Project at Home, with Action at Work

[SpiralOcean]

This one is plaging me... maybe some bright person out there knows a solution.

Currently... my projects are setup within folders. A work folder and a home folder.

When I am at home... I focus on the home folder and don't have to be bothered with the work actions. The same when I am at work.

However, there are times when a project that I have at home, requires me to do or get something from work.

There is no way for me to currently "send" and action item to do at work.

The problem I am having is when a project spans both work and home. If I put the project in my work folder... I never see my home actions. If I put the project in my home folder... I never see my work actions at work.

I end up creating a duplicate of the project in each folder.

Anyone know a way to work around this?

Thank you.

[eronel]

Interesting. I tend to use contexts to separate tasks by location. I'm sure there must be a reason you don't approach things that way though....

[SpiralOcean]

Interesting. I tend to use contexts to separate tasks by location. I'm sure there must be a reason you don't approach things that way though....

Yes... I was doing that as well. Especially in the Life Balance days, because that was the only way.

But then I have duplicates for all my contexts:

email-work
email-home
errands
waiting for-work
waiting for-home
process collection boxes-work
process collection boxes-home
calls-work
calls-home
weekly review-work
weekly review-home
agendas-work
agendas-home
...
you get the idea.

By focusing on a folder, I only deal with one context and then focus the folder to focus on projects at home or work.

When I brought this up 6 months ago about having duplicate contexts and the idea of using tags instead... my current working solution was suggested to me by Ken the Case Casemaster.

Tags would be a more elegant solution... then I could tag a project,
• work
• calls

and to see all work projects search on •work
to see work projects that I need to make calls on, search on •work, •calls.

The challenge in a tagging system would be the searching part and to keep it elegant so it doesn't turn into sprawl.

[eronel]

How about a variation on DA's concept of carrying "to work" and "to home" folders in your briefcase. It would still require extra work, but it might be more congruent with how you work.

Put a folder/project in your work folder that is called something like "support home projects" and vice versa in your home folder. Then you can put the task you need to do at work in that folder. You would probably also want to put a place holder task in the actual home project, maybe with a waiting for context, something like "Waiting for me to do X at work."

[SpiralOcean]

Hmm... I like the idea Lenore... it's a good one.

But just reading your idea, gave birth to another one in my head.

Why not just have two seperate OF files... one that just stays at work and one that stays at home? I guess it causes a little seperation... and maybe that is good.

But there are some overlaps... errands... calls... both of those I'll do in the car or if I am waiting for someone. And it doesn't fix my problem of having home actions from a work project. I would email the actions to home or work.

And my weekly review I do at home for both home & work.

Back to your suggestion... I think that is probably the best workaround for now. The only problem is I'll need two actions... on in my 'home actions at work' project
and the other in my home project that is a waiting for the home action at work item to be completed.

It's probably what I will do unless better solution presents itself.

Thank you for your assistance!

[anna]

Yes... I was doing that as well. Especially in the Life Balance days, because that was the only way.

But then I have duplicates for all my contexts:

email-work
email-home
errands


I avoid duplicates by having @Email context and Home/Work folders. Is this what you are doing? I have an @Office and @Home context as well.

I don't always stay focused on the "Work" folder at work. This gives me a chance to see the tasks that are really Home projects, but need to be done at work. Perhaps you could have a few minutes at the start of the day without focusing? Or just briefly take off focusing and go to the @Office context (or @Home when at home) to check for tasks for the other role?

[SpiralOcean]

A kindred spirit! Yes anna, this is how I am operating.

Let's explore your idea of not focusing for a couple min when i first get to work.

I would probably need a context... maybe two contexts... on that says:
actions from home for work
actions from work for home
so I could quickly go to those contexts before focusing.

So when I get to work, the first thing I would do is check my
actions from home for work context... without focusing
see if there was anything that needed to be done at work.
Then focus on my work folder...

this would work, there are a couple annoyances with this system.

