[lennie]

Perspective help

I am struggling with how best to solve a view / perspective dilemma.
I have tasks that must be done on a specific day. These I can handle by sorting by due date.
However where I am running into trouble is when a task or project has a specific due date, but the tasks can be completed at any time before the due date. I am looking for a view to see all tasks I should be working on (in-order to choose which I should be doing at the time).
Here is an example we all can relate to - Taxes.
Taxes are due April 15.
There are several tasks to occur before taxes are filed; Collect receipts, find pay stubs, reconcile investment statements, contribute to IRA, get tax software, fill out forms, buy stamps, Mail forms, etc.
The only task with an absolute date is mail / file forms by April 15. The others can be worked on any time between January 1 and April 15. If I give all but mail forms a due date of April 14 they appear as I do not need to take any action until their due date. A mad dash now ensues to get everything done or file for an extension.

Most of my projects fall into a similar category. Lots of parts that combine, some with dependencies / next actions, others as individual tasks, all leading to a final cumulation with a specific due date. I want to regularly see all the pieces so I can pick the most appropriate tasks to work on each day (context appropriate).
I need a simple list view (Print out) as I do not have access to OF when not at my home desktop.

This creates additional issues when the project dose not have a specific due date, i.e. clean garage. I have the project with all its tasks along with similar household projects in a folder as sub projects. These are to do's when I get around to them no specific driver. I would like to see these non-priority tasks as well so I can chose which to tackle as time allows or context appropriate.

GTD implies I should be able to see these in a way that makes deciding the next thing to do more efficient.

Any recommendations on how to organize perspectives to accommodate a better view?
Thanks

[whpalmer4]

I've recently become a true believer in the use of start dates rather than due dates. Permit me to proselytize :-)

The taxes make for a good example, I think. Make yourself a new perspective, with context view, filter remaining, grouping start, sorting project, action filter available, time filter any duration, flag filter any. Take your taxes project and go through the actions and assign some start dates that correspond to approximately when you think you should begin work on each portion. You can put in some due dates if you like, but they aren't essential.

Now, every day or however often you do your overall review to see what things you should be working on at the moment, take a look at that new perspective. If you don't knock those tasks off at approximately the rate they start, you'll see them starting to populate the "Starting within the last week", then "Starting within the last month", etc. and it will be clear where you need to devote some more effort. You'll probably want to make some judicious use of focus here; it's probably okay to let some of those garage cleaning tasks stay on the back burner for a while, but you might not want to get too far behind the curve on working on the tax returns, for example. If you need a little more structure, you could always split up some chunk of the effort and assign due dates to the pieces to force you along. With the tax example, you might assign a handful of 30 minute blocks of time for data entry over the February-March time frame to break up the effort a bit and help ensure that you aren't frantically trying to get it done in mid-April.

[colicoid]

I think this is a classic case of where a beginning user of OF forgets about the "weekly review".

whpalmer4's way of tackling the problem is interesting but perhaps slightly unorthodox imho.

I believe the following way is the intended way of doing it.

1. Assign a due date to the last task in the project "mail tax". After all it's the only hard date task you have.
2. All the other tasks go into their appropriate contexts such as "buy stamp" -> @errands.
3. Make sure the project has a review time span of 1 week and is active.
4. During your weekly review you will realize the true priority of this project and might decide on a high level that you will go to the shop this week to buy stamps (at the shop you can buy things that move other projects along too).
5. You keep this project active so that you can work on its tasks when you feel like it. As you come closer to the due date you might set other projects to on-hold so that the tasks of the tax project get some more attention.
Each week you should ask yourself about each project. "Is it realistic that I knock off any tasks in this project this week?". If not, you put it on hold and make sure the "next review" date is good.

I don't like pushing start dates and due dates It's too much micro management. The start date is a filter. The due date is a hard date that is also a calendar item. I do however like pushing "next review" dates.

[brianogilvie]

Originally Posted by colicoid

1. Assign a due date to the last task in the project "mail tax". After all it's the only hard date task you have.

Colicoid's advice is great. The only thing I would add is that the entire project should also have a due date of April 15, so that as you come down to the wire, any uncompleted tax-related actions will also appear in the Due Items perspective (or any alternate perspective you have created that does the same thing).

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by colicoid

I think this is a classic case of where a beginning user of OF forgets about the "weekly review".

whpalmer4's way of tackling the problem is interesting but perhaps slightly unorthodox imho.

I believe the following way is the intended way of doing it.

1. Assign a due date to the last task in the project "mail tax". After all it's the only hard date task you have.
2. All the other tasks go into their appropriate contexts such as "buy stamp" -> @errands.
3. Make sure the project has a review time span of 1 week and is active.
4. During your weekly review you will realize the true priority of this project and might decide on a high level that you will go to the shop this week to buy stamps (at the shop you can buy things that move other projects along too).
5. You keep this project active so that you can work on its tasks when you feel like it. As you come closer to the due date you might set other projects to on-hold so that the tasks of the tax project get some more attention.
Each week you should ask yourself about each project. "Is it realistic that I knock off any tasks in this project this week?". If not, you put it on hold and make sure the "next review" date is good.

I don't like pushing start dates and due dates It's too much micro management. The start date is a filter. The due date is a hard date that is also a calendar item. I do however like pushing "next review" dates.

Unorthodox? Perhaps. I think David doesn't present the approach in The Book because it is more suitable for a computerized implementation. But if you think about it, it's just a variation of the tickler file concept.

I find it is easy to get into the habit of looking at the project in the review (I do my review cycle daily) and saying "yeah, I oughta work on that", clicking the Mark Reviewed button, and then not actually getting any work done on it! And if I dial the review frequency up to daily, it just exacerbates the tendency to stamp it and go on to the next thing in the review. But I really like the look of that perspective I mentioned when I manage to clear out the things that have been languishing on the back burner, and I don't really have to push the dates around, either. I do everything mentioned in your list above; the approaches are not mutually exclusive. What my approach brings to the table is a semi-graphical way of seeing the things you've been letting sit idle (and how long) while not completely blocking them from sight (by marking the containing project On Hold). In my opinion, it makes it a little easier to keep low-priority projects bubbling along while still getting the time-critical stuff done. And by putting a bit more attention on when you can start working on something (and doing so when that time comes), you may end up getting more of the work done without having your back to the wall, which is nice, or I'm told by those who have experienced it :-) Finally, for me it provides an easier way to see the things that I've been neglecting for a long time, so I can reevaluate if they have any place being in the system at all. Clicking that monthly review button another time is easy, it's easy not to notice that the project has been on the books for a year, but when the next action turns up in that "Started within the last year" group, that's a warning shot across the bow...

[lennie]

Thanks for the ideas. I will examine the pros & cons of both approaches, neither has that eureka sensation, but a combination may meet my needs. I'm looking for that one cure all view -ha-ha.
I think it's time to go back and review GTD. Somehow my to-do-list has become a chore in itself, no longer a productivity aid. I also realize I have way to many things to do. Time to review what's really important.