where I write notes with daily todos or make notes about systems/code, etc. It's okay for everyday stuff. Then I have a separate PARA for larger ongoing stuff. [1] https://fortelabs.com/blog/para/ https://fortelabs.com/blog/para/

synicalx 4y ago

It's refreshing to see a productivity system that isn't 12 different note taking/organisational apps + Notion all strung together with Zapier.

deleted 4y ago

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GSGBen 4y ago

I used to use Trello for my entire personal KB, but the description editor grows unwieldy with large cards and you only get a few levels of nesting. It's still great software. It took a few times to stick, but I've now fallen in love with Obsidian and am migrating everything except a large project's task-tracking system to it. The WYSIWYG editor, fully nested hierarchy and fast full-text search is fantastic and makes it better for my personal documentation. I'm extending my Trello backup project to make the migration easier. Take a look if you're considering the same move. https://github.com/GSGBen/t2md https://github.com/GSGBen/t2md

alchemist1e9 4y ago

https://checkyourlist.app/ https://checkyourlist.app/ For me this little app is so useful and flexible that it has definitely improved my productivity. It’s not GTD and I use it both for it’s original purpose but also to capture and manage tasks I need to do. Wanted to throw this out there for anyone looking for something super simple but also genius.

LittleFishyChan 4y ago

As far as productivity goes, I use a text document to track when I begin a new task and I don’t “start” the next task until I finish the previous one. Doing this has made me really conscious of finishing something before I start something else. As far as studying goes, I use SuperMemo to keep track of useful bits of knowledge and my Notes app on my iPhone to keep track of what goes into SuperMemo. I use Things 3 on my iPhone to keep track of recurring To Dos and I work every day to get that list to zero. I have made sure that my Things 3 to do list gets to zero by the end of the day, and I’ve been doing that for the last 554 days.