moparfreak
Well-known member
As I go through my shop / garage build project, which will span I'm sure several / many years, I thought I'd share how I track and detail my ever-changing plan.
I pretty much have been planning and staging for my dream shop for the last 7-8 years. Previous house I made nice use of my space but it wasn't the endgame. I've been on GJ for many years now, and between my vast collection of WW/Shop/car books, magazines, and online resources like GJ and others, have collected a LOT of really great ideas that I'd like to actually implement. How many of us save so many great ideas and then file them away to never again return?!
So, as this project started, I set myself up to use basically two tools to keep my head above all the ideas and sort through what to actually DO next, and what to PLAN for beyond that...
1) Microsoft OneNote - I've actually been using this for years, and used this as my "catch-all" of ideas. Kept things to the basic nature of a picture and location so I could go back for the detailed reference (such as issue/page on a magazine, link if online, etc.). Saved ideas by category, and then eventually whittled the ideas down to what seemed truly feasible once the shop plans started taking place. Here's a screenshot of what my collection method looks like:
https://drive.bitcasa.com/v2/conv/image/preview/xlarge.jpg?digest=Gdt947_FkkfOEPz_ygSkgA==&*****=B4j3673EeFbt0vda&payload=PqknQ0Y2JlY_xzqEsNU5hQiUw4VUjLT6KiiHeGh02ONkXDIglXyJ3aDVfwQP9C9C0zovAav2oeaGXS9htoTRy1JVVbLAyLRGm7xTCxcgX-VuoCCUxFzZyi2bBXJi2hthjbBi0f-W6ARFMa_EpWxJu1mGcqtSRAmPTLR2zuU5RHw94Z0kWClnI1U1NJerTyymM84DNOmTcyzLzvvFE2b-JeVjkg==&blid=8fb37b3b5da305b8eb92786d8513d7dbc1f739da332390919bcc22b2e2686459&disposition=inline
This is good as a catch-all but I still found it difficult to use on the fly while I'm out and about in the shop. That turned me to a new tool that we recently started using at work for project tracking and collaboration: Trello (www.trello.com)
It's basically a shuffleboard of tiles and there's a lot of functionality in each tile, you can make columns and put checklists and pictures and attachments in each tile, so I made a specific Project Board for the shop. Now, I use it to track upcoming projects, current to-do's, stuff I am tracking or want to buy, yada yada. It really helps me immensely. Then, I take the projects I'd liek to do soonest from Onenote, and create a tile in Trello and start dumping information into it regarding the build (such as pics, files, notes, materials, shopping lists, etc.). Works really well. Here's a screenshot of how it looks right now. I moved the Workbench tile into the "Doing" column as I've just started up on that project:
https://drive.bitcasa.com/v2/conv/image/preview/xlarge.jpg?digest=jLS7HFCb-ru4gB07SoBgsg==&*****=JaIq6RhyT2Xha_In&payload=lybR201p2AJ9MHrOgn1zCxxC1m6qds2TNkCTXHfXqWmYZ79MI4csgqbhsKkU4_jIkyGL3B7pr7OwMocBMa1R54_-UbQ-wbWqWUs5bprCrXDpo8VWbFEyuQQWjYvCOAWWt29o_mWW4KcdO2KXlssQGYgZpchT7fnfPlTzI9jqahpsdD1Bpd-XVcmQcZVb-aYuBcdxyWE8SumzYrcy18OLVn6uDms=&blid=62853808f80198f7abaf33f2e23d210dd846ae84d7567a32bb646a0682968b1a&disposition=inline
https://bitcasa.cfsusercontent.io/v2/conv/image/preview/xlarge.jpg?digest=mpNc9i7GcUN2RQz3ZCL56w==&*****=oWpr8A8-zoKLWOZ9&payload=EhC3WQ3duwXu0cn0ybcGOtpFi0mF0SMJTtrzdiWebAhW-F0m-r1AG5r9jxhNkIEvpu7C4h8OsgdVLPvibbS-73A8yvwuDxc08Sa9-qG94VkDgd0dujx78GUioeekJ7iTeeKpD5d2Jv5IORoCYseQ7p5Pxg4IZx82-D0LY76ncnXgGT0jbQHdy_n6gNleX9MdAz_2jRuLBRycsUaezPhOYai7PY8=&blid=4e7ec914e828e2327bc4fc1cffb442a9e2fdc4b59752efd2a9b01424727c71d3&disposition=inline
https://drive.bitcasa.com/v2/conv/image/preview/xlarge.jpg?digest=tg15gHPzA0aw8FnBSkfaYw==&*****=o0ua2AWtj3vel7A5&payload=UMjcQt52ckixyv8swVuD1yNxfQ7jEnHNnnpcnVeuj0Ik-k_0Sq1uWiuZ3EyTl-2K3URUzfB6pUNBxs_GReeYDd01vSuQqbxteBWE_XjIDK9YbPrqgUTEOwUFyPglPPnZh0GI8wwShm17nvUHype6z2r1Ofx4bDLLL8E1ywHFQYFpMjorn6BKnPpmJEe5VS6ettrn6llIx3r4ClkpSnpGCEEVetY=&blid=3c63d65d88b9d8c190da36702306631a84dc226b26ab5c3234529701a29c1240&disposition=inline
I realize this is probably a bit over the top for some, and maybe borderline-OCD-ish, but it works for me and helps me stay focused. If I ever have an in-rush of ideas I can dump it into here and not lose it. I have to manage product deveopment projects at work and use similar methods, so it translated nicely over to my personal life. The shop is after-all a very large project!
