[curt.clifton]

Originally Posted by SpiralOcean

From a user perspeactive, if I have completed an action that has already started, and is not yet due, I would expect it to not be available to me.

The current method is confusing.

I personally find the current method completely rational, though I originally argued for a slightly different design that is closer to the one you want. There was a long thread debating the design last summer. Some the thread discusses the repeat inspector, which has changed substantially since June, but much of the thread is concerned with the various ways one might specify repeating actions.

It also seems like it might be helpful to collect examples of how we use repeating actions. Then rather than figuring out the logic of the various controls, one can look for an example that is similar and copy it. To that end, here are a few of my repeating actions:

Action                  Start       Due         Repeat every...
Water plants            12/15/07    12/15/07    7 days from completion
Quicken                 12/08/07    12/08/07    1 week from assigned
Fertilize house plants  9/12/07                 2 months from completion

I put a due date on repeaters where failing to do them promptly will have serious consequences, otherwise I try to omit due dates where possible. (SpiralOcean started another thread on this concept that contains good advice.) I use repeat from completion date for tasks where it doesn't make sense to do them again soon after a late completion. For example, if I'm 6 days late in watering my plants, I shouldn't water them 2 days in a row.

Also, I don't keep daily reviews in OF. I use a checklist in OmniOutliner for the things I need to check in a review. I have an appointment with myself on my calendar for doing the review. There's certainly nothing wrong with keeping reviews in OF, but for my needs I don't find much benefit in keeping habitual tasks there.

[SpiralOcean]

here are some examples:
I have a process collection boxes context.
Here are are the actions in them:
process email inbox to empty
process physical inbox to empty
process voicemail box to empty
process OmniFocus inbox to empty
process stickies to empty
process waiting for items
process computer desktop so it's clean
Quicken: process downloaded receipts
Process untagged notes in YoJimbo
Process unassigned passwords in 1Password.
Process Stalled Projects
Respond to drafts in email. (when I process my inbox, and there is an email that needs a response, I hit reply then save as draft to get it out of my inbox.)

These are all set to once a day.
So I only process my email inbox 1 time a day. This helps me from doing the rat hitting the bar to get their pellet with email.

I have other actions like:
wash dishes, vacuum, water plants, laundry, etc.
Other actions like,
Change oil in car, 3 months
wash comfortors, 6 months
re-register domain name, 1 year

I have a weekly review project set up, with the 17 actions in it from GTD.

[Chicagoist]

I've been following the discussion on repeating tasks quite closely, and people tend to be in two camps: one group are really confused and the current set up does not seem to live up to their ideas of what repeating tasks are, and the other group thinks the first group is not tweaking the difference between assign date and due date. I am definitely in the former group, and I think part of the problem is that the second group have not understood the complaints from the first group.

When I walk into my office, after I clear my inboxes there are 6 tasks I need to do to make the day successful. If any one of these tasks are not done, then later on the day I'll need to backtrack and complete that task in a less-than-ideal time. After I check the task that needs to be done ONCE per day, I really want it to disappear rather than appear in orange, making me feel like its still undone somehow. Worse yet, the next morning it will be there in RED, making me think that I didn't do it yesterday. Ideally, I would it check it, it would remain crossed out until I hit 'clean up', and then reappear the next morning as a fresh new task.

My six daily tasks are as follows:

1. Clean and fill coffee machine with water & coffee.

2. Check calendar.

3. Check mail (arrives at 9 am).

4. Finish a 30 minute German drill.

5. Print out To-Dos & Active Project lists.

6. Review Lists at the end of the workday, put in inbox for tomorrow.

I currently have these tasks in a 'single tasks' bucket, which I go through before getting started on my active projects.

I understand the logic behind having tomorrows task in orange, it might perhaps give some a sense of "control" and thus trust over their system since tomorrows task is in plain view. But is there a way to "hide" tomorrow's tasks, such as with pending projects? I understand there is a difference between active and pending projects, but that distinction does not seem to exist between tasks. An option like "Keep task hidden until 7 am tomorrow" would be ideal.

I like the example of watering a plant, this seems to me textbook of the kind of repeating action I would like. You need to do it at a set interval, once, and then forget about it until that time arrives again. An option like "keep hidden until 7 days from now", if it is a weekly task. As with my mail, it arrives once a day at a set time, and it is futile or irrelevant to think about it (even as a visual indicator) until that time tomorrow morning.

I've tried to be clear as possible, and see the other point of view. Please let me know if I have got your interpretation wrong, or if there is something inherent in the OF that would prevent this implementation of repeating tasks. This won't stop me from buying Omnifocus, but I might have to do a 'hard' paper version of daily tasks, perhaps requiring to add a 7th step "check amount of daily tasks sheets, photocopy if you need more" !

[coconino]

Originally Posted by Chicagoist

[...] After I check the task that needs to be done ONCE per day, I really want it to disappear rather than appear in orange, making me feel like its still undone somehow. Worse yet, the next morning it will be there in RED, making me think that I didn't do it yesterday.
[...]
I currently have these tasks in a 'single tasks' bucket, which I go through before getting started on my active projects.
[...]

I deal with a similar requirement by having a project which repeats daily from the assigned date, with a start time when I would like to start (0800) and a due time of when I want to be done (0900). I generally check off the actions and then mark the project as complete, whereupon it vanishes and doesn't appear again until the following morning. If I leave one task undone and want to be reminded of it next time I look at OmniFocus I leave the project uncompleted. Otherwise, if I'm happy with not completing an action, I mark the project as complete anyway.

As to how the status colours appear in this system, the items show as orange immediately since they will soon be due, which I consider to be a good thing. If they remain unchecked past 9 they turn red.

It may be that having such actions as single projects in a bucket means that they appear immediately when checked off, I don't know, but using a project works for me.

Of course the number of virtually identical completed "daily tasks" projects increases by one per day, but they don't do any harm and can easily be cleared out.

About the only thing which would improve this system for me would be to have an option to have the project auto-complete once all the contained actions are complete, but it would have to be optional as I've learned to appreciate the fact that projects don't auto-complete.

[sprugman]

My six daily tasks are as follows:

1. Clean and fill coffee machine with water & coffee.

2. Check calendar.

3. Check mail (arrives at 9 am).

4. Finish a 30 minute German drill.

5. Print out To-Dos & Active Project lists.

6. Review Lists at the end of the workday, put in inbox for tomorrow.

I would group those tasks into a 'morning ritual' project or something. then I'd put a start date/time on the project with a repeat of 1 day from assigned time. When you're done with all of them, check off the project, and a new one will be generated for tomorrow. That one won't be available till tomorrow, though, so you should be able to filter it out of your hair till then.