[wayne4]

I find the functionality of "Next action" in omnifocus lacking in it's ability to implement GTD methodology.

"Next action" only acts on actions that have been assigned a "due date" rather than listing the "next action" to move the project forward.

"Next action" filtering becomes useless unless I choose to assign due dates. But sometimes and for some projects, none of the actions have a "due date". They just need attention when and where possible and therefore i just order them in hierarchical way with the next action as the top action.

I work mainly in the planning mode - as my context rarely change. So, I do the collection, organising and processing in the planning mode. As well as the actual actioning of tasks, also in the planning mode.

In fact very few of my actions have a need to have a definite "due" date.

I experimented with using "due" dates for everything (for the sake of using them), but the list became bigger and bigger and unmanageable and now I have the same feeling of "due dates" as JRArseneau on a very much related post here: -

Originally Posted by JRArseneau

I agree, it'd be nice to see this as I too have a lot of actions that don't necessarily have due dates (I think I have an aversion to due dates).

I know you purchased OF, but you may want to look at "Things" as they have a different philosophy to this approach (not that I'm advocating for the competition!) :)

http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthre...ghlight=action




SUMMARY
So this is a "feature request"

Can a "Next Action" show in every single project (regardless of whether or not it has due actions.

please let me know if i'm missing something obvious!

[Toadling]

I'm not sure I understand. Next actions *do* show up in all projects in purple text, regardless of due dates. In fact, I also use very few due dates but filter on next action all the time. The only place next actions don't is in single-action lists, I believe.

Am I missing something?

-Dennis

[wayne4]

Dennis,
The purple items that you mention only show up if you have also assigned a context to an action. The problem that I have - as mentioned above (my context rarely change - or should i say 99% of my work is in 1 context). Therefore 99% of my actions have no context assigned to them.

Therefore I don't see the purple actions that you see.

All i see with "next action" filtering is empty project lists

Another very similar posting in the (iphone section)

http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthre...ghlight=action


also

Originally Posted by Ken Case

On the Settings screen, you can set Contexts to show only next actions. They're still grouped by context, but each context will tell you how many next actions it contains.

Does that help?

Ken, No this does not help as the vast majority of my actions have not been assigned any context

From the other forum posting (link above), there is mention of perspectives being able to help. I can't see it though as my perspectives have the following options: Inbox, projects , due soon, flagged and review

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by wayne4

Dennis,
The purple items that you mention only show up if you have also assigned a context to an action. The problem that I have - as mentioned above (my context rarely change - or should i say 99% of my work is in 1 context). Therefore 99% of my actions have no context assigned to them.

Well, that's your problem. You throw away a large part of OmniFocus' feature set when you do that. Go to the sidebar in Context mode. Click on the "No Context" bin. Click in the main pane of the outline and do Cmd-A to select everything. Now bring up the inspector and set the context of everything to some context, any context. Start enjoying the rest of the functionality of the program instead of working with both hands tied behind your back!

[wayne4]

No, I'm not complaining too much. I am still hopeful that Omnifocus can work for me. Maybe I should have said that 95% of the time my context stays the same, but I still have a list of 40 different context (people, places & situations). So, I do find the context idea useful and helpful.

I'm realising that I'm with a small group of people whose context rarely changes (talked about on 43 folders) & this requires a special way of working with omnifocus. It needs it own methodology.
There's Lots of advice and systems that other people offer, but these are mainly from people who assign a context to everything. This explains why I have tried other people's systems and why they haven't worked for me.

The omnifocus experience at the beginning was overwhelming (a steep learning curve!). I stayed unproductive for months. For many many months omnifocus was doing the opposite of what it was intended. I was getting nothing done! I just could not get it to work in the way that i wanted.

I had real problems with trying to make sense of many things, including the filtering options. In my opinion the filtering options are the most unintuitive part of the omnifocus experience (every day I still get into trouble with filters). The only filter that I have used successfully from the beginning is the search function (I use it constantly).

Omnifocus is still my "preferred choice" application. However, I have experienced "Things GTD" application. It shows the "Next Action" of every project (regardless of whether or not due actions have been set and regardless of a context or not (you can set it by: "view" "next actions steps" & give a figure between 1 and 10). It really is a great feature.

I can now see how omnfocus would have had an immediate pay-off if the "next actions" worked as it does in "Things GTD app".

I persist with OF because i feel that i can eventually "find my own way". I'm in too deep now to give up. More and more i'm reflecting and realising why I have struggled so much in trying to master this application.

[wayne4]

As a work around to the above,

I have now started to do the following

1) added a context called "none" (although this could equally be called "computer")

2) I have started assigning this context to each "un-contexed action"

Painful! with plenty of projects and 100's of action projects

BUT IT DOES TURN OMNIFOCUS INTO A SYSTEM WHERE I CAN FINALLY GTD WITH THE "NEXT ACTION" FEATURE

[whpalmer4]

You don't need to have due dates set to have the next action filter work. You may be doing something to make it look that way, but it isn't generally true. There's not a due date in sight here:





Corresponding context mode views:

[keone]

Originally Posted by wayne4

1) added a context called "none" (although this could equally be called "computer")

wayne4, I'm glad you were able to solve your current "no context" dilemma. However, there is something you mentioned that I want to address, since it has been brought up in this forum in the past (and in the 43 Folders site). It is the issue of assigning contexts when you are a so-called "knowledge worker," one apparently like yourself who spends most of their day at a computer.

I too am one of those knowledge workers. But although I am at my computer all day, I am in different contexts all the time. For example, I use DevonThink to help manage my data, and each of my DT databases deals with a specific project. So I have a unique context assigned to each of those projects. I also have a single action list entitled "Ideas." When I'm in that list I'll quickly make a number of different entries at one time, assigning the appropriate context to each as I go along. Then, later, when I am in one of those databases (e.g. DT:XProject) I will look at its context in OF and enter those ideas appropriate to that dbase.

Another example: Say that there are office supplies that I need to order. I will have entered them in my OF shopping list in the last few weeks or so using my "Online:Staples" context. Then, when it's time to order those supplies, I just go to that context and quickly run down the list.

Just because we may be physically at a computer all day, doesn't mean that we are not "moving" in and out of different contexts as we do our work. I think we limit how we think about contexts by defining them only as different physical locations rather than also virtual ones. And since, as others have said, the use of contexts in OF is one of its most powerful features, it pays off in the long run to be able to use them in an efficient and effective manner. With this in mind, you may want to take another look at your context set-up so that you don't have so many "None" or "Computer" contexts, but ones more specific to applications or areas that you frequent in your computer. (By the way, I had to fiddle with mine over a few months until I finally settled on those that work best for me.)

Regards,
John

[LizPf]

And, many people think of Context as being a physical place or device. But it doesn't have to be.

Most examples of contexts are nouns -- persons, places or things:
@calls
@ work
Susie
...

But contexts can be other things as well:

- work to be done in a specific software package or at a specific web site (GIMP tasks, Zazzle shop maintenance)
- the state of mind you need for the work (challenging, brain dead, etc.)
- states of action (maintenance, new business)


There's no law that says you can't set up contexts in any way that enables you to meaningfully group your work tasks in a way orthogonal to your Projects (which can be lots of things as well).

[Lizard]

You can also leverage the 'default context' on projects to save yourself from having to mass-assign a bunch of contexts again in the future. On each project that is primarily going to be completed in your 'none' context, set the default context to that super-common context (in the project inspector). Now any task you create in there will get the 'none' context, even if you forget to set a context.