Advice on project task that take more than 1 day to complete
 

Hi Everyone

I am new to OmniFocus, I currently have a ipad and iphone version and I have some queries .

I capture one of the following snapshot:

Example:

Customers ---> Folder (all customers projects in work goes here)
Cust 1 ---> Project
Do report for cust 1 ---> Action 1
Research on issue for cust 1 ---> Action 2

Today, I want to do report for cust 1, so I flag this action, but as this is a long report, i can only complete it in 3-4 days.

I am thinking of the following:

I flag this task at the start of the day and I dun mark it as complete at the end of day 1, Than when tomorrow comes, I flag the task again and continue my report . This goes on until I complete the report and I mark it as complete.

I would like to hear advice from anyone who have some advice and note to share. Thanks:)

Welcome to the forums! I don't think you need to re-flag the item every day, but that's basically how I handle multi-day tasks that are important. Flag them, then leave them on my to-do list until I finish them, checking them off at that point...

Another approach is to put in a repeating task like "Work 2 hours on report for XYZ" set to repeat each day, due each day, optionally with an additional task that marks the end when the big task must be done. Otherwise, it can be easy to let the multi-day task slip in favor of the stuff that seems more pressing today, and find yourself at the due date for the multi-day task with more than a day's work to do and less than a day's time in which to do it! I like to break big tasks down into more digestible chunks — easier to start working on something smaller, and more chances to reward myself for completing something!

[QUOTE=whpalmer4;99513]Another approach is to put in a repeating task like "Work 2 hours on report for XYZ" set to repeat each day, due each day, optionally with an additional task that marks the end when the big task must be done. Otherwise, it can be easy to let the multi-day task slip in favor of the stuff that seems more pressing today, and find yourself at the due date for the multi-day task with more than a day's work to do and less than a day's time in which to do it! I like to break big tasks down into more digestible chunks — easier to start working on something smaller, and more chances to reward myself for completing something![/QUOTE]

You are right, I do hit into a issue where I am near the due date and more than what i can handle.

Ok, your idea is to set the "multi day task" to start at let say 8am -10am and repeat each day. I get this but when you say

"optionally with an additional task that marks the end when the big task must be done."/. What do you mean by this? Can you help to illustrate. :) Thanks

Oh, I just meant I would have another task with a due date that is the actual due date for that "big task" to signal that it really needs to be completed.

So, writing a big report, I might have:

"Work 2 hours on report for XYZ" @Office <starting today> <due today> <repeat every day>

and
"Report for XYZ must be complete" @Office due <whenever the report is due>