Fellow users,
I get how Obsidian is supposed to be used but I find the concept of back linking a little overwhelming. A lot of people in their posts seem to suggest that there’s a wrong way of going about it, and that there’s also a right way of using this feature.
I’ve tried starting with Obsidian a couple of times and have realized that my methodology isn’t exactly the best. Here’s one of the approaches I took in the past that didn’t really seem to jive with me - I tried creating a day note using the extension, and in this note I would write down the links to events/meetings that were useful to me. Then in each one of the meetings, I’d put down my detailed notes for it. However, over time, I realized that my weekly meetings had no easy way to be reviewed all together. It all seemed very disjointed.
For this reason, I’m convinced that it’s not simply about getting started but also about getting started in the right fashion.
Could you guys share your tips with me? Or maybe you can share what has failed for you in the past?
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Hello,
I have found that structure is key for me. I’m still new and working on my system. So far, the best thing for me is coming up with templates. I use daily notes and record meetings in Obsidian.
If you have a structure, it is easy to embed parts of one note into another. I have a monthly Recap note that pulls the daily # Recap heading from every day that month. You could do the same if you have a meeting heading in your daily note. Then you can make a weekly note and embed all the daily notes -
“![[Daily Note 1#Meeting]]”
“![[Daily Note 2#Meeting]]”
“![[Daily Note 3#Meeting]]”
Since they are all just text files, I am working on shell scripts for automation. I haven’t finished that one yet. A quick work around is using Google Sheets. MY daily notes have the date and then the weekday. I don’t know how yours are structured.
- For me, I made the first column the date (in date format) and then the second the week day.
- Then I selected them and dragged them down to auto populate.
- I want to change the header I’m looking for, so I made the header a variable in F1.
- I used the Concatenate function to build the text I wanted.
- I changed column A back to plain text (I needed it to be date format for auto populating, but for copy and pasting I needed plain text).
- I copy the date range I want and paste as text into Obsidian.
I have daily notes that recap the day. I have meeting notes for each meeting. The meeting notes link to an organization note and associated project if needed. Then I can see how each meeting connects to an organization and which project I am working on with them. All of these have templates. This not only allows me to see have things are connected, but I can focus on different perspectives (meeting level, project level, or client level).
I created a new note for each meeting. This meeting note is then linked to an organization/client, a project (if applicable), and my daily note. I do this all before I start the meeting.
This is my meeting template:
YAML
Keywords: [[Project Note]]
Status:
Organization
![[Organization Note#Overview]]
Meeting notes
Questions
Action Items
Quick Follow-up Email
Organization Template:
YAML
Keywords:
Status:
Overview
External Links
Meetings
![[]]
Project
![[]]
Project Template:
YAML
Keywords: [[Catchafire]]
Status: #Status/InProgress
OmniFocus link
DevonThink link
Overview
![[OrgName#Overview]]
Requirements
Progress
Title (Date)
![[Meeting1#Agenda/ Meeting Notes]]
Learnings
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Thanks for sharing. This seems to be a good technique!
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@LearningRabbitHole Fascinating, I have been converging on a roughly similar approach myself! Separate note per meeting, linked to & from the relevant participants / teams / etc notes for easy reference. I’ve experimented with this manually for a few weeks and it worked very well for maintaining context and situational awareness.
In my case the meetings I attend can be regarding a single project, a single team, or a combination of projects and teams, for both internal and external customers, so it can get quite complicated. Still trying to figure this part out.
I would be very interested in your shell scripts if/when you produce them!
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@davecan Any update on your progress for a multi project setup? I’m struggling to set up a similar basis to move from my OneNote workspace to Obsidian. I need to connect multiple dimensions quite dynamically, e.g. Customer with multiple projects that contain multiple committees and working groups for multiple products.
I’ve tried starting with Obsidian a couple of times and have realized that my methodology isn’t exactly the best. Here’s one of the approaches I took in the past that didn’t really seem to jive with me - I tried creating a day note using the extension, and in this note I would write down the links to events/meetings that were useful to me. Then in each one of the meetings, I’d put down my detailed notes for it. However, over time, I realized that my weekly meetings had no easy way to be reviewed all together. It all seemed very disjointed.
To me, that approach sounds reasonable. It may just need a little adjustment. Possible solutions:
- Tag each meeting note (for example, “#meetingnotes”). Optionally, create a Weekly Meetings note with a search for the tag embedded in it.
- In the note for each meeting, link to a Weekly Meetings note. When you want to review them, look at the backlinks of that note.
- Put the meeting notes in a folder (include the folder in the link from the daily note to the meeting note so you don’t have to move it afterward). When you want to review, go to the folder.