Ask HN: Anyone using project management tools for personal projects?

[localbuilder]

Hey HN, curious to learn if anyone is using project management tools for their personal projects.

I’ve started using Linear to organize tasks in my projects with some success. It is a balancing act though, between keeping a project organized and not adding too much process or overhead where it becomes cumbersome.

Anyone else using workflows like this?

[PaulHoule]

My take is I have way too many windows open and I am always switching from this to that and the last thing I want is to do is add another web browser tab to make it harder to find other tabs.

For personal projects I write a lot of notes into .md files or comments but keep task lists as paper notes on letter pads. When the list gets too messy I copy the whole list by hand which means I keep on top of it. I'd argue that

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CONWIP

is the basic practice of management for small projects and that you can't really commit to more work than you can handle with a paper process.

[localbuilder → PaulHoule]

Nice, I’ve used simple notes in markdown in the past also. Definitely a simple and effective way to make sure you're on top of everything.

I like that practice. That way you’re always conscious of everything in flight and stuff isn’t slipping through the cracks. Will be looking into that system more

[JohnFen]

It depends on what you mean by "project management tools", I suppose.

My personal projects are generally done by a team of 1 (sometimes I'll bring in one or two friends, but not usually). Project management for a team that small is trivial.

What I use to manage my personal projects is just a wiki and a version control system. Project management tools add some friction and overhead, so they're only useful if they're reducing more friction and overhead somewhere else. Working alone already greatly reduces such overhead, rendering heavier-duty tools counterproductive for me.

[localbuilder → JohnFen]

Yeah no specific definition of tool, just curious how people organize their projects at smaller scales. But a wiki and version control makes sense to keep things lightweight. I could definitely see heavier tools definitely add too much overhead at that stage

[ivape]

Think project management might have been a toxic concept drilled into all of our heads from work. Make a list for the day if you need to, otherwise you should mostly know what needs to be done. De-programming all that bullshit is not the worst idea.

The eradication of Project management and all it's concepts is an ideology I'm hoping to push, along with the elimination of all of their jobs (PMs/Scrum/Agile) along with their toy software. Just an army of one at the moment though.

[hodder]

Notion? I hate it., but it does the job.

I prefer just doing it in Excel, Google docs, Google sheets and notes depending on complexity of the project.

[nbbaier]

I've wanted to use Linear for my personal projects but haven't taken the plunge yet. Any tips OP?

[swah]

OP, what does that get you that Todoist/Ticktick/Reminders don't?

[constantinum]

Trello and notion

[scarface_74]

Trello

[jasonthorsness]

I can't get enough of Jira from work, so I also assign myself tickets for everything else /s

I have a whiteboard in my office and just put things there. The small size of the whiteboard forces brevity and the constant visibility makes it clear to me when I'm actually making progress on things and when they are lingering.

[localbuilder → jasonthorsness]

Yeah constant visibility is a great practice. I’ve used todo lists in a notebook in a similar way, constantly open on my desk so I can always be auditing my progress on things