FR: Tasks repeat/recur on work week schedule
 

Feature request: allow tasks to repeat every workday, rather than every day.

I have daily repeating tasks that must be done in the office, and it's a bit of a hassle to come in on Monday and modify the start/due dates to show that they're not actually overdue. (I could also mark them complete and watch them reproduce -- but that's not entirely accurate.)

Please submit this via the Feedback... option in OF as well. They're taking votes on this feature (and I'd like to see it too!).

That is a good one.

BZ

This is something I struggle with, and though I think it would a great option for people to have, I don't think I would end up using it.

I'm not a fundie David Allenite, but isn't this a "hard landscape" issue? I mean to say, isn't a daily/weekly/monthly routine checklists that are do-or-die "brush your teeth" tasks in a strict cycle just more useful outside of your weekly reviewed task list, far away from the choices we're forced to make about how to use our time?

I'm an extremely disorganized person with a nearly infinitely flexible schedule, and I'm struggling to be a more efficient worker and taking GTD one step at a time. I found that when I moved my routine into the "sacred territory" where it belonged, my efficiency increased because required things (like "process inbox") no longer appeared in my optional list.

Again, I think this would be a great option for people who want it, and it's clearly a style question (i.e. people who want a do-it-all task manager). I guess my question is, for your maximum efficiency, what shouldn't go in OF?

[QUOTE]isn't this a "hard landscape" issue? I mean to say, isn't a daily/weekly/monthly routine checklists that are do-or-die "brush your teeth" tasks in a strict cycle just more useful outside of your weekly reviewed task list, far away from the choices we're forced to make about how to use our time?[/QUOTE]

I see what you are saying and, for me, there are some of these repeating things that I have turned into "routines" or scheduled hard landscape pieces. At the same time I have other things that need to come up repeatedly that are better suited to a GTD action or project because just exactly when I do them is not that important. Honestly, right now, what I'm wishing for with most of these is a custom repeating feature like iCal has but for others I'm sure work week would be the same idea.

For instance, I have to prepare for a meeting that occurs on the 4th wed of every month and it is too soon to prepare more than a couple days ahead so on the 4th monday of every month I want to create a project with all the actions in it. I know I will do them before Wed afternoon but they can be done Monday or Tues or Wed morning so they are not truly hard landscape.
I like my hard landscape to mostly contain appointments with specific start and stop times so also I might use this if I needed to do it every work day but at no particular time and not as a part of a routine.

I really really hope they add the custom repeat functionality though

Cheers,
Shanana

[QUOTE=djbell;20608]This is something I struggle with, and though I think it would a great option for people to have, I don't think I would end up using it.

I'm not a fundie David Allenite, but isn't this a "hard landscape" issue? I mean to say, isn't a daily/weekly/monthly routine checklists that are do-or-die "brush your teeth" tasks in a strict cycle just more useful outside of your weekly reviewed task list, far away from the choices we're forced to make about how to use our time?

I'm an extremely disorganized person with a nearly infinitely flexible schedule, and I'm struggling to be a more efficient worker and taking GTD one step at a time. I found that when I moved my routine into the "sacred territory" where it belonged, my efficiency increased because required things (like "process inbox") no longer appeared in my optional list.

Again, I think this would be a great option for people who want it, and it's clearly a style question (i.e. people who want a do-it-all task manager). I guess my question is, for your maximum efficiency, what shouldn't go in OF?[/QUOTE]

I keep these types of checklists in OF in a separate folder. I used to keep them on a calendar in iCal, but it was just too cluttered, and everything got lost.

I also use time-related contexts: for example, "Daily", "Monday", "Tuesday", etc., "Monthly," "Quarterly," "Periodically," "End of FY," etc. If it is a Wednesday, I can look at my "Wednesday" context for the routine items that need to get done that day. That way I can schedule the weekly routine *stuff* over the course of a week.

Of course, syncing with iCal (and through iCal to other devices) is a problem since we cannot specify (yet???) what to sync, and I don't want these items in iCal. I solve that by not syncing. I understand that others really don't have that option. They need to use iCal to sync to a Palm or something else.

As for daily repeating items limited to work week days, I think that is a issue for many people. I like the way iCal handles it and would like to see that functionality in OF. That way the user could set the repeat to any combination of days, not just week days.

In the meantime, if I wanted to use the repeating feature, I would work around the missing functionality by listing the same action five times, set the assigned date of each to a different weekday, and then have each occurrence repeat weekly from the assigned date.

I don't use the repeat function for "Daily" or "Weekly" items because I rarely take the time to check off those items. I do use it for "Monthly" and "Yearly" items.

Any chance to get it implemented in OF?