Ask HN: Does anybody use a bug tracker for their personal lives?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9782174

by pandatigox • 11 years ago

21 38 11 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Or a variant? Though I don't have much experience with issue trackers (except for the occasional issues raised on github, etc), could an issue tracker could be used for one's own personal lives?

aalbertson• 11 years ago

I've seen people use project management software for their personal lives. Trello and the ilk, as example. I've attempted it, but never manage to maintain it very long.

cjbprime• 11 years ago

I've used Trello. Project management seems like a more appropriate model than issue tracking.

dmfdmf• 11 years ago

I have written a daily journal since the early 90's, on paper. It was one if the best decision I ever made. However, I am on the verge of moving my journal to digital format, probably as a private blog. Also, I see the need to clearly define and integrate my basic concepts and principles and I am thinking of starting a personal, private wiki for that purpose.

contingencies• 11 years ago

Much respect for the diligence necessary to continue with such a project.

To think, you have to write. If you're thinking without writing, you only think you're thinking. - Leslie Lamport

jefurii• 11 years ago

I set up Redmine for my wife, who is an attorney. She uses it to communicate with her clients and manage projects, and also for some personal stuff. She really likes it.

mherdeg• 11 years ago

I tried using a paper Kanban board (sticky notes on a whiteboard), but it didn't last.

Some technical issues (the sticky notes kept falling off and we literally "lost" work) and some social ones (we didn't secure buy-in with the household before we adopted the system; not everyone was on board with the idea of writing down every significantly sized chunk of work).

We still have some TODO list items that have been backlogged for a year or so but succumb to lower-pri, higher-urgency issues. Oh well. They'll be a little higher-stress to fulfill as the deadline approaches, but not a big deal.

prawn• 11 years ago

Sounds like me at home too, though with a digital version. I remember making a list of things to do around the house before we were due to host a party. Found the list a year later and about half the items still hadn't been done. Had to laugh at myself for that.

I've seen it said that if you don't get something done before the sticky note loses adhesion and falls off, it's clearly not important enough to you to bother with!

I wonder if something like this - home to-do lists - is solvable with an app for those that have failed to stick with something to date. Is it the person or is it the app?

akampjes• 11 years ago

I've worked with someone who had a physical kanban board and just trashed notes that fell off because they obviously weren't important enough to have been done in a reasonable amount of time and probably didn't need doing anymore.

dzhiurgis• 11 years ago

Met one person claiming he enjoys using mind mapping software.

automentum2• 11 years ago

My wife, who is into graphic design swears by mindmap.

chuckcode• 11 years ago

Asana is pretty awesome for managing projects both at work and at home. Relatively easy to use/learn and if you're ok with cloud based software convenient as it syncs with your phone and can share with family members or team mates.

tmnt007• 11 years ago

Asana has great UX and is simply fantastic for shared task lists and projects among various people. Plus, it runs only $21/month (billed yearly) for total 5 friends/family. (If they went IPO, I'd snap up their arms off.)

spoiledtechie• 11 years ago

its called a calendar. A well organized calendar.

TOGoS2• 11 years ago

I use a Git-tracked text file to-do list for both. I also shove random notes into it. It's a pretty effective system, and it never becomes obsoleted or loses my data.

automentum2• 11 years ago

Looks awesome idea. How do you put a workflow in Git?

pandatigox3• 11 years ago

Oooh that's sounds interesting. Would you mind describe your workflow? I'm a bit on the OCD side and really like my textfiles and so on all nice and tidy.

TOGoS2• 11 years ago

- Add item to to-do list at bottom of file

- Do task (eventually, maybe)

* Replace dashes with stars to indicate 'done' and move to the 'done' section under the day I did them.

- Commit once in a while

vocaro• 11 years ago

I'm hoping the Human 1.1 patch resolves these defects:

Bug #12: Memory leak causes occasional "enter room and forget why" state

Bug #57: Buffer overflow of extra hair in non-standard locations

Bug #98: Motivation module randomly fails to load

pestaa• 11 years ago

The fact there were almost hundred reports before the third you mention tells us a lot about how little we know about that specific module.

slickwilli• 11 years ago

Interestingly enough there has been some research into #12 (http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/21/4/269.short)

ruffrey• 11 years ago

The next Human will use semver, v1.1.0

nostrademons2• 11 years ago

My wife and I use Google Sheets pretty often. List all the tasks, strikethrough them when done.

