Five different approaches to tracking work that never finishes.
"My problem with all this stuff is that they are designed to be task-based, not state-based. I don't ever 'finish' high-level workstreams, I just maintain their health. When I try to put 'maintain stakeholder engagement' into a kanban board, it sits in 'Doing' forever."
Traditional productivity tools assume work has a beginning and an end. But much of what we do is ongoing—responsibilities we maintain, not tasks we complete.
What needs attention right now?
Health dashboards, status indicators, and alerts. Like SRE monitoring for your responsibilities.
What's the story of this area over time?
Timeline feeds and journal entries. Build narrative and context around ongoing work.
Where should my attention go?
Priority matrix for triage. See health vs. importance at a glance, drag to reposition.
Am I tending things regularly?
Cadences and review cycles. Build sustainable habits of attention over time.
How do my areas connect?
Network visualization. Understand how responsibilities relate and influence each other.
A design exploration for tracking ongoing responsibilities.