Someday/Maybe/On Hold

[lanthano]

I am new to both omnifocus and GTD, so I hope you will help me clear this up. Where should "some day/maybe"-projects go? Should they be put in a context, a folder, a bucket, a project?

[Craig]

I think there are various schools of thought on this - there's no one hardwired way to do this.

I keep mine as projects within areas-of-responsbility folders that are themselves within a Someday/Maybe folder that is set (via contextual menu) as not active. That keeps the whole shebang hidden unless I'm viewing All Projects.

[curt.clifton]

I currently keep my "someday soon" items in OmniFocus as regular projects that are marked "On Hold" (by right-clicking in the sidebar or using the inspector). My longer term someday/maybe items I keep in a separate OmniOutliner document. Having my more far out ideas outside of OF seems to give me permission to dream a bit more.

[lanthano]

Thank you Curt. This works well. As I understand you, for you "status: on hold" is synonymous with someday/maybe, right?

[lanthano]

Thank you Craig. It works. It took me a little while to find how to make folders inactive, but now I found it (ctrl-click on the folder).

[curt.clifton]

Thank you Curt. This works well. As I understand you, for you "status: on hold" is synonymous with someday/maybe, right?

Mostly. On hold for me is for the someday/maybe items that I am committed to sufficiently so that I've started doing some planning on them.

[Ralph]

What would be the right way to deal with the 'someday/maybe' category of GTD?
Things from the inbox go there to be done at some point, but not right now. For example 'learning Spanish'.

I could set the status of such a project to 'hold'. But that rather means that the project is waiting for an external event to continue. (The GTD category: 'Waiting for')

Does OmniFocus offer a clever way of dealing with this case?

[Craig]

http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=6359

[johnsdr]

Is Someday/Maybe a context of a Project?

[jackl73]

I use this as both a Project and also as a Context.

It works for me.

[kailas]

I would like to do exactly what Craig is doing, but if I use the contextual menu for a folder in the left pane with Projects selected, the check next to "Active" is there, but there is no way to toggle it off. All I see is "Active...Dropped...Focus... Open" and a few others, but there is no "On Hold" Option... actually I would just like the set to "InActive" because, as was mentioned by some else here. "On Hold" implies that it is active but just deferred for some reason.


I think there are various schools of thought on this - there's no one hardwired way to do this.

I keep mine as projects within areas-of-responsbility folders that are themselves within a Someday/Maybe folder that is set (via contextual menu) as not active. That keeps the whole shebang hidden unless I'm viewing All Projects.

[curt.clifton]

There's no "inactive" setting for folders. You have to set them to "Dropped". Elsewhere on the forums we've discussed whether inactive would be a better term, since dropped connotes something stronger than inactive. All in all though, the behavior is the same as "inactive", regardless of the term used.

[kailas]

Hmmm. "Dropped" may work, but sad that it's so counter-intuitive to the principle of GTD "Someday/Maybe" which is meant precisely to include creative ideas that you do *not* intend to drop.

If I decide, that really, in this life I probably will never learn to speak Zulu, and postpone that for my next birth in Africa, I would truly drop the idea and not keep it in "someday/maybe" tickler context.

I'll give it more thought. I really don't want to keep going back to OF and seeing "dropped" when, sub-consciously, that's just wrong. Even "Hold" would make some sort of reasonable sense, but is not available for folders.

[rebunkerjr]

I use a concept that is similar to the Single-Action List. I use a Someday / Maybe List. Honestly, I can't remember if I created it or if it was already there in the base OF product. I use a Someday / Maybe context as well and I know I had to create one or the other of either the list or the context ;))

As you know the Single-Action List is technically a project and is organized under the Planning Mode. For me, it's no more than a bucket for collecting all of those annoying little single actions that don't belong to a "project" per se.

Similarly, in Planning Mode, I created (or it was already there) a "Project" called "Someday / Maybe List" which is my bucket for collecting all of the someday/maybe projects that I'd like to accomplish. Similar to the Single-Action List project, I used the inspector to set Type:Single Actions and Staus: Hold.

