Speaking of This and That, I use both Atlassian’s JIRA and more recently Pivotal Tracker for issue/story management. Both are great, and I don’t want to give up either of them, but it’s always been sort of an either/or proposition. The good news is that this weekend Tracker released some new features, one of which is integration with JIRA. Issues created in JIRA can be viewed within Tracker and optionally added to an iteration or the “icebox.” You can read about it in more detail here. I’ve been playing with it today and it looks to be a great start. They’re still working on 2-way integration so that Features created in Tracker will also automatically be posted to JIRA. For now, it’s just JIRA->Tracker.
We use a single JIRA project per client. Same goes for Tracker, so this works out well. It’s early, but here’s what I’m doing so far…
- Create filter in JIRA for all “Open” issues on a project that have been labeled “pivotal”
- Add a new JIRA “Integration” to the Tracker project, entering the ID of the newly created JIRA filter.
- View the new “JIRA” column in Tracker and simply drag and drop the issues to track into the icebox column.
Any issue dragged from the JIRA column into either the icebox or iteration columns is then displayed with an “e” overlayed on its icon, indicating that it’s linked to a JIRA issue. As the feature is moved through the Tracker workflow, all comments and transitions made in Tracker are instantly posted to JIRA.
At first glance, I think this will be a great way to collaborate around a collection of features using the strengths of both JIRA and Pivotal Tracker. Can’t wait for them to figure out how to get 2-way integration implemented.
Note that this new feature is only hours old. I’m looking forward to see what we can do with it
It occurred to me today that when there are two choices in any particular product category, I have a hard time choosing just one. In fact, I seldom end up completely in one camp or the other. If the choice is this or that, I choose both! Here are a few examples…
Scrivener and Ulysses
I rarely write more than a few paragraphs at a time, so I don’t even need a significant writing tool. And yet, I use both Scrivener and Ulysses. Love them both. Scrivener’s MultiMarkdown support is awesome, and it’s less tweaky than Ulysses. But Ulysses does the whole semantic writing thing so well, and can output things just about any way you like. So, it’s both for me.
Safari and Chrome
Can’t use Chrome until it works with 1Password, but I can almost guarantee that I’ll run it side by side with Safari eventually.
TextMate and BBEdit
I’ve been using BBEdit for a very long time. When TextMate was released I jumped ship right along with everyone else I knew. TextMate made editing code fun again. But its single character undo and completely feeble project handling and search keeps me in BBEdit for any significant text manipulation. So, for coding or writing it’s TextMate and for text mangling it’s BBEdit. They’re both terrific.
WriteRoom and OmmWriter
The first time I downloaded WriteRoom and fired it up I knew it was perfect for me. I’m just so easily distractible and WriteRoom goes to great lengths to help me stay focused. Love it. Recently I was introduced to OmmWriter, which is just weird. Love that too. So again, I use both, depending on my mood.
Things and TaskPaper
Things is terrific for managing and scheduling tasks. TaskPaper is lightweight and works great for making lists of stuff. Things is my GTD thing and TaskPaper is my jot-a-list-of-things-down app. Besides, I can always open a TaskPaper document in, say, BBedit, WriteRoom, TextMate or (oh hell just see above.)
Film and Digital
Why fight it? Digital is where it’s at. It’s quick, easy and there’s no film to buy. But film is just too great to forget. It’s fun to play with, it’s real (by real I mean physical) and it makes me feel like I’m making photographs instead of playing with a computer. Besides, film cameras are cheap. I say keep them both.
Books and Kindle
Books are awesome. They feel good, they smell good, and they last forever. You can share them, write on them, or level a wobbly table with them. I buy real books all the time. I also have a Kindle and love it more than any single electronic device I’ve tried. Instant access to just about anything I want to read, free wireless for eternity (whatever that ends up meaning) and all in one, small, lightweight device. I love having a choice.
Mac and PC
Don’t be silly. Everyone knows Windows is stupid.
Every 6 months or so I tend to throw out whatever “systems” I’m using and start fresh. It happened again this past weekend after I stood behind someone and watched him open up TextEdit and make a note in it. TextEdit! Can you believe it? What year is this? I kept watching and he just wrote what he needed to write and saved the file to a folder on his drive with an easy-to-remember name. Done.
I went about my day muttering things like “…but DEVONthink this,” and “…Yojimbo that,” and “…EverNote that other thing.” Then 4 things happened.
The first was that DEVONthink kept crashing while I was launching it. The bit of information I needed was in DEVONthink and I couldn’t get to it. Yes, the files are all somewhere on the filesystem, but that’s not how I find things.
