Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Wood
We've talked about this issue a fair bit and so far we are (guardedly) on the side of not having task dependencies more than sequential vs. parallel within a group (and a few other odds and ends).
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OK, so I’m trying hard to be happy with sequential vs. parallel tasks now! :)
Could you please explain more about how this will work and what it will mean for the Next Actions view?
Here’s what I’m guessing you mean. Each project can be marked as having either sequential tasks or parallel tasks. But, a project can have a sub-project, and a sub-project can be marked as sequential or parallel independently of its parent.
To finish beating to death my poor painting example:
- Prepare to paint
- Measure walls
- Pick color
- Buy tools
- Buy paint
- Paint
- Clean up
The numbered tasks are part of the “Paint room” project, which is sequential. The bulleted tasks are part of the “Prepare to paint” sub-project, which is parallel — they can happen in any order.
Is that what you’re thinking?
Now, here’s the crux of the matter: When I start this project, which task or tasks from it will be “next actions”? To me, all three bulleted tasks are next actions — any one of them is appropriate to do next. If this is not the case, then I do not understand the distinction between sequential and parallel.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Wood
As far as having multiple next actions, that also seems to boil down to fiddling. As long as your actions are in rough sequential order, you'll see a next action and either it will really be actionable or you'll think about it and decide that you need to do a 15 second review of your project to reorder the next couple actions.
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Agreed — “As long as your actions are in rough sequential order”! But when my actions are in parallel?
Quote:
Originally Posted by duodecad
Personally, I don't want to see more than one next action per project. But clearly, from the responses here, some other folks do. I can think of cases where both options could be useful. … Would it be possible to make it a preferences option, so you can choose how many NAs you want to see per project?
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Yes! Why not provide options? And furthermore, there seem to be two relevant options here:
- View only next actions? (checkbox)
- How many actions to view from one project? (number)
As it stands, kGTD shows both next actions (purple) and subsequent actions (black) in the “Actions” view. Sometimes, I have so many next actions that I want to see only those and not the subsequent ones. Hence the first option.
I want to see all next actions from each project (assuming parallel tasks mean multiple next actions); duodecad wants to see only one next action from a project. The second option above would let us select.
— Tim