org-mode as an accountability system?

org-mode as an accountability system?

[Peter Salazar]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 3234 bytes --]

I have an accountability partner with whom I exchange daily "committed
actions." Every morning, I e-mail him a list of the tasks I commit to
completing that day.

When I complete a task, I mark it DONE. If I don't complete a task that
day, I mark it @didnotdo and manually cut and paste it to the next day.

Every night, I send him a report of which actions I did and which ones I
did not do. (I find I get so much more done since I started making daily
commitments to someone other than myself.)

My committed actions for a day consist of:

a) TODOs for the projects I'm working on
b) random errands that need to be done that day
c) daily habits (e.g. meditating, exercising)

I don't believe org-agenda can support me in doing this, because I require:

a) a way to quickly enter the random tasks for that day (without having to
"schedule" each one for today)
b) more importantly: a way to record, store, and e-mail my list of which
tasks I've done and not done at the end of the night

So instead I've been creating a list of TODOs for each day manually.

My questions:

1. Given that I'm creating my daily task list manually, is there an easy
way, when I mark a task @didnotdo, to automatically move it to the next
day's list and change its state to @todo?
2. I'd still like to be able to create outlines for my documents and add
TODO items inline as I think of them. Is there a way to get org to gather
these scattered TODOs and place them in my manually-created daily TODO
list, rather than in the agenda?

Macro question: Is there a better way to manage my accountability system,
rather than doing it manually? Again, I don't see a way to do it using
agenda.

Thanks for any help.

Peter


P.S. If it's helpful, here's a typical list I might send my accountability
partner in the morning:

<2012-02-16 Thu>

* habits
** @todo - morning practice [0/3]
- [ ] e-mail committed actions
- [ ] stretch for 10 minutes
- [ ] meditate
** @todo - evening practice [0/2]
- [ ] sit-ups
- [ ] e-mail report assessing day's committed actions
* committed actions
** teaching
*** current semester
**** @todo - e-mail students [0/2]
***** @todo - e-mail Liz
***** @todo - e-mail Jean
**** @todo - appointment with Claire 4pm
*** next semester
**** finish proposal
***** @todo - send proposal to editor
***** @todo - write syllabus
** random tasks
*** @todo - renew prescriptions
*** @todo - clean room
*** @todo - go over Nicole notes
*** @todo - call Andy
*** @todo - jog with Heidi 3pm

A typical report at the end of the night might look like this:

<2012-02-16 Thu>

* habits
** DONE - morning practice [3/3]
- [X] e-mail committed actions
- [X] stretch for 10 minutes
- [X] meditate
** @todo - evening practice [1/2]
- [ ] sit-ups
- [X] e-mail report assessing day's committed actions
* committed actions
** teaching
*** current semester
**** @todo - e-mail students [2/2]
***** DONE - e-mail Liz
***** DONE - e-mail Jean
**** @todo - appointment with Claire 4pm
*** next semester
**** finish proposal
***** @didnotdo - send proposal to editor
***** DONE - write syllabus
** random tasks
*** DONE - renew prescriptions
*** @didnotdo - clean room
*** @didnotdo - go over Nicole notes
*** @postponed - call Andy
*** DONE - jog with Heidi 3pm

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 4352 bytes --]

Re: org-mode as an accountability system?

[Thorsten]

Peter Salazar <cycleofsong@gmail.com> writes:

Hi Peter, 
without claiming being an expert org-mode user, I had the following
thoughts when reading your post: 

> I have an accountability partner with whom I exchange daily "committed
> actions." Every morning, I e-mail him a list of the tasks I commit to
> completing that day. 

Why sending per email? Why not getting a free private(!) git repo (1GB)
at assembla.com and cooperatively work on one or several org file(s) in
that repo?

> When I complete a task, I mark it DONE. If I don't complete a task
> that day, I mark it @didnotdo and manually cut and paste it to the
> next day. 
>  
> Every night, I send him a report of which actions I did and which ones
> I did not do. (I find I get so much more done since I started making
> daily commitments to someone other than myself.)
 
If you both work on the same file using git, the current state of
affairs will always be clear, as well as who did what at what time (and
pushed it to the repo). 

> 1. Given that I'm creating my daily task list manually, is there an
> easy way, when I mark a task @didnotdo, to automatically move it to
> the next day's list and change its state to @todo? 

When I have a TODO task in the agenda that I did not complete today, I
just change the date to tomorrow in the agenda using '>'. 
If you don't do that, it will appear anyway in the agenda as overdue
task. 


