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Originally Posted by deejacker View Post
Apologies, I haven't actually got any answers/information for you regarding your question, but would be very interested in seeing an example of a project and context setup in mac version OF, based on your description if you don't mind?
Okay. I'll post a few cutouts from OF. I have redacted some private info so you will have to fill in with your imagination. It's mostly work related things, such as in the contexts view all the work stuff is cut out, a more generic replacement might be: Work, Work -> Dept. A, Work -> Dept. B. I haven't actually been using OF lately, and I've made a few minor changes to some of these things but the basic premise is shown in these examples still.

When there is something I know I *NEED* to do, I flag it. I do flagged stuff first, with priority of those items set in the order of the contexts. If I'm out of flagged stuff or can't do it, I just look through each main context root to see what I can do or want to do or whatever. The main issue I solve with these tools is remembering, the other issue is organization. So obviously I don't really subscribe to GTD, I find it is more stressful as the loss of control over what I am willing to do or consider important at any given moment just gives me anxiety.

So the basic idea is similar to GTD. It's all about collection, I use the inbox concept just like GTD. I organize, usually each night after everyone has wound down and I know I won't be expected to do anything. I have a scheduled time on my calendar each week to explicitly harvest tasks from several outside sources, like my evernote notes, defect tracker at work, email, etc. and also to do a review. I do that on Friday, so I can make the most of my weekend and have no anxiety about what I'll be doing at work the following Monday.

I put everything in Miscellaneous, and I make frequent use of subtasks as deep as I feel like I want to go in terms of describing what I need to do. I switch to projects when I have a more comprehensive concept of something I want to do but know I'll be adding/finishing/etc. tasks over time for that goal and want to keep track of it in more separate, fine detail. But strictly speaking, with subtasks, I could easily get away with not using projects at all. I just look at them as more distinctly separated task groups.

Also since I last used OF I broke down the granularity for what I"ll put into a project, for example in software development I used to make projects for version targets for releases of software but now I do projects on a per-feature basis, several of which might end up in a release, and actually do a totally separate task for the version target. I did this because the concerns of each are separate. The bosses care about release targets, I care about feature design/implementation. The due date goes on the release version target, and in the notes of that I'll specify or refer to the current features scheduled for it, which is really only used during review to be sure my projects are sorted in the right priority.

I'm always evolving my practices and looking at other tools. I'll be giving OF yet another run when the iPad version comes out, so I'm looking forward to that. I find Things a rather pleasant alternative and slightly more attuned to my current methods than OF, but I miss the outlining I can do in OF. I hate the design of toodledo but that cloud-based system is attractive for some stupid reason (even though I don't trust cloud computing systems at all.) And worst of all, I'm a big switcher. I can't resist trying other tools, even tools I've used and rejected in the past in a constant effort to improve my quality of work and productivity.

Anyway, here's some screenshots.