Is there a good term for projects that maintain a set of patches, but still track upstream? For example, IceWeasel and Firefox.
The term "fork" tends to mean divergence and has a slightly more hostile vibe.
I've found Inbox Zero to be useful approach with many communication systems: maintain a separate TODO list, minimise email, process them oldest first.
There's a failure mode though: You get productive, allow the input rate to increase, then one day you massively fall behind. 😧