Using Github issues to track house repairs

RT?

I don't think something like that should be tied too much to the device itself; it should rather act like a hub than a device in that regard.

For instance, you could employ geofencing and remind them of daily chores they may have forgotten, when they leave the house. Of course, geofencing is pretty imprecise at the moment - at least on my iPhone 4.

Much the same way, you could ask them to fetch something from the grocery store, if they're nearby or already there. That way, it gets less annoying than a text message at work, instance.

Having to check a website or app for chores is something that itself feels like a chore. Automated reminders and such that ping the person are the way to go, I think. Or electronics built into daily appliances and such.

You're not alone in wanting to leverage the power of an issue tracker for more mundane tasks (Eventum, in my case: https://launchpad.net/eventum). Efficient as they may be, even I was reluctant to allow family members to create tickets for me. But the main reason I haven't done it is that taking a break from work shouldn't mean spending more time at the computer. It would be handy for tracking major projects, though, especially since it helps to organize contact information in a meaningful context.

I've been looking at chore monster and chore wars for much the same purpose. I've tried using dry issue tracking systems, and for as creative as these "gamified" options are, I still don't see them having enough hook to truly integrate into the family routine.

I use Astrid Tasks on my Android devices, and I've used it similarly. It lets you create task lists that can be shared among multiple users, so it's really handy to have some shared lists like "Home", "Shopping", etc. that sync across other people in the household. Plus it comes with a nice home screen widget, allows for recurring tasks, supports comments on tasks, and other helpful things.

GitHub's Issues system is pretty undervalued as a workflow/project management system. Especially once you learn to use milestones regularly.

It also lets you tack on collaborators to share the blame and responsibility. :)

Of course, you could well argue that it's a problem that it doesn't have the push, alert, and geofencing capabilities that make to-do services great to have.

> Is there any particular reason you are using GitHub issues instead of a more traditional todo list app?

Better support for discussions and tagging/prio?

I'm the person who's repository and issue tracker (and house!) this is. I've been using Github for tracking house issues for nearly a year.

Partly I chose Github for user experience - it's a pretty good and simple issue tracker.

Partly it was ease of setup time, Github was to hand.

Partly I'm curious whether it being public can help. People might come and give advice on bugs, and in theory workmen could turn up and give me spontaneous quotes.

I was going to write a blog post about it before posting to Hacker News, looks like somebody else beat me to it!

Time stamps, collaboration, accessible from anywhere, etc

We started using Trello at work and a QA on the team instituted it at home with his children for household chores.

I got my wife to use it for home projects and it actually works really well.

Trello is definitely better suited for something like this. Heck, Kitchen Remodeling is even used as an example on their Tour page: https://trello.com/tour.

The reasons for using GH Issues that frabcus mentioned, such as simplicity, setup time, being public, etc. are all covered by Trello as well. In my opinion, GH Issues shines when used with an actual software project, otherwise you're better off using something else.

It can be, although to help I created an app that turns Github issues into a kanban/trello style board http://compiledexperience.com/windows-apps/hub-bug

  > it's funny that "issue tracking" is somewhat constrained 
  > to software development

In other industries they're just called something else, "help tickets", "work orders", etc.

Other industries often have approaches to issue tracking which predate the adoption of computerization within them, e.g. redlines in design industries or proofreader's annotations for writing.

You can get a private repo or just sort by issues created by yourself, FWIW.

Really not an issue. I haven't had any, and have been using it for a year!

I just figured he open-sourced his house so more people could "contribute" to the repair work.

I wouldn't consider this abuse of the tool. I'm also learning a few things about the home improvement process from this. Isn't that the point of the open source movement -- shared knowledge for the improvement of others?

I don't think free public repositories are gift to the open source community, but freemium system designed to get people to convert to paid accounts with additional features. This project doesn't require the additional features.

We don't view it as an abuse at all! We dig fun uses of GitHub like this. Carry on, and good luck with the house.