OmniFocus 2 – Multiple Contexts or Tags…? [A: Not in the foreseeable future.]
 

I guess almost everybody under the sun is expecting the implementation of multiple contexts or some tagging system

Anyway i did a quick search and read that that doesn't seem to be coming with OF 2

Is that right?

I also read someone is still suggesting HIGHLY UNPRACTICAL workarounds like nested contexts and manually adding tags to tasks…
I'd like to know this nightmare will soon come to an end… please give me some hope

–

Footnote: i love OF, but as it's deeply rooted on a calendar workflow – the due on specific date kind of stuff, while my task are of the 'urgent', 'soon', 'next' nature – i'm using contexts to work that out and my poor single-context-for-a-task is already gone bye bye
Just another example of the limitations of single contexts…

No more than a face lift?
 

Well, maybe there is a workflow change as well, but yes, I have not found any mention of any sort of possibility to integrate other dimensions into the action selection criteria.

I'd love to see tags, much more than any sort of redesign. If people are so fond of the iPad workflow, why not use that instead of wasting everybodies time with a redesign of the app on the Mac?

[QUOTE=effective;119983]I guess almost everybody under the sun is expecting the implementation of multiple contexts or some tagging system
[/quote]
Why do you think that? There are more sources than ever of in-depth advice on how to use OmniFocus, and I can't recall any of them wishing for multiple context or tagging, or encouraging their readers to lobby Omni for the same. The fact that Omni isn't giving it to us suggests strongly that in the grand scheme of things, not many people are requesting those features relative to other desired features.
[quote]
Anyway i did a quick search and read that that doesn't seem to be coming with OF 2

Is that right?
[/quote]

OF 2 has been presented as a leveling of the feature set and new look and feel. None of the platforms have tagging or multiple contexts. Also, to maintain sync compatibility with the existing iOS apps, no changes are being made to the data model, and changes would be necessary to implement those features.

[quote]
I also read someone is still suggesting HIGHLY UNPRACTICAL workarounds like nested contexts and manually adding tags to tasks…
I'd like to know this nightmare will soon come to an end… please give me some hope
[/quote]


Highly impractical, yet proven :)

Look, people at Omni use the tool to manage substantial workloads in the same ways that you reject as impractical. Lowest resistance results are often obtained when using tools in the fashion their designers envisioned. Square pegs and round holes, you know.

Retooling the UI and data model on all three apps to support the mythical metadata column is no trivial task. Judging from the statement of goals for 2013 on the Omni blog, and the pace of Omni development work in the many years I've been a customer, there is almost no chance you'll be using such features in OmniFocus in 2013.

[quote]

Footnote: i love OF, but as it's deeply rooted on a calendar workflow – the due on specific date kind of stuff, while my task are of the 'urgent', 'soon', 'next' nature – i'm using contexts to work that out and my poor single-context-for-a-task is already gone bye bye
Just another example of the limitations of single contexts…[/QUOTE]

What is it exactly that you love about OmniFocus, if your preferred working style is as incompatible as you assert? It would be a mistake, btw, to allege that those of us who comfortably manage using OmniFocus in the ways you reject do not have substantial burdens of tasks that would be characterized in the same way. The GTD system that inspired OmniFocus does not require use of a calendar. The calendar-based functionality is present to support those tasks which are calendar-based.

Tags would be a nice and interesting feature to have but Omnigroup had to prioritize feature sets.

I am guessing that adding tags would fundamentally change the underlying data structure and require an additional three to six months (or more) to put this into place. Omnigroup would also have to rejigger the iPad and iPhone version to support this. So would you want to wait even longer than we already have to get tags?

I also think that we have to be careful of what we ask for. Tags seems like the new bright, shiny object that everyone wants to see. It might be a nice feature to have but we may not really use it once we do get it. It reminds me of the time when my daughter asks me for a toy that she really must have or the world must end. So I finally break down after several weeks of pestering and buy it. She gives me a big hug, promises to diligently do her homework and chores (ha!) and goes off to play with it. After a couple of days, all the marbles are gone and she no longer likes the toy..... Bright, shiny object indeed.


I think that suggesting that nested contexts is HIGHLY UNPRACTICAL is just a sign of resistance to change and attempting to learn a new workflow. Learning how to use nested tags was a little rough at first but now it has become second nature to me. I don't even think about it anymore.

One of the goals of OmniFocus 2 was to maintain database format compatibility with the existing iOS products. We didn't want folks to have to update up to three apps at the same time.

OmniFocus 2.0 will include plenty of features new to the Mac version, but not ones that would require a new database format. Multiple contexts or tags fall into that category. Hope that makes things more understandable.