The second event was this post by Douglass Barone which reminded me how cool Notational Velocity is and that it can now save its notes as, you guessed it, plain text files.
Third, I realized that I’d been writing tons of stuff in WriteRoom or the nifty OmmWriter, both of which are nice and simple text editors. Text only editors.
And finally, I (almost accidentally) used Spotlight to find something, and it was fast, easy, and accurate. I’d bailed on Spotlight years ago, disabled the keyboard shortcuts and moved on. I should’ve been paying attention. It actually works.
So these things started to add up. What if I kept everything in plain old text files? Oh what the hell, I spent most of the day exporting everything from DEVONthink and Yojimbo into text files. Then, using A Better Finder Rename (which is awesome), I named everything using a simple format: “YYMMDD-CODE My New Text File.txt” CODE can be a project name or shorthand for whatever I want. Doesn’t matter.
I then took everything and dropped it into an appropriately named “~Everything” folder in my DropBox folder. The ~Everything folder looks like this:
~Everything/
–Notes/
–Projects/
–Reference/
That’s now where nearly everything goes. In Projects I have sub-folders for each client or project, and within each of them is a folder called “Files and Assets” for things that aren’t just text files. Each day (or week or whatever) I’ll look through the notes in Notes and move things into either a project or reference folder. Everything is synched by Dropbox and the text files in Notes are also synched with Simpletext.ws so I can edit them with WriteRoom on the iPhone.
Not bad, and the coolest part is that I can use Notational Velocity as a sort of front end to all the files in the Notes folder. But I don’t have to. It’s just text. So that’s it, my entire system is now not much more than some folders with text files in them. They’ll always be there, readable, portable, and simple.
Update: Looks like I’m not the only one
Here’s a quick list of my favorite movies from the past year.
The Hangover
Saw the poster for The Hangover while seeing another movie. Made a mental note to avoid it. I was wrong. Funny from start to finish.
The Class
Should have been cliché, but wasn’t. It was quiet, real and moving.
The Hurt Locker
Devastating, tense, thrilling. A character study rather than a “war movie.”
Up!
The first 15 minutes of Up! prove once again that animation can be deeply emotional and SQUIRREL!
Zombieland
Who know the zombie genre had so much life left in it. Also includes the best cameo ever.
Inglourious Basterds
Brad Pitt’s over the top character was fine, but Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) walked away with every scene he was in. I don’t automatically love everything Tarantino does, but I loved Inglourious Basterds.
Goodbye Solo
Quiet, understated, touching. I was completely engrossed from start to finish.
Anvil! The Story of Anvil
You don’t have to be a Metal fan to enjoy watching Anvil! The Story of Anvil. It’s touching, sad and hopeful and funny.
In The Loop
Fast, hilarious, vicious political satire. This is how wars are made.
World’s Greatest Dad
This dark, perverted, and very funny movie by Bob Goldthwait took me completely by surprise. I’ve grown to expect less from Robin Williams, but he’s terrific here. I guess a little autoerotic asphyxiation brings out the best in people.
Jessica came home excited to show me that one of her photos was published in a nearby local newspaper. She’d shown me the photo earlier and explained how she’d fought her way right up front near door of the Armory to make sure she had a good chance at capturing her boyfriend’s brother’s face when he walked in the room after returning from Afghanistan.
Atta girl.
The above screen capture is what my Mail.app inbox looks like this morning. Letterbox is used for the wide view, 2-line subject/from combination, and hairline divider between panes. Mail Act-On lets me use keystrokes for everything message-related. I then hide the toolbar and mailboxes.
Makes for a nice, pretty, and minimal email experience.
My new MacBook Pro arrived yesterday. This will replace my aging, 2-year old version. It’s a thing of beauty. Whenever I get a new machine, I’m tempted to just run the simple data migration to move everything over, but never do. Instead, I start from scratch. This is a complete pain in the ass, but very much worth the trouble. It just feels so good!
Below is a list of things I installed this time. I’m listing only software, not the geeky bits like Ruby On Rails, MacPorts etc. It took me most of the day yesterday, but I think I’ve got things pretty much how I like them.
- Launchbar – Without a good launcher, using a Mac feels like working
with one hand behind my back.
- Dropbox – Sync made so easy it’s ridiculous.
- Tinderbox – “The tool for notes” (and nearly everything else.) This is where I live.
- 1Password – Passwords, forms, card numbers, etc. Beautifully done.
