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How to handle with more then "2 contexts"? Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Sorry, but there is no good defense against multiple contexts. As has been stated elsewhere, there is no reason why GTD couldn't use multiple contexts, it's just not feasible with a paper or simple list-based solution. With advanced tools, though, advanced usages are available.

Perfect example: I have calls to make. Some are work-related, some are non-work related. The idea of a context as a working state should be flexible enough to support the idea of "I'm in the mood to focus on work tasks" and "I'm in the mood to make some calls". Both are very specific states of mind and both have overlapping tasks. If I'm in the mood to work, I can blow through a bunch of work tasks, including invoicing, calls, etc. If I'm just in the mood to make calls, I can blow through a call to the florist, a call about an overdue work invoice, and a call to pay a bill all in one blast. Those are two different contexts that could include the same tasks.

Do _not_ say "have you read GTD". I have several times and am extremely familiar with it both in principle and in practice. Right now, OF interferes with supporting natural GTD contexts and switching between them quickly because it forces you to go through all kinds of kludges and hacks just to be able to support the very simple example described above. Calling about an overdue invoice is both a phone call and work related, and both of those are separate work states, either of which could allow me to knock that task out if it showed up correctly in the list.

This is the single biggest reason I have moved to Things. The second OF supports multiple contexts, I would be glad to come back. Right now, not having it is a severe limitation whose workarounds needlessly add noise to task management in OF.
 
There's nothing stopping you from categorizing your calls as work-related and personal, and working either a subset or the whole. Works just fine, and I use the technique all the time.

David Allen is still very active, and even uses those new-fangled computer things now. Oddly enough, while he has plenty to say about many topics, I have yet to see any suggestion that he thinks a single context for an action isn't sufficient...
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by drewmca View Post
Perfect example: I have calls to make. Some are work-related, some are non-work related. The idea of a context as a working state should be flexible enough to support the idea of "I'm in the mood to focus on work tasks" and "I'm in the mood to make some calls". Both are very specific states of mind and both have overlapping tasks. If I'm in the mood to work, I can blow through a bunch of work tasks, including invoicing, calls, etc. If I'm just in the mood to make calls, I can blow through a call to the florist, a call about an overdue work invoice, and a call to pay a bill all in one blast. Those are two different contexts that could include the same tasks.
Surely that's pretty easy to handle by a parent context with two children of work and personal?

That's exactly what I do with several contexts. i work from home and have just the one office. Sometimes I'll be in work mode, sometimes I'll have personal matters to deal with in the same space. So, I have contexts thus:

@Office
-@Office Work
-@Office Personal

@Phone
-@Phone Work
-@Phone Personal

So therefore, if I want to see all my calls I just select @Phone and I'll see all of them, but if I need to be specific then I can click on the specific category.

If I wanted to only look at work-related tasks, regardless of context then I have a perspective called work which has a selection only including the @work contexts and I select that so show me everything work related.

Last edited by RiK; 2010-09-10 at 02:36 AM.. Reason: formatting
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by endoftheQ View Post
I know that the idea of multiple contexts seems to offend some fundi-GTD'ers but, hey, if this was implemented they wouldn't have to use it!
I have two words for you; Microsoft Word. People complain that Omnifocus is too hard to learn now without even more unnecessary features.
I really don't want Omnifocus to turn into bloated crapware.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by drewmca View Post
Sorry, but there is no good defense against multiple contexts.
Copy and pasting the same post into several threads is rude.

http://forums.omnigroup.com/showpost...5&postcount=11
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by RiK View Post
Surely that's pretty easy to handle by a parent context with two children of work and personal?

That's exactly what I do with several contexts. i work from home and have just the one office. Sometimes I'll be in work mode, sometimes I'll have personal matters to deal with in the same space. So, I have contexts thus:

@Office
-@Office Work
-@Office Personal

@Phone
-@Phone Work
-@Phone Personal

So therefore, if I want to see all my calls I just select @Phone and I'll see all of them, but if I need to be specific then I can click on the specific category.

If I wanted to only look at work-related tasks, regardless of context then I have a perspective called work which has a selection only including the @work contexts and I select that so show me everything work related.
Sorry, doesn't work. Tried it and it completely fell apart. It leads to ridiculous uses of hierarchy. A hierarchical parent-child relationship is fundamentally different from a many-to-many relationship. Trying to use one for the other leads to horribly complex duplicate hierarchies. The duplicate hierarchy thing is the fundamental problem I was running into.

If I want to focus on just calls, and don't care which other category they might fit in, I want Omnifocus to show me my calls. If I want to focus on work and don't care whether it's a call, research, online, or other, I want to have that list available. The whole point of GTD's sense of "flow" is to be able to switch between working states quickly and have the list of possible actions available to you. Right now, OF doesn't support this kind of flexibility.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by henry View Post
Copy and pasting the same post into several threads is rude.

http://forums.omnigroup.com/showpost...5&postcount=11
No, what's rude is suggesting to someone who has an opinion different from yours should just go away. That's what you did with your "Two words" comment, and it's not appreciated.

If you don't like using multiple contexts, then don't. No one would force you to if they were in there. There's no need to belittle a reasonable suggestion just because you don't like it. And frankly, the tone people take when speaking against multiple contexts is insulting and led to the frustration that caused my multiple post. There is no good argument against it shy of "I wouldn't use it".
 
There is no possibility you are going to get multiple context support in OmniFocus any time soon. If the approach suggested above and successfully used by many of us doesn't work for you, your best course of action would be to request a refund from Omni, which will be cheerfully delivered if you are in the first 30 days of ownership.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by drewmca View Post
Sorry, doesn't work. Tried it and it completely fell apart. It leads to ridiculous uses of hierarchy. A hierarchical parent-child relationship is fundamentally different from a many-to-many relationship. Trying to use one for the other leads to horribly complex duplicate hierarchies. The duplicate hierarchy thing is the fundamental problem I was running into.

If I want to focus on just calls, and don't care which other category they might fit in, I want Omnifocus to show me my calls. If I want to focus on work and don't care whether it's a call, research, online, or other, I want to have that list available.
You're right, OmniFocus' hierarchical contexts aren't really designed to solve the problem you describe. Instead, I'd suggest using a folder.

It sounds like the "Work" you're describing is actually an area of responsibility rather than a context; in OmniFocus, you might find it more natural to make Work a folder of projects. (In other words, while there isn't a hierarchical relationship between the "Work" you describe and your contexts, there probably is a hierarchical relationship between "Work" and your projects.)

With a Work folder, you could place all your work projects inside it and focus on those projects (using the Focus command, Control-Command-F), then switch to context mode and use the sidebar to focus in on the intersection between your Work and each of your specific contexts (Calls, Research, Online, etc.).

Does that help?

Last edited by Ken Case; 2010-09-13 at 06:23 AM..
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by henry View Post
Copy and pasting the same post into several threads is rude.
Our concern is that duplicate posts lower the signal to noise ratio of the forums and make them less valuable to other visitors. They're spam.

That is why they are mentioned in our forum rules, and why we remove the duplicates when we find them.
 
 


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