This is the same for me, which is why Ulysses, as good as it is, always ended up serving as an intermediary app between my initial writing and final output. Once I realized I could structure Pages to be as distraction-free as Ulysses, that I could indeed manage long, complex projects in Pages, and that my concern about “future-proofing” my writing (a concern which arose only after spending time in this forum and listening to tech podcasts) was largely, though not wholly, overblown (e.g., one can still open Pages ‘09 documents in 2023), I asked myself several questions:
What am I fundamentally getting from using markdown apps, Ulysses, iA Writer, or others, that I NEED and can’t get from stock apps?
Do I NEED to get locked into paying a subscription that will never end and likely go up in price to keep using it?
Do I NEED so many apps to get my work done?
Do I NEED to encumber my system with Dropbox so I can use certain apps, e.g., Scrivener?
I understand all of the arguments for markdown, I even made some of them myself, but as I’ve said previously, I’ve changed my mind. Markdown has its place; it is perfect for some. But, for most of us, it is not needed and, in many cases, is counter-productive. That is the conclusion I came to after using Obsidian, iA Writer, and Ulysses. They are great apps, but I don’t need them.
I wish I could say I occupy this high ground but unfortunately, I’ve done my fair share of rearranging the deck chairs. That confessed, I’m moving them less, I have fewer chairs on deck, and I’m beginning to bolt the remaining chairs down.
I have stopped listening or watching anything related to productivity. Most of the productivity pundits haven’t and don’t work in complex environments. This is not to say they have nothing to offer, they do, but I’ve picked pretty much all of the productivity fruit off of the trees.
Migrations are quick but thoughtful reviews that leave me with new skills and a better understanding of my work and life. I wish that they weren’t negative experiences for others.
Yeah, about two years ago I made the decision to stop chasing after productivity and I have been way more productive ever since. It’s not as much fun, but when I get the itch to change a major workflow, I remind myself of all the time I’ve wasted learning new systems and abandoning them 2 months later.
I think one of the core issues, as with word-smithing, is understanding the problem to be solved.
My brother swears by a significant folder structure for email and insists it is a sign of being in control. However, his work can also be neatly parcelled up — one job for one client; when done it’s archived and gone. I insist that folders achieve nothing because my inbox is like being in stuck in the roundabout at the Arc de Triomphe. If you’re trying to make order of it, that’s all you’ll do and you’ll never actually get anywhere.
Productivity is a mindset — know how time gets wasted and don’t do that.
Writing is a toolset — know what you need to get the job done effectively. Not necessarily efficiently in a technical sense.
Indeed! I was told years ago that there is a difference between effective and efficient. They can compliment each other but being effective is more important than efficient. Sometimes, being inefficient can result in more effectiveness.
A lot of people still feel that way. I remember one accountant with more than 250 folders in her email account. I had to help her find a “deleted” email on more than one occasion.
Many years ago I tried to explain to a boss that the fact he frequently had to look in multiple folders to find an email was as much proof as he needed that search was the answer. If we’d been using Gmail, I would have explained labels, which do solve this problem. (For the conscientious.)
At least you couch that in terms of perception. The reality is you are avoiding one algorithm (the index-and-search one) in favour of another (previous and current self). My boss had a strong indexing capability, but a not-so-strong retrieval capability because he could never remember whether the email about purchasing yellow widgets was in the ‘purchasing’, ‘yellow’, or ‘widgets’ folder.
However, my reference to Gmail (specifically, not Google) was due to labels. Because in Gmail, you can apply labels for ‘purchasing’, ‘yellow’, and ‘widgets’.
Exactly the same reason my brother cannot understand my viewpoint. 90%+ of the emails I receive at work are because someone wants something (action or information, big or small) or something is broken (big or small). Some senders I will never have dealt with before, some I will know well. Some will be barking up the wrong tree with me and all I need to do is either fob them off or suggest someone else.
On the one hand, I envy your ordered job. On the other, my skill is not in being organised or ‘productive’ but rather in analysing ‘stuff’ either to fix something that is broken or to prevent it breaking. Each fix/prevention could be anything from 5 minutes to 5 months, and so many will overlap.
I am a fairly unorganized person and having a good search function is essential (I am looking at you, Windows 10 ) for me. However, I think folders are essential as well. Maybe not a five levels deep nested structure, but a few categories.
The problem for the search-based approach for is, that I need to know an item is there and its content to search for it again. While folders offer me the option to retrieve what I have forgotten when I am at the respective folder. I find that working in a Google Drive makes organizing items quite painful. Sure, it is possible, but often it is cumbersome.
So privately, I use Apple stuff which offers me both, good search and folders plus tags as the icing on the cake.
I use a mix of stuff. Haven’t really had an issue of ‘searching’ or finding a file. The only time that headache occurs is if it was device-specific and sync-related (more on that later)
Gmail - I use labels. I push for inbox zero (within reason). I don’t use the layout of promotions, updates, etc that Gmail provides. It all goes into one location and a ton of filters and rules.
Labels are clearly defined for me, so that there’s no second guessing. It should take a second to put mail where it needs. After that, I depend on search function once it’s all organized.
On the Computer…I use Folders for everything, same concept, areas of my life. Clearly defined to avoid wasting time on ‘filing’
caveat - the only folder that is currently killing me and I depend solely on search. I have a folder called ‘Books’ - These are thousands of PDFs. It was too difficult to categorize them because of the overlapping categories. (Spiritual, Monastic, Commentary, Historical, etc) For now, I just make sure the file name contains the title and author appropriately. (if anyone has suggestions that would be great)
The earlier part of ‘device-specific’ that I mentioned. I am going through a home remodel currently, so there are days I am on my iPad, other days iPhone, and other times on the Mac. Because of the constant interruptions, etc. I have to remember which device I was using, which app, and where did I stop working at. Sometimes I wish Apple had a ‘saved layout’ across all devices in the context of if I was working in Ulysses with DevonThink and Logos apps on my iPad…if I were to go to the Mac, I would get some prompt of opening the same layout with the Mac apps.
) for me. However, I think folders are essential as well. Maybe not a five levels deep nested structure, but a few categories.