Calhist𐃏rian Profile picture
Jun 14, 2021 11 tweets 5 min read Read on X
A word of advice #Roamans. One of the great virtues of @RoamResearch is its flexibility and efficiency in capturing the chaos of life. Yet one of its largest hinderances to its success as a tool is its users’ behavior. There are several ways that we might better manage our graph.
One such way is to avoid page ref clutter. Two strategies. First, if you use templates (particularly daily), and you don’t end up capturing anything under a page ref - **delete it** - it will only clutter your graph, query results, and contribute to page bloat.
Similarly, if you use {{queries}} on your daily page - **delete** them as a shut-down routine. They are pointless beyond the day at which you use them. Or, as I have done, create a dashboard page containing the desired queries and use #roam42 SmartBlocks to dynamically update.
This is also important in the efficiency of the graph as well. The larger your graph grows - just as is the case in Notion, Evernote, and other systems - it will begin to slow in responsiveness. Let’s fill it with value instead of cruft!
Another piece of advice would be to avoid page ref "duplication." It only creates {{query}} clutter and unnecessary links. Since Roam's metadata cascades down block trees, one page ref in the tree (however high in the hierarchy) cascades down.
As the example demonstrates above, If I were to page ref a parent block, that metadata is linked to all children blocks down the branch. (see image)
In the vast majority of cases, if I needed to the additional context to this {{TODO}} - I would just type the Project name without 'refing' it.
I can see in the image that Project 1 is in fact tagged, and the correct block shows up in the query. However, there are instances in which you *would* want to tag in both places.
What if I didn't mention the project (or page of whatever type) in the block AND I have "Path" turned off in the query - I would have to find out what the project (page) this actually refers to.
Yes...yes.... I can see in the query what I am looking for, but this is not always so simple or desirable. One of the killer strategies of improving your efficiency is reducing on-the-fly decision-making as much as possible. So why give yourself more work?
And while I am on the topic of hierarchy and relationships of blocks - don't forget that both the {{table}} and {{kanban}} functions are designed to work with this as well. Tables create relationships via rows, while kanban create relationships via columns

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Calhist𐃏rian

Calhist𐃏rian Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @calhistorian

Jun 3, 2022
Using @RoamResearch popover "feature" to visually declutter my blocks but keep robust querying support. ImageImageImage
Read 7 tweets
Nov 18, 2021
Its been 2 years now since I began using Roam regularly... quite remarkable frankly. #roam #TFT
My PKM journey has been one of significant pedagogical trials and tribulations. I detailed much of it here: roambrain.com/roaming-in-the…
The TL:DR - it began as a search for a single tool to manage my pedagogical development as a college instructor and the curriculum I was developing for the 6 courses that I taught.
Read 20 tweets
Jul 16, 2021
#AdviceFromARoman Continuing the "advice" column that I started some time back regarding how to best utilize @RoamResearch for your knowledge graph. The TL:DR, every block or block-tree should have three elements associated with it. An ENTITY, a TYPE, and of course its CONTENT.
What do I mean? Fundamentally, Roam "search" is a very different paradigm than other consumer writing/notes applications. Well, I am not going to explain how Roam works behind referring to my prior advice tweets about tag/page ref inheritance.
Importantly though, exploiting Roam's search workflow requires you to recognize that the power is in page refs (and "tags"). But because Roam is so flexible to the point of being agnostic in this regard, one must build with search and discoverability in mind.
Read 7 tweets
Jan 30, 2021
#RoamCult For new users who are like, "why is building a table or Kanban board so odd?" They are designed to take advantage of @RoamResearch's hierarchical relationships. Cells in a table row and Cards in a Kanban column are related. Use that to your advantage.
For example. Take a table. You can query for example for any value {a, b, c, d} in relation to "Item 1" since they are in the same hierarchy.
Similarly, for a Kanban Board - though constructing one is different {a, b, c, d} are still related to "Item 1." HOWEVER, as an advantage, in a Kanban board, block "a" is NOT related to block "b" outside of that fact that they share a parent.
Read 5 tweets
Jan 4, 2021
#RoamCult if you ever thought Roam could not be used for a Weekly Review GTD style, it just requires Roamafying the workflow. Most data is removed or collapsed for privacy. Though #roam42 (@roamhacker) SmartBlocks are required. Doing this manually every week would be too much
This was just me finalizing from my old Weekly Review model:
Thanks @Conaw . Truly a tool that CAN do anything you want it to within the specific affordances and constraints.
Read 6 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(