Re: [O] Using org-mode as day planner

[Charles Philip Chan]

Jack Erwin <address@hidden> writes:

Hello Jack:

> I am in the process of trying out org-mode after a long stint with
> planner.el.  The most obvious difference here is that planner.el uses
> "day pages" that keep a running list of tasks versus the more dynamic
> nature of org which collects them from a set of arbitrary .org files.

I am a planner refugee from a few years back too. I find that my first
hurdle was to get rid of the notation that day pages must be physical
instead of emphemeral.

> While I like the org approach quite a bit, I still miss having a place
> to record the events and notes of the a day, for use in a
> weekly/monthly review.

There are many ways to do this and it is up to you imagination. Such as
by using a "date tree" or a combination of "inactive time stamps" and
tags. I personally have a ":Review:" tag in my capture templates for new
items and cleared after review. My day and weekly pages are Agenda views
that can be called up with one hot key either from Emacs or from my root
menu.

I think the term "Agenda View" really throws new users off, because it
is not just for Agendas, but really just a generic aggregator. For
example in my daily Agenda, I have the following sections:

   1. An aggregated Inbox for unfiled items in my org files and dired
      link to my inbox directory.

   2. A section for "Late Deadlines".

   3. A Section for "Wait For" items.

   4. A section for Sticky notes and other items that I deemed hot.

   5. A section from current working files and notes.

   6. A 1 day Agenda View for Agenda, scheduled items, deadline items,
      habits, weather, etc.

   7. A "Started Actions" section for items that I am working on (todo
      keyword "STARTED".

   8. A "Next Actions" List (todo keyword "NEXT").

   9. A list of my Projects

  10. A section for "Stuck Projects".

  11. A list for my Actions minus started and next (todo keyword TODO).

  12. A list of items that are candidates to be archived.

Of course I also have a number of Agenda Views for context lists.

The key here is really to take some time to set up your Agenda Views and
Capture Templates.

You should really read this section on worg:

http://orgmode.org/worg/org-gtd-etc.html

to get some more ideas. Also I find the following links very helpful (my
setup is based on that):

http://blog.edencardim.com/2011/05/gtd-with-org-mode-part-2/

http://blog.edencardim.com/2011/06/gtd-with-org-mode-part-3/

Another thing your should take advantage of is org-protocol. I
personally have 2 shell scripts for "capture" and "store-link" which I
have added as actions in my file manager, my root menu and of course I
used org-protocol in Firefox.

Regards,
Charles
-- 
"The move was on to 'Free the Lizard'"

  -- Jim Hamerly and Tom Paquin (Open Sources, 1999 O'Reilly and Associates)

pgpJkAZD7S4L3.pgp
Description: PGP signature