It breaks the philosophy of contexts. Contexts for me are usually, tools places or people that are available to me at this moment.

For instance, if I have a phone nearby, I can look at my calls context to process items in the calls.
If I have a computer nearby, I can look at my computer context to process items in the computer context.

When I would look at my
items from home for work context,
I may not be ready to act on the action item.
Let's say my action item is,
speak with accountant about getting paid for extra project

She doesn't come in until later. So I would need to create an action in a specific work project with an agenda context for speaking with her.

I'm leaning more toward having a work project called,
items from home for work
and placing actions into that project, with the context it needs.
In my home project, creating an action called...
waiting to talk to accountant at work

It's a little bit of duplication, but at least I have an action item at work in a work project, that has a more appropriate context.

Excellent suggestion! Thank you.

[steve]

I do the following:

I have a work folder and a home folder.
I have a @computer @call @email @office @home, etc.

When I am at home, I focus on the home folder. I then only see the @computer, @call NA's that apply to my personal life. However, if I don't focus on the home folder, I see all of my work next actions that I can do at home because I have a computer, phone, etc.

I don't know if I'm getting what you were looking for, but that's my set-up.

Good luck.

[SpiralOcean]

Thanks for joining in Steve.

It sounds like we do the same thing... with the exception that if I leave OF unfocused, I have way too many actions.

For example:
in my computer context, when I focus on the home folder, I only see actions in the computer context in my home folder.

when I focus on the work folder, I only ee actions in the computer context in my work folder.

For me to unfocus and see both work and home actions in my computer context is overload.

I need to keep home and work separate, thus the focusing.

The problem I have is when a project overlaps work and home.

[steve]

Do you use flags for other things? I wonder if flags could represent your cross-over items.

[SpiralOcean]

I am not using them now, but would like to begin using them again. When I tried before, I couldn't filter by flags.

So your suggestion is...
for items that need to be done at work from home
or home from work...

flag them...

then at the beginning of the day, unfocus and filter on the flagged items to see what needs to be done.

This is a good idea. However, the problem with it is the same as my post to Anna.
http://forums.omnigroup.com/showpost.php?p=24398&postcount=7
It breaks the contexts.

Unless... everytime I go to a context, I unfocus and filter on the flags to see if there are any flagged items in that context. The focus again on my work actions.

yeech... that's a lot of work.

[smew]

Why not have a "Personal at work" context and create a perspective that looks at that, unfocused? You just have to remember to check it every day.

Personally, I use the double context solution for home and work solutions, and keep this Personal at work context in the perspective I use for work.

[SpiralOcean]

Nice idea! I've tinkered around with perspectives, but haven't gotten into the habit of using them.

This would work... but to me doesn't seem that different from Anna's post.

The goal of the context is...
I look at the tools available around me (phone, computer)
I choose the context that I want to work on (computer)
I use the computer to complete the actions in that context.

Having a context that does not follow the philosophy of a tool or place where I can do something, breaks the system. The context becomes another inbox. Only I can't move the action to it's appropriate context (agendas, calls, etc).
It just sits in the mush context, and hopefully, when I am around that person, or am making calls, i remember that there is an action in that mush context that I need to do.

The purpose of contexts is to filter all the things you have to do... down to... the things you actually CAN do at this moment.

Do I have a phone with me? Well then what calls do I need to make.
If I am not around a phone, I know I don't need to look at that context.

[SpiralOcean]

Here is a real world example:

• Complete Savage Screen test (home project)
••Burn copies of DVD for Dominic & Kim (home computer)
••Place copies of DVD for Dominic & Kim in Inboxes (work today important)

Because this project is at home, I only see the actions when I am at home.
I cannot put the second action into the work folder... I can assign it a context.
As soon as I focus on work, I loose the action.

I think the best solution at this point, is to have a context called
work actions from home

Then when I get to work in the morning, stay unfocused... look at items in that category, and complete them, then focus on work.

Thanks for everyones suggestions.