[SpiralOcean]

Waiting for items are a different beast than other action items.
The way I process waiting for items, are slow and cumbersome.

My goal is to be able to go to a context,
and process through the context, before moving on to the next context.

With waiting for items, I would like to be able to process each waiting for item that is due today.

But what happens is I am constantly flipping back and forth between projects and contexts to modify waiting for items.

Here is a flow chart of how waiting for items are processed.
How would you create this in OmniFocus?

http://scotaganda.com/omni/index.php...flow_chart.pdf

[curt.clifton]

Based on your flowchart, rather than put a due date on WF actions, I'd put a start date on them. Then they will only show up as available if they really are something you need to follow up on. For follow up actions, I'd use Cmd-Opt-R (or the new Switch toolbar button) to go to the action in Planning View. Once there, use Shift-Return to create a new Follow Up action above the current action. Assuming the project is sequential, that will will block the WF item until you've followed up. When you do follow up, the WF will appear again, and you can set its new start date. You may want to annotate your follow-up actions so you can switch to Planning mode and set WF start dates immediately upon completing the follow up.

That's still a bit complex, but isn't too bad.

I wonder if it would be helpful to have a pair of scripts to convert WF actions into Follow Up actions, and vice versa. I'll have to think about that. I would welcome ideas along those lines.

[SpiralOcean]

Originally Posted by curt.clifton

Based on your flowchart, rather than put a due date on WF actions, I'd put a start date on them. Then they will only show up as available if they really are something you need to follow up on. For follow up actions, I'd use Cmd-Opt-R (or the new Switch toolbar button) to go to the action in Planning View. Once there, use Shift-Return to create a new Follow Up action above the current action. Assuming the project is sequential, that will will block the WF item until you've followed up. When you do follow up, the WF will appear again, and you can set its new start date. You may want to annotate your follow-up actions so you can switch to Planning mode and set WF start dates immediately upon completing the follow up.

That's still a bit complex, but isn't too bad.

I wonder if it would be helpful to have a pair of scripts to convert WF actions into Follow Up actions, and vice versa. I'll have to think about that. I would welcome ideas along those lines.

Again... always a pleasure Curt, thank you.

I've been using due date for waiting for items.
Because I use the start date for projects only.

This allows me to focus on projects that I have started on, and frees up the due date from any constraints I would have if the project had a due date.

I also use the back and forth, going from project to task often.

I am trying to get to the point where I don't have to do that.
I'm trying to figure out a way where I can stay in my contexts to work, and not constantly checking projects to make sure I didn't forget anything.

Waiting for is a big challenge for a user to stay in the contexts to process items.

This is what I am attempting to solve.

I have also thought about writing some scripts for this... it's on my list. ;-)

However, having a parent with completed children be hidden makes tracking waiting for items extremely difficult. Even with scripting.

I posted something about waiting for items way back before the alpha was even available, and how they are different. I wish Omni would take a look at the waiting for dilemma. I wonder who at Omni is using OF? And how they deal with waiting for items.

[curt.clifton]

Originally Posted by SpiralOcean

I wonder who at Omni is using OF? And how they deal with waiting for items.

I know Ken is using it, as is Ethan. I suspect others are. I think Ken has posted about Waiting For items previously. Have you searched the forums for that?

[SpiralOcean]

I just tried searching in the advanced field for
waiting for
with posts from
ken case

and got the error message...

The search term you specified (for) is under the minimum word length (4) and therefore will not be found. Please make this term longer.

So I tried to search for
waiting
with Ken Case

And got no results.

I attempted to search for all posts by Ken Case,
and got no results.

I'd like to see what they were posting about.

I'll put this in as a bug for the forums.

[SpiralOcean]

Interesting... I cannot find any posts by Ken.
And when I search for my own posts, I can only find the last two.
hmm...

[brianogilvie]

Originally Posted by SpiralOcean

Interesting... I cannot find any posts by Ken.
And when I search for my own posts, I can only find the last two.
hmm...

Have you tried clicking on Ken's name in any post, to see his profile, and then clicking on the link for find all posts by Ken Case?

If those don't work, then, in the immortal words of Elmer Fudd, thewe's something scwewy going on.

[SpiralOcean]

Originally Posted by brianogilvie

Have you tried clicking on Ken's name in any post, to see his profile, and then clicking on the link for find all posts by Ken Case?

If those don't work, then, in the immortal words of Elmer Fudd, thewe's something scwewy going on.

Ahhh... that's where that is.
Thanks for showing me that. I browsed through 10 pages of forum posts then stopped in the indignity of not being able to search. ;-)

I did try clicking on the Members List at the top of the forum, and got an error message saying

Sorry! The administrator has disabled the list of members.

After that, I attempted going into my own personal profile to find a thread that I had that Ken posted to, but couldn't find a list of my own messages.

Oy Vey.

[al_f]

I struggled with waiting fors as well initially. The workflow I've settled on now is entering a waiting for in a project after each delegation step, so the waiting for automatically becomes active once the delegation action is done e.g.

Email Bill to ask for copy of proposal (computer)
Bill - copy of proposal (waiting for)

I look at the waiting fors in my reviews (usually weekly but more often if I've got a few time-critical things on the go) and fire off quick less-than-2-minute reminder emails if anything is taking longer than it should, thus avoiding the need to enter new email actions for the reminders.

[SpiralOcean]

Originally Posted by al_f

I struggled with waiting fors as well initially. The workflow I've settled on now is entering a waiting for in a project after each delegation step, so the waiting for automatically becomes active once the delegation action is done e.g.

Email Bill to ask for copy of proposal (computer)
Bill - copy of proposal (waiting for)

I look at the waiting fors in my reviews (usually weekly but more often if I've got a few time-critical things on the go) and fire off quick less-than-2-minute reminder emails if anything is taking longer than it should, thus avoiding the need to enter new email actions for the reminders.

Thanks for the workflow alf.

I've thought about that, and attempted it a couple times, but what happens is sometimes I won't need that waiting for... usually for making phone calls.

At which point your response would be... then don't enter it for phone calls. :-) But then there are the phone calls where I leave a voicemail, and now I have a need for a waiting for.

I'll never know if I have a waiting for... until I process the item.

However, for email, there is always a delay, this would probably work well for emails.

What waiting for's are there?
Emails, which happen always when an email is sent and you need a response. But not all emails sent need a waiting for.
Phone calls, after leaving a voicemail.
Another event to happen in another one of my own projects.
Another event to happen with another person outside my projects.
(example:
sync third party apps with iPhone.
-waiting for leopard.
(I don't really have that in my list, but that is the type of waiting for's I have had for projects)

I can't think of any other time I would use a waiting for? Anyone else have a waiting for example?