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Wish: Delegation workflow Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
I think that task delegating really doesn't belong in OF. In fact, it sounds like exactly what OmniPlan is supposed to do. There are many other ways to do small-scale delegating without loading OF down with the need communicate with other implimentations of OF.

It can be a quick phone call or email, you can send someone a stikkit... or you can use monkeyon.com (my personal favorite, but not as professional as an email.)
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by GeekLady
I think that task delegating really doesn't belong in OF. In fact, it sounds like exactly what OmniPlan is supposed to do. There are many other ways to do small-scale delegating without loading OF down with the need communicate with other implimentations of OF.
OF is for implementing GTD ... I think one of the first advise of David Allen is to push for delegation and follow-up so that you can concentrate on what you really have to do ... By transition, task delegation belong to OF ...

But I don't want to ask for task delegation, I guess it will be implemented (well I hope so, I also hope to have a chance to test the alpha version), just to have an efficient communication via mail instead of marking it delegated and then going through manual actions ...

Another point about this thead ... OP is for project planning (Pert & Gantt, resourcing, timesheet and cost estimations) ... I'd like to meet the one who use a project planning application (even though the application is great easy to use one) whenever he or she wants to delegate a single task ... Integration with OP is a great idea as well because then every one receive in his inbox/project folder new actions related to a project and a more advanced way to organize tasks and probably also to report, but this is for really complex project ... The GTD project term is just an task that require more than one action (OMG, I speak like a GTD addicted adept ... help !)

I think of buying a solution like OF for my company so that I don't have to deploy a solution like Lotus Notes or MS Exchange just for it ...

I think for just collecting and managing a task list, as said David Allen in his book, a simple text editor is enough ... Of course, for people that are not expecting to use it as a collaboration tool, this wish doesn't seem justified and I appriciate it ...

Quote:
Originally Posted by GeekLady
It can be a quick phone call or email, you can send someone a stikkit... or you can use monkeyon.com (my personal favorite, but not as professional as an email.)
Whenever I can avoid the phone (and especially cleaning it because I have it against my hears all day long ... :)
 
OF is for personal task management in general, not strictly for GTD. As such should be just as useful for those at the bottom of the heap as for those at the top. And when you're at the bottom of the heap, delegating just isn't important. You can't even rely on those above you to be kind enough to all use OF (or even Macs) when delegating stuff to you.

There's no need for some sort of advanced OF to OF communication/delegation system. Basic delegation within OF could be simply implemented with the ability to create a new email from a task and to create a new task from an email. This would be much more flexible - have other uses than delegation, as well as be usable for everyone not just those who have coworkers also using OF.

And what I just described can be done just using QS (for creating emails) and QE (for adding tasks).

Anything more advanced sounds like a description of how OmniFocus should integrate with OmniPlan.
 
The Applescripting interface for OF seems robust enough to implement a simple delegation workflow. That might be a nice interim solution.

I'm experimenting with a workflow for auto-generating "awaiting" actions when I send emails for which I need responses. I'll post it once I work out the kinks. It would be a short step from there to passing tasks around by email.

Another nice thing about this approach is that it doesn't weigh down the application.
__________________
Cheers,

Curt
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by curt.clifton
The Applescripting interface for OF seems robust enough to implement a simple delegation workflow. That might be a nice interim solution.

I'm experimenting with a workflow for auto-generating "awaiting" actions when I send emails for which I need responses. I'll post it once I work out the kinks. It would be a short step from there to passing tasks around by email.

Another nice thing about this approach is that it doesn't weigh down the application.
Cool. I was thinking the same thing.

In my mind I imagine selcting an action and hitting a keystroke that brings up a dialog for looking up a contact in the AddressBook (or overiding for no match) and a couple of buttons to either just delegate the action in Omnifocus or additionally create a new email to the contact.

Afterward, the action would be prepended with "Delegated:" or similar, moved to a (user-defined) WaitingFor context [sic], and the note appended to reflect the date it was delegated, to whom, and a link to the email if it was created.

Being more of an AppleScript dabbler than anything, I thought the OF half of the script would be simple to implement, but the Mail/AddressBook stuff would be much harder.

If someone more skilled than I wants to tackle a script, I would be most grateful.

Extra credit for linking to the AddressBook entry and/or including a start date some user-defined time in the future.