I realize that (for the GTD purists among us) the notion of classifying my Someday / Maybe List as "single actions" is not technically correct since by definition a project requires more than one action to complete. However, my Someday Maybe List is populated with items that my intuition tells me will be "projects" and not "single actions". And besides, I like that funky little blue shoebox icon ;)

Once I get to the point where I'm ready to commit to a project on my Someday / Maybe List, I simply drag it out of the Someday / Maybe List and make it a full fledged project.

[whpalmer4]

Your single action list doesn't have to be restricted to single items, either. You can make action groups if you decide that you want to flesh out one of those "someday/maybe" items a bit, yet haven't committed to making it a project. Then when you drag it out (or simply outdent it with cmd-[) it will turn into a project with the actions from the action group as the components.

[kailas]

Great minds think alike :-)

BunkerJr: I ended up doing almost exactly as you describe. I created a single actions project/list called "Miscellaneous" and another one named "Someday/Maybe" the latter is set to "On Hold" and Palmer's note about using indents for action groups is just the little piece of the puzzle I needed.

Thanks!

[henri]

A convenient way to address this would be a start date of "someday" (abbr: som). That "date" would be later than any real date and also later than no date. It would not require any redesign of the interface, it could be applied to both tasks and projects, and it is pretty close to how many of us think of that category.

[rebunkerjr]

Your single action list doesn't have to be restricted to single items, either. You can make action groups if you decide that you want to flesh out one of those "someday/maybe" items a bit, yet haven't committed to making it a project. Then when you drag it out (or simply outdent it with cmd-[) it will turn into a project with the actions from the action group as the components.

Thanks! I never considered the Action Group idea - not sure I even knew there was such a concept ;)

This is a helpful suggestion!

[bnbarry34]

this is interesting. I'm going to add "someday soon" to my list after reading this.

Currently i have the "someday maybe" as a project. and the context that i apply to them is relevant to the "areas of focus" like below:

item / context (areas of focus)

learn to play the guitar / hobbies
go back to school / personal development
travel to new york / wife
open roth IRA / personal finance
start college fund / kids

HTH

[HappyDude]

I think there are various schools of thought on this - there's no one hardwired way to do this.

I keep mine as projects within areas-of-responsbility folders that are themselves within a Someday/Maybe folder that is set (via contextual menu) as not active. That keeps the whole shebang hidden unless I'm viewing All Projects.

I started out with pen and paper, you know, outside the computer..so I have a someday/maybe bamboo magazine file folder thing where I have notes of things I'd like to someday tackle. When its time to see them in my weekly review I just read through them to remind me of what I want to accomplish and if i'm ready for one, type it in OF.

If an idea from somday/maybe is close to becoming a reality i'll create a project for it and put it on hold. Then when I'm set and ready it'll be active.

Edit: I quoted you cause I def. agree there is no one set way of doing this, nor any aspect of GTD. That's the great thing, everyone tweaks their OF to their likings.

[Robbie1702]

Hi there,

I've been using OmniFocus for a while now, but I still haven't found a perfect solution for Actions that are "Someday/Maybe"

The suggestions in this thread seem like interesting workarounds, but it is cumbersome and 'wrong' to have to change the context of a project/action, create special someday maybe contexts or create an unorganised single-action list. There ought to be a specific function in OmniFocus to quickly address an action/project one would love to pursue, but not right now...

Although the suggestion of typing in "som" into duration sounded interesting, why not just add a little status button the the actions/projects on the left hand side, like the "On Hold" status. As a symbol you could simply use a question mark. This way one can quickly right-click tick/untick an action/project to someday/maybe without much hassle and losing folder structure.

I hope this feature comes soon, cause OmniFocus is the best GTD software out there... it just needs a little extra =)

[Toadling]

There ought to be a specific function in OmniFocus to quickly address an action/project one would love to pursue, but not right now...

