Ask HN: Solo Developers, what tools do you use to keep track of features/tasks? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Solo Developers, what tools do you use to keep track of features/tasks?

3 pointscgb2238 comments

I'm working on a few different software projects, mostly for fun, but I think they could benefit others one day once I get them squared away.

I was using Trello to keep track of the different features, and tasks required to get the app to the next level.

I'm finding that Trello is too limited in what I can do to keep track of all the different breakdowns of tasks, and that gets in the way of being productive or keeping good notes on them.

On the other end of the spectrum, JIRA is way too intense. Everything can be configured, and when I used it previously, the UX was hostile and unhelpful for quickly jotting down tasks, ideas, and other needs to go from nothing to a feature.

What software do you use to keep track of these things?

Is there a goldilocks software that is neither too basic, nor to byzantinely configurable, but rather hits that sweet spot for productivity?

For an online "free" option, I like quire [1]. Its simple "outliner" style view is good for rapid "breakdowns of tasks".

If you are on mac, there are some powerful apps like Things [2] and OmniFocus.

[1] https://quire.io/ [2] https://culturedcode.com/things/

For my own projects, Redmine or plain text to do lists. My customers are using / have been using these systems in the last ten years: Jira, Trello, Kanbanize, YouTrack, Confluence. The best balance for medium sized projects IMHO is Kanbanize, not too limited, not too complicated. For a single developer probably everything will do.

Notion's weekly todo-list template works well for me, been using it for the past coulpe years. Checkboxes are simple enough, and any block can be converted into a nested page if you need to go into more detail.

I use a markdown readme until the project is mature enough. It can be stored along the codebase and provisioned through git. It’s easy to order in terms of priority, and works flawlessly offline.

I used to use software for task management. Now I use post it notes.

Obsidian for todos, feature definitions, and sketches with the Excalidraw plugin OR a simple readme in markdown in the repo.

i use asana and its been great for solo and collaborative task management. the ui is nice and its got more advanced features if your team gets bigger

GitHub issues. Post-It notes.

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