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Ask HN: Do you keep a work journal?

by jotato on 9/20/23, 4:37 PM with 7 comments

(How) Do you track the work you've been doing for the last year? I'm not specifically referring to day-to-day work but long-term initiatives, goals, and a way to quickly answer questions like "What have I accomplished this year". I've found that my current role is more of this long term design work than anything else, and I'd like a way to be able to recall high level details.

I tend to lean towards a notebook/pen for my daily stuff but referencing it is difficult. I've tried tools like Obsidian but I find there to be too much friction to effectively use it. (context switching from whatever app I'm using, create a note, organizing it, etc...)

I'd love to know how you solve this.

  • by eindiran on 9/20/23, 5:02 PM

    I have a script that runs once a week, generating a new dated .md file with section headers (eg particular projects) and core info already populated. Throughout the week I just update notes in the .md file. If needed, I copy over things from week to week to preserve some context. I have another script the moves untouched .md files into an archive directory after some time has elapsed. I can then look over all of the day-to-day/week-to-week notes on a per-project basis at eg the end of the year, and have both a high-level overview and all the details.

    When I need to let people know what I've been working on, or do standup, or remember what I did 6 months ago, its all there.

  • by jethronethro on 9/20/23, 8:18 PM

    I do that by month, in what's essentially a monthly recap file. Do that in a text editor, using a modified version of a simple template[1] that I found online.

    [1]: https://plaintextproject.online/templates/monthly-recap.txt

  • by saltysalt on 9/20/23, 4:46 PM

    Yes I do, a daily rough journal and a formal weekly report to my managers. I use https://five.today/ for the rough journals and tasks as it tags everything automatically for me.

  • by aashutoshrathi on 9/20/23, 4:43 PM

    I use obsidian.md to keep track of todos, ideas, gotchas etc.

  • by mikecoles on 9/20/23, 6:02 PM

    Taskwarrior/Timewarrior or Markdown backed by git.