Ask HN: How do you keep your notes organized?

by spaceisballer on 1/27/2016, 7:52 PM with 4 comments

I was going to ask specifically of people who are project managers, but I'm curious to hear from anyone.

Quick background, I've been a project manager for 3 years now but I have moved into a new role where I will be overseeing multiple large projects. So needless to say I have to attend a wide variety of meetings. I currently don't have any staff (we will ramp up over the course of this year) and I'm just currently struggling to keep everything organized.

So I just wanted to know what people do to keep things organized, especially when you work on multiple projects. I take notes but I'm wondering if it might make sense to have another notebook to transfer important items over to. Or perhaps utilize some other tools (we have SharePoint, and I will be getting a tablet soon). Curious to hear what people say. I really just want to maximize my efficiency.

  • by redwards510 on 1/27/2016, 8:34 PM

    I used to use Evernote connected to a Galaxy Note tablet that I could use to write handwritten things down. One day I reviewed some of these and decided they were way too personal to entrust to a 3rd party who didn't even have an encryption scheme. Also, when you sync Evernote to a new computer, it can download notes you would rather not have on every computer you want to use Evernote on.

    I deleted my Evernote account. I now carry these tools everywhere I go:

    * Fisher 400B Space Bullet Space Pen - Matte Black[1]

    * Field Notes Pitch Black Edition[2]

    The pen was a spectacular find. It is only a few inches long, which allows you to carry it in your front jeans pocket without discomfort. It is also heavy and a joy to write with. The notepad is a sweet goth black and slides easily into your back pocket.

    DS Note [3] by Synology is a spectacular replacement for Evernote. It is an app that runs on their Diskstation NAS servers, so all the data is stored on your home server. You can import your Evernote account to it. I rarely use it, but it is incredibly full-featured. You just have to buy a Synology Diskstation NAS.

    [1] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WGD13U

    [2] http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GC5QTR0

    [3] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.synology.d...

  • by pieperz on 1/27/2016, 8:02 PM

    I use evernote to take "notes" and WIP stuff(this makes it searchable). Then I have trello boards with higher level planning. To stay out of the weeds I roughly use GTD/khanban/agile that I have made work for me. It took quite a while to get my system dialed in but once it clicked I easily got 40% more productive because of the gained focus on what I "SHOULD" be working on.

  • by noir_lord on 1/27/2016, 8:11 PM

    org-mode

    It makes it very quick to create new directories and files, each project has a directory with an index.org which has various sub-folders, combined with it's ability to internally link files and export as HTML and PDF it makes it easy to generate lists/todo's etc that can be shared with others.