Sharpfish, nice to see your example. I like how you handle the done tasks, I just delete mine, although marking them as done and keeping it enhances the feeling of progression. I do that with my long term 2do section. Here is how I structure my global 2do list: (I intentionally left some items on the list intact to act as real life example) HTML: =========================================================================================================== SMALLER TASKS =========================================================================================================== HIGH PRIORITY: send license agreement to VA start adding my images to zazzle get Release USDR 19 and new version of dmak look into value click ads mirror art.eonworks fix $user_exp in _ew-art-gallery MEDIUM PRIORITY: find a firefox extension to take full page screenshots try text links on art.eonworks.com with http://www.text-link-ads.com/ research gadolinium detox install: http://www.adlogger.org/download.php read: http://www.ranum.com/editorials/must-read/index.html http://www.issc-taste.org/index.shtml http://igdreality.blogspot.com/ http://www.centrehealing.com/Resources/artDYLifelongEnergy.html write description to the "endless opposites" send out newsletter move eonworks.com to a cheaper host possible webhosting deals: http://www.xeserve.com/shared.html http://www.apollohosting.com/hosting/ http://hostgator.com/shared.shtml implement donations via paypal remove spam from eonworks.com email accounts LOW PRIORITY: rewrite my bio webpacman.com/ look into web editors: http://www.w3.org/Amaya/ http://www.nvu.com/ =========================================================================================================== LARGE TASKS =========================================================================================================== task description state plan used delay plan-start plan-done completed ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- major improvements to art.eonworks.com DONE 7D 9D 2D 2005-12-24 2005-12-31 2006-01-02 article: backup tips for artist DONE 4W 2W 0 2006-01-03 2006-02-01 2006-01-18 increase traffic by 50% by 1'st April [3] DONE 3M 2M 0 2005-12-25 2006-04-01 2006-03-01 add sidebar to art.eonworks.com DONE 2W 2W 0 2006-03-17 2006-04-31 2006-05-29 create a free screensaver 2DO 1W develop the puzzle game 2DO 2M create games.eonworks.com with css 2DO 7D continue working on the shootem'up HOLD 6M 2005-05-15 2006-xx-xx It would be interesting to see how other people who use text files for 2do lists structure their layout, split the tasks, etc.
I used to think like that, but once your life gets complicated on its own, you need more complicated software to keep track of it
To each his own, man. In the end, it doesn't really matter what you use, as long as you really use it. The only two principals you really need to follow are: 1. Make an estimate, track how long you took, and compare the results when done. This is the only way to get better at estimating how long things take. 2. Use hours, not days, to define the length of each task. Any task estimated to take longer than 8 hours needs to be broken into subtasks. This actually forces you to design a feature before you start coding it. These both come from the article Painless Software Schedules from Joel on Software, the best software development article I've ever read. Even if you have a system you don't plan to change, you should still read the article as its full of both technical and psychological insights.
I think this could be really useful if you could enter an esitmates and track time using a stop watch for each task. Also, if you could add an iteration of version number for each task, it could produce release notes?
Here's the link: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/printerFriendly/articles/fog0000000245.html This article (and website) is really profounding. Thanks for the useful information.