Thanks for sharing your ideas, Curt, but I'm still unclear on how the review action you're describing is different from creating a repeating action for "Review project X." Is this two ways to accomplish the same thing, or are there subtle benefits I'm missing in the Review characteristics? I tried setting some review cycles, but I don't remember how it affects the start date or due date.

[QUOTE=chuckbo;20063]Thanks for sharing your ideas, Curt, but I'm still unclear on how the review action you're describing is different from creating a repeating action for "Review project X." Is this two ways to accomplish the same thing, or are there subtle benefits I'm missing in the Review characteristics? I tried setting some review cycles, but I don't remember how it affects the start date or due date.[/QUOTE]

Review dates have no effect on start and due dates. Using review dates is effectively the same as creating a repeating action for "Review project X", but doesn't require you to create a separate action for each project to be reviewed. Given that I have around 100 projects, that's a godsend.

I must say that there's more to this application then first meets the eye.

And, I must confess this is the first time I've figured out what the reviews are for.

Now for the question -- when you look at the action in the inspector, is the review date supposed to update to the next actual review date? Or, is it supposed to only show the next review date based on when you first create the action?

It looks to be the latter, but I'd love for it to be the former.

Thanks

Christopher

Christopher,

The review date updates when you use the Mark Reviewed command. It's available in the Edit menu, by short-cut, and in the tool-bar.

[QUOTE=curt.clifton;20066]Using review dates is effectively the same as creating a repeating action for "Review project X", ...[/QUOTE]

I haven't found this to be the case. That is, when a review date that I've set for a project comes around, nothing seems to happen - no new actions or other reminders pop up, so I don't know that it's time for the review. Am I missing something here?

Thanks,
David

[QUOTE=olderbrother;20449]I haven't found this to be the case. That is, when a review date that I've set for a project comes around, nothing seems to happen - no new actions or other reminders pop up, so I don't know that it's time for the review. Am I missing something here?[/QUOTE]

For this to work, your daily review needs to include looking at projects due for review. In Project View I just change the grouping setting to Next Review to see these projects.

I keep a Morning Review checklist in OmniOutliner. Here's what that checklist looks like:

[CODE]
- [ ] Process Email
- [ ] Empty In Box
- [ ] Empty In Folder
- [ ] Review Today's Calendar
- [ ] Empty OmniFocus Inbox
- [ ] Review active projects
Step through Active Projects due for review today
- [ ] Any projects to put On Hold or move to someday/maybe? (Be
draconian)
- [ ] Any projects that are stuck?
- [ ] Planning/clarity needed?
- [ ] True next action identified?
- [ ] Attach purpose, "success looks like", etc.
See GtD for notes on this.
- [ ] Review Next Actions Lists
- [ ] “Urgent” perspective
Group Available Actions by Due Date
- [ ] ”Important” perspective
Group Available Actions by Context, Show only flagged
- [ ] What important but not urgent thing will you do today?
- [ ] Read Bible
- [ ] Pray
[/CODE]

That's very helpful, thanks!

I was contemplating keeping lists like these in OmniOutliner, with a "Daily review" toDo in OmniFocus that links to it (along with a Somday/Maybe list, perhaps). But I wasn't sure---checkmarks don't automatically reset, that means keeping toDos in two different places. Can you say more about why you have it separate?

[QUOTE=anna;20478]That's very helpful, thanks!

I was contemplating keeping lists like these in OmniOutliner, with a "Daily review" toDo in OmniFocus that links to it (along with a Somday/Maybe list, perhaps). But I wasn't sure---checkmarks don't automatically reset, that means keeping toDos in two different places. Can you say more about why you have it separate?[/QUOTE]

There are a few of reasons why I keep these separate. Some of it is just inertia; I had these separate checklists before switching to OF. Another reason is that I don't think of these as separate actions, but as a routine that I work through all at once. Finally, during the review I'm constantly changing views in OF. If my checklist were also in OF, then I'd have to keep switching back to it. I suppose I could open a separate OF window to focus on the review checklist, but that seems like overkill.

As far as checking things off in more than one place, I don't have a daily review action in OF. I have calendar items for daily reviews. I also have a simple script that unchecks every item in an OO outline, which is handy for resetting these checklists. Here's the script: [ATTACH]286[/ATTACH]. I put the script in ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/OmniOutliner Pro. Then I had it to the default toolbar in OmniOutliner.

Just to throw another idea out there, I used to use OmniOutliner checklists for reviews (daily and weekly), but recently I've assembled Automator routines for that purpose. These are mostly "Ask for Confirmation" pieces that talk me through the steps, but I've also arranged to have the routine open Mail to check that inbox, open iCal to check that, etc. When OmniFocus perspectives can be called up via Applescript, this will work even better.

[QUOTE=Craig;20490]Just to throw another idea out there, I used to use OmniOutliner checklists for reviews (daily and weekly), but recently I've assembled Automator routines for that purpose. These are mostly "Ask for Confirmation" pieces that talk me through the steps, but I've also arranged to have the routine open Mail to check that inbox, open iCal to check that, etc. When OmniFocus perspectives can be called up via Applescript, this will work even better.[/QUOTE]

That is a really great idea.