The Scoring Samurai is a blog about what it actually takes to do serious orchestral work at a professional level—not just the craft, but the whole ecosystem. The tools that remove friction. The habits that protect the hours. The philosophy that keeps you at the desk when nothing is urgent and everything feels far away. Written by a working orchestrator for anyone who takes the work seriously.
Project Management 103
Now it’s time to look at the next piece of the setup: the project note. This is where I track conversations, decisions, preferences, and everything that doesn’t belong on a checklist—but is too important to leave in my head.
When a new project enters my system, a dedicated project note is created automatically.
Like with the to-do list, this isn’t about which app you use. Use whatever tool you like—the Notes app, a Google Doc, a physical notebook if that’s your thing. I use Obsidian, mainly because it lets me link notes together in a flexible way. But again: this post is about the system, not the software.
Shortcut Symphony: Orchestrate Your Workflow with Ease
One of the easiest places to start with automation when you already have a Mac is with the built-in app Shortcuts. It was introduced to iOS and macOS after Apple acquired the Workflow app, which was built around a similar structure.
At first, I didn’t see the use of it for myself, since all the example shortcuts felt gimmicky—things like ‘Remind me at work,’ ‘How many days until…,’ and ‘Send the last photo as an email.’ These didn’t add much value to my workflow. So, in this post, I’ll take you through some Shortcuts I actually use on a regular basis.