I also use Sheets as a bugtracker for my software projects, and it's been pretty effective. It's so low-overhead that I'm not spending all my time filing bugs, it's quite satisfying to see a full spreadsheet where everything has been checked off, and I can define functions for severity, time estimates, etc.

pandatigox3• 11 years ago

Sounds interesting. Do you have a screenshot or something lying around? I'd love to see it

nostrademons2• 11 years ago

Here's one from my wedding:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/DsXCelK18poubuiGCBCoH2k-92...

And the bugtracker for my first app:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/gZXKhR_AIm5eN3T9zBc2FqTIfd...

Being Google Drive direct links, these'll probably expire in 24 hours or so.

nhdev• 11 years ago

I use Pivotal Tracker for my personal life. I haven't been able to get my wife to use it, though.

kayman• 11 years ago

Short answer is negative.

Everyone has a system to manage their personal lives, even if it is only in their head or as simple as pen and paper.

I sense you are trying to gauge a market demand for "a to do" app with the bug tracker formula infusion.

I don't think people think of their lives as software with bugs.

Even software engineers who fix bugs do not think of issues in their life as bugs. It doesn't feel as natural to whack your issues (ex: lose weight, due 2 hours :), P1).

For "real life" stuff, I found people categorize their lives. "Home", "Work", "Personal", "Professional", "Hobbies" ...

And each category has its own evolving set of tools. Ex: Fitness contains a plethora of tools. Work contains tools in sub categories...

pandatigox3• 11 years ago

ahahaha nice try but, I'm not an entrepreneur :)

I was just fascinated by issue trackers and wondered if it could be applied elsewhere. Nevertheless, your comment does provide interesting insight as well. Thx!

sudeepj• 11 years ago

Me and my wife use wunderlist's shared list feature for todo items.

devnonymous• 11 years ago

Not bug tracking, but I've use a combination of todo lists and 'life logging' software (there are tons of apps available).

I used to be a compulsive todo list maker but overtime I'm moved into a workflow that uses todo lists only for tasks that absolutely need to be done on the one hand (ie: calendaring stuff), and recording tasks that I really ought to be doing or doing more of, on the other hand. (tools: Gtasks[1] and aTimeTracker[2]).

I've realized that, for me, to ^fix bugs^ in my lifestyle, the goal setting type of approach (which would fall in-line with the bug-tracking, todo, GTG ...etc) does not work as well as recording an action when I do something about it and then looking at that record as a motivation to do better.

Maybe not what you were asking for but thought I'd pitch in since I've had this question before mysel.

[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.dayup.gtas... [2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aloggers.a...

NicoJuicy• 11 years ago

You could use github

delbel• 11 years ago

I use Task Warrior sometimes for personal stuff but not religiously. For that I use paper and pencil.

zhte415• 11 years ago

I have a nice big whiteboard (well, glassboard) stuck to my office wall: Calendar section, issue section, undetermined future setting.

Also great for illustrating things when people visit.

ljk• 11 years ago

i use google calendar's "task" for it but sometimes procrastination takes over and the old tasks don't show up.... Recently started trying Trello, hopefully it sticks

danaw• 11 years ago

There seems to be a common theme of people using some form of task management for home but the systems not being very effective. I've experimented a lot myself and have a few thoughts on the matter that might help someone.

The most essential factor is buy-in and commitment: both buy-in with those that you live with (wife, roommates, etc) and, perhaps more importantly, buy-in with yourself. You'll need to really commit to any system for it to be effective.

A successful general productivity strategy is in learning the signs of tasks that will never get done versus ones that will.

