Ask HN: How do you keep track of everything? - chishaku
======
grandalf
Here are a few tips that have worked for me to achieve the desired kind of big
picture awareness and mental state suitable both for flow and for strategic
thinking:

\- keep a simple per-project todo list (I use a text file that I edit with
emacs in text mode, one item per line. Delete when finished).

\- realize that if you are procrastinating it might be because part of your
brain disagrees with a decision you have made. Reflect on the decisions and
uncertainties you feel, and let any objection come to the surface of your
consciousness. Often the remedy is pretty quick and the procrastination
disappears.

\- escape the echo chamber. Maybe some people in your life are reinforcing
stupid decisions or criticizing good ones. Be brutally honest with yourself
and believe in yourself. Seeking social validation is in many ways a crutch.

\- environment matters (people, architecture, city, flat, office, etc.). Be
picky and find one that gives you the right mix of ingredients for
productivity, inspiration, and happiness and doesn't make you feel bad about
yourself, discouraged, etc. It may be very different than what works for other
people or what is trendy.

~~~
mellavora
"realize that if you are procrastinating it might be because part of your
brain disagrees with a decision you have made."

Now THAT sounds like wisdom

~~~
oxplot
This is a great example for those skeptics who claim there is never a magic
recipe for anything. Looking back at all the times that I remember
procrastinating, knowing this would have moved things forward a lot faster.

~~~
walterbell
You can take this a step further and track these instances for retroactive
pattern recognition and naming. Sometimes your unconscious reasons can only be
named after years of subsequent life experience. Both reasons and names may be
unique to you or your cohorts, which is why the all-encompassing term
'procrastination' is less than helpful.

------
vinceguidry
I keep important things in mind and let the world remind me whenever I've
missed anything.

I have two tools I use when this becomes unmanageable. I'll get out a pad of
paper and a pen when the number of important open loops (things I can't just
let go and let the world remind me of) exceeds the ability of my brain to
focus on. I've had to seriously do this twice in the last two years. Open
loops go one to a line, and get crossed off when they stop being open, i.e. I
can leave them alone and the world will tell me when they become important
again.

Second I can open up a project file. I'll start with a collection of ideas
which will accrete until I'm ready to start a git repo, define some
dependencies, flesh out the ideas in code. Since I started doing this, my
reliance on the first tool has diminished.

------
agf
Trello + Google Calendar is a big improvement over my previous, ad-hoc system.

For years, I used: \- Google Calendar for timed events \- Starred Messages in
Gmail for things I'd need to reference \- Drafts in Gmail for things that
needed replies \- a flat text file for misc things / things that didn't
involve interation with others so didn't have emails.

The main problem with that system is that it doesn't really help with
prioritization. Even things that have a date / time and go into my calendar, I
needed some additional note about if they required preparation ahead of time.
The text file would also regularly become cluttered with ideas I didn't have
time to follow up on, that had to periodically be moved to a separate file.

Trello supports: \- Custom categories / prioritization levels \- Dates & Times
\- Checklists \- Easy movement between phone + laptop \- A separate category
for "long term", un-prioritized cards.

It is also perfectly functional at the free level if you don't want to pay.

So while I still star messages in Gmail if they're short-term and need to be
referenced frequently, and I still use a calendar for timed events (Sunrise.am
now instead of the Google Calendar interface), I've moved everything else into
Trello. It also helps that I used the same two tools at work now -- I don't
have to transition between two different sets of tools every day.

~~~
bobosha
second that. Trello+ Google calendar brought some order the chaos my life is

------
danwakefield
Random Thoughts - Google Keep

Events / Anything with a date - Google Calendar, Not a huge fan but haven't
found anything better.

Movies / TV - Combination of Letterboxd and episodecalendar

Random Files - Dropbox, Thinking of moving to Google drive though since I dont
actually use the sync. Contains a copy of ~/documents and ~/code.

Code - Github / Gogs mirror on one of my servers.

Email - Yahoo. In the process of switching to self hosted though.

Passwords - Lastpass.

Everything Else - Just using logical folder structures. I.e

~/video/movies/unwatched/ or ~/video/tv/keep/Archer/1/Archer.S1E01.mkv

------
colinramsay
By not having so much stuff that it's untrackable.