In case it helps, here's [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=25901"]a thread [/URL] from late last year which covers our current thinking with respect to the features being discussed here.

thank you guys for helping me understand a little better the issue with multiple contexts and/or tags

thanks brian for those links, they really shed some light

i'll give another try to what's already built into OF and see if there's a way to work things out
(maybe it's just not so self evident as a tagging system would be, and maybe i'll even find out i don't need tags…)

i can see how tags may put a simple system into complex chaos
anyway, definitely looking forward to that increment of flexibility you're going to implement into OF

I'm very disappointed to see Omni pass on the chance to make OmniFocus more flexible for people for whom a single context is problematic. I'd have been happy to upgrade all my apps to accommodate tags or something similar. I guess I'll stick with Things despite its other failings.

I've never seen anyone accuse OmniFocus of being a "simple system". It's certainly [I]possible[/I] to run it as complex chaos as it is right now.

The debate that won't end.

Multiple Contexts = Noise and confusion

Leave it alone.

BZ

One man's noise is another man's music.

[QUOTE=Andrew Scott;120052]One man's noise is another man's music.[/QUOTE]

I like noisy music but I don't want tags ;)

OF2 looks great by the way, can't wait to play with the forecast view on the Mac.

Every time I login to my pinboard account I am immediately reminded why I don't want or need a tagging system in OmniFocus and that Tags are Wrong™

e.g. these are the tags assigned to an item more than 10 times, imagine how many there are when I go to 5, 2, or 1?

Any time someone thinks they need tags, there is probably a way to single-context that makes more sense and doesn't have the kinks that tags bring.

ok, let's assume that Tags are Wrong™, what about a basic Contextualization of Contexts™?

something like having 3/4 default Single-Context Families: a Generic Context (for tools and whatever…), a Person Context and a Location Context?
(also a Mood Context, if you feel like seriously going for it)

that may sound crazy to purists, but could be a sort of middle way between the strict single context and the chaos of tags

Instead of multiple contexts, I would suggest less contexts.

The tool, in this case, isn't broken it is the users who need tag things up and down the street to feel productive.

Multiple contexts would just create more cruft and barriers to entering data, as you would have to choose one of many things and spend more time entering a future task than doing it.

If you can do a task in more than one place, great... create a Perspective so you can see both tasks. If you are breaking things down too granular, try easing up on yourself and not use contexts for a week. Your work will still get done. Trust me.

After the week, come back and blow away half the contexts you have, rename a few and move on with your life.

BZ

Multiple contexts can lend itself easily to abuse and over-engineering.

IMHO, I think assigning too many contexts to a task will lead to more confusion.

Imagine having a multiple context OmniFocus. If I have a task for "Ask wife about Subject A", I could assign the following contexts:

@Home
@Wife
@Phone

If I go to my context perspectives, this task will appear three times. Once under @Home because I usually see my wife at home. It will also appear under @Wife. And then it appears yet again under @Phone. My scrolling list just got longer!

Under the current OmniFocus single context setup, I would just assign the @Wife context and be done with it. I know I can just look at my @Wife perspective and either decide to call her, text her, phone her, e-mail her, or instant message her. It doesn't bother me that it's not in the @Phone or @Home. Or heck, I could over-engineer and add on

@Facebook
@e-mail
@online
@texting

If I really want to talk to my wife, I don't necessarily have to assign the contexts @Phone or @Home. I can just look at @Wife and know that I have multiple tools (contexts) to get in touch with her.

The simpler your context setup is, the easier it is to handle. Unless there is something that Things users can do with multiple contexts that I can't quite grasp?

But it seems that there are quite a few Things users that keep coming over to the OmniFocus side because of all of Things' other shortcomings.

Hm, one use I had for multiple tags in Things (when I was still using Things) was for daily tasks that I could do either at home or at work, like "do a stretching exercise".

The way I do it in OF:
* have a context @home, @work and @anywhere
* have a perspective ToDo@work and a perspective ToDo@home, with the contexts @work and @anywhere showing up in the first, and the contexts @home and @anywhere showing up in the second.
I don't have a lot of other contexts (@WF, @errands, @Husband, that's about it), so this works to split my list into stuff that I want to see at work and stuff that I want to see at home.

In Things I would use only 2 tags: @home and @work, and stuff that I wanted to have showing in both contexts I would tag with both tags. Worked fine for me.

In addition, I would have tags like #Today, #Thisweek, #Thismonth, etc, but this never worked out exactly as I intended. It worked for a few days, but then I would start to feel overwhelmed and think up another tagging scheme to indicate priority levels. With OF, I'm forced to have only priority level: flagged or unflagged, which better corresponds to effective working habits: you do a task or you don't. :-).

So yes, having multiple tags (or contexts) seems like a nice option, but I'm doing perfectly fine without them.

Things has some good features and appeal, but the biggest thing that OmniFocus just destroys it on is that while Things will show you what needs to be done, OmniFocus can show you what you CAN do.

Something like a stretching exercise I'd put in my @me context, personally. All I need is myself to do stretches, at least the kinds of stretches I'll ever do!

I have an Anywhere context for tasks that can be done anywhere. Stretching would go in there, for me.

Closing this thread (and similar ones in the other OmniFocus forums) in favor of [URL="http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=28176"]the consolidated thread for this topic[/URL].