-- 
cheers,
Thorsten

Re: org-mode as an accountability system?

[Peter Salazar]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 2512 bytes --]

Hi Thorsten,

Thanks for the thoughts.

Clarification: I send my accountability partner a summary of MY committed
actions for the day for him to review. We dont' collaborate, and he does
not touch or change my tasks. (Although he does send me a list of his own
tasks, and how well he did each day.)

It's important to send the tasks by e-mail so I know he'll see them right
away (and that will keep me accountable). If I send him a link, I know he
may or may not view the file if and when he has time.

As for using Agenda and hitting > to move a task to the next day, there are
two problems with this:

1. this does not change the state of a @didnotdo task to @todo
2. for habits (using the format SCHEDULED: <2012-03-03 Sat  +1d>), if I
miss a day and then try to mark a habit DONE today, it stamps the habit
done for the day I missed, rather than stamping it done today and recording
that I did not do it on the day I was supposed to do it.


On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 1:56 PM, Thorsten <quintfall@googlemail.com> wrote:

> Peter Salazar <cycleofsong@gmail.com> writes:
>
> Hi Peter,
> without claiming being an expert org-mode user, I had the following
> thoughts when reading your post:
>
> > I have an accountability partner with whom I exchange daily "committed
> > actions." Every morning, I e-mail him a list of the tasks I commit to
> > completing that day.
>
> Why sending per email? Why not getting a free private(!) git repo (1GB)
> at assembla.com and cooperatively work on one or several org file(s) in
> that repo?
>
> > When I complete a task, I mark it DONE. If I don't complete a task
> > that day, I mark it @didnotdo and manually cut and paste it to the
> > next day.
> >
> > Every night, I send him a report of which actions I did and which ones
> > I did not do. (I find I get so much more done since I started making
> > daily commitments to someone other than myself.)
>
> If you both work on the same file using git, the current state of
> affairs will always be clear, as well as who did what at what time (and
> pushed it to the repo).
>
> > 1. Given that I'm creating my daily task list manually, is there an
> > easy way, when I mark a task @didnotdo, to automatically move it to
> > the next day's list and change its state to @todo?
>
> When I have a TODO task in the agenda that I did not complete today, I
> just change the date to tomorrow in the agenda using '>'.
> If you don't do that, it will appear anyway in the agenda as overdue
> task.
>
>
> --
> cheers,
> Thorsten
>
>
>

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 3357 bytes --]

Re: org-mode as an accountability system?

[John Hendy]

On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 1:18 PM, Peter Salazar <cycleofsong@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Thorsten,
>
> Thanks for the thoughts.
>
> Clarification: I send my accountability partner a summary of MY committed
> actions for the day for him to review. We dont' collaborate, and he does not
> touch or change my tasks. (Although he does send me a list of his own tasks,
> and how well he did each day.)
>

He doesn't have to change them, just be able to view the up to date
state of your todos. I think that was the point. =git pull= is not
significantly more work than opening an email.

> It's important to send the tasks by e-mail so I know he'll see them right
> away (and that will keep me accountable). If I send him a link, I know he
> may or may not view the file if and when he has time.
>

Whether he opens his browser/email client and reads the email or opens
a terminal and does =git pull=, again, does not seem horridly
different. Then again, for a non git user, you are correct that one
more step might make the difference between reading and not.

> As for using Agenda and hitting > to move a task to the next day, there are
> two problems with this:
>
> 1. this does not change the state of a @didnotdo task to @todo

Have a look at: http://orgmode.org/manual/Agenda-commands.html

I, too, am not a power user, however it seems like you could do the following:
-- `C-a t` (show all todos)
-- `m` on each one you did not complete
-- `B` (shift+b, conduct bulk action on all marked entries)
-- `t` to change todo state for each marked item
-- Type in 'didnotdo' to change the state
-- `C-a T` (agenda search based on todo state)
-- Type in 'didnotdo' (gives you all the items you just marked since
you didn't do them)
-- Copy the current agenda view into an email and send it
---- Alternative do `C-x C-w` and write it to a file you can push to a git repo
-- `m` on all the shown entries (all are state `didnotdo` at this point)
-- `B` (conduct a bulk action)
-- `s` (schedule new date for all actions)
-- Use the minibuffer calendar to schedule them to a new day

Looks like a lot, but this should go pretty fast once you get the hang of it.

