I was interested in how people log what they do.

For instance, I am starting a project for a class, and part of it involves keep track of bugs (what type, how they were resolved, time it took to solve, etc) and also just what part of the project we are working on at that given time.

I like reading post-mortems, but I believe that my own detailed accounts on my own projects would be a great help as well. Looking back on what I was doing and how I handled certain situations might be enlightening or at the very least amusing.

I was wondering if I could get some insight into what others do.

Do you keep a notebook or a text document for each project? Keep a general purpose journal for the business? Make audio recordings of your thoughts throughout the day?

Do you try to keep super detailed accounts of everything? Do you just generally say, "Fixed 13 bugs today, discovered 3 more"?

We keep personal task logs in our Wiki of the day's work. For us, though, the primary reason to do this is to inform and motivate the rest of the team. Project visibility really helps momentum, in my experience. It also helps accountability and personal motivation--being able to post completion of a task that enabled progress elsewhere in the project is good motivation.

For planning, we have some long-term MS Project schedules on the walls (one in front of me is like 8x2 sheets). I like to keep these fairly high level, and even then they tend to fall out of sync. As the old saying goes: it's not the plan that matters; it's the planning. For short-term I block out the week on Monday, which is printed and clipped to my monitors (can kind of see them on this photo (http://www.flashbangstudios.biz/tests/workspace_v3.jpg)). I mark a completed task in orange highlighter, and incomplete tasks in the dreaded pink highlighter. Tasks I’ve started but are on hold for dependency reasons are marked in green. When I start a day I do pink tasks from previous days first, and then check on the status of the green ones. By the end of the week I’m usually a little behind, but I’ve found having tasks as guideposts is more important than absolutely making sure they’re completed as scheduled.

I saved out my task log from our Wiki, for an example of what I'm blathering about. Usually there's just work on two of our upcoming projects--this last week I've been doing some update work on our first game, which is the third: http://www.flashbangstudios.biz/tests/tasklog.htm

I use a separate project journal for each game I develop -- these are just spiral notebooks. I date every entry, so I can look back and see what I did each day. I have these game journals going back 10 years for every game I've developed. They make for a really nice resource, and I can look back and see the steps I went through to solve various design or programming problems.

But now that I have so many other projects, I've added a general work journal too. I use it for quick daily task lists, mindmapping, brainstorming, drawing sketches, making "notes to self" for later processing, etc. At the end of each week, I review the past week's worth of entries and update my calendar and my master project and action lists as needed.

It's really helpful to periodically go back and review past entries just to show myself how much I'm really getting done. At the end of the month, sometimes it's a blur, and I feel that maybe I didn't get much done. Looking back over this objective record helps me remember just how much I did accomplish each month.

If the PC were as flexible as paper, I'd use a PC for all of this, but I just don't feel the technology is there yet. Maybe in another decade or so....

I log programming stuff mostly, quite precisely (added/changed code, makefile changes...); that sometimes helps finding why/when bugs appeared, or if some bug was fixed since a beta tester got his version of the game (no, I'm not using CVS nor keeping older exes...).

Not sure if it's useful for anything else.

Oh well, I used to translate this programming log into understandable language and publish it on the web, for another game with several people involved, to keep them informed. (that game is now dead)

Cool, I'll keep it all in mind. I figure that I will probably keep a log per project as well. As I currently anticipate working alone, it is more important I know what's what than to post something for semi-public consumption, but it would probably be a good idea anyway. At the very least, it will make sure my logs are clear. I know that when I write for myself, I tend to skip details, assuming I will remember them later. I don't. B-)

Steve, have you thought about getting a tablet PC?

I looked at the tablet PCs when they first became available, but I still feel paper is easiest and fastest for me for this kind of daily logging, especially when I want to review several weeks worth of entries in a matter of minutes. I think that will probably change over the next decade or so though.... A spiral notebook and a pen is still only about $5.

For development work, I use the Personal Software Process. I have portfolios set up for the three main languages I use (Eiffel, Java, and C++). In order to track my time in phase, defects, etc, I use Process Dashboard (http://processdash.sourceforge.net/) which is a nifty little tool.

For all other things, I've been working on timing and tracking them -- like setting up a business bank account, writing up the business plan, etc -- but I haven't been completely faithful with keeping those logs. As Steve pointed out, I think logging is really helpful to look back and realize that you have accomplished something, especially when it feels like you didn't.

Anthony

Originally posted by Dexterity
But now that I have so many other projects, I've added a general work journal too. I use it for quick daily task lists, mindmapping,

I'm pretty sure I've heard the term mindmapping before Steve, but could you describe what this is?

Mindmapping is a creativity/brainstorming tool. Here's a random web page I found that has a sample mindmap:
http://home.snafu.de/h.nauheimer/cp_03.htm

Lookup mindmapping on a search engine to find more info on it -- there should be plenty available. Plus there are entire books on the subject.

Thanks to Steve for bringing this to my attention : just found FreeMind, which while not a stricly mind mapping app, according to its authors, it really suits the way I jot down ideas, and come back later to add stuff to them, way better than outlining or folding text editing :)

for those interested, FreeMind, is free (GPL) software, in Java
Get it here (http://freemind.sourceforge.net/)

I gave up pen-and-paper logging over a decade ago. I track everything I'm working on in The Journal (http://www.davidrm.com/thejournal/). I wrote it, so I guess that makes sense... ;)

I've experimented with a number of styles over the years, from highly compartmentalized (totally separate entry categories for every project) to just tossing everything into a single category. (NOTE: In The Journal a "category" is like a folder.)

Currently, I have a single daily entry category where I track whatever I work on during a day. I don't get too specific about the time spent. It's more about keeping track of what was worked on and the thought processes I went through to solve whatever problems came up. Also I do planning and design here.

However, for the various products and projects I also have dedicated "loose-leaf" categories where I keep information specific to those products and projects: design documents, marketing plans, copy-and-paste customer service responses, bug reports, feature requests, and on and on.

I'm a very verbal guy (and verbose, at times ;) ), so working in text like this makes perfect sense for me. (On the other hand, upcoming changes in The Journal to better support images--even animated images--and tables and more might bring on a shift away from text to more visual information.)

-David

For major programming projects I keep a separate daily log for each. Same thing goes for any contract work exceeding a week in length. I don't keep a general log of what I do every day, but I may eventually do that as well.