[Paul Hoadley]

Originally Posted by Ken Case

Does that help?

It certainly sounds good to me.

[Craig]

Originally Posted by Ken Case

Actions with no project (aka singleton actions) will go into some sort of "quick list" smart group in project view, and single actions will probably have their own style (colored blue?) in both project and context view.

I'm wondering if we will be able to assign actions to folders but not projects, so that we could somehow have these one of these blue smart groups for each folder.

I use folders for "areas of responsibility" and I have recently changed from having one big "singletons" category to "singletons-father," "singletons-homeowner," etc., each in the corresponding folder. (I did this to break up the huge singletons project, and to put a little check on whether little things I'm adding to the system actually fit within my areas of responsibility. It also allows me to include singletons when Focusing on one of those areas.)

If Omni is going to arrange distinct formatting for single actions, I hope they can accommodate this type of setup - it would be useful (to me at least) to be able to assign actions to folders while still having them recognized as single actions.

[sent via feedback]

[GeekLady]

Originally Posted by Ken Case

We're planning to make every action be visible in both project and context view, rather than only having them be visible in*the corresponding view when they have an assigned project or context.

Actions with no project (aka singleton actions) will go into some sort of "quick list" smart group in project view, and single actions will probably have their own style (colored blue?) in both project and context view.

Actions with no context will go into a smart group in the context view (perhaps the "Unassigned" context, or maybe just the "No context" context?).

Does that help?

I would like to be able to hide that smart group in Projects, as I have no desire to have a group of pansy single actions cluttering up my planning area. I can see value in being able to search for project-less tasks in Project View, but I really don't want to see them.

As for context-less tasks, I also prefer the current status quo - that they are not actionable at all and remain in (or return to) the inbox. If it doesn't have a context, I haven't properly processed the item.

[pvonk]

Originally Posted by GeekLady

I would like to be able to hide that smart group in Projects, as I have no desire to have a group of pansy single actions cluttering up my planning area.

Again this begs the question of why we use "project" view for everything. There are projects (and their actions) which may form a subset of all actions. There should be some "maintanance" view that lists every action and we could use the filters to view the actions that fall into certain subsets, like those in projects, those not due, those in folders, those not in projects, etc.

Pansy single actions? We don't have no steenking pansy single actions!

[GeekLady]

Originally Posted by pvonk

Again this begs the question of why we use "project" view for everything. There are projects (and their actions) which may form a subset of all actions. There should be some "maintanance" view that lists every action and we could use the filters to view the actions that fall into certain subsets, like those in projects, those not due, those in folders, those not in projects, etc.

Pansy single actions? We don't have no steenking pansy single actions!

I confess, I don't really see the need for some overarching maintenence view.

Right now, we have a view for planning and a view for working. I think OF needs a separate view for input, an Inbox View. The Inbox is where I do 'task maintenence', if you want to call it that, I don't. In my opinion, single actions shouldn't need maintenence, and projects can be worked on in the planning view.

I am hungry for better ways to move between and focus on tasks, projects, and contexts in ALL views. For instance:
1. The only way to make a task into a project in context is to give it a context of none, which sends it back to the inbox, then you can promote it to a project.
2. Singletons show up in context when you've focused on a project
3. You can't convert a project's task into a single task easily
4. There's no clear way to send things back to the inbox.

The idea of having a 'maintenence' view bugs me, no matter how nicely it could be sorted, because I can't find a purpose for it other than to collect everything and shove it in my face.

[Craig]

Originally Posted by GeekLady

I am hungry for better ways to move between and focus on tasks, projects, and contexts in ALL views. For instance:
1. The only way to make a task into a project in context is to give it a context of none, which sends it back to the inbox, then you can promote it to a project.
2. Singletons show up in context when you've focused on a project
3. You can't convert a project's task into a single task easily
4. There's no clear way to send things back to the inbox.

For now, #2 and #3 can be solved by making a "singletons" parallel project.

[GeekLady]

Originally Posted by Craig

For now, #2 and #3 can be solved by making a "singletons" parallel project.

:-) except my hatred of "Single Action" projects outweighs those two inconveniences. I hated it in kGTD too. And I'm awfully stubborn.

I understand that there are people who want that special project for singletons, and their opinions are just as valid as mine. I'm just begging that it please, please, please be hideable, because I really hate the idea of seeing single actions in my planning space.

[pvonk]

Originally Posted by GeekLady

The idea of having a 'maintenence' view bugs me, no matter how nicely it could be sorted, because I can't find a purpose for it other than to collect everything and shove it in my face.

And I don't like the idea of a black box that I have no control over, no ability to maintain the hidden database. For me, there are times when I have to do a major reconfiguration of portions of my task structure due to changing events around me. If I can't get an "overall" view of all my tasks, not just those in projects, then I can't organize with confidence.

There was a post by Paul (earlier in this thread) who stated "I can enter a singleton task via the Inbox while in Project View, but after cleanup, it becomes invisible and is unsearchable."
This concerns me!

The ideas that Omni has proposed above seemed okay, until Craig brought up a scenario that may cause problems. But Omni seems to be studying this issue; we'll have to see what they come up with.

[pvonk]

Originally Posted by GeekLady

... I really hate the idea of seeing single actions in my planning space.

I'm curious, you don't use single actions?

[GeekLady]

Originally Posted by pvonk

I'm curious, you don't use single actions?

Oh, I use them all the time. But they don't need planning, so I don't want to see them in Project view, that's planning mode. I only want to see them in doing mode, context view.