[usertech]

Hello Omnigroup and list,

What is the purpose of flagging actions?

Isn't flagging just an admission that no matter which action fields you use to sort your context view, you still won't have what you want - a list of actions in some kind of intended order of completion? To those who haven't been following this forum lately, don't get the impression that I think that contexts don't help - I do - their just not currently as helpful as they could be. And please leave the arguments about the philosophy of getting things done and whether sorting of contexts is really necessary to the thread dedicated to this subject).

I am interested forum members. If flagging isn't always used for this purpose, what do you use it for?

Those who have been reading other threads on this forum know that I am arguing for contexts to be sorted (for when one is only really able to complete actions in one context - say a shopping trip in the car) but that flagging should continue as a feature but altered so that flagged items are sortable, enabling the sorting of actions ACROSS contexts.

[DrJJWMac]

I have used flags for the following cases:

* define that I am going to do that task in the next period of activity (doing)
* set a repeating task to be "active" when it has a start date and no due date

For the first case example ... after I complete my Due tasks for the day, I review my Next list and set flags on the tasks that I decide I will actually do next (even though they are not due today).

For the second case example ... I have a repeating task "get mail from PO Box" that comes up every 4 days and sits with no due date. It is flagged.

Perhaps how I use flags fits somehow (or not) with what you mean?

--
JJW

[usertech]

Yes your use of flags fits with what I suspect people use it for. If your had your ideal screen it would sort by Due and subsort by flag order. But because you don't have one that does that, you use two.

Your second example is an example of notifying yourself instead of OF notifying you because you cannot set an ACTION for review.

[DrJJWMac]

Originally Posted by usertech

... If your gas your ideal screen it would dirt by Due and subsidy by flag order. But because you don't have one that does that, you use two.

Hmmm .... perhaps you mean, I want ONE screen where my tasks show as SORT by Due first and Flagged second. Then, my answer is a definitive NO! My first ideal screen is Due. Then, my second ideal screen is Flagged. The two are to be kept separate. I work more effectively with defined perspectives, not mixed ones.

Originally Posted by usertech

Your second example is an example of notifying yourself instead of OF notifying you because you cannot set an ACTION for review.

I think you are defining a problem where OF cannot be programmed to be able to tell someone precisely in sequence what he/she must/should/shall do next?

If so, what about the possibility that folks actually find greater issues with having their workflow dictated precisely at every instant of time, even or especially by a computer program that they "program" in advance?

Or perhaps I still misunderstand your concerns/questions?

--
JJW

[whpalmer4]

There is at least one program which generates a schedule for you to follow, if you like that sort of thing. There was a little bit of discussion of it here a few years back, but I don't recall the name. Ah, I found it: http://skoach.com/

I work the items most immediately due, then draw from items starting today and flagged items (set up during my reviews). On the very productive days where those lists are completely exhausted (or I can't get any more done without being in a different context), I open up the context lists and look for high-value tasks in my current context(s). I use flags as a way to draw my attention to actions and projects which may or may not have immediate time pressure but are nonetheless items on which I wish to focus my attention. If I determine during my reviews that a project isn't making adequate progress, I will flag the project or perhaps the first few actions.

[DrJJWMac]

Originally Posted by whpalmer4

... I work the items most immediately due, then ...

It seems, we approach our workflow somewhat alike.

--
JJW