Welcome to Andon
Andon is a project tracker built around one question you can answer in two seconds: is everything running normally, and if not, where? It answers with colors, and it keeps the full story behind every color.
Where the idea comes from
On a factory assembly line, an andon is a signal light above each workstation. It shows at a glance whether the station runs normally or needs help, and anyone can raise it the moment something goes wrong. Nobody is blamed for raising it: a raised signal is information, and the line is better for it.
Andon brings that idea to your projects. Each project, task and child task carries a signal color: you set it on individual tasks, and Andon works it out for everything above them. Looking at a screen full of projects, you see at once which ones run normally, which are waiting on something, and where an approach was abandoned.
Four principles
- One look is enough. The colors bubble up from tasks to projects, so the project list alone tells you where to look.
- Nothing is thrown away. Called-off work stays visible in red with its reasons. Notes keep their earlier versions. Finished projects are archived, not deleted.
- Context lives next to the work. Each task has its own notes, files and history, so the reason for a decision sits beside the decision.
- Your data stays yours. Andon runs on your computer. There is no account, no server and no subscription.
Who it is for
Andon suits anyone juggling several projects who wants to remember why things happened, not only what happened:
- developers, especially when working with AI assistants, where fast iteration produces many dead ends worth remembering
- technical leads following several workstreams
- consultants and freelancers who return to a client after months away
- anyone who has ever asked "why did I stop doing that?" and could not remember
A tour of the main window
- Project list. The home screen. It shows all active projects in one of three views, with a search box, a sort menu and a + New Project button at the top.
- Toolbar. Back and forward buttons, the Archives button, the search button and the Preferences (gear) button. When a project is open, the toolbar takes the project's status color, and when a task is open it shows the breadcrumb: project › parent tasks › task (chapter 5), followed by when the task's note was last saved.
- Project view. Opening a project shows its task tabs: Notes for the selected task, Tasks with the whole task tree, Files, and any tabs added by plugins. Todo lists and Kanban boards get their own Todo List or Kanban tab when you open them. The blue + New Task button, at the right end of the tabs, creates a task, a todo list or a Kanban board (chapter 6).
Andon reopens where you left off, so the tour usually starts on the project and task you used last.