The Backlog of Doom: My Queue of "I'll Document That Later" Projects

You know what’s worse than having a messy homelab? Having a messy homelab that you haven’t documented yet. And you know what’s even worse than that? Publishing a blog post about all the things you haven’t documented, creating a public record of your procrastination.

So here we are.

The Current Situation

I’ve got three TrueNAS servers, a UniFi network setup that’s probably overkill for a home environment, way too many Docker containers (still haven’t counted past 47), and a Home Assistant instance that controls more entities than I’d like to admit. And guess what? Almost none of it is properly documented.

Sure, I’ve got some scattered notes. A few Docker Compose files with comments like “did this because of that” Some mental notes about why I configured things a certain way. But actual documentation? The kind someone else could read and understand? Yeah, about that…

The “I Need To Document This Yesterday” List

Let me break down what’s currently running undocumented in my infrastructure:

Hardware Inventory: Three servers, various switches and APs → Honestly, it’s not going anywhere - I can just walk to the basement and look at it

The hardware is probably the easiest to document since it’s in a relatively finished state. It’s sitting there, doing its job, consuming electricity. At least if I forget what CPU is in which box, I can physically go look. But “finished” deserves documentation, right?

Network Infrastructure: UniFi Gateway, Controller, switches, APs → The only thing truly “prod” in this setup - entire household depends on it

This is the one piece of infrastructure I’d actually call production-ready. It’s functional, optimized, and the whole household relies on it. When someone complains the internet is down, this is what I’m troubleshooting. It works well enough that I have planned changes and extensions, which is exactly why it’s appearing both in the “document what exists” and “projects to finish” categories.

Smart Home: Home Assistant + various integrations → Works great, saves real money, but has rough edges I don’t discuss at parties

Here’s where it gets interesting. My Home Assistant setup barely makes this list because it technically works. The regular “lightswitch users” in my household don’t notice anything weird. In fact, they even get some comfort features they didn’t ask for. Most importantly, it’s saving actual money with automations around PV, power-to-heat, and heating.

But here’s the thing: it has so much more potential. There are rough edges. There are downright broken automations. Neglected integrations. Obsolete entities from experiments I forgot to clean up. If I’m being honest with myself - which apparently I am, in public, on the internet - this thing could use some serious attention.

The “I Started But Never Finished” Projects

Then there’s the category of projects I began with enthusiasm and then… didn’t finish:

Network Segmentation & Security Overhaul
Even though my UniFi setup is production-stable, I have changes and extensions planned. Controller settings, Gateway configs, switch configurations, DNS setup, IDS/IPS rules. It’s all configured and working, but documenting it before making changes seems wise. Novel concept, I know. What am I planning to change? Proper network segmentation, a DMZ, VLANs with purpose, an IoT network with tailored radio settings, maybe even outbound firewall rules. You know, the stuff you read about and think “I should really do that properly.”

Storage Architecture & Backup Strategy Rework
I’m currently in the midst of migrating folders for my Docker containers to separate datasets, optimized for the workload - databases on the SSD pool with appropriate record sizes, that sort of thing. The structure I’ve created is already too complicated, and I know it. Backups of irretrievable data exist, sure, but they follow no stringent logic and aren’t sensibly aligned with snapshot schedules. This all needs some Gehirnschmalz before it spirals further out of control.

Smart Home Deep Dive
This deserves its own post. Or maybe a series. Between the money-saving automations that work brilliantly and the abandoned experiments cluttering up my entity list, there’s a lot to unpack here.

The “Ambitious Plans That Haven’t Started” Category

And then we have the projects that exist purely in the “this would be cool” phase:

Centralized Logging (Graylog)
Because apparently having logs scattered across multiple containers isn’t enterprise enough. I want to actually aggregate them and maybe even search them like a proper infrastructure.

XDR/SIEM with Wazuh
At some point, my homelab crossed the line from “hobby project” to “I should probably know if something suspicious is happening.” Wazuh keeps getting added to my “eventually” list.

Remote Access Revamp (Netbird)
Tailscale works, and I actually love it, but it always felt more at home at work. Netbird seems like it might fit better for a home setup. Plus, I want to give family members secure access to certain services without them needing a degree in networking.

Long-term Data Retention (InfluxDB)
I’m collecting metrics. Some of them are interesting. Some of them disappear after 30 days. InfluxDB would fix this, but it’s been on my list for months.

Getting Actual Insights from My Data
This is the ambitious one. Take all my data - logs, metrics, documents from Paperless-ngx, everything - and actually make it searchable and analyzable. RAG, knowledge graphs, maybe some ML. Yes, I know this sounds like I’m trying to build my own AI assistant. No, I haven’t started yet.

N8N Workflow Automation
Okay, maybe I am building my own AI assistant. N8N would tie everything together - automations that span services, intelligent workflows, data processing pipelines. It’s sitting on my “sounds amazing but haven’t installed it” list.

Blog Analytics & Comments
Adding analytics and a comment section to this blog. Because scientifically speaking, zero readers and exactly zero readers are different things. Plus, this way I’m guaranteed to finally be the first person to comment on something for once.

Home Energy Management System (HEMS)
Solar, battery, heat pump, various loads, and §14a Module 3 compliance. For those not familiar with German energy regulations: this is about getting money back from the grid operator by giving them the ability to control certain devices during peak demand. It’s the project that keeps growing in scope every time I think about it. Integration of everything energy-related into one coherent system that actually optimizes for cost and grid stability.

Why I’m Publishing This

Two reasons:

First, public accountability. If I tell the internet (all zero of you reading this) that I’m going to document something, maybe I’ll actually do it.

Second, maybe someone else is in the same boat. Maybe you’ve also got a working setup that exists primarily in your memory and would take weeks to properly document. Maybe you’ve got automations saving you money while other automations from 2023 are still lingering in your config, disabled but not deleted. Maybe we can suffer through this together.

The Plan (Such As It Is)

I’m going to tackle these in some semblance of order. Starting with documenting what’s already working, then finishing the half-done projects, then maybe - maybe - starting the ambitious new stuff.

But let’s be honest, I’ll probably get distracted by a new shiny project and add it to this list instead.

Current Status

Blog Status: Two posts published → Infinite backlog created

Documentation Tools: A collection of text files, a Flatnotes container, Apple Notes, and an unfinished Wiki.js install → Publii for publishing → Shit, I should learn Git to properly use GitHub for version control

Current Focus: Avoiding work by writing about work → Classic procrastination technique

Next Steps: Actually start checking things off this list → Electricity bill suggests urgency

What’s Next

The hardware documentation post is probably first. Then the network setup, since that’s at least somewhat organized and actually production-stable. After that, we’ll see. Maybe I’ll finally count those containers. Or finally clean up those abandoned Home Assistant entities.

Or maybe I’ll add more to this list. One or the other.

What’s on your “I really should document this” list? And more importantly - what automations are you running that you’re slightly embarrassed about but refuse to delete because they might be useful someday?