Your question is too open ended. Projects? Basecamp. Todos? My own brain.
Random stuff? Evernote. Files? Dropbox.

This is all fairly standard stuff, but I suspect I'd go back to my original
point, which is that if you feel overwhelmed by "track"ing "everything" then
there's a chance that you've just got too much stuff. Delegate. Trash things
that aren't truly important. Pare down your list ruthlessly.

------
thirdtruck
A YAML file, edited in vim and reported on by Ruby scripts. Seriously. Here's
a sample:

    
    
      date: XXMar2015#                                                                                                       
      IWT at gym:                                                                                                            
       tasks: [atx]    #                                                                                                    
       time estimate: "1.5 hours"                                                                                            
      Mail processing:                                                                                                       
       pomodoros: [ax, ax, ax, ax]                                                                                           
       tasks:                                                                                                                
        Review unsent drafts: [atm]                                                                                          
      Move prep:                                                                                                             
       pomodoros: [ux]                                                                                                       
      Taxes:                                                                                                                 
       time estimate: "1.0 hour"                                                                                             
       tasks:                                                                                                                
        Download and send W2: [atx]

------
stinos
Work related: Jira for pretty much everything. Seriously, it's a fantastic
product with insane amounts of customisation and only some quirks. The rest
goes in OneNote (typically if I see something new which looks interesting but
I don't have time to check it right away)

Personal: again OneNote for the same things (for example have a list of wines
I really like).

Calendar-wise: my two jobs nor personal life require a full-blown calendar. I
just put in in my head!

------
dirtyaura
Given the question is broad, I'll answer broadly:

There is no single solution to track everything. And I believe there won't be,
because for a tool to provide value for a specific subdomain of information,
it needs to be tailored to that subdomain. For example, Evernote is great for
capturing and tracking unstructured information, but bad for tracking
numerical information (because aggregating numbers requires structure). If you
look my list below, you see that each subdomain can have very specific use
flow (e.g. passwords) and generic tool would likely to be really bad for that
subdomain.

Evernote for capturing unstructured (or semi-structured) information:
thoughts, links, excerpts.

Asana for tasks that need to be done.

Google Calendar for events and alerts.

Dropbox for files & media. For example, I put things like work contracts or
flight tickets and other travel documents there instead of Evernote.

Keychain and 1password for passwords.

Various programs to track exercise: different programs for different sports:
Strava for running, swimming and cycling, my own prototype iOS app for gym.

------
Link-
I've been battling with this issue for quite sometime now. I did not find the
'ultimate' solution (probably because there isn't any but self-discipline).
One important tool that I found most helpful was `Reminders` on OSX,
specifically the fact that I can put an alarm (one-off or recurrent) on each
task. Given that Reminders are synced across devices (iPhone, iPad) and are
available in the notifications center this helps me a lot when I'm on the
move. One downside of using this method or any other is that your capacity to
memorize the due tasks disappears as soon as you write them down. I'm not sure
what's the psychological/neurological explanation for this, but it's true. If
your task list is not that big, your brain is the best way to keep track of
them. Otherwise be prepared to skip a few as soon as jot them down.

------
gmays
What I do: I add anything associated with a date to Google Calendar.

For to-do's on my main project I use Google Tasks.

For ongoing, less important to-dos or ideas I keep a draft email and just add
to the list. I reopen it and keep it minimized when I'm working from that
list.

For short-tem stuff that I want to knock out I keep it in my inbox so I can
knock them out quickly when I have time or I'm motivated to get a few things
done.

Urgent/quick stuff I try to take care of the first time I look at it.

I send myself a quick email for everything so I don't forget, then sort it
into the appropriate place above when I get a chance.

I generally stay ~close to inbox zero. This system works for me because I like
everything in once place and accessible from anywhere. Additionally, all of my
5+ email accounts feed into my Gmail inbox. I don't use Gmail tabs or anything
like that, I just spam/unsubscribe from most things.

------
Walkman
I use Anki for a lot of things: Everything programming, sysadmin related,
foreign words, facts I want to remember.

It's a tool for repetitive learning, but you can also use it as a snippet
store, much like nvalt. The browser is excellent, it's cross platform, syncing
is simple (You only need an ankiweb account).

