[BwanaZulia]

Originally Posted by esciara

Why not simply have a popup appearing when the last action is completed? The options made available would be something like "Mark project as completed", "Add another action" or "Ignore for now" (although in GTD one is supposed to make decision and not ignore...). That would not overload the interface and ask a clear action at an appropriate time...

Em

A few problems with a pop up...

1. They are annoying and get in the way of most work flow
2. Very Windows like
3. Don't take into account tasks completed in other places like on the web or in iCal via a sync

Again, I would propose that you be able to set each project, as an option, to have the least task either or auto complete or not. That way if I mark a task complete on my iPhone (someday) and it flows to iCal and syncs to OF that project could be completed and if set for repeat would auto repeat.

BZ

[ips]

Hi, I want to second esciara.

I wanted to start a new thread about the trouble of being not sure if I have a next action in my project when checking one step in work/context-mode.

Until now, I switch everytime back to my project (option-command-r) to make sure, that a next action is assigned or I write a new one. That's a bit annoying…

The popup would solve all these issues, including the auto-complete-question.

And, BwanaZulia, there could be an option to turn it off, but this a concrete help that should be necessary. If there is no next action assigned, you
– either add another step
– or finish the project.

So IMHO, this solution would not be windowish, but very helpful.


Greetings
ips

[BwanaZulia]

How about this..?

1. Indicate the last action in a projec with some sort of color/bold/font/etc.

2. When you see it is the last action in context view, you can right click on the check box and get a contextual menu that says "Mark task and Project complete"

Two birds?

BZ

[esciara]

Originally Posted by BwanaZulia

How about this..?

1. Indicate the last action in a project with some sort of color/bold/font/etc.

2. When you see it is the last action in context view, you can right click on the check box and get a contextual menu that says "Mark task and Project complete"

Two birds?

BZ

Hmmm. A bit cumbersome to my taste and far from being idiot proof. For the second point you have to remember that there is this option in the contextual menu and then you have to go and get it. If one had to do it often enough one would get used to it, but here... And then anyway for the first point, you would have to decode the meaning of the color/bold/font/etc. It just does not happen often enough to make me think immediately "Ah yes, this is the last action of my project"

Hence personally I still prefer the popup solution, unless you suggest yet another way that is neater (No I am not myself sure this is the way). And if last actions have been completed outside OF then synched, I could have a popup too.

Hmmm Now that I think about it, why would the project itself not have a different color/bold/font/icon/etc. when it does not have any actions left in it?! That would make more sense! Then a tooltip indicating it is empty and an easy access to marking it complete... (Like the Mark Project Complete in bold maybe)

Em

[curt.clifton]

I like the idea of a different formatting for "last actions". I'm thinking something that clearly denotes the end of a list. Say an icon that look like a note card with the top half torn off. I'd like to see that first, then think about what I would like to have happen when I check off one of those actions. Currently I don't have a strong sense for how often that happens or what my frame of mind is when it happens. So, I don't know whether I would usually want to add another action, mark the project complete, or just ignore it until a review.

I really dislike the idea of a pop-up. If I wanted pop-up messages, I'd run Windows. Pop ups strike me as lazy interface design. They force the user to do something, rather than leaving the user in control.

I definitely agree that projects without remaining actions should be highlighted in some way. Maybe a small red question mark on their icons.

[esciara]

Originally Posted by curt.clifton

I like the idea of a different formatting for "last actions". I'm thinking something that clearly denotes the end of a list. Say an icon that look like a note card with the top half torn off. I'd like to see that first, then think about what I would like to have happen when I check off one of those actions. Currently I don't have a strong sense for how often that happens or what my frame of mind is when it happens. So, I don't know whether I would usually want to add another action, mark the project complete, or just ignore it until a review.

I really dislike the idea of a pop-up. If I wanted pop-up messages, I'd run Windows. Pop ups strike me as lazy interface design. They force the user to do something, rather than leaving the user in control.

I definitely agree that projects without remaining actions should be highlighted in some way. Maybe a small red question mark on their icons.

Thinking again about projects being marked, I really like the idea too. Much better than the popups in the end. And more Mac like :) I begin to see added value in having the last action also marked differently.

As for the how often it happens: it happened to me several times already. Then when the projects were still in the project list, not only was it not neat and I was confused ("Did I not finish this already?")

Em

[BwanaZulia]

Pop up are bad.

They also don't do well for things like syncing from iCal.

BZ