Here's a very useful (and cool) trick I made up a couple of years ago.
When you're working on a project or something, you often have to maintain a "To Do" list. There are some good programs to do this, for example OmniOutliner, but then to view it you'll need some software. Or you can use some web-based application, but then you'd be "locked in" that application.
So, a plain text file is the way to go...
As a convention, you can keep the highest priority tasks on top and the completed one on the bottom. If you are using a fixed-width font to view the text file, you also have more liberty to add "column" for due dates and such:
- 20050917 12: Finish backup system - 20050931 01: Deployment tests - xxxxxxxx 17: Take a break
This is nice, but what about the status of those tasks? Here's the trick I came up with:
LEGEND:
-: todo
>: postponed
<: late
~: started
#: almost done (testing needed)
x: done
*: continuous development ("sticky task")
@: cancelled (or postponed for a long time)]]>
As you can see, it's pretty intuitive. Here's an example:
# Write schema - Update DB access * JavaDoc < Update specs - Add logging > Add admin backed @ Add reporting tool <---- Not really needed x First draft of specs x First draft of design doc
Useful, no? And doesn't cost a thing!
Published on September 21, 2005 at 15:34 EDT
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