As the COVID vaccines continue to get distributed and life begins to revert to something like it was before the pandemic, what are you doing to avoid making the same mistakes all over again? It would be too easy to go back to your old office and your old habits and flip the “autopilot” switch back on.
Instead, think back to how you had to evolve because of COVID and take that with you. A lot of people are rethinking things as the world wakes from its slumber. Consider this your opportunity to do the same.
A few months ago, I went on a tear about my OmniGraffle-based Kanban status board. I had many people telling me I was doing it wrong and that I should have used one of the dedicated Kanban online tools, like Trello. However, since this board was just for me, I didn’t see the point in that.
However, about a month after that post went up, a beta Kanban plugin showed up for Obsidian.md. This isn’t an online-based tool but just a simple plugin to create Kanban-style blocks from a markdown file. Moreover, it lets you embed Obsidian page links in the blocks. It isn’t particularly pretty or customizable. (However, the developer continues to improve it and add features.) Regardless, it is a dead-simple way to put together a Kanban board inside of Obsidian.
Since all of my projects are already in Obsidian, this got my interest. I spent just a few minutes with the plugin before deciding it was time for Status Board 2.0
I learned a few things using Status Board 1.0, which initially had four categories: Active, Hold, Waiting, and Done. After using it daily, I realized I only needed two columns: active and hold. Projects to me are either active or on hold. The reason they may be on hold is that I’m waiting on a client, or I don’t have time to deal with it right now, but regardless it is on hold. Also, once the project is done, there’s no reason for me to keep it on the board. I don’t need a trophy case of completed projects. I need focus. These cards are only pointers to the actual project page. Deleting a card does not delete the project. Once I finish a project, I delete the card, and it is, satisfyingly, “off the board”.
So I had already starting to evolve my status board to only have two columns for each area of my life. Bringing this over to the Obsidian Kanban plugin, I could re-create that for every area of my life on a single board. I’ve got these two columns for MacSparky, Field Guides, the law practice, and personal life. Each one has a column with active and on-hold projects that I can move back and forth. Above is a heavily redacted image of the current Sparky Status Board 2.0.
Where Status Board 1.0 had links to the OmniFocus and Obsidian project pages on each card, Status Board 2.0 has an internal link to the Obsidian project page. (OmniFocus links and much more are on the Obsidian project page.) At first, I also included a few short notes about why a project was in the hold column, but that was silly. I already know why every project is on hold and don’t need to spend time documenting it on the Kanban card.
I have incorporated this into my day-end shutdown routine. So, in addition to working through OmniFocus at the end of the day, I also take a look at “the board”. Anything still active gets my particular attention, but I also scan all of the projects on hold to see if I can move them to active status for the next day. This often will spur a flurry of text messages and emails to clients and co-workers to get projects rolling again. Because all of this is in Obsidian, if I want to jump right into any particular project, I need only tap on it, and Obsidian takes me there.
Status Board 2.0 isn’t as pretty as Status Board 1.0, but I find it just as effective. I keep the status board in my root level directory of Obsidian to access it as needed throughout the day. Also, when I put this in full screen on my Mac, it gives me those same feels I was getting before with Status Board 1.0 in full-screen mode.
I know many of my readers will be saying, “I told you so” but in my defense, this plugin did not exist when I first started creating Status Board 1.0. I still stand by my initial position that a cloud-based Kanban board does not make much sense for an unshared, personal status board.
I doubt this is the final iteration of my status board, but this is the current one. Indeed, if money were no object, I would instead build a wall-sized Flipboard machine in my studio just like you used to see in airports and train stations. Every morning it would make a satisfying rolling and clicking sound as it updates to show my active and hold projects across the wall. At least that’s the dream.
I remain a fan of the Band-in-a-Box app and I’m pleased to see their continued support for the Mac. This app lets you easily create backing tracks for any song. You just type in your chord changes, pick a style, and then you can start singing (or jamming) on top of it. I’m pretty sure the first time I bought this app was in the late 80’s.
