The mighty TODO and its support
Once in a while, I'll mention my TODO list. It's where I list what I want to do, note possible ideas, keep track of the status of my ongoing projects, and more. Where does this beast actually live, though?
The truth is, it's not regrouped in a single location. As things stand right now, I'm using three main tools to keep track of all these elements. But why three?
The main one that I've mentioned before is OneNote. It's designed to do just that: write down notes and sort them out as you go. The way the application is structured works well for me: you have several notebooks (I have a Development one), broken down into sections (Interordi, IOBoard, Creeper's Lab, ...), which are in turn broken down into pages (Priorities, Future updates, Ideas, History, etc.). Each page is a freeform text page, with formatting support, so I can write things however I want. I usually make generous use of bullet points that get divided into subsections. Having text pages lets me see a lot of items at once, and I like having a global overview. Bonus, OneNote is available for basically every platform ever and synchronizes easily, so I'm not tied to any device.
Another one that I've been relying on is Visual Studio Code with a few additional plugins. My main coding software also happens to make an interesting note keeping system. The way things are displayed ends up somewhat similar to OneNote, but there's a reason why I use this: to easily share with others. My development notes for the Creeper's Lab are there, in Markdown format, which I can then easily copy and send elsewhere. I use this method to share the information with the staff, so they have an idea what I'm working on. The pages are pushed online, where a simple viewer allows casual browsing. Fun fact: this Markdown viewer is open source and available on my GitHub account!
Part of this family of tools is Microsoft To Do, another app that's available on multiple platforms. While I've tried using it as a replacement to OneNote, it didn't quite work for me: like others, you can choose to sort your notes across multiple projects and sections, but the individual tasks have to be entered one-by-one in their own fields. This means I can't see as many elements at a glance and I can't easily move an entire section somewhere else like I would with a text document. However, I found a use for it: tasks with a deadline. I have self-repeating tasks with notifications for the daily servers list voting, the monthly Kenorland rotation, the newsletter preparation, and more. This way, I don't need to remember when something is due. Likewise, I had a note today to remind me to write this post!
While this set has been working well enough for me for quite a while now, I'm never 100% happy with what I have, as there are always small details I wished worked differently. Who knows, maybe I'll find something more to my liking in the future!
– Doctacosa