Getting Things Done with Org Mode

The below is how I currently have my org files organized.

org
├── archive
│   ├── gtd.org_archive
│   ├── projects.org_archive
│   ├── someday.org_archive
│   └── tickler.org_archive
├── blog
│   ├── article
│   │   ├── article1.org
│   │   ├── article2.org
│   │   ├── article3.org
│   │   ├── article4.org
│   │   └── article5.org
│   ├── index.org
│   ├── js
│   │   └── basic.js
│   ├── sitemap.org
│   └── styles
│       └── basic.css
├── gtd.org
├── inbox.org
├── journal.org
├── maybe.org
├── projects.org
├── ref
│   ├── client1
│   │   ├── Task1
│   │   │   ├── Task1.org
│   │   │   └── resource
│   │   │       └── Task1.overview.png
│   │   ├── Task2
│   │   │   └── Task2.org
│   │   ├── journal.org
│   │   └── time.org
│   ├── client2
│   │   ├── Task1
│   │   │   ├── Task1_Requirements.txt
│   │   ├── Project1
│   │   │   ├── Task1
│   │   │   │   ├── Task1.org
│   │   │   │   └── Task1Diagram.png
│   │   │   ├── Task2
│   │   │   │   ├── Task2.txt
│   │   │   │   ├── Task2.sql
│   │   │   └── Task3
│   │   │       ├── Task3.xlsx
│   │   │       └── SubTask1
│   │   │           ├── SubTask1.sql
│   │   ├── Client2_Policy.docx
│   │   ├── journal.org
│   │   ├── time.org
│   ├── home
│   │   ├── CodeSnippets.org
│   │   ├── finance
│   │   │   ├── data
│   │   │   │   ├── Bank1.csv
│   │   │   │   ├── Bank2.csv
│   │   │   │   ├── card1.CSV
│   │   │   │   ├── card2.CSV
│   │   │   ├── finance.org
│   │   ├── journal.org
│   │   ├── RandomThoughts.org
│   ├── client3
│   │   ├── Task1
│   │   │   ├── Task1.vsdx
│   │   │   ├── Task1.docx
│   │   ├── journal.org
│   │   └── time.org
├── sitemap.org
├── someday.org
├── styles
│   ├── email.css
│   ├── htmlize.css
│   └── readtheorg.css
├── tickler.org
└── www
├── blog
│   ├── article
│   │   ├── article1.html
│   │   ├── article2.html
│   │   ├── article3.html
│   │   ├── article4.html
│   │   └── article5.html
│   ├── index.html
│   ├── js
│   │   └── basic.js
│   ├── sitemap.html
│   └── styles
│       └── basic.css

• ~/org/
  • archive/
    • gtd.org_archive
    • someday.org_archive
    • tickler.org_archive
  • blog/
    • article/
      • AllAboutFoo.org
      • AllAboutBar.org
      • AllAboutBaz.org
    • index.org
    • js/
      • basic.js
    • css/
      • basic.css
    • sitemap.org
      • generated when publishing blog files
  • ref/
    • directory to store long term notes
    • has sub directories for separate clients and another called home for personal projects
    • organize in any way that makes sense
    • used to reference from agenda files because as you move files around you will end up breaking links
    • I usually include a journal for random notes from phone calls or stand ups
  • styles/
    • directory for css files that are used in exporting to html
  • www/
    • publish directory for blog and gtd
  • gtd.org
  • inbox.org
  • someday.org
  • maybe.org
  • sitemap.org
    • generated when publishing gtd files

The ref directory will be filed by project and can be filed in any way that makes sense and they can be rearranged as necessary.

The inbox.org file is the main entry point for anything that you want to add to your gtd files. The simplest way of doing this is by adding a headline to your inbox.gtd. Another useful way of doing this is by using org-capture.

Below is an example of an org capture template. You would want to include this in with-eval-after-load for org in dotspacemacs/user-config in your spacemacs config file.

(defun dotspacemacs/user-config ()
  (with-eval-after-load 'org
    ;; omittted code for brevity
    ;; org capture templates
    (setq org-capture-templates
          `(
            ("i" "Inbox" entry (file "~/org/inbox.org")
             ,(concat "* %?\n"
                      "  Entered on %U  %i\n\n"
                      "  %a\n"))
            ("t" "Task" entry (file "~/org/inbox.org")
             ,(concat "* TODO %?\n"
                      "  Entered on %U  %i\n\n"
                      "  %a\n"))
            ("v" "use clipboard" entry (file "~/org/inbox.org")
             ,(concat "* %?\n"
                      "  Entered on %U  %i\n\n"
                      "  %x\n"))
            ("c" "Call" entry (file "~/org/inbox.org")
             ,(concat "* %?\n"
                      "  Entered on %U  %i\n\n"
                      "  %a\n")
             :clock-in t
             :clock-resume t)
            ))))

and then from within spacemacs type SPC a o c or from within an org buffer ,c and then you may choose a template. You will then be within a temporary buffer where you can continue to type add anything you like. I will ordinarily add a title and then save the capture with ,,, and continue editing the capture from the inbox buffer.

