Tracking an action through many dependencies?
 

Hi all -

This is another best practices question within the context of Omnifocus. I work in software architecture and development (you probably saw my post regarding setting up folders and project). My question here, though, is different. I get or generate a request for enhancement (RFE). That request then goes through a series of dependencies. For example, I have an engineering contact that generates an ID for the RFE. Then it gets prioritized and eventually to a developer. Then from the developer it goes into test, then eventually into production, where I can then close the RFE. I'll give a real world scenario:

I get an e-mail asking for "widget x" to be added to the front page of an application. I then request that the RFE be submitted to the engineering team via an e-mail to my contact. I then wait for the engineering contact to send me an e-mail back with the ID for the RFE. Now, I have an official RFE. Then I have to wait for it to be prioritized into a release. Once it's attached to a release, I have to wait for it to be developed. After it's developed, it goes into testing (wait for testing to completed), then after testing I wait for it to be deployed.

What is the best way to handle this? One way I could see would be to turn the original e-mail into an action using a clipping. Then simply changing the context and or the title of the action through each phase. Like:

"Create RFE to add Widget X to app" @email
(then I e-mail my engineering lead)
"Create RFE to add Wdiget X to app" @waiting:engineering lead
(I get an RFE ID back from engineering lead and I change the action name)
"RFE 123 - Add Widget X to app" @waiting:development
(Widget X is added to app in beta)
"RFE 123 - Add Widget X to app" @waiting:beta testing
(Widget X is added a app in production)
"RFE 123 - Add Widget X to app" <-- marked complete.

Basically this would just move the one action through many phases.

Another way would be to create new actions for each step.

"E-mail app lead to create RFE to add widget X to app" @email
(once e-mailed, it moves to @waiting:engineering lead)
(engineering lead sends me an ID for the RFE and I mark the action complete and create a new action)
"RFE 123 To be developed" @waiting:engineering

Etc...

What's the best way to manage this?

"There's no wrong way to eat a Reese's®"
Seriously, I think it's worth trying both ways and seeing which fits for you. If you go with the several separate actions approach, you might take a look at the template scripts that somebody (Curt Clifton maybe?) posted in the extras forum. They make it quick to set up a new project with the same basic set of actions as a previous one.

I agree with the "try it and see what you like" approach. I will point out that if it is important for you to have a continuing log of your actions and the dates on which they were completed, an approach that has you simply twiddling the context all the time for a single action might not be as convenient. That's not to say that it couldn't work at all; you could keep a date-stamped log in the notes section, but it wouldn't "fall out for free" as it does in the other case. Of course, in the other case you've got the extra actions to create if you aren't using some automation such as Curt's script. One of the things I consider when deciding how far down to factor a project is whether or not having a checklist to follow (ensuring I don't forget a step or do it out of order) will add value.

And to save a search, [URL="http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~clifton/software.html#PopTemp"]here's the link to my script[/URL].

Share and enjoy.