All the Perl that's Practical to Extract and Report

Mnt. TODO

belg4mit on 2002-06-09T00:56:56

I have an entire range of Mnt TODOs. Modules, websites, vaporware, etc. So my question is this:

How do you keep track of your TODO list?

Traditionally a lot of my things get hashed out on scrap paper and stashed away in my file ladder, never to be heard from again. I also tend to send mail to myself with an idea or two.

This doesn't work too well.

I've searched SourceForge, Freshmeat, DaveCentral, etc. and found nothing satisfactory although I don't know quite what I'm looking for. I'd like something lightweight, incredibly simple interface, with a central data store and remote access. Any ideas? If it doesn't exist I might create it, but I've been unable to flesh out a good model myself.

Requirements

koschei on 2002-06-10T20:04:09

If you bash out some requirements (like how you want to use it, how much information you're likely to be wanting, whether you'll be wanting alerts, prioritising (by importance, by time it has been on the list, by function of the previous two, whatever), and all that sort of stuff), then we could be near a start.

I'm tempted to do the 'start a committee' approach, make a mailing list (can do myself; with web archive), invite people and see what people want in a TODO program. I, for one, also wouldn't mind one (I currently use a stack of 75x125mm cards grouped according to location (where I'd have to be to do said task), project or importance depending on the colour of the moon; It all seems relatively effective).

Re:Requirements

belg4mit on 2002-06-10T20:40:36

I'll put more thought into a an additonal comment later, but to expand...

One reason I tend to email myself so many little
notes is I have a custom CLI mailer I wrote
(http://web.mit.edu/belg4mit/bin/mailer)
It ought to be about that easy to add an entry.
(I should add the ability to invoke EDITOR)

So there might be multiple interfaces, given
the requirements of incredible ease of use,
and access form anywhere. I'd guess a web interface, and some kind of CLI that might
map over it.

Another thing is that management/organizing
entires tends to be non-trivial. Especially
for me, because I tend to end up with lots
of fragments of ideas, and to interweave
bits amongst various projects. So just now
I was thinking for the CLI perhaps a POD
like syntax, so that with a single invokation
multiple items could be added.

    =item Foo

    Twiddle the bar.

    =item Quux
    =item warble
    =item fiz

    Something pertinent to all 3?

And data storage. Well it might be nice if
you could just open it up in an editor,
and such a flatfile scheme would reduce requirements. OTOH an actual database has it's
advantages, perhaps just use DBI defaulting DBD::AnyData?

Of course another issue is that with the
emails, it's incredibly easy to add the
entries, and as previously mentioned, not
so easy to manage. However, actually getting
around to reading them etc. instead of
merely paying them lip service is another
matter. So err, I guess that goes with your
alert thing.

This got a bit longerwinded than I thought,
and probably not too coherent, so I should
wander off and contemplate.

Re:Requirements

belg4mit on 2002-06-10T20:47:42

A quick bit, if a CLI is a handy wrapper
over a web interface (security in the web
(outside of exploits) is left to the end user)
then one needs to take some kind of security
into consideration. Entering a user/pass
everytime could be optional, but is not
convenient (or even say path to a key).
Probably an INI File for storing the info.
Likewise, perhaps the ability to bypass the
web interface if the database is local,
or the database is listening to an
socket that is accessible from the client.
Hrmm, ssh-tunnel?

I suppose it seems I'm getting wrapped up on tangential details... Or maybe this is simply
quite an involved thing to do well, which while
not a problem, might explain why there are
few solutions.

Re:Requirements

koschei on 2002-06-10T21:40:57

Perhaps that means a solution should be developed?

Hmm. Sod it. Mailing list time. subscribe, archive, post --- closed to non-members (don't yet have SpamAssassin installed).

Re:Requirements

Matts on 2002-06-16T08:09:42

FWIW, I've started using my POD Wiki for my Todo list. This enables me to add many different structures, and also allows me the freedom to create links from ideas to full blown project pages.

I've only just started doing it, so I'll know better how it's going in about 6 months!

Re:Requirements

belg4mit on 2002-12-30T03:41:05

How well does it work?
I haven't gotten much done with this project.

I was just thinking about it today, and decided
to start working on the transports soon. Had
some other ideas too. Like using GPG. And maybe
using MH mail as a possible backend/interface.

Re:Requirements

Matts on 2002-12-30T09:43:43

It works well, depending on your expectations. Remember a Wiki is just a big notepad with hyperlinks. The one advantage it gives me is I can access and edit it from anywhere. (Of course being a Wiki, so could anybody else ;-)

RT. Rocks.

Simon on 2002-06-16T15:21:27

RT will probably do what you want.

Re:RT. Rocks.

belg4mit on 2002-06-16T16:21:57

Unfortunately not. The interface is
more than I am hoping for. It also
seems to be lacking some of the other
interfaces (mail etc.). What probably
makes it seem like a good fit are
things like priority and completion
date, but those are not key features.
thanks though.

PS> When's the modulre request list coming?