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I wanted to love Emacs. It’s open, it’s kind if cool, apparently it does everything, Randy in the novel Cryptonomicon uses it. But I soon spent more time and e

I wanted to love Emacs. It’s open, it’s kind if cool, apparently it does everything, Randy in the novel Cryptonomicon uses it. But I soon spent more time and effort optimizing and working out the kinks in my personal org-roam than doing actual work. Now I use good old project management software (Merlin for Mac), Obsidian / Apple for notes, and a written to-do list.

taeric 3y ago
Being clear that you should use what works for you, I always find these narratives amusing. I'm assuming you still have kinks in your current workflow, with the difference that there is not much you can do about it? Such that the main difference is that you aren't working on the meta side of the workflow. But you could have done that before, too, right? That is, it seems a lot of people have a story where their main complaint of Emacs comes down to the temptation of being able to do whatever is enough of a lure to keep them distracted. I think I get this, in the sense that it is comforting to have some decisions flat out made for you.
- FredPret 3y ago
  There’s the work. Then there’s the meta-work. (planning the work: what to do; how to do it). This is me writing a to-do list on paper or someone else typing in org-mode. It also includes thinking about what to do. Then there’s the meta-meta-work. Setting up clever ways to plan work. This is where you configure emacs and other systems or try to find the best system. There’s a lot of leverage here, but it should never be a continuous effort, unless you like getting paid in meta-meta-dollars.
  - taeric 3y ago
    Fair on it being "meta-meta." My point is you can always stop the search for the best system, though? Just because you can change or optimize, doesn't mean you have to. Consider if you are doing written notes, have you learned a comprehensive shorthand system? Why not? Do you stick with only lined paper? Dotted paper or grid for some things? Is there an optimal sized sheet of paper for you? (Point being you can meta-meta work in most any setting. Nothing about Emacs requires that you do so.)
    - FredPret 3y ago
      True, I could just stop configuring emacs and use it as is. But who does that? Plus, it took significant work to get the behaviour close to what I expect, whereas an annual Moleskine notebook already has 100% of what I need for $20 and zero minutes of configuration. Merlin costs CAD 240 / year but it works out of the box too.

taeric 3y ago

Being clear that you should use what works for you, I always find these narratives amusing. I'm assuming you still have kinks in your current workflow, with the difference that there is not much you can do about it? Such that the main difference is that you aren't working on the meta side of the workflow. But you could have done that before, too, right? That is, it seems a lot of people have a story where their main complaint of Emacs comes down to the temptation of being able to do whatever is enough of a lure to keep them distracted. I think I get this, in the sense that it is comforting to have some decisions flat out made for you.

FredPret 3y ago
There’s the work. Then there’s the meta-work. (planning the work: what to do; how to do it). This is me writing a to-do list on paper or someone else typing in org-mode. It also includes thinking about what to do. Then there’s the meta-meta-work. Setting up clever ways to plan work. This is where you configure emacs and other systems or try to find the best system. There’s a lot of leverage here, but it should never be a continuous effort, unless you like getting paid in meta-meta-dollars.
- taeric 3y ago
  Fair on it being "meta-meta." My point is you can always stop the search for the best system, though? Just because you can change or optimize, doesn't mean you have to. Consider if you are doing written notes, have you learned a comprehensive shorthand system? Why not? Do you stick with only lined paper? Dotted paper or grid for some things? Is there an optimal sized sheet of paper for you? (Point being you can meta-meta work in most any setting. Nothing about Emacs requires that you do so.)
  - FredPret 3y ago
    True, I could just stop configuring emacs and use it as is. But who does that? Plus, it took significant work to get the behaviour close to what I expect, whereas an annual Moleskine notebook already has 100% of what I need for $20 and zero minutes of configuration. Merlin costs CAD 240 / year but it works out of the box too.