That's exactly what the "on hold" status is for. Doesn't that do what you want?

Any project I'm not yet committed to or don't want to deal with right now, I simply place on hold. I then adjust their review interval appropriately so I see them in my daily/weekly reviews and can decide if they're read to be made active again.

To me, this seems like an ideal solution for someday/maybe items. Items can be kept anywhere in your library, in any folder (i.e. they're not confined to some arbitrary container). They can be easily kept out of the way and out of sight in your every day working views. And it's easy to change the "on hold" status with a simple right-click.

-Dennis

[whpalmer4]

Dennis, I'm going to guess from the rest of the posting (and an associated one in another thread) that what is really desired is a means of putting actions, not projects, into the someday/maybe category. I don't understand the point of someday/maybe actions except as a way of cataloging specific instances of a class of things you might want to do (books to read, restaurants to try, etc.) and a single action list seems like a bespoke container for such items. In my view, if you put something in a project, that's a commitment to do it, unless you decide to scrap or postpone the whole project. If you're associating an action with a project, it isn't a someday/maybe item. A rereading of Getting Things Done's pages on the topic seems to suggest DA also sees projects as the natural unit on the someday/maybe list.

[HappyDude]

Hi there,

I've been using OmniFocus for a while now, but I still haven't found a perfect solution for Actions that are "Someday/Maybe"

The suggestions in this thread seem like interesting workarounds, but it is cumbersome and 'wrong' to have to change the context of a project/action, create special someday maybe contexts or create an unorganised single-action list. There ought to be a specific function in OmniFocus to quickly address an action/project one would love to pursue, but not right now...

Yeah I guess its that little extra. Not too much of a big deal for me, personally. I guess instead of keeping all my someday/maybe thoughts and projects in a bamboo filer i'd be able to write it down in OF, say a project on hold with no start date and have it in a specified folder titled Someday/Maybe where I only look at it during my Weekly Review. I know some people that do this all in OF, but i still like to work a small bit outside of my computer. There are times when my heaviest context is my Macbook and its nice to do things that have nothing to do with a computer sometimes.

That's exactly what the "on hold" status is for. Doesn't that do what you want?

Any project I'm not yet committed to or don't want to deal with right now, I simply place on hold. I then adjust their review interval appropriately so I see them in my daily/weekly reviews and can decide if they're read to be made active again.

To me, this seems like an ideal solution for someday/maybe items. Items can be kept anywhere in your library, in any folder (i.e. they're not confined to some arbitrary container). They can be easily kept out of the way and out of sight in your every day working views. And it's easy to change the "on hold" status with a simple right-click.

-Dennis


Hey look, exactly.

:]

[Toadling]

Dennis, I'm going to guess from the rest of the posting (and an associated one in another thread) that what is really desired is a means of putting actions, not projects, into the someday/maybe category.

Ah, I see. I agree with you. My someday/maybe items usually start out as single-action ideas (e.g. "Investigate solar panels" or "Visit St. Lucia") that I put in one of several "on hold" SALs (I have one for each of my area of interest/responsibility folders).

Eventually, I come across the item again in a review and might decide to begin actively working on it. So I might promote the item to a project, possibly change the title a bit, and add an action or two.

As time goes by, I may lose interest, or hit a temporary dead end, or change my priorities, so I place the project on hold. Presumably, someday I'll see it in another review and decide to act on it again, drop it, or just leave it "on hold" for the future.

This has worked extremely well for me. However, Omni has stated that they've "commonized" the state model for all database items in OmniFocus 2.0. So individual actions will be drop-able and can be put on hold. Perhaps that would satisfy the OP.

-Dennis

[Robbie1702]

Dennis,

I guess your "On hold" solution for Someday/Maybe's could work, once single actions, not only entire projects, can be put on hold in v2.0. Although I do still believe there is a nuance between someday/maybe projects and ones that are "on hold" (one is a project I choose not to do right now, and the other has been stalled and put "on hold" due to external circumstances).

