Life is 90% of my use cases for org-mode

To really explain why I use org-mode for everything , I probably first have to explain my rules, which also requires a backstory. I'll keep it short, no problem.

I jacked into Unix the first time at Calhoun Community College, in Decatur, Alabama, during the summer of 1974. I was 15, and my dad was a part-time programming instructor. Having been an avid reader since the age of 6 (I read the entire elementary school library before the middle of second grade), text and text-processing was much on my mind. So when I encountered a system where plain text is the raw material flowing through the pipes, I was hooked.

This led me to undertake an informal study of Unix, all the way back to the Tech Model Railroad Club and all the hackers that came from there. Yeah, I read the story about Margaret and the groceries and the Volkswagen; I understand his pain. But what I really learned were that the rules of Unix could be adapted to life. After about 30 years as a tech writer and frequent programmer, I finally settled on a set that works for me:

• Keep it simple: It's cheaper and easier to carry around.
• Do one thing at a time: Multitasking is a lie.
• Network: You were born to connect.
• Say what you mean; nothing is truer than the truth.
• Hack: Trial and error is the only way we learn anything
• Be who you are: Even a bent wire can carry a great light.
• Use leverage; a bigger hammer isn't always the answer.
• Use what you have: never dig diamonds with a brick of gold.
• Have faith; all's possible, except maybe skiing through a revolving door.
• Think ahead, but don't worship your plans; remember today is the first day of the rest of your learning experience.

Little did I know that these very principles would lead me to org-mode, which would later lead me to find my people.

a vi convert

I didn't start with org-mode, actually, but with plain journal files labeled YYYYMMDD, in a special directory in /var/log . I still have those going back to sometime in the 90's. The format was simple, but using the files soon became complex:

*** personal journal of stormrider
	  tue, aug 04, 1992 / 712904400
	  sweetmorn, confusion 70, 3158 YOLD

	  *** fortune -s
	  Cold hands, no gloves.

	  *** appts
	  09:00  staff meeting, conf rm
	  18:30  dinner with amit & bonnie

	  *** to do
	  finish revisions on x-windows book
	  do syllabus for advanced C class
	  read some in Stevens & Rago
	  shower
	  shave
	  dress
	  take out the trash otw to work
	  .
	  .
	  .

	  *** daily journal
	  06:43 - man, didn't sleep well last night; i think
	  i'm overdoing it on the coffee at work; maybe i
	  should cut back some?
	  .
	  .
	  .

The unwieldy part came with all the repeated tasks, and tasks that got carried over from one day to the next (or didn't get finished). I had to copy yesterday's file, change all the key info, sort out the todo list, erase yesterday's journal, and generally do far too much work to keep my journal up. I did it, but intermittently, supplanting it with post-it notes, pads, planners galore, palm pilots, palmtop computers, etc. It seemed like every day I was badly copying tasks from one day to the next. Meanwhile, my unwillingness to use Windows didn't give the the luxury of Outlook, when it came along.

I got turned onto emacs sometime in the mid-nineties, when I moved to Atlanta to work for HP. A fellow writer there used it, and suggested it might help me write and code up examples more effectively. He was right, and it stuck as my editing platform of choice, but I hadn't discovered org-mode yet. Either he didn't use it, or it hadn't been invented yet. And to be honest, I kinda went back and forth between vi and emacs, depending on my "mood of the month."

Eventually, my HP job became a telecommuting-type arrangment, and I moved home to the farm, about an hour outside New Orleans, in the woods. At that time, Internet was still modem-driven out here, so having command-line Linux with emacs on my laptop was a real lifesaver. Sometime not long before Katrina hit, I stumbled across org-mode. I'd already used outline mode for some period of time (can't remember how long), and org-mode seemed like a logical follow-on from there.

