Re: How do you use categories and tags?

[Toms <toms baugis gmail com>]

Hey Thomas,

This is a good question and thanks for bringing it up!


In my case i tend to use project names as activities, tags as actions
and categories as context

hamster hacking, #prog #bugs
some-work-project work, #analysis

but there can be exceptions to this rule - like:
break day-to-day


Now, for a simple time tracker like me this would be the recommendation.
There are some considerations though, I will try to give some rules of thumb:

1) activity name should be something that you can distinguish it from
the other activities
it is also the only thing appearing in the panel

2) Keep your category number low (say, 3 to max 7) and pick ones that
will stay static. Keep them generic - in units that you can work with.
Say, "work", "private", "misc".

3) categories are being auto-completed, so once you define category
for the activity, it will be just there.

4) Tags are best when you need to handle large numbers - say if you
have hundred of projects - having a large activity list will just
break your head - instead consider using tags

5) for short-term information like bug numbers, use description field.
The search in overview also looks in the description field, so you
will be able to track the information back by the bug number

6) activities and tags can come and go as required - we should make it
more obvious in the UI, but if you delete an activity in preferences,
it does not disappear from the logs. In fact - that would be the
recommendation - once you are done with an activity for good - remove
it so it does not pop up in the auto-complete.


Now, tell me if this makes any sense or helps at all!

Toms



On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 8:03 AM, Thomas Geier <Thomas Geier uni-ulm de> wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> this post is about best practices when using hamster. Besides names for
> tasks, there are tags, categories and detailed descriptions - how should
> one use them?
>
> Problem:
>
> While for descriptions the usage is clear - add details you don't need
> to have statistics about. But for names, categories and tags the use is
> not so clear.
>
> One thing to note is that there is always one name and one category. But
> for tags, it can be none, one, or multiple.
>
> My usage pattern:
>
> Currently I'm using names for describing the type of work I'm doing,
> like reading, maintenance, programming, and so on. I'm using categories
> for assigning this work to something you could name "employers", that's
> "Unproductive" (for pauses, eating), "ProjectX" (my main task for wihch
> I'm getting paid), "Teaching" and "Work" (for collecting everything else
> that has to do with my employment).
> I don't use tags at all.
>
> How are you using tags, categories and names? Maybe if this discussion
> turns out to be fruitful, we should add the information to the
> documentation, a wiki or something.
>
> Prior discussion:
>
> I'm aware that there have been similar discussion before. I've read
> through them and couldn't extract any useful information (except that
> the person asking the question on the list had the same setup as I do).
>
> Discussion on tags blog post:
> http://projecthamster.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/stage-one-of-tags/
>
> Mailing list discussion:
> http://mail.gnome.org/archives/hamster-applet-devel-list/2009-December/msg00000.html
>
> Regards,
> Thomas
>
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