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sequential project, due date don't work well together Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Here's what I want to do:

I have a repeating project with sequential actions inside of it. When it triggers, I would like to see it in my "today" perspective, which is set to show flagged and due-soon actions.

Problem is, if the project has a due date, all of its children have an (inherited) due date, and are therefore displayed en masse in this perspective -- I don't want to see them all, just the next one -- that's why I set the project to sequential!

If I remove the due date, the project only enables the first action, as appropriate, but then it doesn't show up in my "today" perspective.

So, maybe there are two potential routes:
- how to get tame the behavior of inherited due date + sequential project (this actually seems like a bug to me)
- how to i get a slightly more expanded "today" perspective, which will also show, for instance, next actions.

The basic idea is that I want a concise view of stuff that's important. Since flags and due dates don't seem to work the way I'd expect with sequential projects, I'd hope there's some other way.

Thanks!
Jeremy
 
You could change the one filter to "Next Action" for this perpsective. This will no longer show everything due today, but will show you the next item to do for each project and then when you complete it, you will see the next item in the project. You might want to leave the one perspective as is so you can see everything and then create a new one with this change.
 
I would not call it a bug, as the perspective does give you exactly what it says-tasks that are due and flagged. You may have tasks that are blocked in a sequential project, but they are still due just the same if the project's due date is soon.

I use this view a lot myself, and I like that the blocked tasks are still displayed. If I have a due project with 4 actions remaining, and I need 4 hours to complete all 4 actions, I don't want 3 of the 4 tasks hidden which may cause me to underestimate what's on my plate for today.

What I do consider is a bug, or at least a missing feature, is that tasks in this view only display in one style. As such, a due and blocked task looks the same as a due, unblocked task. I'd really like to see the task styles stacked. That is, if a due task is set to display in orange and a blocked task is set to display in italic, then I'd like to see the due, blocked, tasks display in orange italic.
 
This would be better than what it is now. I've ended up changing my idea of what "today" means for now, and I'll see how this feature/bug develops in the future. Thanks! jb
 
My use case and request are different, but they also fit under this thread heading so I thought I'd post it here.

I have a sequential project, "get reimbursed" with these sequential tasks:
1) find receipts (no due date)
2) find an envelope (no due date)
3) mail receipts in envelope (due now)
4) check on reimbursement status (start 3 weeks, due 4 weeks)

I would like OmniFocus to recognize that since (3) is due, (1)+(2) should also be due since they precede it in the sequence. Is there a view configuration that will do this? I expected Due to, but it doesn't.

If I set a due date on the project, then (1) and (2) inherit that, but so does (4), which isn't due for another 4 weeks and can't even be started for 3 weeks.

What's the best way to handle this use case? Am I making a feature request or can OF already handle this well?
 
Turadg, I'm pretty sure that we have an item open on this sort of due date inheritance in our development database; if you email the support ninjas, they can vote that request up on your behalf.
 
In lieu of built in support, here's how I'd handle this now:

I'd set the project due date to "now", put no due dates on any of the items, then change the due date of the project to +4w after mailing the receipts.

It's not as automatic as having items infer due dates based on the due dates of their successors, but it gets the job done in the meantime.

Hope that helps.
__________________
Cheers,

Curt
 
I do much the same thing that Curt suggests, except that I'll stick in an action that reminds me to reset the due date on the project. It would be nice if OF had some means of specifying an offset from completion of the previous action ("this is due 14 days after the previous action is completed") but so far my cards and letters on that subject apparently haven't achieved critical mass in the development database :-)
 
I would have an action group that contains the first three and set the due date on that and then leave #4 out.
 
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I've e-mailed the "support ninjas" so I hope this functionality makes it into a future release. I want it to be automatic. That's why we use computers right? :)
 
 


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