Next actions after marking something complete
 

Hi,

is there a way to be prompted to add a new next action when you mark an action as done and there are no next actions available?

For instance, if i am in a context mode and i mark an action as complete, i'm not sure if i need a next action and the best time for me to come up with that next action would probably be right then.

I'm sure this has been covered, but I am trying to get a lot done and would appreciate the support.

Thanks,
gtdwannabe

If in context mode, and you've assigned all actions a context and not the parent action, it will show up in no contexts. Select the parent action and then click on show in projects and you can assign child actions.

If its a project it should follow the same behavior.

The other method is to create a perspective for stalled projects and you can see projects which have no assigned actions.

There's also Curt Clifton's [URL="http://www.curtclifton.net/projects/"]Verify Next Actions Exist[/URL] script.

Adding a bit to what SpiralOcean said, if you are in context view, and you haven't disabled the feature by unchecking the "In context mode [] Show projects and action groups" option in the OmniFocus preferences, parent actions will appear as available actions, in a bold typeface (*), once all of the child actions are marked complete. That's another clue that the time is ripe to evaluate whether to add additional actions or mark the parent complete. If the parent doesn't have a context set, it appears in the No Context bin in the sidebar, but if it does have a context set, it will appear in that context, of course. Whether this appearance will be visible depends on how you've got the view set up.

That brings us around to the most important point, which is doing reviews. Using OmniFocus' review feature gives you a systematic way to look at all of your projects on a regular basis so that you can ensure they all have suitable next actions, are all still relevant, and are getting the amount of attention they merit. I'm not going to write up how to use the review feature again, but there are plenty of posts on the forum describing some of the ways you can use it.

(*) With the default style settings in the OmniFocus preferences

Thanks you
 

Just to restate, you recommend I select (keep checked) the "show projects and action groups."

Thank you for your help.