I pretty much have been planning and staging for my dream shop for the last 7-8 years. Previous house I made nice use of my space but it wasn't the endgame. I've been on GJ for many years now, and between my vast collection of WW/Shop/car books, magazines, and online resources like GJ and others, have collected a LOT of really great ideas that I'd like to actually implement. How many of us save so many great ideas and then file them away to never again return?!
So, as this project started, I set myself up to use basically two tools to keep my head above all the ideas and sort through what to actually DO next, and what to PLAN for beyond that...
1) Microsoft OneNote - I've actually been using this for years, and used this as my "catch-all" of ideas. Kept things to the basic nature of a picture and location so I could go back for the detailed reference (such as issue/page on a magazine, link if online, etc.). Saved ideas by category, and then eventually whittled the ideas down to what seemed truly feasible once the shop plans started taking place. Here's a screenshot of what my collection method looks like:
https://drive.bitcasa.com/v2/conv/image/preview/xlarge.jpg?digest=Gdt947_FkkfOEPz_ygSkgA==&*****=B4j3673EeFbt0vda&payload=PqknQ0Y2JlY_xzqEsNU5hQiUw4VUjLT6KiiHeGh02ONkXDIglXyJ3aDVfwQP9C9C0zovAav2oeaGXS9htoTRy1JVVbLAyLRGm7xTCxcgX-VuoCCUxFzZyi2bBXJi2hthjbBi0f-W6ARFMa_EpWxJu1mGcqtSRAmPTLR2zuU5RHw94Z0kWClnI1U1NJerTyymM84DNOmTcyzLzvvFE2b-JeVjkg==&blid=8fb37b3b5da305b8eb92786d8513d7dbc1f739da332390919bcc22b2e2686459&disposition=inline
This is good as a catch-all but I still found it difficult to use on the fly while I'm out and about in the shop. That turned me to a new tool that we recently started using at work for project tracking and collaboration: Trello (www.trello.com)
It's basically a shuffleboard of tiles and there's a lot of functionality in each tile, you can make columns and put checklists and pictures and attachments in each tile, so I made a specific Project Board for the shop. Now, I use it to track upcoming projects, current to-do's, stuff I am tracking or want to buy, yada yada. It really helps me immensely. Then, I take the projects I'd liek to do soonest from Onenote, and create a tile in Trello and start dumping information into it regarding the build (such as pics, files, notes, materials, shopping lists, etc.). Works really well. Here's a screenshot of how it looks right now. I moved the Workbench tile into the "Doing" column as I've just started up on that project:
https://drive.bitcasa.com/v2/conv/image/preview/xlarge.jpg?digest=jLS7HFCb-ru4gB07SoBgsg==&*****=JaIq6RhyT2Xha_In&payload=lybR201p2AJ9MHrOgn1zCxxC1m6qds2TNkCTXHfXqWmYZ79MI4csgqbhsKkU4_jIkyGL3B7pr7OwMocBMa1R54_-UbQ-wbWqWUs5bprCrXDpo8VWbFEyuQQWjYvCOAWWt29o_mWW4KcdO2KXlssQGYgZpchT7fnfPlTzI9jqahpsdD1Bpd-XVcmQcZVb-aYuBcdxyWE8SumzYrcy18OLVn6uDms=&blid=62853808f80198f7abaf33f2e23d210dd846ae84d7567a32bb646a0682968b1a&disposition=inline
https://bitcasa.cfsusercontent.io/v2/conv/image/preview/xlarge.jpg?digest=mpNc9i7GcUN2RQz3ZCL56w==&*****=oWpr8A8-zoKLWOZ9&payload=EhC3WQ3duwXu0cn0ybcGOtpFi0mF0SMJTtrzdiWebAhW-F0m-r1AG5r9jxhNkIEvpu7C4h8OsgdVLPvibbS-73A8yvwuDxc08Sa9-qG94VkDgd0dujx78GUioeekJ7iTeeKpD5d2Jv5IORoCYseQ7p5Pxg4IZx82-D0LY76ncnXgGT0jbQHdy_n6gNleX9MdAz_2jRuLBRycsUaezPhOYai7PY8=&blid=4e7ec914e828e2327bc4fc1cffb442a9e2fdc4b59752efd2a9b01424727c71d3&disposition=inline
https://drive.bitcasa.com/v2/conv/image/preview/xlarge.jpg?digest=tg15gHPzA0aw8FnBSkfaYw==&*****=o0ua2AWtj3vel7A5&payload=UMjcQt52ckixyv8swVuD1yNxfQ7jEnHNnnpcnVeuj0Ik-k_0Sq1uWiuZ3EyTl-2K3URUzfB6pUNBxs_GReeYDd01vSuQqbxteBWE_XjIDK9YbPrqgUTEOwUFyPglPPnZh0GI8wwShm17nvUHype6z2r1Ofx4bDLLL8E1ywHFQYFpMjorn6BKnPpmJEe5VS6ettrn6llIx3r4ClkpSnpGCEEVetY=&blid=3c63d65d88b9d8c190da36702306631a84dc226b26ab5c3234529701a29c1240&disposition=inline
I realize this is probably a bit over the top for some, and maybe borderline-OCD-ish, but it works for me and helps me stay focused. If I ever have an in-rush of ideas I can dump it into here and not lose it. I have to manage product deveopment projects at work and use similar methods, so it translated nicely over to my personal life. The shop is after-all a very large project!