Hi Everyone,

I've spent the last eight years using Franklin/Covey. I'm not one of those persons for whom F/C was just a quick todo list and nifty leather binder that my employer paid for. I am one of the serious "What Matters Most" kind of guys. Over the years F/C has been a good system for me, unfortunately the F/C software has gotten worse and worse.

Last year I hit the breaking point, I hadn't used a paper binder in years but I had to go out and buy a paper binder. I've spent the last 12 months carrying it around, and I AM DONE.

I went looking for a replacement and laded at OmniFocus. I listen to a lot of podcasts, I've been listening to Merlin talk about GTD for a couple years I think, so I'm not unfamiliar with the GTD concepts. I have not read Allen's book, but in truth I'm not looking for a new system, I'm looking for new software.

That being said, I find the concept of "Context" interesting, and I'm starting to see how I can apply it to help organize my tasks. I love the Parallel vs Seqiential concept too and it's starting to make it's way into my mind as I lay out projects. I do miss my little "ABC" "123" columns, but I can adapt.

So, with regard to OF, I like it a lot, but there are a few things I have not figured out how to do yet. I don't know if the functionality I am looking for exists at all, or if it's available via a plugin or what (I did a lot of forum searches before I started writing this, but if I missed some of these answers please forgive me).

Question #1 Priority. Yes I saw the long thread on Priority, and I can understand how some people would want it and other not. But when I sync my tasks (or Action Items if you like) to iCal it gives them a priority. Where is that coming from? How do I change it, or see it, in OF?

Question #2 Delegation. I have things on my task list that need to get done, but not by me. I need to track it, it's a step that needs to be completed, but not one that I can complete myself. In F/C I'd mark that as delegated. How can I indicate that I've delegated an action Item in OF? Yes, I could flag it, but I don't want to unflag it later, I want it marked, for all time, as delegated.

Question #3 In Process. Sometimes my task is to call someone, and I end of leaving them a voice mail, and waiting for them to call me back. In F/C I'd mark that item as In Process. In OF it looks like it's either done, or not done.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and offer an answer or suggestion if you have one. I'm looking forward to getting to know more about OF and the community around it.

[steve]

Originally Posted by jpathomas

Question #2 Delegation. I have things on my task list that need to get done, but not by me. I need to track it, it's a step that needs to be completed, but not one that I can complete myself. In F/C I'd mark that as delegated. How can I indicate that I've delegated an action Item in OF? Yes, I could flag it, but I don't want to unflag it later, I want it marked, for all time, as delegated.

When I delegate a project to someone, I move it into a folder called "Delegate." Inside this folder I have sub-folders for various people that have delegated projects. If I click on "delegate" I can see all of the delegated projects. Or, I can click on a person and see their delegated projects.

If I delegate a task within one of my projects, I assign the project a context with a person's name. I'll write something like "Waiting For email re: summer calendar" in a people context.

BTW, all of my projects are nested in folders inspired by Franklin Covey. I.E. father/husband, home owner, sharpen the saw.

For the record, I used to do the franklin covey priority method. I am much more productive and relaxed without them.

Good luck.

The Delegated Projects folder is a great idea, I'm going to use that. I also see what you mean in regard to context. I suppose I could created a "Delegated" context, and then sub contexts for each person I delegate to.

So now I'm wondering if there is a problem with "Context Inflation?" Do you end up with 10k contexts?

Thanks for your response Steve.

[Toadling]

Originally Posted by jpathomas

So now I'm wondering if there is a problem with "Context Inflation?" Do you end up with 10k contexts?

Heh heh. As Steve already knows (we were comparing systems the other day), I suffer from a bit of context-inflation-itis. :)

I currently have 64 contexts. However, only about 2/3 of them are active (with tasks assigned) at any given time and many are nested. So managing them has not been a problem. I like to set the view bar filter in context mode to display only active contexts, which helps a lot.

I'm not saying lots of contexts is necessarily the way to go. It seems to be working for me, but I'm still experimenting. And I'm sure some people have more contexts, and lots of people have far fewer contexts. So I think it really comes down to personal preference and what works best for you. Fortunately, OmniFocus provides the tools to handle a fairly large number.

My only complaint with OmniFocus' handling of large numbers of contexts would be that when right-clicking on the OmniFocus Dock icon, the resulting list of contexts is a bit overwhelming on my 15-inch MBP display. It'd be nice if that contextual menu would nest contexts like the OmniFocus sidebar (already submitted a feature request months ago).

