[Toadling]

Originally Posted by MacBerry

The constant "did you really mean to do that?" implied by the way OF does things is hugely distracting...And it's very un-GTD in principle too. it's not very "mind like water" to have something I've already dealt with hanging about.

I don't find it particularly distracting or un-GTD in principle. In fact, I find the tiny amount of effort spent hitting the keyboard shortcut to manually cleanup is negligible given the peace of mind I get from seeing exactly what I just completed. Ahh, mind like water. :)

Originally Posted by MacBerry

When we tackled this issue on the Pocket Informant beta group, because the default was to have the task disappear as soon as it was checked, people were amazed how effective it was to simply add a short delay (less than one second) to avoid that feeling of having the rug pulled that you describe. Those that wanted it around so they could still work on it didn't filter completed tasks out, and everyone was content!
...[snip]...
Then don't filter out completed actions!!!! That's my point - if I've told OF I don't want to see them, I DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM!

It's not as simple as "just don't filter out completed actions" because one is then forced to see *all* completed actions, not just the actions recently checked off. Talk about distractions!

Originally Posted by MacBerry

Also I don't know how that schedule works, but if it's just the equivalent of "click cleanup every 30 minutes" for example, it's surely even more disorienting for you, as you never quite know when something's going to disappear for no apparent reason. It might even go while you're in the middle of that copy procedure ;)

Well, either it's not that simple (maybe it's event-driven rather than simply time-based?), or it hasn't been a problem in practice. At least that seems to be the consensus from the Omni Group's original 1.0 beta program and whatever usability testing they do internally.

Originally Posted by MacBerry

I've never understood why people argue against options that let others work the way they want to, while still letting you work the way you want. Yes if a way already exists to do what the requester is asking for, point that out, sure, but why would anyone argue that I shouldn't be allowed to work my way?

Because every new feature, configuration option, UI element, etc., potentially increases complexity, risk of regression, and expends finite engineering resources to implement, test, and support. Nothing should be added without careful consideration and weighing of pros and cons.

Originally Posted by MacBerry

Word wasn't a very good example, but the principal stands - if I tell an application to do something (hide completed tasks in this case), it should do it. The importance of that action to me is for me to decide, not for OG to second guess.

And OmniFocus does hide completed tasks as you've asked. It also allows you to decide the importance of the operation by providing a means to cleanup exactly when you want.

Apparently, the Omni Group's test data led them to believe that a longer delay on auto-cleanup is more desirable for most people. And for those that want immediate gratification, a handy keyboard shortcut is available. It's not like the Omni Group arbitrarily decided to make your life difficult by withholding detailed control of the automatic cleanup interval. :)

Originally Posted by MacBerry

why would it be so difficult to find a completed task and correct the issue, on the rare occasions when you do get it wrong?

Maybe it's not difficult to correct such errors (Command-Z would do the trick, I suppose). But it's also not difficult to hit a keyboard shortcut to immediately cleanup completed items on the rare occasions when you need to see your view without them.

But, as I said before, there's more to it than just the ability to correct an erroneous completion.


-Dennis