[jshaevitz]

Originally Posted by mitchm

I'll start by describing a nice feature of LifeBalance. Any context (called Places in LB) can contain any other context. That means Phone can be in Errands, Home, and Work as it is for me. In OF it can only be in one. I make calls on the go all the time. I can respond to email while I'm out as well. This provides a lot more flexibility to organize tasks by granular context and yet not lose the ability to view them together them when you want to.

This can be done in OF with perspectives. You can make OF contexts for the low-level contexts such as @phone, @email, @computer, @office etc.

Then, in context view, you can define perspectives for your higher-level "contexts" from the original post such as: Perspective "Computer" which shows tasks from the OF contexts @email, @web and @skype.

I have Perspectives for Office and Computer which have overlapping contexts such as @email and @online, but in Office I also have tasks that I can complete when I am physically @work.

[mitchm]

Originally Posted by jshaevitz

This can be done in OF with perspectives. You can make OF contexts for the low-level contexts such as @phone, @email, @computer, @office etc.

Then, in context view, you can define perspectives for your higher-level "contexts" from the original post such as: Perspective "Computer" which shows tasks from the OF contexts @email, @web and @skype.

I have Perspectives for Office and Computer which have overlapping contexts such as @email and @online, but in Office I also have tasks that I can complete when I am physically @work.

That sounds like decent solution, but seems like kind of a hack - basically you are using perspectives as contexts, which requires a lot more set up. The fact that you are doing it this way makes me think that this should probably be a feature of contexts.

[curt.clifton]

Originally Posted by mitchm

That sounds like decent solution, but seems like kind of a hack - basically you are using perspectives as contexts, which requires a lot more set up. The fact that you are doing it this way makes me think that this should probably be a feature of contexts.

I'm somewhat embarrassed to post back to this thread, since it's just kicking a dead and thoroughly liquified horse, but...

jshaevitz use of perspectives isn't a hack at all. It's one of the main uses of perspectives. As I recall, it exactly mirrors places in Life Balance.

[wilsonng]

Well, if mitchm feels like he needs priorities, more power to him.

I believe that everyone should try to find a customized GTD setup that works best for them. It may be confusing and mysterious to some of us, but it makes perfect sense to someone else.

It's like religion or politics - it's all personal and true to our character and nature.....

It's been a while since I looked at the last v1.6 sneaky peek. I wonder if/when that mythological custom data field will be implemented. Maybe I'll take a look and download the lastest sneaky peek.

Not sure if this helps anyone, but here's my workflow for prioritizing tasks in Omnifocus:

In Planning Mode:
1. I click on empty space in the projects list to list all tasks across all projects/folders
1. I go through and flag all tasks I'd like to complete today
2. I choose Flagged in the Flag State in the View Bar to show only the tasks I've flagged to do throughout the day
3. I rearrange just the tasks in this view in order of priority.

One thing to note is that Inbox tasks are visible even after choosing Flagged from the View Bar, but you can just collapse the Inbox. This has proven to be a pretty quick/efficient way for me to prioritize tasks. Hope it helps someone and isn't super confusing.

[whpalmer4]

You can cmd-click on the Inbox to remove it from the sidebar selection if you don't want to see the contents or the container...

[Greg Jones]

Originally Posted by formandfocus

One thing to note is that Inbox tasks are visible even after choosing Flagged from the View Bar, but you can just collapse the Inbox.

I don't see the Inbox tasks when doing this, unless I have flagged a task in the Inbox. I'm using the latest SP version, so perhaps this behavior has changed from the version that you are using.

The Inbox container does remain in the view, however, but can be hidden as whpalmer4 mentioned. As another option, I just select the Library icon instead of clicking on an empty space in the sidebar. That gives you a view of everything but the Inbox.

[Ken Case]

Originally Posted by formandfocus

One thing to note is that Inbox tasks are visible even after choosing Flagged from the View Bar, but you can just collapse the Inbox.

You couldn't filter the Inbox in 1.5, but you can in the 1.6 sneaky peeks.

[Ken Case]

Originally Posted by wilsonng

It's been a while since I looked at the last v1.6 sneaky peek. I wonder if/when that mythological custom data field will be implemented.

It's still planned, but no longer for 1.6: we already have a lot of great, stable updates in 1.6 that we'd like to release, and making this change right now in 1.6 would be too destabilizing (delaying the release of all the other changes). But 1.7 sneaky peeks are right around the corner…

[PeterS]

I've followed this debate round and round, up and down. i've read the book, listened to the audiotape and DA offers us a valuable tool NOT a gospel. Priorities would improve a fantastic tool in Omnifocus, its an easy way of sorting my list of flagged tasks - all I want is a simple way of ordering my actions- I know there are clever ways of ordering projects etc but you can't beat inserting 1-9 in a column, revising it when necessary.
I've played with Things and registered iGTD and have heard the arguments but I can't get my head round the feeling that tags whilst clever are simply yet more ways of delaying doing anything. They are just another process to get between us and the job or making the list shorter. Filing actions in ever more creative ways just delays the work. I've used this and every other delaying tactic my furtive yet strangely creative mind can find.
My life is complex like most of the users, I sell knowledge for a living and solve problems, having looked at some incredibly complex ways of tracking actions (which are great instead of doing them) GTD and OmniFocus does it so well for me I just want easy for 'mind like water' 'rather than 'mind like mud'.