-Dennis

I just counted and I have 22 contexts at this point. I can easily think of half dozen more that I could use, but most of those are nested. I'm going to try and substitute the idea of "Context" for any F/C concept that I can't envision in OF and see how far that gets me.

Thanks for your input Dennis.

[Lizard]

Question #1
If I remember correctly, flags in OmniFocus sync to priorities in iCal. I'm not entirely certain though, so test it out.

[yucca]

Originally Posted by jpathomas

I went looking for a replacement and laded at OmniFocus. I listen to a lot of podcasts, I've been listening to Merlin talk about GTD for a couple years I think, so I'm not unfamiliar with the GTD concepts. I have not read Allen's book, but in truth I'm not looking for a new system, I'm looking for new software.

To maximize returns with OF, it is worthwhile to get the book. The further you move away from tactical day-to-day stuff, the more similar (and familiar!) GTD and FC become. However, as you already know, there is huge change in mindset beginning with reviews; and the gulf only gets bigger still with actual task management.

I don't think it is possible to really "get" GTD without the book and without committing to trying it out for at least a few months. The longer you are in FC, the harder it is I think (and I used FC for more than 20 years!).

If you want to try GTD without completely committing, apply GTD religiously to just one significant input. Phones, e-mail or snail mail come to mind. I suggest e-mail as everything is and stays electronic that way. I started with personal e-mail (a month or so while re-reading the book), added work e-mail (another month of rereading the book and rejiggering contexts), and then went whole hog GTD.

I still use the old FC approach for values and for setting life goals, but am entirely GTD at lower levels. Good luck, and hope you find this helpful.

Thank you Yucca, I'll take your advice and read the book.

[colicoid]

First I must say that I am not familiar with Franklin/Covey.

Originally Posted by jpathomas

Question #1 Priority.

Priority in OF and GTD is handled by the order that you put tasks while in planning mode. If a task really is of higher priority than some other task you should tend to the high priority task first (if your context allows it). This is one of the benefits of serial projects. You can still view and complete lower priority tasks, if you want to, by adjusting filters. Flags are a non GTD addition that a lot of people use for priority flagging, but flags can be used in many different ways. Other ways to deal with priority, and get around the fact that OF doesn't support it, includes special priority sub contexts or strict naming conventions paired with searches.

Originally Posted by jpathomas

Question #2 Delegation. I have things on my task list that need to get done, but not by me. I need to track it, it's a step that needs to be completed, but not one that I can complete myself. In F/C I'd mark that as delegated. How can I indicate that I've delegated an action Item in OF? Yes, I could flag it, but I don't want to unflag it later, I want it marked, for all time, as delegated.

OF is a personal task management system and does not support this directly (yet) but there are of course workarounds. I have a special @waiting-for context with a sub context for each person a regularly delegate to. People that I only delegate one or two tasks to I put in the general @waiting-for context. This works extremely well for me.

Originally Posted by jpathomas

Question #3 In Process. Sometimes my task is to call someone, and I end of leaving them a voice mail, and waiting for them to call me back. In F/C I'd mark that item as In Process. In OF it looks like it's either done, or not done.

In GTD I suppose only one task can be in progress at any one time which is the one you are actually working on. All you need to do is to be more liberal about what you call a project; and you won't need an "In Process" flag thingy. E.g.:

1. Phone X and tell him about Y.
You made the phone call and he didn't pick up so you left a voice mail.
The task of phoning is now done and marked as completed but a new task is entered instead.
2. Wait for X to phone me back about Y.

See, you now have a mini project instead. The action involved more steps than you had initially anticipated. This example is of course simplistic but this is one of the major strengths of GTD. No matter how much a small task grows; the system is able to cope.

If it is really important that you actually talk to the guy; voice mail isn't enough. You would reschedule the task and make another phone call in two days or whatever. Util you get hold of him the task is not done. You could make entries in the note field if you want to keep track of failed tries to reach him.

GTD does require you to think differently about certain things reading the book is probably good advice.

Thank for that explanation Colicoid, it adds a few more pieces to the puzzle for me.

In regard to this...

1. Phone X and tell him about Y.
You made the phone call and he didn't pick up so you left a voice mail.
The task of phoning is now done and marked as completed but a new task is entered instead.
2. Wait for X to phone me back about Y.

It seems to me that this one of those places where you can use a context like @Waiting for Return Call? I suppose it would depend on how you keep notes on your tasks.

I would be concerned about making smaller and smaller tasks, but I see your point.

I'll order the book today.