I would like to learn what kind of real time activity/problem tracking methods people use. Let me clarify what I mean:
When programming, I usually take a note for the current problem that I try to solve. I write down a sentence to name the problem. During research or debugging, I come across several alternative solution ideas that might solve the original problem. I choose one alternative and dive into implementing the solution. Usually, the solution is not an easy, one step solution. During implementation, I encounter new problems. To overcome these new problems, I need to make new research or debugging.
Frequently, after some while, I find myself totally lost and frustrated. I may have spent lots of hours for a specific alternative solution which proves to be a false method but I may have forgotten several other alternatives which might be actually much easier to implement.
Is there any name for this kind of activity tracking problem? I think "activity tracking" concept is usually used for time tracking purposes. I don't care about time really. For me, the conceptual or logical relationships in the cycles between problems and solution steps are much more important.
I am asking this question because I think if I know the name of this concept it will be much easier to find a good methodological solution for it.