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Comment by dpcan | Hacker News Reader

I use Trello, then it gets messy, switch to Keep to start over, that gets confusing or messy, I have a txt file with my todos, that gets messy, I try a project management tool like Basecamp, doesn't do the trick, start over fresh on Trello, that gets messy.... I think you see where I'm going with this.

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I have a very similar process, except I also insert "Let me start (over) building something to manage this properly" into each cycle.

Allocate a few minutes everyday to clearing up and planning the trello board. Same as you would a kanban board.

I actually settled on 2 text markdown files. One for short term and one for long term tasks and notes. I usually have a list pending tasks and a list of done tasks in each file somewhere (usually at the top). Sometimes I include some very detailed notes in there too, giving each one it's own h2 title (##) and new sections almost always get added to the top of the file rather than the bottom. I also never delete anything, but I have an '## Archive' section at the bottom where I'll periodically move stuff to. I'll also rearrange the sections sometimes to make them all hang together better.

It gets messy, but it's flexible, and when I run it through a markdown formatter it looks fairly nice.

I also use a text file to keep a daily development note, like a blog post but keep it in the project’s root just for me to see what’s I’ve done and what I’m planning to do in the next day.

I do this in all projects usually.

Do you add a new entry every day to the top of the file? Do you check this into git?

Almost everyday, or days when I work on the project. To the bottom of the file.

Someone else mentioned using a little post-it notes. I do that at work but never considered the extent to which it helps limit how much I can write, forcing me to more pragmatic about my list.

I sometimes try to plan things on a bigger piece of paper or on my computer in txt file but it always gets super messy. I usually prefer to use a post-it note anyway, so I never really thought it about it.

Could you elaborate on how things get messy?

For me:

Trello: boards get stale

Txt file todos: more todos are added each day, none get removed because of new ones added!

Basecamp: same issue as Trello.

In this second half of my career I've dealt mostly in startup development. MVPs just pivot too much. It's a ride.

what do you think about auto delete tasks?

I’ve been using Notion to integrate the kanban board, free form notes & references, client proposal documents, etc. all into one place.

I use Restyaboard to integrate the kanban board, probably the best looking and working kanban out there.

Same happened to me. For me outliners were a good enough solution. (Like moo.do)

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