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Feature Request: task prioritization! Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Quote:
Originally Posted by pjc View Post
I agree that having short lists is an excellent aspect of GTD, however it doesn't work in all circumstances. In an environment where tasks are coming in rapid-fire, I would have to spend a lot of effort coming up with artificial context designations to get the list this short.

Agreed. I just need some way to pass through the list on a daily basis to figure out which few tasks I'm going to try to complete. If I finish them all, I can move on to others.

It occurred to me this afternoon that I can actually use flagging for my needs. I can pass through the list in the morning and flag the tasks that look like they're the most pressing for the day (and unflag the ones that no longer seem important). Then I can sort by flag status until I'm done with flagged items.

So now I'm back in the priority-neutral camp. :)
Effectively what you're doing with flagging is a weekly review -- a daily review if you will -- by flagging a next action you make it real, otherwise it is a "someday maybe" task that you don't want to see until your next (daily) review.

I don't have access to the beta yet, but I'm interested to see what its support for weekly review, "Someday Maybe", and "Waiting For" is. Hopefully doing the review and processing those those lists is as fluid and easy as people describe entering and viewing lists of actionable items is.
 
Quote:
With a list under 20 you should be able to quickly scan that context and pull priority by looking at the list.
I agree, but I'd still like to have some kind of sorting in context view, whether by priorities, or by drag and drop. Actually, I'd prefer drag and drop, ideally a "manual sort" in the view bar that remembers the relative positions from session to session. (Or maybe there'd need to be some kind of reset, or option to have the manual sort start from the current view. I guess that could be accomplished just by allowing manual sorts to be started from any view, and have it switch automatically if you drag a change. Then that arrangement gets memorized till the next time you start a new one. Tricky.)

In general, in the morning, I like to look through my contexts and my hard landscape, and plan my day. Obviously, things can change, but that just means changes should be easy to make. OF isn't smart enough to put them in the right order for me, especially since things change, and dragging around actions and projects, then going back to context view is unweildy. Plus, I prefer to keep my projects ordered by life area.

I've used Curt's OF > OO script to enable this kind of planning, but then I have my list in two places, which is less than ideal.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Case View Post
It turns out that this is exactly how we order actions now: each action has a "rank" which is assigned based on its position relative to other actions in the list.

It sounds like the proposed change, then, would be to allow actions to have individual ranks in context view rather than forcing them to only have child ranks within their own project. This would let you interleave actions from different projects in context view, effectively assigning individual priorities to each action (based on their position).
Ken,

I have hundreds of projects, with many hundreds of actions, but almost no deadlines or calendar appointments. My priorities are constantly shifting, based on the demands of my organization. Except when conducting a Review, I want to know absolutely nothing about most of these projects, and I do not ever want to be unnecessarily reminded of them. And I certainly don't want to waste my time assigning due dates to projects (since I don't have any ... ).

I like flagging in OF -- it allows me to display just the projects and actions that I want and to control when and if I look at my larger lists of projects. What I want though is for the flagging concept to be expanded in a way that the user can implement flexibly -- not simply a 'hi' / 'middle'/'low' flag concept.

In particular what I would like to see is a full implementation of HIERARCHICAL flags. Hierarchical flags would allow me to create the following nested grouping of flags, for example: Current / Month / Week / Today . (I'd really want different categories than these -- that's why I'd like these to be user defined rather than pre-defined. ... similar to the Hierarchical contexts you have already created -- and therefore quite in keeping with the program logic).

I should then be able to have the option to "Filter By Flag" and to choose which flag I filter for. Today Projects would be the only ones to show up if I filtered for 'Today' but if I filter for This Week, I would get both this Week projects and Today projects.

Thanks for your continued good work.

- Art
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by otter View Post
In particular what I would like to see is a full implementation of HIERARCHICAL flags. Hierarchical flags would allow me to create the following nested grouping of flags, for example: Current / Month / Week / Today . (I'd really want different categories than these -- that's why I'd like these to be user defined rather than pre-defined. ... similar to the Hierarchical contexts you have already created -- and therefore quite in keeping with the program logic).
I wonder if a hierarchy is adding too much complexity. It sounds to me like what you're really looking for is arbitrarily named "tags", and the ability to filter on a selected set of tags. This frees you from having to create or manage a hierarchy.

I do see how a hierarchy might simplify the selection process, but I think it imposes too much structure that would limit the flexibility.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by rjfay View Post
If priority were a preference that I could use and/or hide, I would be all for it. One thing I didn't like about iGTD was that priority couldn't be turned off -- at least that I could tell (admittedly I didn't use it too extensively).
You can show/hide the Priority column with the little icon top-right in the main window. In iGTD I tend to ignore both Priority and Effort columns.



