Prioritizing Projects
 

Hello All, OmniFocus has been incredibly helpful in regards to organizing all the mush in my brain into categorized folders, projects, and tasks. But now that I have all of that organized, how would you recommend I prioritize what to do next. When i open OF right now, it all looks nicely organized..but is again overwhelming b/c I don't know what to do next. I am trying to put due dates on stuff...but I feel like I am guessing. I am thinking the point of this is to be able to open up OF and my previous decisions are all laid out for me. But how?

Thx for any tips you can offer.

Jeff
Phoenix, AZ

If you are using this as a GTD system you really should try not to assign due dates, but use the review functionality. Very important projects should be reviewed daily while others could be weekly or monthly.

I am responding with the assumption that you are just getting into GTD. Apologies in advance if this is not case.

First, priority is the last consideration you are supposed to use when determining what task to perform next. The emphasis is on contexts - not priority. I suspect your list of tasks is overwhelming because you still have some more work to do with contexts and/or because you haven't grappled with identifying those projects or tasks that really should be deferred for later. You need to put a great deal of thought and effort into refining your contexts, and (at least in my case) even more effort into honestly identifying and dealing with tasks/projects that have to be deferred. The payoff is manageable task lists when using the Context Mode.

FWIW, when I first got into GTD I struggled with deferring tasks/projects where the only person with whom I had to negotiate was me. In contrast, it was relatively easy to review project/task lists with my various stakeholders, and negotiate their lists to something that was actually doable. Your mileage may vary of course!

What is great about OF is that there are several ways to deal with deferred projects and tasks. You can place projects On Hold, and review them during your weekly review; or you can create special review folders for projects or tasks that you only want to review monthly, quarterly, annually or whatever period works for you (the "someday/maybe" group). Single-Action tasks can also be deferred by setting an appropriate start date.

From a GTD perspective, due dates are for hard and fast "the universe will end" deadlines. Therefore, you shouldn't be trying to enter due dates unless there is a compelling reason to do so.

Thx
 

Thx Guys, I am new to GTD. I do have context set up. But it's definitely a switch to let contexts be how I prioritize. I do see what you're saying either putting a project on hold or making it active. But aren't there times when things just HAVE to get done by a certain time? What do you do then? Thx everyone!

If something like a meeting has to happen at a given time, then that needs to go in the calendar, not the GTD system. On the other hand, if a task must get done by day X, then you should set a starting date in advance of that or just leave the start date undefined (it starts now). Assuming that task isn't blocked by some other task in a project (and it shouldn't, at least as you near day X) it will appear in context view (assuming you are ever in that context) and you thus have a signal to get it done.

[QUOTE=bayoyong;31717]But aren't there times when things just HAVE to get done by a certain time? What do you do then? [/QUOTE]

If it is a real deadline (for example, in the USA: file income taxes by April 15), then set that as the due date for the project or action. There's nothing wrong with using due dates in GTD, as long as they are REAL due dates. It's a bad habit, though, to use fake due dates as a way to convince yourself that you should work on something. The problem with that is it encourages you to be cavalier about real due dates.

bayoyong: If there is a real due date (prep document for tomorrow's meeting), then use a due date. But if you're guessing at a due date (wash the car), then there is no due date and you should not enter one.

My suggestion for figuring out what to do NOW:
Go to context view, and in the left pane command-click to select all the contexts you're currently in. (Maybe you're at your office with your phone and computer handy so you select all 3 of those.) Then turn on the view bar (the sunglasses in the toolbar) and choose "Next Action" from the middle drop-down. Make sure the right two are "any duration" and "any flag status". Oh, and set the "Group by" one to "Due". Now just start at the top and work your way down that list. The things that are due soon (or overdue) will be at the top of the list, but all of them should be something you can do *right now* to move one of your projects forward.

Also, if you're trying to follow GTD and haven't read David Allen's book yet, I strongly recommend you do so.