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Posted by satis
Aug 10, 2021 at 02:01 AM
>I always plan to accomplish a task: often it is a research. I start to
>read papers and books on the topic I want to publish. Then, after a some
>days of reading and researching, the ideas in some of the works i read
>would nudge me to a different direction. As I learn some cool problems
>and ideas, i slowly, often unintentionally sway away from my original
>plan and move to a new topic.
>- and, then spend some time, on the new topic—-again the same thing
>happens.
>
>I have so many unorganized notes and unfinished projects. This is so
>annoying.
>
>
>What method or tool do you guys use to keep yourself on line to your
>plans?
I’m not an academic and my needs are different from yours, but given your need to manage various stages and tasks for multiple projects I’d look into using kanban boards for your projects. The most common and easiest to use are probably Trello and MeisterTask. Both have free tiers, MeisterTask has education pricing tiers, and Trello offers 50% off its Business tier for .edu customers.
If you have notes you want to attach online to various projects another option is BaseCamp Personal is completely free, and with it you can make spaces for up to three projects, work on these projects with up to 20 users, and store up to one gigabyte of data in those projects.
Posted by MadaboutDana
Aug 10, 2021 at 10:02 AM
Also worth looking at TickTick, which supports attachments and kanban views (you can alternate between a List and a Kanban view).
It also supports extensive note-taking as well as task management, and has a powerful tagging function, as well as “smart search” support.
As a general platform, it’s rather impressive (and not overpriced).
Posted by satis
Aug 10, 2021 at 11:39 AM
Todoist also has kanban boards, but I wouldn’t recommend either for project management with file attachments as being particularly robust
Posted by Franz Grieser
Aug 10, 2021 at 12:43 PM
Hi Dellu. I can relate.
Don’t know how much of my lifetime I spent losing myself in reseach I could not use.
This is how I proceed today when researching (for a book or any other project). It’s not perfect but has saved me a lot of time.
1. I define a desired outcome.
That can be anything from “find out more about ...” to “find numbers to substantiate my point” to “find out what I do not know” ...
2. The last 30 or so minutes of the time I reserved for research, I do a review:
- What have I found out? I write the most important findings down.
- Have I come closer to the desired outcome? If yes: Fine.
- If not: Have I found something worthwile? What is it?
3. Depending on the project and the research results: I may need to check whether the desired outcome is still valid or whether I should better change course.
4. I check what I wrote down and decide whether I need to research more.
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Aug 10, 2021 at 02:34 PM
satis wrote:
>I’m not an academic and my needs are different from yours, but given
>your need to manage various stages and tasks for multiple projects I’d
>look into using kanban boards for your projects.
I would also suggest that you look at the Kanban _Method_ for managing the flow of your work (of which going off on a tangent may even be an integral part, as others have noted). It is well suited for knowledge work, both at a personal and a collaborative level.
As for related tools, personal Kanban can well be done with a physical board if you have a single work location. Having ADD, I find permanently visible simple physical cues—similar to Prion’s whiteboard—much more effective in helping me focus than sophisticated software windows which can be hidden behind my browser.