Chronology in notes

[pottster]

Hi,

Just curious.

Like many of you, I'm sure, I keep a dated/timed list of updates in the notes area for many of my tasks. For some of these I keep the newest entries at the top and, for others I keep the newest entries at the bottom (I have my "reasons" for this). I can't decide whether to be consistent and use one approach or mix and match as I'm currently doing.

Any thoughts on best practice? What do you do?

Thanks.

[Joel Azaria]

I always add new at the bottom.  I despise having to read "backwards" through chronology, especially larger text blocks - I still read paragraphs top to bottom so my brain apparently 'rejects' reading newer above older (I think it's my CDO kicking in.)  This is one of my gripes with Trello's comment chronology on cards and it grates on me everytime I have to spend more than a few seconds with it.

As far as consistency, I don't know that I could ever make an argument for inconsistency.  For me consistency is key to making sense of the whirlwind of chaos that surrounds me.  So my vote would be pick one and stick to it.

hth.

[Wallace Gilbraith]

For me, some Notes are a note of my own progress, which tend to be brief, and are often ‘most recent at the top’.

Other Notes include a copy of a relevant email thread, to give extra context, and these tend to be longer, and are usually ‘most recent at the bottom’

Sometimes I record a note of the date of the latest email/ phone call/ conversation, and these are often at the end of the text of the task item itself (“ - WG email 28 Sep”), so I can see it on my Android list without having to open up the Notes

So I’m inconsistent (read “British”)

Deliberations on deciding to live in one camp or the other are on my Someday/ Never list, inconsistently noted of course

 

Regards

 

Wol

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[SRhyse]

I recommend putting them in whichever location is the first to pop up on the platform you're using for MLO. New being at the top also lets you preview that bit when viewing the task, making the most relevant portion in the most relevant location.

[Roberto Penzo]

I too had to take the same decision, actually not only for Notes, but also for the order of the Tasks.
At first I started to place the newest at the top, just considering that often the highlighted task on a view is the top one, and so it is easy to find them.
Then I noticed that when no task is selected, if you create a new one, it is placed on the bottom, so I changed my way, also considering that when you write a letter or a text, the newest words are at the bottom.
This is now my lighthouse.

Every new thing is at the bottom: notes, tasks...
On every view of mine for planning, the future is at the bottom.
By the way, this seems to be is in accordance with the "complete tasks in order" feature of MLO: the first task to be completed is at the top, and if you think to a FirstInputFirstOutput concept, the task at the top is so the First Input one, i.e. the oldest.

But essentially many considerations only for a reason: this way I am sure I will really remember my choice in the future.

What do you think?

Bye.

[Stéph]

I always record most recent at the top in my notes, with a Ctrl-D to timestamp (and sometimes an F4, if I need to remember the time of the conversation, call or whatever.  My notes are always in the form:

28/09/2016: Andrey @call - blah, blah, blah.

27/09/2016: eml Andrey - blah, blah

??: @conversation - (can't remember the date of the conversation, but I need to make a note)

etc

etc

That way, if I need to remember what happened on a specific date, I can just do a search for the date with a colon after it.

Is that best practice? I'm not sure. It's long winded, taking all these notes, but I'm pretty forgetful and I work in roles where, just sometimes, people might try to tell me I did something or took responsibility for something even though I didn't. Full and detailed notes are my self-protection.

[Dwight]

I'm with Wallace on this one. I truly respect and honor consistency but
it's not for me in this case.

My default preference is newest on top. In any sort of problem solving
or project managing activity my first objective is usually to establish
where we are now and where we need to be. So the first thing I want to
read is the latest "possible solution" or "test failed, trying something
different" post. So I usually want to read email conversations and
project logs from the most recent. Also, when adding a note top a long
narrative especially on a phone where there is no "end" button, it's
easier to add a new note at the top, where the cursor is when the edit
screen opens.

But sometimes the question is not where we are or where we need to be.
It's however did we get where we are. For these you want to read
earliest to latest. I agree with other posters that it is really
unsatisfying to read a conversation from the bottom up. So when I am
building a log that seems likely to be read as a narrative, it's
add-at-bottom.

Honestly, anything being recorded as it happens is probably add-at-top
while a narrative reconstructed afterwards, edited for readability, will
be add at bottom.

-Dwight

[pottster]

Many thanks for the responses. Interesting to hear your thoughts and really helpful for clarifying my own thinking.

For my purposes, I've come to the conclusion that I will use both approaches. At least now I've thought about it I can say it's a conscious decision.

If I'm keeping a chronological sequence of notes I realise I need to ask myself why I'm doing it and that will guide me about which approach to take for a particular task. Some examples: -

Tracking status of a finite process - Reverse

Recording an exchange for future use with third party (complaint, justifying decisions etc) - Chronological

For future review for performance or improvement - Chronological

Problem solving - Reverse

Research and information gathering - Reverse

Delegated tasks - Reverse

When having a quick Google about the topic I found this thread interesting. Loved the Kierkegaard quote - 'Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards. Sums the dilemma up nicely. One idea touched upon was to list Chronologically but also have the very latest entry at the top. I might experiment with that if I can automate it via AutoHotKey.

I'm sure there is no "right" answer to this one. The Sort Ascending/Descending toggle button on so much software is probably there for a good reason!

Thanks again.