*sits patiently watching his inbox for a sneaky peak invite so he can switch to OmniFocus and restore the cosmic balance*
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by pjc View Post
I wonder if a hierarchy is adding too much complexity. It sounds to me like what you're really looking for is arbitrarily named "tags", and the ability to filter on a selected set of tags. This frees you from having to create or manage a hierarchy.

I do see how a hierarchy might simplify the selection process, but I think it imposes too much structure that would limit the flexibility.
Filtering on tags is fine -- but being limited to filtering on only one tag at a time would be a big loss.

So for example, if I had Tag1, Tag2, and Tag3, I will need the ability to easily have a filter that has the capacity to display everything that is tagged either "Tag1" or "Tag2"; "Tag1" or "Tag3," etc. Without at least a basic capacity to 'union' individual tags into compound tags, tags/flags will be much less useful.

In the example from my earlier post, if I tag some actions as 'Today' and some actions as 'This Week' it will be basically useless if I can't have a filter that displays the 'Today' items in the same list as the 'This Week' items. Of course I also want to be able to display the 'this Week' items without the today items as well. This capacity could be implemented either through hierarchical flags/tags, or with tags plus logic. Either would work.

-Art

Last edited by otter; 2007-08-05 at 12:12 PM..
 
I urge Omni to incorporate Prioritisation into OmniFocus. Moving items up and down in a list is OK if you only have a few items, but this method is unsuitable if you have hundreds of items. It concerns me that Omni is limiting the functionality of an application because of the narrow adherence to one man's philosophy. I take on board lots of David Allen's ideas but I disagree with his attitude to prioritisation. I don't doubt that there is an evangelist for a particular outlining methodology but I doubt that Omni limits the development of OmniOutliner to be a slave to his/her methods. If you want to keep the purists happy then implement prioritisation and other requested features as options that can be switched on and off via preferences. I'd be interested to know what others think about this.
 
And I urge OmniGroup to stay true to their design rather than diluting it.

Watchit, I notice that you didn't even mention the flag functionality that is already in place. Have you used it? If so, why is it not working for you?

I would argue that the numerous websites, blogs and dedicated followers define a wide acceptance and acknowledgment of one man's philosophies. I would posit that adding generic prioritization features is narrow adherence to priority fanatics' desires. To dismiss the design of OmniFocus (which draws fervently from David Allan's system/philosophies) is to go against the core audience that will drive the success of OmniFocus.

Implementing optional features should be low to nonexistent on the initial milestone list. Lets get a stable 1.0 out that is rock solid and true to its core design, and then consider optional features for a 1.5 update, if they are justified.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by watchit View Post
It concerns me that Omni is limiting the functionality of an application because of the narrow adherence to one man's philosophy. I take on board lots of David Allen's ideas but I disagree with his attitude to prioritisation.
Although Omni obviously want to make it saleable to the widest audience they can, I think from what's been said by them so far OF is at heart a GTD app. Hence I agree with Lecter that features that are the direct opposite of what is suggested in GTD (i.e. pre-assigned task priorities) shouldn't be in there, at least at 1.0 (and if they're there after that they should be able to be turned off!).

If an app that implements a pretty canonical version of GTD doesn't fit your workflow you might be better off with another app: as an analogy, although you could use Keynote if you worked in an organisation that required all presentations to be given in Powerpoint format you'd probably find life easier using Powerpoint.
 
Lecter… where is the dilution of design in adding OPTIONAL features that can be turned off or on by the user. The whole point of using a Mac rather than Windows is the flexibility and customisation that allows users to work the way they want. I do not see how adding OPTIONAL features will drive away dedicated David Allen devotees but it will enable Omni to cast a wider net to reach people who like some of the guys ideas but are not fanatics and would like to use a flexible application. As to the use of Flags, yes they are great, but they are either off or on. Prioritisation is a matter of degree, not just yes or no.

al_f… yes, there is a more flexible app which uses the basic GTD philosophy, iGTD. It is quite good, but it is being developed by one bloke in a garret. Who wants to enter a huge amount of data in app that might suddenly disappear? Omni is an established developer making some of the best apps on the Mac. They seem to be very responsive to incorporating user requested features into their other apps without being slaves to a particular ideology.

But this debate is a bit like prohibition. If you don't like being drunk, then don't drink, but don't try to stop the those of us who do! :)
 
 


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