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Howdy!

I am very new to Omnifocus...just downloaded the iPhone App on Friday and spent a bunch of time trying to figure it out over the weeked. I have used Appigo's Todo since my first iPhone but really only used it as a simple task manager.

I have specific question about applying a due date to a project vs applying a due date to the actions within the project.

I have a series of work reports that I have to look at every morning. I set up a project called Daily Branch Reports and then I have the individual reports set up as actions within that project. These re-occur every business day. I know this is simpleton kind of stuff for Omnifocus but I wanted to start out with the simple stuff to make sure I was "getting it".

My question....Do I set up a due date/time for the project or for the individual actions within that project?

Any help/suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thanks much!

Steve
 
Actually, this isn't so simple!

You have two basic choices for how to structure this:
  • A repeating project
  • A non-repeating project, with repeating actions

As a general rule of thumb, either the project repeats, or the actions repeat, but never both.

You only want to do this on business days, which complicates matters a bit, because OmniFocus currently doesn't have built-in support for things like "repeat this task every weekday".

What I would do would be to make a non-repeating project called Check Daily Branch Reports, set to execute in parallel, not sequential (very important!) and fill it with repeating actions. For each activity, I would make 5 similar actions:

Read Monday's Sales report @Office
Read Tuesday's Sales report @Office
Read Wednesday's Sales report @Office
Read Thursday's Sales report @Office
Read Friday's Sales report @Office

(@Office being shorthand for in the Office context)

and each one would have a start date and a due date (for example, Read Monday's Sales report might have a start date of Aug 9, 2010 6:30AM and a due date of Aug 9, 2010 11:30AM) and be set to repeat weekly. This structure keeps the activities independent of each other so that failure to read one of the reports doesn't block you from seeing all of the reports the next day, as would otherwise be the case with a repeating project. A repeating action or project only generates the next action or project when the first one is completed, so if you don't complete everything before the next project should start, the next project is not created!

With this structure, and using the default settings of show Available actions in a Context view, when you open up OmniFocus on Monday morning and look at the Office context to see what tasks you can tackle, that Read Monday's Sales report action will appear. When you complete it, it disappears, but Tuesday morning the Read Tuesday's Sales report action will appear. If you are swamped Tuesday morning and don't get a chance to read it, Wednesday morning the Read Wednesday's Sales report action will appear, and the Tuesday one will still be there as well, and shown in red because it is overdue.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by whpalmer4 View Post
Actually, this isn't so simple!

You have two basic choices for how to structure this:
  • A repeating project
  • A non-repeating project, with repeating actions

As a general rule of thumb, either the project repeats, or the actions repeat, but never both.

You only want to do this on business days, which complicates matters a bit, because OmniFocus currently doesn't have built-in support for things like "repeat this task every weekday".

What I would do would be to make a non-repeating project called Check Daily Branch Reports, set to execute in parallel, not sequential (very important!) and fill it with repeating actions. For each activity, I would make 5 similar actions:

Read Monday's Sales report @Office
Read Tuesday's Sales report @Office
Read Wednesday's Sales report @Office
Read Thursday's Sales report @Office
Read Friday's Sales report @Office

(@Office being shorthand for in the Office context)

and each one would have a start date and a due date (for example, Read Monday's Sales report might have a start date of Aug 9, 2010 6:30AM and a due date of Aug 9, 2010 11:30AM) and be set to repeat weekly. This structure keeps the activities independent of each other so that failure to read one of the reports doesn't block you from seeing all of the reports the next day, as would otherwise be the case with a repeating project. A repeating action or project only generates the next action or project when the first one is completed, so if you don't complete everything before the next project should start, the next project is not created!

With this structure, and using the default settings of show Available actions in a Context view, when you open up OmniFocus on Monday morning and look at the Office context to see what tasks you can tackle, that Read Monday's Sales report action will appear. When you complete it, it disappears, but Tuesday morning the Read Tuesday's Sales report action will appear. If you are swamped Tuesday morning and don't get a chance to read it, Wednesday morning the Read Wednesday's Sales report action will appear, and the Tuesday one will still be there as well, and shown in red because it is overdue.
I very much appreciate the thorough response. Your suggestions make complete sense, but unfortunately I am beginning to think that my needs are much simpler than those that Omnifocus was intended to meet.

I really like the interface and how the App as already gotten me to think more in terms of the efficiency created by using contexts. I really think though that in my current situation it is overkill for what I really need and yet is missing some functionality...like being able to repeat on weekdays only...that I use regularly.

More thinking to do on my part.

Thanks again.

Steve
 
You've already shelled out the coin for the app, why not use it? Yes, setting up the weekday-only repeats is a bit of a nuisance at the moment, but that's a one-time hit.

If you really do decide it isn't suitable for you, don't forget about their 30 day refund policy: http://www.omnigroup.com/blog/entry/30_day_guarantee/
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by whpalmer4 View Post
You've already shelled out the coin for the app, why not use it? Yes, setting up the weekday-only repeats is a bit of a nuisance at the moment, but that's a one-time hit.

If you really do decide it isn't suitable for you, don't forget about their 30 day refund policy: http://www.omnigroup.com/blog/entry/30_day_guarantee/
You are absolutely right. I was just getting a little anxious.

I actually went back to look at Todo to see if I could make it behave like the aspects of Omnifocus that I like....and I don't think it can be done.

I think once I give Omnifocus a little time I won't be able to live without it.

Thanks again for your help.

Steve
 
 


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