[emacs-wiki-discuss] How I started using Planner (was Re: Planner-Newbie)

[Sacha Chua]

Andreas Stemmer <address@hidden> writes:

> I thought about a complete switch to emacs, too. Given the fact that I 
> started to use XEmacs just a few weeks ago, it's perhaps too early for 
> this big step now. I don't want to spend too much time into configuring 
> XEmacs, Gnus, BBDB, diary etc. now, just to discover that it wasn't the 
> right decision for me.

Relax. You can use Planner gradually. <grin> This is probably the best
way to do things. It's easier to make gradual changes to one's way of
doing things, anyway... =)

How do you currently plan your day, and how would you like to be able
to plan your day?

> Thank you for your description, it's good to know that not only 
> experienced linux gurus (who never used Outlook or something similar 
> before) use this kind of setup.

For what it's worth, I used to live in Outlook. Before that, I used to
live in Lotus Organizer. <impish grin>

Start with something simple. You can see
http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/PlannerModeMethods for some
ideas, or describe how you plan your day on this mailing list and
we'll try to tailor Planner to fit you. =) Then think of the next
thing you'd like to improve, and so on...

Me, I started by using Planner+Remember to scribble down random
thoughts and put them somewhere publishable. It's kinda funny.
Here's the very first entry I have on 2001.11.02:

----------------------------------------------------------------
.#1 Playing with planner (linux, emacs)

Today's been a busy day. I don't suppose I can get planner to nicely
work with all the rest of emacs, can it? I rather like emacswiki...

Alright, seems to be fine. Planner's actually pretty nifty. I'll pop
the description into my remembrance agent index on the next scan, I
suppose; maybe it'll be useful.

I wonder if I can get the wiki to recognize non-wiki words. That would
be pretty nice.

Off to dinner with me now.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Used it for a week, then stopped using it. Resumed on 2002.06.20,
having discovered remember-mode and the joys of blogging. For two
months, used planner as a blog.

Then my 2002.08.17 epiphany note:

----------------------------------------------------------------
.#1 Planner is actually quite useful. So is emacs-wiki.
----------------------------------------------------------------

That was when I started really using tasks. They were linked to
project pages, but I didn't have Gnus integration then. The first time
I created a task based on an e-mail message seems to have been
2003.07.31. Almost a year of using Planner as just a blog, and that
was before planner-rss.el! <laugh>

It took me another 8 months to realize that it would be a good idea if
I could make a task from an e-mail message _and_ assign it to a plan
page. My first such task is on my 2004.03.12 entry. (That's this year!)

Somewhere along the way, we added a few modules for integrating with
other parts of Emacs, so we moved to more flexible URL handling. The
number of modules increased even more. People add stuff to link to
whatever they use frequently. For example, I added the planner-erc
module so that I could keep track of who asked for what planner
feature on #emacs... ^_^

So don't worry, you don't have to start with a really funky Planner
config. Use whatever you feel like using. Feel free to ask questions.
If something is missing, we'll try to see if we can hack it in. =)

By the way, you don't need to remember the history of planner. I
didn't realize I took _that_ long to come up with obvious tweaks until
I, err, reviewed my planner files in the course of writing this
message. That's why this community is such a wonderful, wonderful
resource. People come up with all the coolest things... =)

-- 
Sacha Chua <address@hidden> - open source geekette
http://sacha.free.net.ph/ - PGP Key ID: 0xE7FDF77C
interests: emacs, gnu/linux, personal information management, CS ed
applying as a Debian new maintainer | looking for a grad school