The key attribute of a task that seem to sit in the todo list forever is when a task is actually a project in disguise. Many times we have something like "Plan vacation", "Build deck" or "File taxes" in our todo list which are all projects rather than tasks. When you notice this, put the project on your list of projects and then define the next immediate task that you can do to make progress on this project. For example, for "Plan vacation" a task might be "Schedule dates for trip" or for "Build deck" a task might be "Make measurements of deck". Focus on the most minimal next step to push the project forward. This forces you to think of the project in stages that are all independently easy to reason about and schedule.

The current incarnation of my at home todo list is as follows:

4'x3' metal board (galvanized Steel from hardware store) and magnetic whiteboard squares (find them on Amazon as sheets and cut up to size) representing tasks. These adhere very well and are reusable (less in the landfill).

I break my board into 4 kanban board style columns that should sound familiar to most: icebox, backlog, today and done.

Icebox holds items I'd like to do but don't have immediate plans on. Often things are a bit vague at that stage or they are projects waiting to be turned into tasks.

Backlog has tasks that I'm committing to do for the current sprint (one week long, from Monday to Monday). I don't allow any new items into backlog unless truly critical until the next sprint. Each sprint I sit down and prioritize my goals for the week and look at my icebox. I try and choose a combination of things I am excited about and things I'm not excited about. I take any tasks that are vague and break them down into something I can do within 30m-1hr. If the task is too vague/big I know I probably won't do it.

Once my backlog is filled for the sprint, I plan what I'm doing each day of the sprint in the morning. I take into account work priorities, meetings, etc and put items I'm committing to do today into the list.

I attempt to work in a pomodoro style with 25m working and a 5m break. I make sure to take a real break, usually some quick meditation or exercise/stretching. The key is to step away and clear your mind. This prevents getting stuck in a rabbit hole with a given task.

I record a tick on each card for every pomodoro I do against it. As I resolve items I move them into done. If I move things into done that have a lot of ticks on them (eg they were big tasks) I see it as a sign that I didn't plan sufficiently and need to break things up more effectively in the future.

At the end of the sprint I recap on what I've done and not done and make any mental notes of things to change. Perhaps most importantly I go through the list and celebrate all that got done. This is effective in having a healthy perspective on the progress I've made.

This system has been very effective in making real progress on things I typically procrastinate on including home repair, side projects and chores. This system has been so effective I actually do it for personal and work items and mix the two together throughout the day (I work from home so this is easy for me to do).

The key to making any system like this work is to commit to enforcing the process in yourself and to be constantly aware of when you're slipping and make adjustments. Also, it's important to see any such process as a living, breathing thing that will always need changes and tweaks to be optimally effective.

One last bit that you could throw in the mix is to plan to release one thing every sprint to the world. I've been focused on launching one of my side projects each week and so far I've actually launched things that have been on my wish list for months.

meawoppl• 11 years ago

I think you mean "Feature Tracker".

tetheno• 11 years ago

Yes. Emacs org-mode.

baobaba• 11 years ago

I am using a Trello board to organize my life. The flexibility to define lists freely and quickly add issues is a big win. The lists on my board are: Today's task list, Task list, Friends & Family, Project ideas, Client work.

SeanKilleen• 11 years ago

I've been using Trello for various aspects of my life for some time. Anything that has a flow, concept of "on deck", or a repeated list of items tends to make a good home for it.

Example: My learning (labels represent sources of learning, I have an on deck list and I stick to whatever I'm on currently -- or at least try to). I pick the most relevant thing to do next.

Another example: Vacation packing. I have lists of "Master List", "To Pack", "Staged", and "Packed". Whenever I take a trip, I move the applicable items from the master list to the "to pack" list. Haven't forgotten something on a trip in a long time. Bonus: organize labels by type of thing, and now I know exactly what I'm putting in which bag.

Trello is also great for organizing goals. 5 goals per year / month / week / day, in a way that bubbles up, is very appealing to me, though I haven't tackled this one yet.

Also, any software project I do usually has a board. Lists: Formation / Future / Waiting&Hold / Backlog / In Progress / In Dev / In Test / Ready for Prod / In Prod. Labels for issues, features, questions, ideas, high priority, and low priority items.

Ask HN: Does anybody use a bug tracker for their personal lives?

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