I maintain a notion page for every single project. Each page has notes about the last thing I worked on or a todo list for the future.
This is simple, I add just the most basic information needed to keep me going. You could replicate the same system with just a txt file on your machine, apple notes, etc.
I’ve gotten into the habit of just pasting my notion todo lists into Claude code and telling it to fix things. Works great.
The latest "tool" for me is just Apple Notes for me with a todo list of tasks on a page.
Its a struggle for me to get any momentum going on personal projects. I think its because I'm a person that is externally motivated - like I know I get paid, promotions potentially, etc. via my employment. When it comes to personal projects I can't get going. I only mention this because I would also change out what/how I use to manage the work thinking that would change and I'd get more done, its never worked. Things I've used along the way: trello, wiki, pen and paper, various apps like todoist, etc.
Love using GitHub for managing everything. I can create issues of features and bugs and work through completing them in each pull request. I have also recently created my own tool called tmpo, which I use to log my time when working on projects that require billing. Trying to create my own custom tools to speed up my workflow as much as I can.
I think this is a universal problem: after a break, you reopen a project and spend more time rebuilding context than actually coding. I’m thinking of a Cursor-style chat that acts as project memory, it can answer “what did I do last?” and “what changed since then?” using git/PR history, and also lets me drop quick ideas for Project A while I’m working on Project B, so it reminds me when I come back. Would you use something like this, or is there a simpler workflow that already solves it?