[julienl]

Hi,

I've been playing with the location-based notifications, and I realize that it is rarely convenient for me to get notified when I get to a place or leave it. For example when I get to the office I usually have at least half an hour when I get dragged into meetings, etc. and only after that do I sit down and get to work on what I had planned.

Similarly, when I get home I usually carry a lot of things and might have to do a few trips, then I unpack, etc. and eventually I get to my to do list.

So: is there a way to make a context "active" / "on hold" based on location?

Right now I do that manually but it's tedious and sometimes I forget, so I miss something.

I use that to keep track of all the things I need to talk to someone about, etc. and don't want to see during the week-end or time away, or for home when I am spending a longer time at the cottage, etc.

Thanks!

Julien

[sam_dlg]

Almost like a scheduling service for each location.

I can think of a few things:
- Delay alerts once arriving at location
- Only alert when arrived at location during AM hours

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by julienl

Hi,

I've been playing with the location-based notifications, and I realize that it is rarely convenient for me to get notified when I get to a place or leave it. For example when I get to the office I usually have at least half an hour when I get dragged into meetings, etc. and only after that do I sit down and get to work on what I had planned.

Similarly, when I get home I usually carry a lot of things and might have to do a few trips, then I unpack, etc. and eventually I get to my to do list.

So: is there a way to make a context "active" / "on hold" based on location?

Right now I do that manually but it's tedious and sometimes I forget, so I miss something.

I use that to keep track of all the things I need to talk to someone about, etc. and don't want to see during the week-end or time away, or for home when I am spending a longer time at the cottage, etc.

Thanks!

Julien

Julien,

an alternative you might explore is organizing your projects in folders. If you focus on a folder (via perspective on the iPhone), you'll only see tasks related to the projects in that folder. Often this will provide a similar clearing of the view; your personal projects aren't likely to include tasks only available in your work-related contexts, and your work projects probably don't have many actions which can only be done at home. Also, you can trivially see what is in the "other" view by just selecting a perspective, whereas trying to see what you've got to do in a time- or location-based perspective when you aren't in that location or time may be less convenient — you'd probably be able to use a "Remaining items" view to see everything, but then you wouldn't know which items would or would not be available, because they would be co-mingled with items that were not available due to their position in a sequential project, contexts being on hold, start dates, etc.

If you've only got the iPhone version of OmniFocus, you'll need to enlist the help of the Omni support ninjas to create such perspectives.

[julienl]

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestion!

It is already the way I do it, I have the following root folders:
- personal
- work
- music ("serious hobby")
- someday/maybe
- routine / checklists / templates

Most of my perspective have a focus on one or more of those folders, and sometimes a subfolder or group of projects (but those are usually temporary, for this week's blitz or something like that). Many perspectives are duplicated for each focus.

However, I was trying to solve a problem with that when I started to play with locations. I am moving a lot between:
- home
- cottage
- work (often working offsite or from home so "office" and a few people are important contexts)
- business trips
- music rehearsals/recordings, similar to work in many ways I might be able to record some instruments only in specific locations or persons


So I have contexts for the locations above, with sub-contexts for persons, etc.:
- if I am working, I would focus on my "work" folder;
- if I am not working, I would focus on "non-work" (or something more specific).

Let's say I am working at the office, and I need to monitor a server tonight to confirm a process is completed, I want to add an action, for my work project, with the context @home to look at it. But when I am home, I will focus on non-work, so that project and its action "don't exist". If I include work in my focus, then I see way too many things to be quiet. :)

A "reverse scenario": I need to print some forms at the office because I don't have a printer at home, but for a non-work project.

For now, what I do is that I try to put "office" on hold when I am not there, and so on. But I this trick doesn't stick and I missed enough small things to not like it.

It seems to be really specific to location, I don't have that problem with persons, tools, "state of mind" contexts, and so on.

I know this problem "appeared" recently, after a "wave of understanding" hit me about contexts -- I am still relatively new to GTD and OF, and I know my understanding and usage is still growing and becoming better, so it is possible I'm half-way there in my understanding.

Thanks again!

Julien

[julienl]

Hmm, I think explaining it gave me an idea, I will try to create a perspective with only the "home" context or "work" (and "colleagues") contexts...

I am not sure how I would use it though. (should I go to that perspective every day, etc.)

Anyway, comments and suggestions are welcome!

Thanks

Julien