confused about @waiting (on hold) and someday/maybe
 

I really like the basic features of omnifocus i.e. the inbox, projects, and context. really helped me a lot.
i am just learning that as i delve deeper into gtd, i get lost very quickly in omnifocus.
Specifically, I don't get the way omnifocus handles @waiting. omnifocus wants me to put the item on hold? its not really on hold is it? @waiting is something i have to actively keep an eye on. on hold means to me its kind of dropped for the time being.
what i have done is make a project called @waiting and just dropping stuff where the ball is in someone elses court there. and i know to check it routinely to see whats going on and when i can move it somewhere else.
what are you guys doing?
i feel the same for someday/maybe.
i'd love to hear your processes and what you recommend.
thanks.

Waiting for and someday/maybe items need to be reviewed on a regular basis.

When I'm feeling anxious about this, it's a clear sign I need to do a weekly review.

- Don

waiting for ...
 

[QUOTE=jfocus;69424]
what i have done is make a project called @waiting and just dropping stuff where the ball is in someone elses court there. and i know to check it routinely to see whats going on and when i can move it somewhere else.[/QUOTE]

Tried this, but I'd MUCH rather the ability to mark something as "waiting" [I]in situ[/I]. I use OF with an Autofocus methodology, not GTD, and this issue is my single biggest gripe with the software.

Even when I was doing GTD, it made more sense to be able to mark an action as "waiting for" and leave it in my working list rather than moving it to a separate context.

I use the Waiting context for items in a project that I am waiting on for whatever reason. I leave the Waiting context On Hold like it comes out of the box. It becomes my Waiting For list.

As an example, If I have 3 things that I will do but I can't do them till something gets done that I am waiting for, I create an action group in the project and set it to sequential. The first action will be something like 'Bill to unplug the automatic blendifier' and I place that in the Waiting context. Then I place the three things I need to do after this one. This puts the whole mess on hold and off my lists till I mark the first action that I am waiting for complete. This is really handy for the stuff that you remember that you need to do when the project is complete. Make a 'Project to be complete' action assigned to the Waiting context.

I also use a Someday/Maybe single action list that is set to On Hold to capture single actions. I set my 'Someday' projects to On Hold. So if I set the Project Filter to On Hold then I get a list all of my 'Someday/Maybe' projects and actions. It's working pretty well for me so far.

Waiting For: The method I use is to leave actions I've delegated assigned to the context of the person they're delegated to. I then set a start date in the future; that gets the action off my Available list until it's time to check back on it.

I treat Someday/Maybe differently - those go into an on-hold context. I have a repeating action that reminds me review them periodically.

[QUOTE=Brian;69554]Waiting For: The method I use is to leave actions I've delegated assigned to the context of the person they're delegated to. I then set a start date in the future; that gets the action off my Available list until it's time to check back on it.[/QUOTE]

So you have a context for every person you're waiting on something for? Don't most people have at any moment a couple hundred people they could do business with and be waiting on? Also, how do you determine the start date you set?

My waiting for context is just a container for stuff i need to remember that should get back to me without me having to act on it at first; calls, invoices, maybe even bar ideas from other people (who had amazing plans, but not for me to start up..).. Whatever should not be on my scope of thoughts and is small in scale; works brilliant for me because i forget about it once i put it there. Putting dates on these things is a good idea.
Someday stuff is something different, it doesn't get back to me at it's own pace but i eventually have to do something about it on my own. More an idea/plan container really.

[QUOTE=joshdance;69777]So you have a context for every person you're waiting on something for? Don't most people have at any moment a couple hundred people they could do business with and be waiting on? Also, how do you determine the start date you set?[/QUOTE]

I only create contexts for folks I'm likely to have many actions relating to - coworkers, family members, close friends. If it's someone I only interact with occasionally, I just make sure the action includes their name in the title and assign it to whatever other context I think is appropriate - usually "Phone" or "Email".

The start date decision is something that gets decided on a case-by-case basis, depending on how I feel about the action in question.