Re: [emacs-humanities] Emacs "Projects" management?

[Alan Davis]

This thread has had a long life! (I am the OP).

Maybe I could give you an idea what I am doing now.  It's not probably up
to any concept of best practices, but I don't think I can abandon at least
most of my workflow.  My quest for a "project" concept of organisation is
pretty broadly based.  I have some long term projects, like an MS thesis
project that has not been completed over 35 years later.  This one, in
particular, has grown weeds: files are all over the place, and many of them
have duplicates or more.  There are PDFs of literature.  Some inventories
of specimens and microscope slides.  Attempts at writing chapters, and long
outlines (using Org-mode, and also to some minor extent mind-mapping).
Eventually this may be published as articles, or perhaps even a longer
thesis.  The original concept has propagated into numerous side
"projects."

org-capture templates continue to grow: new "projects" receive now
templates, often with sub-templates, now subcategories occur to me, and are
incorporated as secondary bindings.  Some templates are dedicated to single
files.  Over time I seem to have applied different organisational
concepts.  I have attempted to broaden the file structure: directories such
as "RESEARCH" encompasses a growing number of projects, each with at least
one file.  My thinking has evolved: I have come to prefer longer files with
multiple (related) top level headings, over multiple smaller files.  This
is not a consistent policy.  I have learned that a single larger directory
makes refiling less automatic; for refiling, in each topical file or
subheading the first heading is *<Topic or Filename>-Incoming" which is
usually picked up as a target right away, if the file is included as an
Agenda File.

I would like to use Agenda, with Schedules and Deadlines; however, I do not
keep to a consistent daily routine that would make it easier to actually
CHECK the tasks via Agenda.  I am loathe to spend excess time tweaking the
Agenda Views, although I can certainly see the value in having useful
ones.  I have not tried printing daily agenda sheets, would work for me,
because, years ago, the process of printing them was problematic.  At least
for me.  Similarly, where a weekly review would be useful, my lack of a
structured routine is anethema to such an approach.

I am intrigued by the Org-roam concept.  Free form data bases are
wonderful: It may be of interest on this Humanities list that I have made
up  a somewhat loosely defined capture template for the linguists's "Band
Format" which is an open ended format with the possibility of inventing new
categories in the moment.  I also defined a capture-template for a table
that would be filled in daily or aperiodically with personal data.

I came to org-mode from wonderful function "steno.el" that was a method of
capturing notes in the moment, while typing on something else, without
breaking the workflow.  Like Org-Capture.  I like this aspect of Org-mode:
that I can have as many templates as I want, for different projects.  I am
a semi-retired science teacher who has become (depending on one's point of
view) adept at shifting from topic to topic and activity to activity
throughout the day/week/month/year; and I am a Biologist with a plethora of
sub-interests within the general discipline.

Org-Ref (or some such) is of great interest to me, as I am a habitueé of
Google Scholar.  I have not adopted Org-Ref, although I am sure it would be
useful: it seems daunting to set up.  I already have adapted the program
Cb2Bib to enable the capture of comments (annotations) in a bibtex
database, with the help of the developer of that program.  I have discussed
this elsewhere, on the Org Mode list; however, there seems to have been
little interest in that peerless tool.  All that would be needed to bring
that into repproachment with Org mode would be to define some kind of
protocol to enable one to call emacs's Bibtex Mode to edit the data base
directly from Cb2Bib.  For now it is not difficult to open the file from
Emacs.  It is a Kludge, admittedly, but an extremely useful one.  A utility
that comes as part of Cb2Bib---the script "bib2pdf" enables me to print a
hardcopy of the file with hardly any trouble, with annotations.  For
example, I can incorporate the call number of a book as an annotation, at a
local library, and have a customized work list on my next visit.

Some years ago, I enrolled in a Electrical Engineering course (although I
am far from an engineer), "Computer Architecture," on a pass-fail basis.
It was one of the most logical courses I have ever taken.  This is a
consequence of computers having been invented by humans.  Compare, for
example, trying to master all of the biochemistry involved in genetics,
which is far more complex.   The instructure spoke to me at the end of the
Summer School course: "Now you can advise people on what computers can
do."  I think that is where I stand with regard to GNU/Linux and, for
example this list.  I am not a programmer, but I can write programs if
necessary.  Perhaps that drives me in coming to the list.  Or maybe not.

My own usage of the computer has evolved, and in doing so it has touched on
a plethora of interests.  I think I am something of an Eclectic.  I have
found Org-mode to be useful in many different ways, both to capture quick
one-off notes, and in writing.  I owe a great deal to the Org-mode and
especially Emacs developers, as well as the thousands of programmers who
have contributed so selflessly to the GNU Project and  contributed the
products of their work in other ways, such as the numerous free programs
that I can bring to bear in my own endeavors.  This is a truly big deal.  I
hope I can contribute something of my own, and pay it all forward.

 A number of the contributors to this thread have recognized that my usage
and interests are not necessarily consistent with a canned, pre-defined
approach.  I seek simple solutions.  Projects look to me like a way to
organise my computing in general, because almost everything I do on the
computer is conceived as aimed at some goal, however indistinct..   Perhaps
it is simplistic, but I have a main subdirectory of ~/ for some of my
larger projects.  ~/PROJECT1, ~/PROJECT2.  I am trying to do two things at
the same time: separate the "data" for each project, and find a way to
unify the entire universe of projects.   One thing has become painfully
obvious: when I try to sort PDFs, images, or other files and directories by
PROJECT category, there are numerous examples where a single file is
required to be in several projects.   Symlinks seem to be volatile.

Org-roam looks really useful.  At first sight, I think the idea of
backlinks may be just right.  However, two things bother me: the use of
small files as small morsels of information; and the use of an external
database program to store the backlinks.  Both of these cause me to shy
away from this approach .

A few years ago, I obtained an iMac, and encountered what I remember as
"virtual folders."  I may be imagining things, as I cannot seem to find
good information about it.  Someone mentioned finder on the mac.  This is a
truly interesting tool.  I think there are solutions for GNU/Linux;
however, most of them seem to take time to learn and set up, if I
understand the lay of the land.  What I THINK (or perhaps hope) that
virtual folders can do is to provide a ROBUST way of sorting files into
meaningful buckets without actually having to move the file, making it
possible for several virtual folders to include one particular  file.

One other possibility, given the current lower cost of storage, would be to
copy files to various directories.  Hard Links would be great except for
the well known limitations, and lack of portability of Sym Links.

Apologies for the long message.  I appreciate that many interesting posts.

Alan Davis

On Mon, Oct 17, 2022 at 8:30 AM Joe Corneli
<joseph.corneli@hyperreal.enterprises> wrote:

> For classic project management, Gantt charts are a big deal; Org mode
> works well for these thanks to its Taskjuggler integration.  But I think
> that’s another thread itelf.
>
> --
> Dr Joseph A. Corneli (https://github.com/holtzermann17)
>
> HYPERREAL ENTERPRISES LTD is a private company limited by shares,
> incorporated
> 25th, June 2019 as Company Number 634284 on the Register of Companies for
> Scotland (https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/SC634284).
>


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