Also, Bernt Hanson has a diddy on his website for creating a timestamp
for every new headline. Perhaps you could use it to create a timestamp
with today's date for every new todo headline? See his elisp code
here:
-- http://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html#sec-15-21

> 2. for habits (using the format SCHEDULED: <2012-03-03 Sat  +1d>), if I miss
> a day and then try to mark a habit DONE today, it stamps the habit done for
> the day I missed, rather than stamping it done today and recording that I
> did not do it on the day I was supposed to do it.
>

I don't use habit, but I know there's a graph that's supposed to show
color coded bars based on whether you did or did not do the task
according to how you scheduled the habit.
-- http://orgmode.org/manual/Tracking-your-habits.html

Hope this gives you some ideas or even helps you directly!


John

>
> On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 1:56 PM, Thorsten <quintfall@googlemail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Peter Salazar <cycleofsong@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>> Hi Peter,
>> without claiming being an expert org-mode user, I had the following
>> thoughts when reading your post:
>>
>> > I have an accountability partner with whom I exchange daily "committed
>> > actions." Every morning, I e-mail him a list of the tasks I commit to
>> > completing that day.
>>
>> Why sending per email? Why not getting a free private(!) git repo (1GB)
>> at assembla.com and cooperatively work on one or several org file(s) in
>> that repo?
>>
>> > When I complete a task, I mark it DONE. If I don't complete a task
>> > that day, I mark it @didnotdo and manually cut and paste it to the
>> > next day.
>> >
>> > Every night, I send him a report of which actions I did and which ones
>> > I did not do. (I find I get so much more done since I started making
>> > daily commitments to someone other than myself.)
>>
>> If you both work on the same file using git, the current state of
>> affairs will always be clear, as well as who did what at what time (and
>> pushed it to the repo).
>>
>> > 1. Given that I'm creating my daily task list manually, is there an
>> > easy way, when I mark a task @didnotdo, to automatically move it to
>> > the next day's list and change its state to @todo?
>>
>> When I have a TODO task in the agenda that I did not complete today, I
>> just change the date to tomorrow in the agenda using '>'.
>> If you don't do that, it will appear anyway in the agenda as overdue
>> task.
>>
>>
>> --
>> cheers,
>> Thorsten
>>
>>
>

Re: org-mode as an accountability system?

[Jude DaShiell]

Rather than "did not do" perhaps "pending" might be a little shorter. On 
Sat, 3 Mar 2012, John Hendy wrote:

