From electronic to paper

I'd been using an electronic task list for keeping my to-do's, and it worked well enough, sort of. I got stuff done, but the list of completed tasks was flaky and didn't always display. The main list stopped updating, some tasks would duplicate, and it wasn't working well.

So I thought I'd try the paper solution. I picked up a pack of Word notebooks from JetPens. There was a Nock Co Hightower sat around from their Kickstarter campaign last year, and it all came together at once.

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This has become my constant companion. The Word notebooks have a circle on each line that you cross out when the task is done. Work tasks and lists in the back, personal ones in the front, and a small set of things I should be doing all the time in the middle (drinking water after each caffeinated beverage, karate practice, some others).

The Facebook lists of movies that stayed with me, and books that had an impact on my life, are in there. The definition of what I want my role at work to be is in there, and a list of exactly why the client should want us doing automated regression tests (halving the defect rate for one). I always have my three favourite pens and something to write on. It's a happy orange colour you really can't miss. This combination, the paper to-do list, the orange case, and the three pens, works wonderfully. I get stuff done and I can see what's left undone. And when the notebook is full, I have a journal of sorts.

For this round, paper beats electronic.