------
mark_l_watson
I am building my own system that is a little bit like Evernote. I wrote a
Firefox plugin for capturing clips from the web, I can upload all the eBooks,
PDFs, etc., that I have accumulated, and as I search for and view stored
information, my software automatically detects topics, entities, etc., and
tries to pull in other information from DBPedia and from Bing search. I use
simple tagging of information to collect stored information for different
uses. I am just now rewriting it to be a multiple user system (I wrote it
originally as a single user (me!) system).

I am trying to decide whether to try to sell it as a commercial product or
open source it. The codebase is a collection of Clojure, Clojurescript, Java,
and Javascript and is fairly easy to hack on.

------
rafaqueque
I started tracking my daily routine (the ones that can be quantified) and
built a project around that. It's now available to everyone. The code will be
open sourced in a couple of months.

[https://numbers.today](https://numbers.today)

~~~
andymurd
Awesome, I have been looking for a service like this for a few weeks. I want
to use it to track code coverage and complexity metrics.

------
otterpro
I use Notational Velocity (and its fork, nvALT) on Mac for almost everything.
This replaced everything, including Evernote, etc. The text files are saved to
git repository daily.

On Linux, I use vim (with lots of plugins that gives me similar functionality
to NV).

~~~
patrickg
NV and nvALT were such a gereat push in note taking. My first note is now five
years old. Before that, I have used a plain text file for everything.

I really like the hyperlinks and full text search in nvALT.

------
juanuys
\- long-term goals and milestones are Post-Its on my wall

\- short-term tasks go into something like
[https://kanbanflow.com](https://kanbanflow.com)

\- documents go into Google Drive (I pay £3.30/m, so get 100GB last time I
checked)

\- I have a Synology with 4TB, backed up to Glacier. This contains my art
(huge scans) and other hacks I don't have on BitBucket or Github.

Since the Synology software is so good nowadays (and in keeping with self-
hosting) I am considering putting my whole life on there.

A hangover from my gov days is "the strategy is delivery", so I get things
out, see if it works, and if they don't, they save me some more note-taking
and todo-ing down the line.

------
kukudi1028
I think an important rule for living and working more efficiently is not
tracking everything. Tracking the unimportant things is a waste of time unless
you make it super easy.

For work: it depends on the company and the team. For personal life: Google
Calendar is still the best. I like creating events for things I've done. So
the calendar is not only about future any more. For both: RescueTime helps me
make sure I don't waste time when I'm on my computer.

Thoughts: a to-do list is not enough. Priority and the time we actually have
matters more when we want to get things done.

------
kasrak
A combination of text files in Dropbox for unstructured data and Airtable[1]
for structured data. Disclaimer: I work on Airtable.

[1] [https://airtable.com](https://airtable.com)

------
cvs268
For time-tracking and task-management:

\- Personal Hourly timesheet.

\- Outlook Tasks.

\- Old-school post-it notes.

This works extremely well for me as i get new tasks from:

\- Emails

\- Meetings

More important is generating metrics about what you did with your time. I rely
on a timesheet(xls with 24slots a day). Basically filling the slots upfront
with task-ids when i need to plan for a few upcoming tasks, estimate effort
etc. Also everyday i fill any empty timeslots in the sheet with what i did
then.

2Months of this and i have:

\- A better idea on my actual burn-down rate.

\- Improved schedule estimates.

\- No feeling of constantly being pushed to the limit.

\- Not missed any important deadlines.

------
freedevbootcamp
I used to keep everything in evernote, trello, google docs, email etc.. Then I
decided that I do not want my most personal information stored on someone
elses computer so I moved to txt files on my local HD. I had about 5 text
files going with todo.txt, weekly.txt, blog.txt. 3yearplan.txt and such. Then
I just wrote a javascript app that manages tasks for me using require.js,
backbone.js, underscore.js, and bootstrap. Works great, uses local storage,
I'm happy.

------
galfarragem
Instead of a new tool, most people need a new system. I can't understand why
GTD is not anymore in fashion (at least in HN) once it is the most efficient
system I ever used. Since I implemented GTD, my life changed and I not even
thought of going back.

