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This page is a draft.

This is the first in a series of articles on managing lists of things to do, based on my own experience which - standing on the shoulders of giants style - is largely distilled from other places. These are my rules and doubtless there will be something here that people will disagree with: I really appreciate comments.

I'm going to talk about paper notebooks here, and I'm focussing on my workflow during the dayjob. In some scenarios, you can use a digital solution in place of a paper notebook. However, if you cannot use a digital solution exclusively (if there's ever a situation where you will just have to write something down on paper), don't use it at all. You should try to have as few places collecting stuff for your attention as possible (cribbed from David Allen / Getting Things Done). One paper solution is better than a "mostly digital with some scraps of paper solution".

In some other contexts (such as contributing to Debian, for example) a purely digital solution might suffice. I will try to write about that later.

Use one notebook for everything in this context (work or home or Debian or ...). No "I need an A4 one for this piece of work, and a smaller one for this set of tasks..." Go for a size that is comfortable to carry around, but not too small that you cannot do a brainstorm on a page. A ring-bound notebooks are better than a glued-spine one. Ones thick enough that they support your writing, or ones with a pair of hard covers are best.

Use one side of the pages for todo lists and one side for everything else: general notes, meeting minutes, etc. I use the left-hand side for TODO lists and the right hand side for notes. This is because I tend to prefer writing long hand on the RHS: usually the page will be pristine (the back won't be filled in yet) which is more encouraging for writing longhand.

For todo pages, write one todo item per line. This can sometimes be difficult. I haven't decided whether it's best to try and abbreviate to fit a line or just give up and have some two (or more) line items. In the latter case, indiciate clearly that it is a split line, maybe with a big bracket on the LHS.

If you have a number of identifiable projects going on, you may wish to maintain separate TODO pages for each one, rather than jumble the action items for multiple projects together in the same TODO list.

When you do a todo item, cross it out. When a page of todo items is complete, put a big tick in the top left (or right) corner. It doesn't matter if you use the left or the right; but be consistent. You can then quickly leaf through the notebook to the TODO page (or realistically; pages) that demand your attention.

When a page of todo items is predominantly done but there are a few sticky items, tick the page off anyway and rewrite those items on a newer page. There is a balance to be struck between rewriting the same items over and over and having too many pages to track.

When you start a new page, be it todo items or notes on the other side, always date the page. I think this is really important, but it's something I find hard to remember to do.

Don't tear out pages. You want the notebook to remain comfortable and natural to you; changing it's size and weight by removing pages will make it less natural to carry around and use.

You will generate actions from meeting minutes and other notes. Write them as part of the minutes and notes in the first instance, so as to not break your flow, but then copy them into your todo list, one per line, later on. Once you've done that, indicate that all actions from a page of notes have been incorporated into your todo list with a big tick in the corner, in the same way you tick a todo page when it no longer needs attention.

You therefore have

I've found this system really helps me keep on top of every little job that I accumulate.

Future items in this series should cover