> On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 1:18 PM, Peter Salazar <cycleofsong@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hi Thorsten,
> >
> > Thanks for the thoughts.
> >
> > Clarification: I send my accountability partner a summary of MY committed
> > actions for the day for him to review. We dont' collaborate, and he does not
> > touch or change my tasks. (Although he does send me a list of his own tasks,
> > and how well he did each day.)
> >
> 
> He doesn't have to change them, just be able to view the up to date
> state of your todos. I think that was the point. =git pull= is not
> significantly more work than opening an email.
> 
> > It's important to send the tasks by e-mail so I know he'll see them right
> > away (and that will keep me accountable). If I send him a link, I know he
> > may or may not view the file if and when he has time.
> >
> 
> Whether he opens his browser/email client and reads the email or opens
> a terminal and does =git pull=, again, does not seem horridly
> different. Then again, for a non git user, you are correct that one
> more step might make the difference between reading and not.
> 
> > As for using Agenda and hitting > to move a task to the next day, there are
> > two problems with this:
> >
> > 1. this does not change the state of a @didnotdo task to @todo
> 
> Have a look at: http://orgmode.org/manual/Agenda-commands.html
> 
> I, too, am not a power user, however it seems like you could do the following:
> -- `C-a t` (show all todos)
> -- `m` on each one you did not complete
> -- `B` (shift+b, conduct bulk action on all marked entries)
> -- `t` to change todo state for each marked item
> -- Type in 'didnotdo' to change the state
> -- `C-a T` (agenda search based on todo state)
> -- Type in 'didnotdo' (gives you all the items you just marked since
> you didn't do them)
> -- Copy the current agenda view into an email and send it
> ---- Alternative do `C-x C-w` and write it to a file you can push to a git repo
> -- `m` on all the shown entries (all are state `didnotdo` at this point)
> -- `B` (conduct a bulk action)
> -- `s` (schedule new date for all actions)
> -- Use the minibuffer calendar to schedule them to a new day
> 
> Looks like a lot, but this should go pretty fast once you get the hang of it.
> 
> Also, Bernt Hanson has a diddy on his website for creating a timestamp
> for every new headline. Perhaps you could use it to create a timestamp
> with today's date for every new todo headline? See his elisp code
> here:
> -- http://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html#sec-15-21
> 
> > 2. for habits (using the format SCHEDULED: <2012-03-03 Sat  +1d>), if I miss
> > a day and then try to mark a habit DONE today, it stamps the habit done for
> > the day I missed, rather than stamping it done today and recording that I
> > did not do it on the day I was supposed to do it.
> >
> 
> I don't use habit, but I know there's a graph that's supposed to show
> color coded bars based on whether you did or did not do the task
> according to how you scheduled the habit.
> -- http://orgmode.org/manual/Tracking-your-habits.html
> 
> Hope this gives you some ideas or even helps you directly!
> 
> 
> John
> 
> >
> > On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 1:56 PM, Thorsten <quintfall@googlemail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> Peter Salazar <cycleofsong@gmail.com> writes:
> >>
> >> Hi Peter,
> >> without claiming being an expert org-mode user, I had the following
> >> thoughts when reading your post:
> >>
> >> > I have an accountability partner with whom I exchange daily "committed
> >> > actions." Every morning, I e-mail him a list of the tasks I commit to
> >> > completing that day.
> >>
> >> Why sending per email? Why not getting a free private(!) git repo (1GB)
> >> at assembla.com and cooperatively work on one or several org file(s) in
> >> that repo?
> >>
> >> > When I complete a task, I mark it DONE. If I don't complete a task
> >> > that day, I mark it @didnotdo and manually cut and paste it to the
> >> > next day.
> >> >
> >> > Every night, I send him a report of which actions I did and which ones
> >> > I did not do. (I find I get so much more done since I started making
> >> > daily commitments to someone other than myself.)
> >>
> >> If you both work on the same file using git, the current state of
> >> affairs will always be clear, as well as who did what at what time (and
> >> pushed it to the repo).
> >>
> >> > 1. Given that I'm creating my daily task list manually, is there an
> >> > easy way, when I mark a task @didnotdo, to automatically move it to
> >> > the next day's list and change its state to @todo?
> >>
> >> When I have a TODO task in the agenda that I did not complete today, I
> >> just change the date to tomorrow in the agenda using '>'.
> >> If you don't do that, it will appear anyway in the agenda as overdue
> >> task.
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> cheers,
> >> Thorsten
> >>
> >>
> >
> 
> 

----------------------------------------------------------------
Jude <jdashiel-at-shellworld-dot-net>
<http://www.shellworld.net/~jdashiel/nj.html>

Re: org-mode as an accountability system?

[Memnon Anon]

Hi Peter,

Peter Salazar <cycleofsong@gmail.com> writes:

> My committed actions for a day consist of: 
>    
> a) TODOs for the projects I'm working on
> b) random errands that need to be done that day
> c) daily habits (e.g. meditating, exercising)
>
> I don't believe org-agenda can support me in doing this, because I
> require: 
>
> a) a way to quickly enter the random tasks for that day (without
> having to "schedule" each one for today)
> b) more importantly: a way to record, store, and e-mail my list of
> which tasks I've done and not done at the end of the night

I am not sure why you don't use the agenda, there really should be no
need to compile this data manually.

Flow:
- Enter your task with capture. This *is* a quick way, and you should be
  able to setup a binding that schedules the new task to today by
  default. Put the tasks wherever they should live in your org cosmos.
- At the beginning of the day, start your agenda for today. 
  Copy and paste it, export it to html, whatever. Send it to your
  college.
- Work through your tasks. If you can't finish a task, don't mark it
  didnotdo, but simple reschedule it for tomorrow; the change will be
  reflected in your log drawer.
- At the end of the day, or early next day, start the agenda and use
  org-agenda-log-mode, probably with C-u. 
- `C-u l' should show you all there is, given it is properly configured:
  Task you finished, tasks you did not finish and hence rescheduled for
  later, even your sections (teaching, habits, random tasks) can be
  reflected with categories. Just copy and paste it in your email and
  you are done.

> Macro question: Is there a better way to manage my accountability
> system, rather than doing it manually? Again, I don't see a way to do
> it using agenda.


hth

Memnon

Re: org-mode as an accountability system?