- Yojimbo – An anything bucket. Simple enough that it actually gets used.
- BBEdit – Text editing done very well. Yes, better than TextMate.
- OmniFocus – Task management with enough oomph.
- AppZapper – I change my mind a lot.
- Backblaze – Online backup without thinking. Just in case.
- BusyCal – Because iCal isn’t good enough, and I don’t like web based calendars.
- Daylite – Gotta put all those contacts and opportunities somewhere.
- DEVONthink Pro – Anything project related goes here, and I’m guaranteed to find it.
- Fluid – For running web stuff as their own “apps”.
- Interarchy – SFTP client. I’ve been using this for years. No reason to change.
- MarsEdit – Still the best way to consistently post to a number of sites.
- MindManager – Mindmapping. Expensive, but still the best there is.
- NetNewsWire – Because even the good web-based readers suck.
- OmmWriter- Weird, new-agey writing app for distraction-free writing. Surprised by how much I like it.
- Photo Mechanic – Not used as much now that I don’t shoot digital, but it’s great for pulling photos of cards when I do.
- QuickCursor – Like the “Edit In…” plugins, without the hacks.
- Sequel Pro – Best MySQL management GUI available.
- SizeUp – Move and size windows with the keyboard.
- Skitch – Almost perfect screen capture.
- Spirited Away – Automatically hides inactive apps. Fits my minimalist tendencies nicely.
- SuperDuper – Simple, bootable backups. Saved my ass a number of times.
- Ulysses – Complete semantic writing environment.
- WriteRoom – Distraction free writing.
- Lightroom – Image management and editing. Does everything.
- Nik Plugins for Lightroom – The Complete Collection. Awesome set of tools for Lightroom.
- SilverFast Ai Studio – The best scanning results, with the worst UI of any software, anywhere.
- TextExpander – Wonderful typing utility/accelerator. I’m lost without this.
- iStat Menus – Very nice system monitors. I use the menu bar calendar instead of the built in version.
- Mail Act-On – Keyboard email management for Mail.app.
- Chronosync – Synchronizes all my external drives nicely, automatically, on a schedule.
- Acorn – It really is “The image editor for humans.” I despise Photoshop, and now I don’t need it.
- ClickToFlash – Great Safari plug-in which gets Flash under control.
Blogs and Twitter have been passing around a couple links recently that I find discouraging — both the links and the passing around of them.
The first is Clients from Hell. This is a collection of anecdotes about difficult clients and each takes great pleasure in ridiculing some (thankfully anonymous) person. Now I know, every industry enjoys sharing war stories, and it can be a nice relief valve for frustration. Perhaps that’s what Clients from Hell is meant to be, but it strikes me as snarky, angry and unproductive. Where are the followup stories about how someone dealt with one of these client situations successfully by explaining things in a way that was better understood? Maybe if we weren’t so busy rolling our eyes and snickering we could be educating people. Of course it might not work, but it beats just muttering “what a dumb-ass” and writing a nasty reply. Some people actually are dumb-asses, but most aren’t. We should stop assuming the former.
Speaking of nasty replies, another post, ‘It’s Like Twitter. Except We Charge People to Use It.’, has found itself linked to quite a lot. It’s like a detailed look at one of the Clients from Hell entries. Everyone describing it just laughs and laughs. Gruber calls it brilliant. It may be, but to me it reads more like an endless, fruitless conversation between 2 assholes. Being more “clever” than the other guy doesn’t make you any less an asshole.
I guess it’s possible I’ve simply misplaced my sense of humor, but I don’t think so. I just wish we could ease up a little on the snark and do something productive instead.
I have a darkroom. This has happened before.
My first darkroom was in what my grandma called the “fruit cellar” of my old house. It was a small, musty place full of pipes lined with asbestos. I hated it, and printed maybe a total of 20 8×10 photos there. Eventually just gave everything away. But that was a long time ago, and I’ve mostly forgotten how awful it was. So, I built another.
My new darkroom is still in a basement, but for some reason this time it’s a lot more fun. I have no problem spending hours at a time in the dark, making not-very-good prints with cheap, 30 year old equipment. It’s like magic. Maybe it helps just knowing I can opt out, grab an inkjet and make prints the easy way like everyone else.
If it was easy, anyone could do it. I’m going to keep doing it the hard way for a while.
Rory Marinich:
Why I’ll Never Be A Photographer
I’m not here to stand on the edge and watch you be beautiful, asshole.”
Rory Marinich: Career Plans
That sort of ruined my whole morning.