Please check out what I wrote on this thread about "waiting":

http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?p=62513#post62513

Do you not agree with me, that changing context is cumbersome and in a sense 'wrong' from a GTD point of view, and that placing a marker (like the "on hold") for waiting would make more sense? How do you currently solve this problem - when you have done your part in an action and are waiting for someone else to do their part?

Simply put: Could you please (if it is not too much work) tell me your entire strategy for Someday/maybe's, on hold projects and waiting =)

This is so confusing : P I'd really appreciate if you could concisely lay out a good strategy for tackling these scenarios. Shame it is all so unclear in the manual, and that I need to fight my way through forums to use this software properly...

Thanks alot!

Robert

[dancingbrook]

I do still believe there is a nuance between someday/maybe projects and ones that are "on hold" (one is a project I choose not to do right now, and the other has been stalled and put "on hold" due to external circumstances).

I agree: Someday/Maybe is a dream; On Hold is a delay and/or possible cancellation.

I'd like to see both handled specifically in OF on all levels (Action, Group and Project, Folder). I might have a Someday/Maybe kitchen renovation project in my Home Improvement Folder, but the Replace Windows Project is just on hold until fall, though I'll want to plan it in detail now.

[Toadling]

I'd like to see both handled specifically in OF on all levels (Action, Group and Project, Folder). I might have a Someday/Maybe kitchen renovation project in my Home Improvement Folder, but the Replace Windows Project is just on hold until fall, though I'll want to plan it in detail now.

While I recognize the conceptual difference, the practical difference is not so clear to me. How would the app treat "paused" items differently than "someday/maybe" items? I see the purpose of the "On Hold" state as a means of removing/hiding items from my everyday working view. Doesn't that work for both "paused" and "someday/maybe" stuff?

And if the goal is to just allow for the filtering of "paused" from "someday/maybe" items, perhaps the upcoming metadata column is a suitable solution to make the conceptual distinction in your system.

It's not that I'm really against distinguishing "paused" from "someday/maybe" items, but rather that I'm wary of seeing the state model get too complex, with only small, esoteric differences between individual states.

-Dennis

[dancingbrook]

Oh I'd just set up a folder or folder with in a folder for Someday/Maybe, but there is some utility for having other options as not everyone works or thinks like me. Just because it's there doesn't mean you have to use it. For me the S/Ms might just be another icon like the Single Actions box. Actually that would be a better use of that box icon. Why are single actions in a box while other actions are in folders? Why not a folder with "1s" on it?

[Lucas]

I think that having another status or folder for so-called "someday/maybe" items reads too much into the words "on hold." There is nothing that stops you from having more than one context or project or both that makes actions unavailable in the system. Rename one of them "someday/maybe" and the other "on hold." Does the fact that the same functional status is selected in the inspector matter, since it functionally does the exact same thing, or do there really have to be two statuses with the exact same function but different names?

[HappyDude]

Personally, I agree with what Lucas just mentioned.

About if it really matters having a different name titled "someday/maybe" kinda stuff when the "on hold" feature really does the exact same thing.
It seems for some people its just the mindset of knowing their "Someday/Maybes" are in a special folder with those items on hold. All this is just a mentallity with future projects, to distinguish (mentally) between things that are currently on hold and seperating them from things that you would perhaps, maybe, someday want to tackle.

& as mentioned by DancingBrook, I believe the feature of single action items that are placed in the "miscellaneous" bucket is a nice touch in OF that many of us had found not only practical after use, but also something we just can't without.

So, why not just create something similar for Someday/Maybes in OF? I know OF isn't supposed to follow exactly "GTD" but many of us do know a small bit of the methodology or quite a lot.

As of right now I have all my somday/maybes in a bamboo magazine file folder in my room, with numerous notes stating things like, "Take an Ethics course" or "Go hiking in Africa." Admittedly, my only aspect of GTD that is not within OF is the "Somday/Maybe." On a personal level, I'll continue to keep this bamboo file folder as my Someday/Maybe but def. wouldn't mind switching to OF along these lines if there was something more "Somdday/Maybe" in OF itself, rather than having me create a folder and putting things on hold. I mean, yeah I can do it...but, you know?

