The Omni Group
These forums are now read-only. Please visit our new forums to participate in discussion. A new account will be required to post in the new forums. For more info on the switch, see this post. Thank you!

Go Back   The Omni Group Forums > OmniFocus > Applying OmniFocus
FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

 
How do you handle expected call backs? Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
(I'm pretty much GTD)

So, I call someone and leave a message asking that he or she call me back. The action started out with the context "phone" and a project assigned to it.

Best thing I can figure to do is change its context to "Waiting," which is OK, but means I'm going to have scan that context pretty often-- maybe a few times a day.

Anyone have a better way to handle?

TIA
 
I create a child action called waiting for call from name about subject
I assign this child action a waiting for context
Give it a start date a couple days out

Every day I review my waiting for context using the available filter
The available filter will not show me any actions with a future start date

I process the waiting for list to 0
Processing means:
I'm no longer waiting for the item so I check it off
I'm still waiting for the item but don't want to take action so I assign a start date in the future.
I need to ping the person I'm waiting on ( leave another voicemail to send a follow up email)

If an item on the waiting for list hasn't been resolved but I want to keep it in the list, I give it a future start date.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by trocklin View Post
(I'm pretty much GTD)

So, I call someone and leave a message asking that he or she call me back. The action started out with the context "phone" and a project assigned to it.

Best thing I can figure to do is change its context to "Waiting," which is OK, but means I'm going to have scan that context pretty often-- maybe a few times a day.

Anyone have a better way to handle?

TIA
@Troklin, If you use GTD traditional contexts way, I agree. I did it like this for years.

But for years I had problems with contexts about doing things. Since, I discovered another way : autofocus from Mark Forster and it's incredible last method AF4R and SAF. Now I changed my way of making and doing context and created mine which are :
CALL > All my calls to do. I love seeing them disappearing.
MAC > everything I must do if i have my imac
AF LIST > This is the traditional autofocus list AF1
UNFINISHED > This is a list wich contains all unfinished tasks. When a AF task is done but still needs to be followed or continued it goes here.
DISSMISS. > See Dissmiss from Mark FORSTER
ERRANDS
RECURRING Tasks > Not very use
SOMEDAY ? > If I dont really know if I want to do it or no= I may...
NOTES. > When I need notes about tasks or projects to be followed.
PERSONAL > =Home = a list t do when I have time and not on the rush of my work.

So, a waiting for call goes on my unfinished task and it's much better. I just write at the beginning of the task WAIT X to call me back - 5/12/10. (French date).

Since I use these new contexts and Autofocus process I don't loose time in organization. It made GTD less complicated and I work fast and things seems less complicated.

Last edited by Jupiter; 2011-01-04 at 10:24 PM..
 
Trocklin, I generally leave topics like this in whatever context they would otherwise be in, then use the Start Date field to move them off my active list until I want them to reactivate. Does that help?

(In my workflow, they get assigned to a person's context, generally in the form of a question. That way I don't need to edit the name from "call X about Y" to "check back with X about Y" or what have you. They just go into that person's context as "What about Y?" and stay that way.)
 
I create a "follow up with <whoever> about <whatever>" action, give it a start date a couple of days in the future, and if I really don't want to forget, give it a Due Date a day or so after that. When the action resurfaces, I either ping the person or shift the dates again. (I realize that using a Due Date for this is an abuse of the Due Date field, but I'm engaging in larger abuses of that field that I need to correct first. :))

Gardener
 
I would do one of two things:

1) put an action on your calendar to chase that person if you've not heard back
2) put an action in Omnifocus to chase the person on a given date or at a certain time.

for me the context isn't important, but I suppose if you're going to chase by phone it should go on your calls list.
 
In a situation like that, I might just set the start time for the event a few hours in the future, and it'll be there the next time I look at my available or next-actions list after the start time.
 
I use http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~clifton/software.html#Await
to facilitate the simple scheme of putting the task into the Waiting For context, but it is modified slightly which is enough.
 
 


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Tasks are not changing as expected with leveling nathanmeffert OmniPlan General 1 2013-04-18 02:24 PM
Stalled Perspective - Bug or expected behavior? darrenburgess OmniFocus 1 for Mac 1 2010-07-04 05:45 AM
Due button not behaving as expected sgraff OmniFocus 1 for Mac 6 2009-05-29 07:42 AM
Expected Requirements for Final 5.5? j.a.duke OmniWeb General 2 2006-04-04 04:24 PM


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 05:56 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.