next-task

This project is meant to experiment with pulling together tasks from multiple sources and selecting which one work on next automatically. The project is just for fun and for self use so it may be a little hacky in some spots.

This will require a prioritized backlog of tasks that each range from 15 minutes to 3 hours. The tool will load a block of the top 20 tasks and pick one at random to work on until that block is complete.

The size of the tasks and randomness is part of the experiment. I want to see if small tasks in no particular order can help ensure more projects are worked on in parallel so that a larger project doesn't end up stalling other ones out.

The reason a chunk of tasks are chosen from a prioritized list is also to make sure that things aren't too random and the important work is still being worked on.

Why 20?

15m * 20 = 5h which is an average working day sans meetings, ad-hoc requests, and other time bound items. And if I ever wanted do implement this on paper, I could do it with a d20 die.

Completing Tasks

This doesn't edit the source where it gets the task. You still have to mark the task complete when you're done. This is intentional so that you can get your next task recommendation and start working on it but if you're unable to complete it in the time window you can come back to it again when it gets randomly pulled in the next round.

Status

Just getting started on it. Not battle tested at all yet.

Supported Sources

Google Tasks and Gmail

This tool requires a Google project set up to generate the ~/.config/next-task/google/credentials.json file, and the project should have read access to Google Tasks and Gmail. The quickstarts for both of these services should provide enough access.

If the credentials.json file isn't present then these sources won't be enabled.

Jira

This pulls issues from Jira to use. The following settings need to be set to fetch tasks from Jira:

• NEXT_TASK_JIRA_INSTANCE_URL: The instance to connect to
• NEXT_TASK_JIRA_ACCESS_TOKEN: The personal access token to make requests with
• NEXT_TASK_JIRA_TASK_JQL: Return the set of tasks that should be in scope

Planned Sources

Slack (Maybe)

If all of the above end up being useful for me, I may round this out with the ability to connect to slack for pulling things from the save for later feature.

Resetting the cache

To remove the task cache run:

rm -rf ~/.cache/next-task/tasks

Misc Ideas

• Weighted Randomness: While pure randomness may feel fair, assigning slightly higher probabilities to the top-priority tasks ensures the most important items still get more attention overall.

• Categorization: Consider creating separate queues for different categories of tasks (e.g., urgent, deep-focus work, quick wins).