[wolfneuralnet]

Not sure if this is a request for help with how to use the program or GTD correctly, or a feedback request for new features.

One of the main perspectives I have is labeled "ToDo Today" and is a list of all the tasks that I am working on that day. The only way that I can get these to show up (filter them so I can see them as the stuff needing to be worked on today) is to give them "Due Dates" of today...

However, if I don't finish it that day (and many of them I don't) it turns red and stays in my "due yesterday" column.

Is there such thing as a "rolling" due date? As in - you are working on this, and you should be reminded of it, so it should show up in your Due Items list, but if you don't finish it today its not the end of the world?

I end up spending the end of the day changing all the due dates for the stuff that I didn't finish to tomorrow's date so they will show up in the Due Items list...

There must be a better way, or a feature that allows for the due date to "roll" so that it can stay in the due items list. I guess I am treating it as an "active tasks" list, but I am not sure how else to do it...

Maybe this isn't good GTD practice, but some of my work consists of items that can't be further broken down (i.e. revising a manuscript) but I still need to be reminded that it is there to be worked on that day.

How do others deal with these "rolling" tasks that are never finished in one day, but that you have to be reminded of daily???

I am already using flags as a bit of prioritization, so not giving it a due date and using flags won't really work... Any other ideas? TIA!

[pvonk]

If it's okay that a "due today" task is not finished today, then it really shouldn't be "due today". You're right, I don't think this is GTD practice.

My suspicion is that you have not defined the right perspective. For example, I have very few due dates, but do use start dates to indicate when a task should appear in context mode. For me, one of the main features of GTD vs. putting things in a calendar (which is equivalent to what you're doing) is that context mode shows me what I can do right now. If I don't finish, then the task remains as a next thing in that context.

My main perspective is Active projects / ungrouped, project, available, any duration, any flag state. I have a number of other perspectives that I have defined for specific "views", like a review perspective, context-flag, and context-due.

[wolfneuralnet]

I figured this is the case in terms of GTD, but I guess I am not finding the best way to get a perspective of what I should be working on that day, even in a given context. The contexts work well enough, but maybe I should be using start dates to filter active tasks instead of due dates... The problem is I can't find a way to filter by "start date", only due dates...

If I leave things using the filters you suggested, I have over a hundred tasks... Context helps to break this down, but not by much since much of my work can be done anywhere... Let me know how you are using start date - maybe that will clarify it for me. Thanks!

[mctheriot]

I'm used to doing this myself - and having stuff "roll over" to the next day. In OF, I manually change the "due date" to the next day if I need more than one day (also use Flags for work "in process")

If you were to strictly follow GTD, the task that task more than one day is not being broken up as much as it could / should be.

Mark

[wolfneuralnet]

Yeah - it seems for those of us that can't manage to break it up more (or follow GTD practices better), that there should be a "rolling" due date to keep it in the "due" perspective so we don't have to change them every night...

[BwanaZulia]

Not to get all "GTD" on you, but tasks really should be under 20 minutes or so. If it takes more than a day to do a task, it sounds like it is multiple tasks.

You can also do a repeating task that is "Spend 30 minutes on X project" and have it repeat on completion date.

BZ

[wolfneuralnet]

Yeah - I am in academic science, so many tasks take longer than 20 minutes unfortunately. Reviewing a manuscript for publication can take 2-3 days, and there is nothing to break down about it. For others, I assume there are tasks like writing that take more than a day that they need to be reminded about...

I like your idea of using a repeating task for this though - I use that already for daily things - no reason I couldn't do it for that project as well. Thanks for the suggestion.