[LizPf]

Originally Posted by Journey

When I go to the place, Cornucopia, I don't only see Amy there, I see Adam, Scott, Lori, Debbie, Karen H, Karen M, and others.

I'd like to be able to select the place context in that case rather than the person, to see all items related to Cornucopia.

Here's how you can make this work.

Context list:

-Cornucopia
---Amy
---Adam
---Scott
---Lori
...
-Other Place
---Adam
---Donna
---Frank
...

Note that Adam is someone you see in both places.

1. You're going to Cornucopia, and want to take a list of everything.
In the Context sidebar, click on Cornucopia. All the nested contexts come along, so you have everything.

2. You're going to Cornucopia, and only Amy and Scott will be there.
Click on C>Amy, Command-click on C>Scott. You will see only the C things that are for Amy or Scott

3. You are going to Other Place, but want everything for Adam, regardless of where he is.
Click on O.P.>Adam, Command-click on C>Adam. You now have everything for Adam.

This works well if you have people you see mostly at only one place. But you can extrapolate from this to other situations.

In short, even without multiple Contexts per action, you can view several Contexts at once, which is often just as good. [Not always though — I'd still like some limited meta data, but I've learned how to get along without it.]

--Liz

[Journey]

Hi Liz,

I really appreciate your input on how to get to work without multiple contexts. I realize that if it's not included in OF that I will have to find some kind of workaround and your approach is one to consider.

No workaround is as good as having multiple contexts, but I am not going to give up OF if it doesn't have multiple contexts / action as an option because there are many other things to like about OF.

Your example shows that if I have places and people, something will have to be doubled -- either multiple actions when I enter them, or multiple contexts with the same context name.

The other option I might consider is to put something like *Adam in the note and search for it.

Thanks again for your idea!

[Journey]

I just want to add that in my real life activities, there are a handful of place contexts that I have, and the "Other Place" idea is a really good one. That way I can enter anything related to a place in the place context, and when I see a person I can click on that person in "Other Place", and in the other place contexts that I see the person (usually I know the other places where the person would be and usually a given person isn't in more than one or two other places).

So, I am very happy about your solution for this because People and Place are two of my main contexts.

I think Function and Topic are other contexts which add complexity. The no-mind aspect of entering assigning the following activity to contexts would be: "Phone Adam from Cornucopia about new Thai Restaurant".

Goes into:

- Phone (function)
- Adam (person)
- Cornucopia (place -- i.e. if I needed to use a phone there)
- Restaurant or Fun Things to Do (topic)

When I am entering the activity it's a no-brainer how to assign contexts, I have a clean context hierarchy, and I have one activity in all of its natural contexts.

Any example is just an example, and other examples can easily be created showing different contexts.

I could use a bracket naming convention for my contexts and keep a list and then put all the contexts in the note that don't fit into Person and Place using your suggestion.

Then I would assign the above to Cornucopia:Adam, and put "[Fun Thing]" and "[Phone]" in the note.

I'd just have to make sure that I know the dimensions left out of my context structure that are supplied via the note. For example, I could no longer have a Phone context if I rely on note searching to give me all things I need to do while at the phone. Or I could have a Phone context, but know where I compromised and search the note for that context.

Because I like the "no mind" concept from GTD though, I think I would just enter 4 activities with the same description but with different contexts:

1) Phone Adam from Cornucopia about new Thai Restaurant
--> "Phone" context


2) Phone Adam from Cornucopia about new Thai Restaurant
--> "Adam" context

3) Phone Adam from Cornucopia about new Thai Restaurant
--> "Cornucopia" context

4) Phone Adam from Cornucopia about new Thai Restaurant
--> "Topic" context

That way I have duplicated activities, but my context hierarchy is very clean and intuitive.

It's easier for me to deal with activity redundancy than it would be to have to remember how to query my contexts correctly. With activity redundancy, I would delete something, and if I see it again I'd delete that one too. It will make my project view very cluttered, but having correct contexts is the most important thing for me in the GTD methodology.

Thanks again for your idea -- it may help in the way I implement this -- maybe I will think of how I could extend it for my other two context dimensions.

