blog: add org mode flow post (#204)

2020-09-08 17:52:14 -04:00 · 2020-09-08 17:52:14 -04:00 · 22575fca38
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+---
+title: My Org Mode Flow
+date: 2020-09-08
+tags:
+  - emacs
+---
+
+# My Org Mode Flow
+
+At almost every job I've worked at, at least one of my coworkers has noticed
+that I use Emacs as my main text editor. People have pointed me at IntelliJ, VS
+Code, Atom and more, but I keep sticking to Emacs because it has one huge ace up
+its sleeve that other editors simply cannot match. Emacs has a package that
+helps me organize my workflow, focus my note-taking and even keep a timeclock
+for how long I spend working on tasks. This package is called Org mode, and this
+is my flow for using it.
+
+[Org mode](https://orgmode.org/) is a TODO list manager, document authoring
+platform and more for [GNU Emacs](https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/). It uses
+specially formatted plain text that can be managed using version control
+systems. I have used it daily for about five years for keeping track of what I
+need to do for work. Please note that my usage of it _barely scratches the
+surface_ of what Org mode can do, because this is all I have needed.
+
+## `~/org`
+
+My org flow starts with a single folder: `~/org`. The main file I use is
+`todo.org` and it looks something like this:
+
+```org
+#+TITLE: TODO
+
+* Doing
+** TODO WAT-42069 Unfrobnicate the rilkef for flopnax-ropjar push...
+* In Review
+** TODO WAT-42042 New Relic Dashboards...
+* Reviews
+** DONE HAX-1337 Security architecture of wasmcloud
+* Interrupt
+* Generic todo
+* Overhead
+** 09/08/2020
+*** DONE workday start...
+*** DONE standup...
+```
+
+Each level of stars creates a new heading level, and these headings can be
+treated like a tree. You can use the tab key to open and close the heading
+levels and hide those parts of the tree if they are not relevant. Let's open up
+the standup subtree with tab:
+
+```org
+*** DONE standup
+    CLOSED: [2020-09-08 Tue 10:12]
+    :LOGBOOK:
+    CLOCK: [2020-09-08 Tue 10:00]--[2020-09-08 Tue 10:12] =>  0:12
+    :END:
+```
+
+Org mode automatically entered in nearly all of the information in this subtree
+for me. I clocked in (alt-x org-clock-in with that TODO item highighted) when
+the standup started and I clocked out by marking the task as done (alt-x
+org-todo with that TODO item highlighted). If I am working on a task that takes
+longer than one session, I can clock out of it (alt-x org-clock-out) and then
+the time I spent (about 20 minutes) will be recorded in the file for me. Then I
+can manually enter the time spent into tools like Jira.
+
+When I am ready to move a task from In Progress to In Review, I close the
+subtree with tab and then highlight the collapsed subtree, cut it and paste it
+under the In Review header. This will keep the time tracking information
+associated with that header entry.
+
+I will tend to let tasks build up over the week and then on Monday morning I
+will move all of the done tasks to `done.org`, which is where I store things
+that are done. As I move things over, I double check with Jira to make sure the
+time tracking has been accurately updated. This can take a while, but doing this
+has caught cases where I have misreported time and then had the opportunity to
+correct it.
+
+## Clocktables
+
+Org mode is also able to generate tables based on information in org files. One
+of the most useful ones is the [clock
+table](https://orgmode.org/manual/The-clock-table.html#). You can use these
+clock tables to make reports about how much time was spent in each task. I use
+these to help me know what I have done in the day so I can report about it in
+the next day's standup meeting. To add a clock table, add an empty block for it
+and press control-c c on the `BEGIN` line. Here's an example:
+
+```org
+#+BEGIN: clocktable :block today
+#+END:
+```
+
+This will show you all of the things you have recorded for that day. This may
+end up being a bit much if you nest things deep enough. My preferred clock table
+is a daily view only showing the second level and lower for the current file:
+
+```org
+#+BEGIN: clocktable :maxlevel 2 :block today :scope file
+#+CAPTION: Clock summary at [2020-09-08 Tue 15:47], for Tuesday, September 08, 2020.
+| Headline                    |   Time |      |
+|-----------------------------|--------|------|
+| *Total time*                | *6:14* |      |
+|-----------------------------|--------|------|
+| In Progress                 |   2:09 |      |
+| \_  WAT-42069 Unfrobnica... |        | 2:09 |
+| Overhead                    |   4:05 |      |
+| \_  09/08/2020              |        | 4:05 |
+#+END:
+```
+
+This allows me to see that I've been working today for about 6.25 hours for the
+day, so I can use that information when deciding what to do next.
+
+## Other Things You Can Do
+
+In the past I used to use org mode for a lot of things. In one of my older files
+I have a comprehensive list of all of the times I smoked weed down to the amount
+smoked and what I felt about it at the time. In another I have a script that I
+used for applying ansible files across a cluster. The sky really is the limit.
+
+However, I have really decided to keep things simple for the most part. I leave
+org mode for work stuff and mostly use iCloud services for personal stuff. There
+are mobile apps for using org-mode on the go, but they haven't aged well at all
+and I have been focusing my time into actually doing things instead of
+configuring WEBDAV servers or the like.
+
+This is how I keep track of things at work.