If you ever try GTD I recommend you this simple implementation:
[https://github.com/we-build-dreams/hamster-gtd](https://github.com/we-build-
dreams/hamster-gtd)

------
schizoidboy
I've been working on a "virtual life assistant":
[https://myplaceonline.com/](https://myplaceonline.com/). It's in private beta
since my target audience is just me right now, but the code is all open
source:
[https://github.com/myplaceonline/myplaceonline](https://github.com/myplaceonline/myplaceonline)

------
vegancap
I have a big whiteboard in my living room with three columns. To do, doing and
done. Then I have loads of post-it notes. Each note has a title of what
project it's for, then a brief description of what needs doing and a time
estimate at the bottom. I just move 'em all along.

I keep a rough overview of that mapped out in Trello also as well which I keep
in sync with my whiteboard, so that I can update it and add things whilst I'm
not at home.

At work we use Jira.

------
barrkel
I use a plain text editor of my own design. The back end is written in C#,
compiles with Mono, and I have front ends written in GtkSharp and WinForms. It
treats files in a directory as pages in a notebook, and it automatically
tracks history of edits and autosaves every few seconds.

Its primary distinguishing characteristic is that it auto-saves to two files:
a plain .txt file, and a .log file containing deltas. Replaying the log file
reproduces the contents of the txt file. I can scroll backwards and forwards
through the log in the editor, as well as through pages (files) in the
directory in modification order. By default, it opens up the most recently
modified page.

Whenever I start on a new task or bug, I create a new page (with a single
keystroke) and simply start writing out a TODO list or steps of investigation.
As I complete items, I delete the detailed text associated with the item
(leaving only the header line, moved to a DONE section), or as I discount
threads of inquiry, I delete them. If needs be, I can scroll through the
deltas, retracing my logic. Works great for refreshing my memory or reloading
context when I need to switch to something higher priority.

By convention, I use the first line in each file as a title. I have a single
keystroke that brings up a search box; the search box incrementally searches
through every title of every file. Files are lazily loaded when opened. I
don't browse the filesystem to open files, I open things up by title. If I
need deeper search, I can grep the txt and log files in the file system; I
haven't had a big enough need to add that feature directly.

The directory is stored in Dropbox for synchronization, which also makes my
notes accessible on my phone. It's backed up separately.

Any conflict between .txt file and .log file is resolved by replaying the log,
then appending the delta between .txt and result to the log. Thus if I make
concurrent updates, or modify text files on my phone, they're still available
without losing history.

I use this editor at several levels. I have some high-level pages that track
broader priorities in a category, some that act as idea dumping grounds, and
lots and lots of pages that involve work specific to a task.

I'm not far from considering linking it to Google Calendar - creating a text
convention that can be cheaply scanned for and calendar entries created, for
deadlines or whatever.

~~~
nextw33k
That sounds fantastic, you should consider releasing that in some form.

------
yosheeck
Nothing public I found was really simple and advanced at same time. Evernote,
Google Keep/Task, Trello, even Jira and thousands of other things I tried. All
failed - either UIX is crap or the basic things take ages.

I'm now using my own system called Kemu Note, Kemu tasks, Kemu links etc. (I'm
the owner of Kemu as you can see ;) ). But it's not public yet.

------
jc_id
I keep track of everything by using TSheets
([http://www.tsheets.com](http://www.tsheets.com)). It allows me to report on
time spent based on projects I've worked on. That way at the end of the week I
know what I worked on and how much time was spent on everything.

------
favadi
Todo list never works for me, I always use a calendar (google calendar sync to
lightning). For note taking, I use simplenote (nvpy as desktop client). I'm
not very satisfied with simplenote, but haven't found anything better.

------
flipstewart
I use Evernote for involved planning and note taking and Things for
tasks(including tasks that are already in Jira, PT, Issues...).

I've spent a lot of time trying different tools... there isn't a magical one
size fits all 😔

------
shahocean
I personally use Trello for this. It works well on all my devices and sync
immediately when I add any task in it. Also, its very easy to use. Surprising
thing is I don't pay any single penny for it.

------
MarcScott
Emacs org-mode does it for me. My calendar, to-do list and other notes all
feed into my agenda.

I have a nice work-flow for capturing email from mutt and shoving it into
another org file.

------
kentt
I use the Getting Things Done methodology using todoist.

------
clearing
taskwarrior and taskwarrior-vim so I can keep tasks in the same terminal as
work.

ghi to keep track of github issues

mutt for email, with notmuch for searching/indexing

ynab via wine for budgeting, though I'm not the best at keeping up with that :
)

other than that I have a moleskine that I fill with random things related to
that day/week/month, inspired somewhat by bullet journal

------
mergy
Wunderlist everywhere.

[https://www.wunderlist.com/](https://www.wunderlist.com/)

------
strebler
[http://www.mytinytodo.net/](http://www.mytinytodo.net/)

------
mobinni
TODOIST linked to my calendar with reminders Cellphone app so I can make tasks
on the go or plan events

------
ky3
Have enough friends that shooting the breeze with them is enough to keep you
updated on what matters.

------
corford
Lists in pinboard.in and... lots of text files on my desktop & post-its on my
monitors :)

------
zwischenzug
Jira. I host it at home and have my own workflows and projects set up.

Everything I do goes into JIRA.

