Using Taskpaper with DevonThink for Task Management

I purchased Taskpaper from one of the previous BundleHunt sales and have started using it more and more. My first attempts were simple checklists, marking off weekend chores, but I've started to dig a bit deeper into how it can help me.

A recent addition to my workflow is to use Taskpaper to track my progress on Jira tickets.

Starting in DevonThink, for tickets I work on, I create a new Taskpaper file. This is the ticket number with .taskpaper as the extension, such as xyz-1234.taskpaper. I'm very much trying to group documents in DevonThink these days.

Inside Taskpaper, I copy any requirements from the ticket, then start making my own notes of what I tested and how I did it.

I include information like user data, inventory SKUs, prices, quantities, etc.

I also list acceptance criteria such as:
Item price can't be above X
Item can't be sold in region X
Discount can't be higher than X

For each item, I put in my example, then cross it off after it has passed. Taskpaper then adds the completed date for reference.

I also have a summary Taskpaper project that lists the tasks for the Sprint. As I complete them, I cross them off. I also make note they are in progress, what has been completed, or what additional information is needed to move forward. If there are blockers, those are listed as well.

During our stand-up meetings, I reference my summary list of what I'm working on. If needed, I open the actual ticket file, and go over the results.

When my work is done, I save the file as a PDF and attach it to the ticket in Jira. This creates a nice record of what I did, what my test plan was, what examples I used, and my steps for the testing.

I've just recently adopted this, but so far it works well. I log what I'm working on, I see what I've tested, what is left to be done, and all the example data. If a ticket doesn't get completed in a day, I have a solid trail of breadcrumbs to follow to pick right back up where I left off and not repeat work I've already done, or guess what's next.

The other cool thing about Taskpaper, it's all done in plain text so it can be copied into anything.

This space for rent.

Author Signature for Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.