I typically use tags to track different projects time and todo headlines to keep track of specific task time.

You can add tags to specific file as described here, or you can set org-tag-alist to something like the below to add them to all org files. Not all of the below tags are used for tracking time, later we will see how to generate reports from headlines with specific tags.

(defun dotspacemacs/user-config ()
  (with-eval-after-load 'org
    ;; omittted code for brevity
    (setq org-tag-alist '(("@home" . ?h) ("@computer" . ?c)
                          ("@work" . ?w)
                          ("qux" . ?q) ("baz" . ?b)
                          ("personal" . ?p) ("client1" . ?1)
                          ("client2" . ?2) ("client3" . ?3)
                          ("family" . ?f) ("dog" . ?d)))))

To generate a report for a sprint I would put the tstart and tend for the sprint start and end dates, to generate a summary for that sprint. To generate the clock report simply type ,, while the cursor is on the begin line.

#+BEGIN: clocktable :scope agenda-with-archives :tstart "<2019-03-30 Sat>" :tend "<2019-04-06 Sat>" :maxlevel 9 :link t :tags "client1" :match "client1" :narrow 300
#+END:

For a day by day breakdown you can add :step day.

#+BEGIN: clocktable :scope agenda-with-archives :tstart "<2019-03-30 Sat>" :tend "<2019-04-06 Sat>"  :maxlevel 9 :link t :tags "client1" :match "client1" :step day :narrow 300
#+END:

or simply type ,CR under any headline. for more information on see here or Tracking Time In Agenda.

There should be a weekly review where you look through your notes, calendar, post-its, text messages, any thoughts rattling around your head and put it into your Inbox for processing. D.A. suggests using Friday afternoon and give yourself a two hour block.

I like the journal at first, it was closest to the paper notebook I used to use. But even with tagging I am finding it inconvenient to have to reference up the tree for it. I think I will keep the date tree structure though for recurring event notes. perhaps kept in references folder/file

• [ ] add part about how I use journals to store notes in date trees

David Allen recommends organizing your emails outside of your Inbox, and keeping it in its own system. I know emacs can do email, but I think it would be better to keep it in outlook. It would be nice if there is a way I can link to maybe a outlook 365 page? Could download the message and store it but that seems excessive.

my-gtd-system-with-org-mode

talks about implementing gtd in outlook

Can I have different capture templates depending on which file the capture originates? org-context

record state changes for gtd i think we can drop the todo, all items in the gtd file are actionable what is important is identifying the next, in progress seems redundant when also clocking the time

should there be a lot of different tags? Can they overlap?

orgmode-gtd

use @ for contexts tags to more easily differentiate them from regular tags.

use a separate file for archiving, so they don't clutter your view, can maybe use one file to archive everything?

Can you refile to an archive? how_do_orgrefiletargets_work orgmode-gtd

I think i can maybe use multiple. Tickler would be things specific to days of the week and months. Someday is currently planned as a todo item. But I think that it should be either a list or a separate file. Is someday equivalent to a backlog if so, then I might want to keep in gtd.org else I might want to keep it separate. You can always switch to the other easily at a later time.

Incubate would be for things that there is nothing to do on now, but there might be later.

Incubate vs Someday vs Tickler

Someday: I'm actually going to do it, I just don't know exactly when. So, upgrading a server, painting the house - things that really do need to get done, but they aren't active right now.

Maybe or Incubate: I'd like to get it done, but there's no assurance that it will ever happen. I think there's a subtle difference between these two, but I just call them Maybe.

Tickler: Something that I don't need to think about until after a certain date. These may link to tasks that are active now - for example, I may send a review version of a document to someone, and set a tickler to remind me to remind them in three days that I'm waiting for a response.

Or ticklers may link to Maybe tasks - for example, I may have a tickler for September 1 that tells me, "Think about whether to order spring bulbs this year." I have a Maybe project where I've put all of my spring bulb thoughts, and this tickler reminds me to decide whether to activate this project this year, because if I don't activate it soon after September 1, it will be too late.

Need to set up script to pull what ever is the tickler for that day into the Inbox.

Tickler forty three folders or in our case headlines 1-31 for each day of the month, and twelve for each month.

I don't think I should really keep them separate. They will have their own projects but other than that they should be treated like work.

will be important until you get the hang of it and internalize it.