~~~
shahocean
I just checked the website. It looks like its similar to Trello. Is that so?

~~~
zwischenzug
More sophisticated I think in terms of flexibility in workflows and plugin
maturity. I was used to it from work, but it's really not that hard to learn.

------
teddyh
Keep track of what?

~~~
zerocored
everything

~~~
teddyh
Nobody keeps track of _everything_ – this would require omniscience.

~~~
noselasd
What's implied is "that you need to keep track of/remember".

------
monting
Trello.

------
zerocored
Google Tasks in my phone

------
falcolas
By supplementing my working memory with task trackers, a wiki, and notes in my
code.

Project overviews go into a task tracker, which is Jira for work and the ToDo
app for home.

I track time constrained events on my calendar, with alerts set to go off at
an interval chosen to ensure any pre-deadline tasks are completed.

I use vimwiki as my long term scrach pad, with work and home separated into
separate wikis. In these I try and ensure that I can pick up any task I have
worked on in the past just by reading through the appropriate page, and that I
have enough cross-links to be able to dive into any subject I haven't touched
in some time.

This does mean that the Wiki consumes quite a bit of time, as ensuring project
notes are both complete and accurate means going back through everything and
fixing assumptions.

Code notes keep track of the subtasks I need to complete in the code: I use
`XXX` to delineate "complete me before releasing" tasks, and `TODO` for "look
at this the next time you're working on this code". For example, I might
outline the high level process first as a series of XXX comments. Then as I
implement the code which replaces these comments, I will write necessary stubs
with their own XXX comments on what needs to be implemented. If I write
something I don't like (but it works), it gets a TODO for refactoring.

Sometimes these code comments don't even last for two minutes, but it ensures
that if I have to leave the code base for a week, I can come back to it and
quickly identify what I was doing and why.

External communications which require a response are all kept in my email
inbox; if it's in my inbox it either needs to be reviewed or it needs a reply,
upon review if it doesn't need a reply the data is moved to the appropriate
location and the email is archived.

This results in a flow which revolves around getting a task (either via an
interrupt or the task tracker), pulling up and reading through the appropriate
project wiki page, and beginning work. The notes in the code let me know where
I was in the process of completing this task, and what remains to be done.

Once a task is completed (or an interruption starts a new task), I do a bit of
cleanup by updating the task tracker to reflect the work which was completed,
checking code into git, close all the related windows and start on the next
task.

In my job, context switches are usually triggered by in person conversations,
and happen all too frequently. This is why I intentionally limit my working
rate with frequent updates to the wiki and code notes, so I can get back to a
task and not forget something vital because my working memory got fragmented
by interruptions.

One improvement I hope to make at some point in time is to use separate
windows to keep multiple tasks alive at any given time, which could reduce the
extra context switch cleanup I currently perform.

------
throw_away
omnifocus

------
glaucoma
[https://gyrosco.pe/](https://gyrosco.pe/)

[http://mint.com](http://mint.com) for tracking money

[https://www.rememberthemilk.com](https://www.rememberthemilk.com) To-do list
:)

------
beachstartup
google spreadsheets.

~~~
shahocean
I found GS bit complex. Are you comfortable using it on your mobile device?