They just released the 2021 edition with over 80 new features and loads of new content like 202 RealTracks, new RealStyles, MIDI SuperTracks, Instrumental Studies, Artist Performances, Bonus RealDrums “Singles,” RealDrums transcriptions, MultiStyles PAK 1, XPro Styles PAK 1, Xtra Styles PAK 11, and more. From now until June 30th, you can save up to 50% off upgrades, Bonus PAKs with 40 Additional RealTracks, MultiStyles PAK 1, and more.
I’m pleased to announce that today I was able to turn off the tracking pixel on the MacSparky Newsletter. Going forward, my newsletter subscribers will be sending me no data back. I’ve wanted to do this for some time, but just not had the ability. When ConvertKit (my newsletter service) announced their new beta “privacy-first” program, I jumped on it. So with the MacSparky Newsletter, the creepy switch is permanently set to “off”.
TextExpander from Smile: Get 20% off with this link and type more with less effort! Expand short abbreviations into longer bits of text, even fill-ins, with TextExpander from Smile.
The Intrazone, by Microsoft SharePoint: Your bi-weekly conversation and interview podcast about SharePoint, OneDrive and related tech within Microsoft 365.
The Intrazone, by Microsoft SharePoint: Your bi-weekly conversation and interview podcast about SharePoint, OneDrive and related tech within Microsoft 365.
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This week MacSparky is sponsored by DEVONthink. There are a lot of ways to manage a database on your mac, but in my opinion, there is no better tool than DEVONthink. Just a few of the things I use DEVONthink for include:
A reliable repository of research documents. DEVONthink will hold as many documents as you can throw at it. In addition, it makes import (and export) easy, so you can have all that power without feeling trapped.
A research assistant. DEVONthink uses artificial intelligence to analyze and connect your documents in ways that may not otherwise occur to you.
An OCR Tool. Everything you store in your DEVONthink Pro library gets OCR’d. It just happens.
An Automation Tool. DEVONthink lets you build powerful automation subroutines into your library to help tag, move, and organize documents.
One of my uses for DEVONthink is legal research. I dump legal cases, statutes, regulations, and law review articles in DEVONthink whenever I’m working on a thorny problem and let DEVONthink grind on the documents before I do. It is spooky what DEVONthink finds when I start searching my legal database. It’s like having my own research assistant. You could also do the same with all of your personal records. Dump them into a DEVONthink database and let DEVONthink sort it for you.
DEVONthink supports multiple sync methods and lets you even use your own sync password, so everything is encrypted. If you’ve got an iPad or an iPhone, you can access your DEVONthink data there, too, with DEVONthink to Go.
It is this combination of power and security that makes DEVONthink the clear winner. You can think of DEVONthink as your paperless office. You can automate your workflow from capture to filing, editing to publishing. It stores all your documents, helps you keep them organized, and presents you with what you need to get the job done.
Coherence X4 is out now. It’s a major update to Coherence. If you don’t know about Coherence, it’s a tool that allows you to turn any website into a Chrome-powered app on your Mac, and it’s great if you’re looking for SSB (site-specific browser) tools in general, or to replace electron apps in particular. With Coherence, you can do things like:
Create a Google Drive app that works as well as Chrome without having to use Chrome as your default browser
Create a desktop app for Roam Research, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or Google Meet
Make a customizable app for Slack, Whatsapp, or any other electron-based app with the ability to add extensions or customize
Create isolated, incognito workspaces for multiple sites like your banking applications or email and messaging.
Features with this update include the ability to return to where you left off when you click on the dock icon. With this quick resume, there’s no restart. There’s also an App Gallery so you can easily browse for apps and workspaces, and instantly add them to your Mac. You can also create Incognito apps that always launch in Incognito mode for consistent privacy and data security.
I’ve tried a lot of these browser-in-a-box style apps over the years and this is, by far, the best one I’ve ever used.