[ksrhee]

Originally Posted by LizPf

Here's how you can make this work.

Context list:

-Cornucopia
---Amy
---Adam
---Scott
---Lori
...
-Other Place
---Adam
---Donna
---Frank
...

In short, even without multiple Contexts per action, you can view several Contexts at once, which is often just as good. [Not always though — I'd still like some limited meta data, but I've learned how to get along without it.]

--Liz

Good suggestion, but I would suggest that you don't really need to create additional contexts for Adam. In fact, DA would suggest that this is completely unnecessary. He always preaches in his book and seminar about simplicity and parsimony in creating contexts. Furthermore, he emphasizes the importance of discipline in assigning items to a context as well.

So, my suggestion would be

Places
---Cornucopia
---Tropicana
etc.

People
---Adam
---Sarah
etc.

Now you might have your own system about how to assign an action item to a place or people, but given OF's ability to select multiple items, it doesn't really matter whether I put this action into place or people. I have my own rules as to whether it should go into place or people, but YMMV on this anyway; so, I won't even talk about it here.

You can select Cornucopia, Adam, and Sarah to see get all the items pertaining to these contexts.

This is equivalent to using a paper/pencil system. In that case, I would take out three pieces of papers (containing each context) to scan for my next action(s).

Thanks.

[Paul]

Journey,
Another approach which would address your situation, instead of multiple contexts, is to be able to add metadata to OF's tasks.

For example, if you could add a column for Person, and be able to view all instances of a person across contexts, I think it would address your need.

Or if there was tagging, you could tag all tasks that involve a person, whether you were waiting on them or you needed to respond to them, or have an agenda with a committee that they were on, and then view all tasks which have their tag.

As long as it's easy to enter and easy to sort by for viewing, I would take any kind of metadata solution.

[Journey]

I would also be open to some kind of metadata solution although it would be important obviously for me to be able to use it to implement multiple contexts. I haven't given it much thought. I think other apps implement this as you say by being able to add columns, or through use of keywords, or through tags.

I played around with Ecco Pro 4 last night (anyone remember that?). It's probably the most flexible "PIM" ever created in that it allows definition of additional columns, and allows one to be able to choose multiple values for a column.

I could use it to implement GTD, or could create a MS Access database, or use one of my other tools. I probably could even use Omni Outliner in some way because it allows one to add columns.

However, OF is too powerful in many other ways for me to give it up so I may have to compromise in some way. The most pure way for me would be to have a preference set to allow multiple contexts. As I played with Ecco Pro 4 last night I could see what the UI might look like in OF when selecting multiple contexts.

I realize I might not get multiple contexts, but I always feel good when I put forth the effort to try to get a good feature -- not only for me but for the tool itself and its future. If multiple contexts aren't implemented I will find a workaround that works best for me given whatever features are available at any given time. Perhaps meta data or something similar will provide a better workaround in the future if they are added.

[Khatsalano]

Journey,

I totally agree with you about multiple contexts. The way I work they are essential! I emailed support back in August requesting this feature.

For example I would naturally add the activity "Ask my friend Mario to recommend a good accountant" under the contexts "Phone" and "Mario". If I'm waiting for the bus and I have a few minutes to make phone calls I'll switch to the "Phone" context and see the activity or if Mario calls me I can switch to the "Mario" context and see the activity. Contexts are about opportunity and if I didn't have it in both contexts I would have missed the opportunity in one of the scenarios.

An important concept in GTD (I'm not stuck on GTD btw) is that you have to trust your system so nothing will slip through the cracks otherwise your mind cannot completely let go of the task and it stays in your brain's RAM. If I bump into Mario (I'm hoping OF will run on the iPhone at some point) and I think there's something I need to ask him that might be buried with my many other tasks in some unknown context I'll lose trust in the system.

I'm a long time user of ECCO Pro and I've been assigning multiple contexts to my tasks for years. Even though support for the product was discontinued in 1997 it's still very relevant today and was well ahead of it's time. OmniFocus is also an amazing product and will be even better in my opinion if they support multiple contexts.