[plutones]

Is there a solution on the way for single actions ?
I know it has been discussed before but it doesn't appear yet in OmniFocus.
For me the only change necessary would be a checkbox in the Project inspector saying 'all next actions' which makes all the actions in the project go purple.

[pvonk]

From what I've read in those threads concerning single actions, the Religion of GTD permits only one next action per project, regardless of the sequential or parallel setting. I believe one solution that was offered was to use the appropriate filter (available?) to see multiple actions per project. Unfortunately this is a global setting and does not affect the sequential vs. parallel setting. Your suggestion would certainly work.

However, I've noticed that folks have brought up countless issues regarding the use of OF and one solution frequently offered for each issue is to include a preference or checkbox. But how many can we put up with?

[brooce]

If they're ALL next actions, then NONE of them are next actions.

I hope Omni stays canonical (follows GTD principles) for 1.0, and doesn't waste time enabling "cheater" behavior until later...

[plutones]

In a list of single actions every action SHOULD be a next action because the actions are not related to eachother.

In OF I use a parallel project for single actions which means that all actions down from nr 2 are not considered next actions, but in fact they are !

If I put the filter bar in context view on "next" all these next-actions disappear. Now this is not very 'canonical' in my opinion...

[curt.clifton]

Originally Posted by plutones

In a list of single actions every action SHOULD be a next action because the actions are not related to eachother.

In OF I use a parallel project for single actions which means that all actions down from nr 2 are not considered next actions, but in fact they are !

If I put the filter bar in context view on "next" all these next-actions disappear. Now this is not very 'canonical' in my opinion...

You currently have two options.

1. Filter for Available actions. That will show exactly the actions you want. Then change the formatting of Available-but-not-Next Actions to match that of Next Actions.

2. Don't assign your singleton actions to projects. Just give them a context and clean them from the inbox. They'll show in context view as next actions, but won't show at all in project view.

[pvonk]

Originally Posted by curt.clifton

You currently have two options.
2. Don't assign your singleton actions to projects. Just give them a context and clean them from the inbox. They'll show in context view as next actions, but won't show at all in project view.

I have a question about this... I've created an action in the inBox and assigned it a context but no project. Then I clicked the "clean up" tool (I'm not sure if this is what you mean by 'clean them from the inbox' - but this did remove the action from the inBox). I turned on the "next" filter in context view, but this action doesn't show up. If I choose "available" then it does. Am I missing something?

- Pierre

[plutones]

Originally Posted by curt.clifton

You currently have two options.
1. Filter for Available actions. That will show exactly the actions you want. Then change the formatting of Available-but-not-Next Actions to match that of Next Actions.

2. Don't assign your singleton actions to projects. Just give them a context and clean them from the inbox. They'll show in context view as next actions, but won't show at all in project view.

Thanks for your suggestions.
1. I did use the available-filter already but got distracted by the different colors of actions with the same status. Your suggestion to use the same formatting does work and I will use it for now. But I do find it a shame to have to sacrifice custom formatting for next actions. I think the Omni people can come up with a more elegant solution...

2. This doesn't work for me, I would like to see a list of single actions in the project view for reviewing purposes.

[kebmo19]

please elaborate by "clean them from the inbox" what do you mean? if I do that each one appears as it's own project

[LizPf]

Originally Posted by brooce

If they're ALL next actions, then NONE of them are next actions.

True, but beside the point.

The issue is, SOME projects have actions that can truly be carried out in parallel. Think of cooking a meal of stir-fried beef and peppers. We can do the prep work for the stir-fry in any order -- it doesn't matter whether we cut the red pepper first or the green, or whether we do the garlic before the ginger. So, under the "knife work" sub project, any task can be the next step, and we might do them in different orders on different days.

However, in the "cook" sub-project, we do have to follow a series of steps in exact order. If we try to cook the peppers first, they will overcook in the time it takes to cook the beef.

Now, if we were to enter this in OF, we'd have, in Project View:

Project: Cook Pepper Beef
Sub-P: Prep Work
Task: cut red pepper Context: Knife
Task: cut green pepper Context: Knife
Task: cut beef Context: Knife
....
Sub-P: Stir-Fry
Task: Cook beef Context: Wok
Task: Cook peppers Context: Wok
Task: add ginger & garlic Context: Wok
....

In Context View, the one we'll see during cooking:

Context: Knife
Task: cut red pepper
Task: cut green pepper
Task: cut beef
...
Context: Wok
Task: Cook beef
Task: Cook peppers
Task: add ginger & garlic
....

Note the purple Next Actions.

If we set the filter to Show next actions, we can't see all the knife tasks, though we want to. But if we set Available Actions, we'd see the Knife tasks for several other meals as well. What we want (well, what I want) is to set ALL the knife work tasks in this project to Next Actions, so I could see them all at once.

[No, I don't plan out my cooking — but this is an example most people can understand.]

--Liz

[Craig]

Originally Posted by LizPf

If we set the filter to Show next actions, we can't see all the knife tasks, though we want to. But if we set Available Actions, we'd see the Knife tasks for several other meals as well. What we want (well, what I want) is to set ALL the knife work tasks in this project to Next Actions, so I could see them all at once.

If you want to see all those tasks but exclude those for other meals, couldn't you Focus on this project and then view Available?