[r48]

Thanks to all who've replied so far. I read the thread that Brian pointed me to - a fascinating discussion, since it introduced me to the concept of people as contexts, which was new to me. I had been thinking of contexts as conditions (e.g., at home, at the shopping center, online). But it makes sense that a person can be a context in some situations.

It had already occurred to me to use folders and sub-folders to categorize my tasks. What I was looking for was a quicker way than drilling down through the hierarchy to find the proper spot for a new action or project. Tags would be an alternative method, but I understand that they're not in OF currently.

As I've thought about this, I've asked myself why I need all this fine-grained categorization in the first place. The reason is that I frequently need to see all the tasks that are associated with a particular facet of my life, such as an area of responsibility at work or an upcoming vacation.

I realize that this may fly in the face of GTD practice - it's my understanding that GTD has you do tasks based on context. That is, you do whatever actions are doable in the current situation, regardless of what area they fall into. However, even if I were to function that way, which I doubt I ever will, there would still be times when I would have to gather all the tasks related to a certain area for meetings.

I very much appreciate the willingness of people to help here. It's a refreshing change from the tone in Cultured Code's forums of late. (I think that I recognize a couple of people by the similarity of their handles.)

I think that I'm going to let this simmer in my head for a day or two before taking the plunge. In general, I find that taking more time planning at the front end pays off in the long run.