[dancingbrook]

Does the fact that the same functional status is selected in the inspector matter, since it functionally does the exact same thing, or do there really have to be two statuses with the exact same function but different names?

I am going to try to see if I can make what I want to happen easily within the existing OF set up. I do think we disagree regarding how we see the "function" of On Hold (temporary for something started or intended to be started) vs "Someday/Maybe (essentially an idea that may or may not be started).

I don't like the idea of changing the status of a project to On Hold because of waiting for one action (what about other parallel actions that don't pop to the top of the next action list?), and I don't like changing the context of an action just because it is On Hold.

I'd like to see an On Hold option for everything, and an optional date for follow up (just as I might put it into one of 43 folders for future follow up. I doubt DA would suggest we put our On Holds into a Someday/Maybe folder/box. But then I'm not a DA/GTD expert either.

Well I know Omni prefers we place these suggestions into a Feedback email, I hope they are following these discussions as the evolutionary basis for suggestions is often far more complex than what would ever likely make it into a Feedback/Suggestions note, all that said knowing I am still learning.

[Toadling]

I'd like to see an On Hold option for everything...

Then you're in luck! The Omni folks are doing exactly (http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?p=59475#post59475) that (http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?p=61041#post61041) for OmniFocus v2.

...and an optional date for follow up...

That's really the purpose of the already existing review feature. You can read more about it in the manual (http://www.omnigroup.com/ftp/pub/software/MacOSX/Manuals/OmniFocus-1.5-Manual.pdf) and in this blog post from Linda (http://blog.omnigroup.com/2009/05/19/getting-active-with-omnifocus-reviewing/).

-Dennis

[dancingbrook]

That's really the purpose of the already existing review feature. You can read more about it in the manual (http://www.omnigroup.com/ftp/pub/software/MacOSX/Manuals/OmniFocus-1.5-Manual.pdf) and in this blog post from Linda (http://blog.omnigroup.com/2009/05/19/getting-active-with-omnifocus-reviewing/).

-Dennis

Thanks for the help. I look forward to 2.0. Is there a date announced yet (I know we are still waiting for 1.7)?

I hadn't got to the Review stage yet, but I see a review date for a project is in there, even when On Hold. I'm suggesting even an Action or a Group that is On Hold should get a review date, separate from a project review. Regardless of "On Hold", I might have a large group (ie a sub-project) that I might want to review more often than a bigger project review.

Edit:
So much to learn. I see Ken Case's suggestion for just shifting the due date for an Action or Group that's on hold. That makes a great deal of sense, as you don't need to change Context at all (perhaps the Manual/tutorial should reflect this, but too late with 2.0 on the way; they haven't even updated for 1.6). And it sounds like, along with On Hold being implemented for Actions, Folders and Projects (and I assume groups) review dates will get included, but I'm sending a feature request along just in case.

[Toadling]

I look forward to 2.0. Is there a date planned?

Not yet, at least nothing's been announced. Omni is still working on the v1.7 release, so I suspect v2 is still several months away.

I'm suggesting even an Action or a Group that is On Hold should get a review date, separate from a project review. Regardless of "On Hold", I might have a large group (ie a sub-project) that I might want to review more often than a bigger project review.

Yeah, I see what you mean. Right now, review dates are only on the project level. I've found that to be sufficient for my use, but I think others have asked for more granularity as well. You should send feedback directly to Omni; the more requests a feature receives, the more weight it carries when Omni decides what to work on next.

-Dennis

[dloranz]

A convenient way to address this would be a start date of "someday" (abbr: som). That "date" would be later than any real date and also later than no date. It would not require any redesign of the interface, it could be applied to both tasks and projects, and it is pretty close to how many of us think of that category.

I like this idea a lot. This would be really cool.