If I Could Build It, I Would

What I want more than anything is an effective, comprehensive way to visualize and track the layered web of projects, work, and activity I must engage in. Right now I manage and track my work in three coordinated spaces:
1) A Digital Notebook that functions as a "Project Inbox and Checklist" for major deliverables
2) An Excel Work Log that simply tracks activity type and duration of work time
3) A Weekly Checklist that organizes large projects into smaller tasks

The program that would best serve me as a scatterbrained academic is one that could visualize ad hoc projects in relation to other projects, deadlines alongside other deadlines, and the linkages/overlap between project demands. I am noticing that my work behaviors are growing more and more disjointed between types of project activity, particularly as I move away from a "Class Materials / Teaching Materials" binary to a more fluid understanding of professional demands. Therefore it's not surprising to me that I desire an organizational strategy that reflects this.

In regards to features I seek the ability to view the entire field of work ahead of me as well as select individual projects to build tasks/deadlines into. Right now I feel constrained by linear representations of work flows for the ways they mute dynamic deadlines and dates for activity.

If I could give the spatial representation of projects a material orientation, I suspect my brain would be better able to create a flexible, yet productive workflow on a given day/week. Until I can afford/build something like this, I'll continue drawing things alongside my digital records.

What can I say? I'm a spatial thinker who works in maps.