Last edited by kmarkley; 2007-06-27 at 10:34 AM..
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by GeekLady
OF is for personal task management in general, not strictly for GTD. As such should be just as useful for those at the bottom of the heap as for those at the top. And when you're at the bottom of the heap, delegating just isn't important. You can't even rely on those above you to be kind enough to all use OF (or even Macs) when delegating stuff to you.
I agree with your sentiment here in that it should be useful across the board. But for someone at the top of the heap not having an integrated delegation workflow is a hinderance. Put it in, but allow it to be hidden so that it does not distract those people who don't need it.

As for the level of integration, applescript with email might be enough. But Omni could do much better with something fully integrated.

Also I have to disagree regarding OmniPlan, just because I want to be able to delegate a task does not mean I should be using OmniPlan. OmniPlan is for much larger scale projects.

At the end of the day as long as OF can do what you need it to do fine. If its got some features to support power users without adding bloat - all the better.

With that in mind delegation for power users is a really good idea if not a must have.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by jstrat
I agree with your sentiment here in that it should be useful across the board. But for someone at the top of the heap not having an integrated delegation workflow is a hinderance. Put it in, but allow it to be hidden so that it does not distract those people who don't need it.

As for the level of integration, applescript with email might be enough. But Omni could do much better with something fully integrated.

Also I have to disagree regarding OmniPlan, just because I want to be able to delegate a task does not mean I should be using OmniPlan. OmniPlan is for much larger scale projects.

At the end of the day as long as OF can do what you need it to do fine. If its got some features to support power users without adding bloat - all the better.

With that in mind delegation for power users is a really good idea if not a must have.
I guess I'm not really explaining myself well.

In my opinion, having a built in, OF-to-OF delegation-specific conduit is not a good solution. It would rely on both delegator and delegatee using OF and be useless for delegation situations outside of OF. It would bloat the software for everyone for very little gain to a subset of users.

Properly done Mail hooks would be more broadly useful AND serve as a way to delegate tasks that isn't dependent on the delegee also using OF. And there are other uses for Mail hooks, even if you never have to delegate.

My primary interest is keeping OF small and functional, because I have to use it off a USB key. And if a specific feature can be replaced with a more broadly useful feature, I'm going to come down on the side of the feature that offers more.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by GeekLady
I guess I'm not really explaining myself well.

In my opinion, having a built in, OF-to-OF delegation-specific conduit is not a good solution. It would rely on both delegator and delegatee using OF and be useless for delegation situations outside of OF. It would bloat the software for everyone for very little gain to a subset of users.

Properly done Mail hooks would be more broadly useful AND serve as a way to delegate tasks that isn't dependent on the delegee also using OF. And there are other uses for Mail hooks, even if you never have to delegate.
Properly integrated OF-OF delegation would, I imagine, still use Email and if done correctly could still work for non OF endpoints. There is no reason why it couldn't work in some way like calendar invites. Some sort of formatted email message that is meaningful to human reading as well as structured enough to allow automation with an OF endpoint. This would then satisfy all users.

How this is done, well it probably could be done using AppleScript and that might even be the most appropriate way to do it given the level of AppleScript integration in Omni products. How it works under the hood is not really that important as long as it is seamless.

I think the key thing here is that its a feature that a large portion of the user base would really appreciate.
 
I have a context 'WaitingFor'. It has a few sons for key people in my life, like 'WaitingFor Bob', 'WaitingFor Alice', 'WaitingFor Nestor'...

I synchronize OmniFocus with iCal.
From iCal, I've published the calendars to a webdav server, and communicated the link.
That way, they have a list of what I've asked them and that I'm waiting for.

One minor drawback:
If I'm waiting for a package that someone needs to send me, and I know it won't arrive before 2 weeks, I usually put the start date 2 weeks ahead to keep view uncluttered. As the task is not available, it don't show up in the calendar of the remote person.

Note:
I always ask personally (face to face, IM, mail...) before adding a task to a WaitingFor context. First, I have a task like 'mail bob asking to do this'. Once completed, I add an other task in the WaitingFor context, to keep track of it.

I would find rude to get tasks pushed to me without initial consultation. Please keep that in mind if you integrate a delegation system into OmniFocus.
 
More thoughts on this.

I don't mind that the shared calendars are not editable by remote person.
If I'm waiting for something, there must be an outcome, and I and only I judge if its satisfying, ie if the task is completed.
 
 


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