[Darlan Cavalcante Moreira]

Also, if you have anything in your agenda that you don't want to send to
him you can use tags to restrict what is shown in the agenda before you
copy/export it.

--
Darlan

At Sun, 4 Mar 2012 14:08:40 +0000 (UTC),
Memnon Anon <gegendosenfleisch@googlemail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Peter,
> 
> Peter Salazar <cycleofsong@gmail.com> writes:
> 
> > My committed actions for a day consist of: 
> >    
> > a) TODOs for the projects I'm working on
> > b) random errands that need to be done that day
> > c) daily habits (e.g. meditating, exercising)
> >
> > I don't believe org-agenda can support me in doing this, because I
> > require: 
> >
> > a) a way to quickly enter the random tasks for that day (without
> > having to "schedule" each one for today)
> > b) more importantly: a way to record, store, and e-mail my list of
> > which tasks I've done and not done at the end of the night
> 
> I am not sure why you don't use the agenda, there really should be no
> need to compile this data manually.
> 
> Flow:
> - Enter your task with capture. This *is* a quick way, and you should be
>   able to setup a binding that schedules the new task to today by
>   default. Put the tasks wherever they should live in your org cosmos.
> - At the beginning of the day, start your agenda for today. 
>   Copy and paste it, export it to html, whatever. Send it to your
>   college.
> - Work through your tasks. If you can't finish a task, don't mark it
>   didnotdo, but simple reschedule it for tomorrow; the change will be
>   reflected in your log drawer.
> - At the end of the day, or early next day, start the agenda and use
>   org-agenda-log-mode, probably with C-u. 
> - `C-u l' should show you all there is, given it is properly configured:
>   Task you finished, tasks you did not finish and hence rescheduled for
>   later, even your sections (teaching, habits, random tasks) can be
>   reflected with categories. Just copy and paste it in your email and
>   you are done.
> 
> > Macro question: Is there a better way to manage my accountability
> > system, rather than doing it manually? Again, I don't see a way to do
> > it using agenda.
> 
> 
> hth
> 
> Memnon
> 
> 

Re: org-mode as an accountability system?

[Peter Salazar]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 2485 bytes --]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I'm going to work on incorporating them
into my system. I'll let you know how it turns out!


On Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 6:44 AM, Darlan Cavalcante Moreira <darcamo@gmail.com
> wrote:

>
> Also, if you have anything in your agenda that you don't want to send to
> him you can use tags to restrict what is shown in the agenda before you
> copy/export it.
>
> --
> Darlan
>
> At Sun, 4 Mar 2012 14:08:40 +0000 (UTC),
> Memnon Anon <gegendosenfleisch@googlemail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Peter,
> >
> > Peter Salazar <cycleofsong@gmail.com> writes:
> >
> > > My committed actions for a day consist of:
> > >
> > > a) TODOs for the projects I'm working on
> > > b) random errands that need to be done that day
> > > c) daily habits (e.g. meditating, exercising)
> > >
> > > I don't believe org-agenda can support me in doing this, because I
> > > require:
> > >
> > > a) a way to quickly enter the random tasks for that day (without
> > > having to "schedule" each one for today)
> > > b) more importantly: a way to record, store, and e-mail my list of
> > > which tasks I've done and not done at the end of the night
> >
> > I am not sure why you don't use the agenda, there really should be no
> > need to compile this data manually.
> >
> > Flow:
> > - Enter your task with capture. This *is* a quick way, and you should be
> >   able to setup a binding that schedules the new task to today by
> >   default. Put the tasks wherever they should live in your org cosmos.
> > - At the beginning of the day, start your agenda for today.
> >   Copy and paste it, export it to html, whatever. Send it to your
> >   college.
> > - Work through your tasks. If you can't finish a task, don't mark it
> >   didnotdo, but simple reschedule it for tomorrow; the change will be
> >   reflected in your log drawer.
> > - At the end of the day, or early next day, start the agenda and use
> >   org-agenda-log-mode, probably with C-u.
> > - `C-u l' should show you all there is, given it is properly configured:
> >   Task you finished, tasks you did not finish and hence rescheduled for
> >   later, even your sections (teaching, habits, random tasks) can be
> >   reflected with categories. Just copy and paste it in your email and
> >   you are done.
> >
> > > Macro question: Is there a better way to manage my accountability
> > > system, rather than doing it manually? Again, I don't see a way to do
> > > it using agenda.
> >
> >
> > hth
> >
> > Memnon
> >
> >
>
>

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 3325 bytes --]