From there, org-mode just grew, and I grew with it. All the features made it easy for me to both do what seemed natural for me, and do things in a way that felt like they supported my principles. Gradually, my other methods of keeping track of things faded away, except for my alarm clock. Even when smart-phones took off, I was always trying to find some way to send org files over to my phone and use them there. I think I even wrote some lua code in an iPhone wiki app to emulate org-mode with my files, though it was not fully satisfactory.

Fast-forward to last May. I'd been wanting to get on with Canonical for a long time, but hadn't found the right position, one that really matched my skills. Then one Saturday, while I was waiting for my wife to meet me for some community event we were hosting, I saw a position that virtually described me. I started to write a resume, but then decided that I would just take the job description elements, one-by-one, put them in an org file, and send them to the hiring manager. Long-story short, almost everyone on this team used emacs, and org-mode, and lots of other .el packages that I also used every day. I got the job, and so far, I'm very happy and feel like I fit in very well.

how org-mode meets my principles

Here's how I feel about using org-mode for everything: email, git, irc, web-browsing, organization, time-keeping, and so on. And yes, I do use org-mode to connect with my email and the web, even though I use other packages (rmail, eww, magit, erc) to do the heavy lifing. Let me walk it down, principle by principle:

• Keep it simple: Granted, emacs isn't the simplest user interface, that is, until it becomes second nature. After that, you'll find yourself accidentally erasing cells in your Google spreadsheet when you hit "C-x C-s" to try to save (good thing there's an undo). But the fact that you can use the same text for multiple functions: appointments, task states, task notes, clocking time, building an agenda, sending email, project planning, percentage completion, .... The list is too long to quote, but just a simple statement, like "Get the discourse publishing tool working," can become the nucleus for a whole cycle's work and all the actions that go with it.
• Do one thing at a time: The window-driven nature of emacs makes it easy to switch tasks when you have to (just open another buffer) and then switch back later, and more quickly link back to where you were; not to mention that, if you become adept at using the agenda, you can keep yourself on track and move other things around with ease, and without any fear that they'll get lost.
• Network: Since I'm set up to send email, IRC, Mattermost, etc., directly from my org-mode tasks, it's easy to track where I am. But even if I used another app, it's still really easy to just cut and paste a note next to a task and then set a follow-up time to prod, all without breaking your train of thought. You're literally still looking at the work you're doing while you're messaging about it, so there's that.
• Say what you mean: You have the entire outline in front of you for whatever you're working on, so presentations, show-and-tell sessions, and status reports are really simple to give, whether verbally or in writing.
• Hack...: If it doesn't do what you want, you've got customizable variables, a huge library of packages, strong macro capability, and push-come-to-shove, emacs lisp, though I rarely have to go there, TBH.
• Be who you are: Org-mode matches my thinking style. Not true for everyone, but I tend to outline or mindmap (which you can do with org-mode, with the right .el package).
• Use leverage: Org-mode seriously leverages the power of plain text, in that you can either use the shortcuts to add an appointment, add tags, search tags -- or you can just do it by hand, because all of the special notation is plain text. Leveraging human language in this way is helpful to me.
• Use what you have: Org-mode and emacs give me a stable platform that works everywhere, even on a printout. I don't need license fees, special extensions, subscriptions, add-on tools, or constant updates to keep my life humming.
• Have faith: Org-mode has justified my faith, as has emacs. Lots of tools I've used break, crash, or get killed by absorption (I once liked Astrid, e.g., but it suddenly got sold and went away). Org-mode and emacs are pretty much here to stay, especially since there is no license fee, and I can keep a self-contained version backed up at home, should it ever stop being distributed.
• Think ahead: This is where org-mode, and especially the agenda, shine. If I'm busy, I don't have to worry about keeping my outline clean. I can stop in the middle of notes for another project, hit return, enter a to do for later (and tag it and schedule it to pop up later), and then move that to someplace more suitable later. The agenda will clean it up and put it in perspective for me. Or I can search for it, or pull up all open to-do items (even by tags), or.... There are just too many ways to throw things ahead without losing my train of thought.

Okay, those are my reasons, and why life is 90% of my use cases for org-mode....