Anyone who knows me knows that I am an organizational freak. A place for everything and everything in its place. I drive my husband nuts nagging him to put his shoes on the shoe rack and to hang his towel on his hook and not mine, stuff like that. Even the kids’ toys are anally sorted in to separate boxes: Little People in a separate box from the Weebles, Pop-onz in a different box from Duplo blocks, etc.
I’ve learned over the years that it really takes quite a long time to find an organizational system that works for you. You can’t really pigeon-hole yourself into one system, but every one of them has something to take away. I went to a seminar on organizing files several years ago. I dimly recall the speaker instructing us on tickler files and color coding, but what I really took away was this phrase: “Usage determines storage”. That has become a mantra for me ever since.
It is only natural that I feel an overwhelming need to organize all the digital pieces of my life, especially since my job is almost entirely bits and bytes. I’ve had some success with this. For instance, I’ve become really good about putting all appointments and time-sensitive tasks into my Google Calendar. I dutifully file away in del.icio.us any sites I find that I want to find again later. But, that is about it.
One of the big problem areas for me was the multitude of bits and pieces, tips, references, notes, articles, etc. that I had collected. I desperately needed a way to find this stuff again. Many of them can be filed under several different topics, so a normal directory structure was just not cutting it. I could use grep, but that was only if I knew a specific phrase and the document I was looking for was plain text.
Enter EagleFiler. Since I have bought it, my life has changed. I can dump anything and everything into it and I always find it later. EagleFiler doesn’t store your documents in a proprietary database, but in a regular old directory structure. That means that I can still get the documents out in the same format I put them in. That also means that, should anything happen to my EagleFiler library, my files are still fine. The best is that I can tag things as well as organize them in a file hierarchy. Searching just rocks and has saved my butt more times than I care to admit. That means that even if I don’t file or tag it, I’ll still find it.
I’m learning that it might be better to not tag and/or file things right away. I pay attention to where I think the file should be or what I think it should be tagged with, then handle it once I find it via a search. This is actually starting to lead to a cohesive, consistent system of tagging/filing. It is really slow going, though.
Another great feature of EagleFiler is the ability to have multiple libraries. I not only have a catch-all Reference library, but I also have begun creating libraries for every project I work on. Then I can dump all e-mail correspondence, notes, files, web pages, etc. into my library without worrying about whether I’ll be able to find it again. I’m beginning to wonder, though, if I shouldn’t have one huge library for all projects, since there are files that belong to more than one project (e-mails especially). EagleFiler allows you to open multiple windows for one library, so this might be a better way to go. Time will tell.
I can say that EagleFiler’s developer, Michael Tsai, is super responsive and totally open to new ways of using his application. This is rare among the developers of these brain-dump applications. He’s great and I can’t say enough good things about EagleFiler, so if you are in the market for an application like this and you have a Mac (you do have a Mac, don’t you?), you must check it out.
What I Haven’t Been Able to Organize
There are things that I haven’t been able to successfully organize and I am floundering. The biggest issue for me is e-mail. Since I telecommute, I get almost all direction via e-mail. Inevitably, one e-mail will contain information on more than one project. This means that I either keep more than one copy (one in each project), or have one copy and somehow tag it for the projects. This is the main reason why I am seriously considering one really, huge EagleFiler library containing all files for all projects.
I did begin archiving e-mail into a local mailbox in Thunderbird. For me, there is no better e-mail client than Thunderbird. I’ve used it since something like version 0.5. I’ve tried others, I really have. I’ve tried to like Apple’s Mail.app. But, no other e-mail client comes close to making me as happy as Thunderbird.
That said, Thunderbird’s tagging support is buggy and simplistic, and searching for something is painfully slow and usually doesn’t yield results. I need to move the archives into EagleFiler, but the question is: keep a separate library for e-mail or go to the one monstrous library paradigm?
Seems like the decision should be easy, but it isn’t quite that simple. I do have metadata associated with the files already stored in EagleFiler libraries and I don’t want to have to recreate it. It might be that I can move files between libraries and EagleFiler will transfer the metadata; I need to test it. If it doesn’t, then I hope Michael is reading this!
The next thing I have yet to successfully organize is my task list. I just spent the better part of the weekend creating a system in Remember the Milk that I really hope will help. For me, it makes no sense to put due dates on things. My job is pretty crazy and inevitably I don‘t get to work on what I planned to work on at any given moment. I’m much better off just having priorities. What is the next action that must be taken on a particular project? That is all I’m interested in.
This means a hierarchical system of projects and tasks. Unfortunately, RTM doesn’t really support this. You can fake it, though, as someone posted in the forums. I’ve used this post as a guide in creating what I hope is a system that will work. I have tasks for projects that are preceded by two hyphens and tagged “project”. I then create the tasks for the projects themselves and tag them with a tag that follows the “p-projectcode” format. Instead of entering in due dates for tasks, I’ve picked the next three actions for the project and assigned them priorities 1, 2, and 3 in the order that I want to get them done. I have smart lists that show me just the tasks for a specific project and one that shows me all of the projects. I’ve even prioritized the projects themselves, so that I can tell exactly which next action I should be doing.
What I am really missing is a view that would show me all the prioritized tasks automatically prioritized in order by the project. I need all of the top priority tasks put in the order that I’ve given their associated projects. Does that make sense?
Also, I’ve found that I have really big projects that are broken out into smaller projects. My question becomes: do tasks for the subproject get tagged with the subproject and the parent project, or just the subproject? I may be overthinking that one a bit, though. Time will tell.
A friend of mine mentioned that Outlook allows her to break a task up into steps, then has a progress meter that shows exactly how much has been done toward completing that task. I would love to have this functionality!
I really don’t want to go looking for another project-management/to-do tracker type of site. I like RTM. They have implemented Google Gears, so I can have my task data backed up, they have a widget for my iGoogle page, my tasks show up on my Google Calendar, etc. It integrates so well with what I was already using! Recently, RTM began offering a Pro version, which is available for a small fee. I haven’t ponied up yet, but I’m just biding my time, waiting to see what Pro members will get. Right now, it is just an iPhone-compatible site. If, however, they implemented some advanced features such as the progress meter or hierarchical tags, then I would fork over the cash in a snap. Perhaps these are things in the works.
This begs the question: why not create separate lists for each project? Again, some tasks actually can pertain to more than one project, so where is the division? Also, I need to allow my boss access to my task list so he can add new things or help me rearrange priorities, or just see what the hell I’m doing. I really don’t want to have to remember to share multiple lists. Having one big list for all work-related tasks means he has access to all of that.
Last, but not least, is CSS. How the hell do you organize a stylesheet so that it is easily updatable and debuggable? When I first started a recent project, I organized (loosely) by section. This seemed to be wasteful because there were lots of properties that were being added several times because they pertained to several sections. So, I completely rewrote the final stylesheet, organizing by property instead (box model, visual effects, font, etc.). This didn’t really end up in a more usable stylesheet. So, what’s the trick here? How do you do it? What am I missing?
I’ve written a book at this point, but it does give you a feel for my mania. I’m always looking for a magic bullet that will instantly pull my several different schemes into one cohesive system. I really doubt that it is there, and I really should know better. I know that getting a system in place that works is a very personal thing. You have to let it grow, learn what you’ll use and how you’ll use it. It takes time, but soon you find yourself doing it without thinking, and when you do, you’ll know that you’ve got it right.