I've been using org-mode for a few years. My agenda is cluttered with tasks
that are weeks and even months past due. I am "this close" to declaring
"orgmode bankruptcy" and starting from scratch, except my current setup
works so well for other things. Might still do that, but I want to ask for
ideas.
I stumble consistently over the distinction between projects and tasks. I
think there is not clear distinction, but I need to find a way to organize
them so that, at least, agenda displays the day to day TODO tasks separated
in a meaningful way from the long term projects that I need to remind myself
of (and there are dozens of these).
PROJECTS: I can define projects as
- an overall series of tasks related to a single purpose
- a recurring task (monthly calendars that I need to remind myself to
make each month)
- an actual project I am working on (writing a proposal, or a
research project about a coral, or a recipe database, or reconstructing a
LaTeX file tree for a publication ten years ago)
TODOS: perhaps tasks could be anything,
- bills (marked by tag "bill"
- phone calls to make
I am starting to understand how I TODOS can be scattered through all my
other files. However, the greater the number of agenda files, the greater
the clutter. And, as a recent thread called to mind, there are times when
the list of agenda files prevents me from searching for tags or todos. SO
where is the happy medium?
Some thoughts:
- I tried to write a custom agenda command that defined the agenda
files to encompass all *org files in a directory. This actually set the
agenda-files variable to all files for the rest of the session, so I gave
that idea up----although I know it's possible to do it.
- Again, the number of agenda files seems to be constraining.
- There seem to be issues between defining the agenda files
explicitly, or adding them one at a time.
- It would be useful if agenda searches automatically picked up the
recent files I had worked on during the session,
however, in as streamlined a way as possible.
I don't need to be reminded everyday that I have to organize bibliographic
references for my next trip to the library, but I have to have a way to keep
these organized to jog my memory in planning my time in some loose sense.
I do need to have a list of bills that I can access without having to sort
through the list of projects that are 3 months overdue.
Almost every week I have new insights into how to use tags, so perhaps I
need to junk alot of the tags I set up long ago.
These thoughts are somewhat disconnected, and I apologize for this.
And I would be grateful for any comments that would shed light on how to
solve these issues.
Alan Davis
