[usertech]

A few comments in response to you catrijn.

Thanks catrijn for explaining how you create a context view which is more useful. It's all helpful to hear how people are using the program.

I just want to point out that the thing that is making your context view more effective is the flagging of actions. Now let me get myself in trouble. Task management, when it comes to the moment of doing actions, is all about choosing the best possible next action to complete. And contexts assist that task by identifying which categories of actions are eligible to choose from and by eliminating, through non-selection, those that are not suitable. And if that's the whole business of task management, what is flagging really all about? I put it to you that it's just a way that people overcome the deficiencies of the existing context view to make a list of actions to complete next (even if you cannot currently then order them). So I applaud your use of the feature to deal with the current deficiencies catrijn but don't think that flagging is an effective alternative to the sorting of contexts.

Even if sorting of contexts were an available feature, I would still suggest that flagging remain though, because it could provide, with alterations, something which even a sorted context view cannot achieve, and that is to enable (with the addition of sorting!!!) the preparation of an ordered list of items that go ACROSS CONTEXTS. Here is how I would alter how it works. I would remove Flagging from all user created perspectives. It would only exist in its own default perspective. Then in its perspective I would have the same settings as it has now with one change: - Context filter set to Remaining (as it is now), Grouping set to Ungrouped (instead of by Context as it is now), Sorting is set on first entry to flagged as by Due (as it is now) but once the first action is dragged it changes to Flagged Order and subsorts by Due. All the other settings are the same as they are now - Availability filter is set to Remaining, Status Filter is set to Flagged, and Estimated Time Filter is set to Any Duration. I would also ensure that Set Flag and Flagged icons could not be removed from the toolbar since the flagged feature would be a fundamental part of using context mode in my view. Even with such a feature I think that individual contexts should be sortable because there will often be situations, even if you have the choice of contexts, where you choose to complete actions only from one context until all from that context are complete.

Now this Flagged perspective would become out of date, in that you wouldn't "notice" when new actions added to projects become actions that you might wish to flag. I therefore think that to live in this flagged view would not be the best way to operate. In my redesign, flagged view would be only for sorting flagged items. So if the Flagged perspective isn't where you live, then where should you live? I think that you should live in the context view (where you will notice newly added actions). But here is my suggested trick. Why not have the option of sorting your contexts by Context of Next Flagged Action? What is Context of Next Action? It's the context which contains the first item in the flagged items list (after sorting). Don't panic, not ALL your contexts would not be sorted according to the order of flagged actions, but just the context associated with the first item within your flagged actions list. And when that top context's top action was marked complete (easy to find, it's always at the very top) the next flagged action's context would be put at the top of the list where of course the action would be the first item in the context, and so on. If there were multiple sort fields, allowing subsorting (as I have in my video) only the first sort field would be able to sort by Context of Next Flagged Action. It could never be a subsorting field. To those who say this would interrupt the user I remind you that in this scenario the interruption caused by the movement of one context to the top of all contexts would be minimised if the user was only viewing a subset of contexts, as is usually the case. And if the user never flags actions they will never see any context move to the top of the list. Ok, NOW I think some of you will think I am nuts. But why am I nuts if THE WHOLE BUSINESS OF TASK MANAGEMENT IS TO CHOOSE THE NEXT APPROPRIATE ACTION ACROSS CONTEXTS? Wouldn't a flagging system which worked this way do what people are trying to make it do now but do it better? (If others use flagging for any purpose other than to bring the next actions they wish to complete into greater focus, please educate me so I may not be so dogmatic!)

As to the interface issues you raise catrijn, I would recommend that you watch the video! (Please everyone watch the video!! I have sweated it, now all you need to do is cook popcorn and find a comfortable chair!). But for those who don't watch the video here is a reply to catrijn's question.

Question - "Suppose I turn on manual sorting while I have Focus limited to just a few projects, and rearrange my tasks. What should happen when I switch back to displaying all projects again?"

Answer - Its possible, in my suggested sort interface, to manually sort in planning mode just the actions from the projects being viewed, just as you can in the current version of Omnifocus (with one qualification, in my interface it's impossible, in manual sort mode, to limit which actions are viewed for the chosen projects, ensuring that all remaining actions are included in the manual sort). When you return to automatic sorting mode the focus can be restored, which might for example require that only next action items be viewed instead of all remaining actions. The selected projects would remain the same. The same, in my demo, happens in context mode. When you enter manual sort in context mode you can continue to view just some of your contexts but if you have limited the viewable actions within them, manual sorting will require that all the remaining actions for the chosen contexts be viewable, ensuring that whenever a user does a manual sort that they do it with full knowledge of all of their contexts' actions.

PS The video doesn't accurately show what would happen when you return to automatic sort mode from manual sort. What I suggest should happen is that you go back to all the settings you had before entering manual sort mode.