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Well, I think I may have a system that works for me thanks to several suggestions from this thread. It involves viewing by project group, flagging those projects/tasks I want to do today, and switching to the proper corresponding perspective to see today's tasks.

I already have projects/tasks in major groups like 'personal,' 'work,' etc. I have 2 perspectives for each major group, 1 for planning and 1 for context. Planning perspectives show all projects/tasks for a major group and context perspectives show all flagged projects/tasks for a major group. Easy enough. Each day I've been going into the planning perspective for the major group I want to deal with and reviewing/flagging tasks I want to address. I just switch to the context perspective view and I'm set w/ my 'Today' list.

I suppose I'll eventually create a perspective for different combos of flagged items (personal + work, etc), or maybe just one for all groups, but I've been lucky enough to focus on one major group per day so far.

Not sure if this sheds light for anyone but I'm finding it a decent compromise. It helps that I don't use flags for anything else, of course.

T
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dhm2006 View Post
1. Sequential Project - The first action in the project is the "next" action. No other action is "available" because, in a sequential project, the actions must be performed in a certain sequence.

2. Parallel Project - The first action in the project is the "next" action. All other action are "available" because, in a parallel project, the actions can be performed in any sequence. You can rearrange the actions to make whichever one you select the "next" action.

3. Single Actions List - All actions are "next" because the actions are independent of one another. There is no logical sequence in which they should be performed.
Great summary! Thank you!

Alex
 
Glad it helped.
 
Coming in late, but there's another way to use Contexts -- based on the state of your mind when you need to work on this Action.

So you might have Contexts:

- Brain-Dead
- Multi-task (doesn't need much attention)
- Interruptible (I can do this when kids are around)
- High Attention
etc.

The idea behind Contexts is to specify when/where/with what we can do some of our actions. @Computer may be enough for you, or you might have Offline, Multi-task (processing bulk e-mail), Spreadsheet (high concentration number crunching), Brain-Dead (for going through those old cache files?), etc.

Whatever works for you!

--Liz
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by LizPf View Post
So you might have Contexts:

- Brain-Dead
- Multi-task (doesn't need much attention)
- Interruptible (I can do this when kids are around)
- High Attention
etc.
Interesting, I have never thought about splitting things this way. I will need to give this a try.

Alex
 
Seems like another case for tags or multiple contexts per item. ("Does 'return call to my buddy, Fred', go in "calls" or "brain-dead"?)
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by sprugman View Post
Seems like another case for tags or multiple contexts per item. ("Does 'return call to my buddy, Fred', go in "calls" or "brain-dead"?)
Nested Contexts can do some of this for you:

@Calls
-Brain Dead
-Multi-Task (for those eternal Hold calls)

etc.

Of course, without Multi-Context, you couldn't see all your Brain Dead stuff (calls, Mac maintenance, snail mail processing)at once. We do need multiple contexts, but I find I can do a lot without it.

--Liz
(back after a few weeks doing other things and losing my Focus)
 
You can fake multi-context (calls > brain dead, mac > brain dead, snail mail > brain dead) by using perspectives by command-clicking to select the contexts in question; perspectives remembers those selections.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by sprugman View Post
Seems like another case for tags or multiple contexts per item. ("Does 'return call to my buddy, Fred', go in "calls" or "brain-dead"?)
It's hard to say. I've never met Fred. ;-)
__________________
Cheers,

Curt
 
The Getting Things Done book goes through how to deal with a lot of tasks.

For instance, one technique is "Don't Do Them." Chuck tasks in the trash or a reference file or delegate them.

For Projects, only show the next action.

For stuff that doesn't need to be done right away, put a start date on it for when it needs to be done. For stuff that needs to be done by a certain data, likewise, with a due date.

If you still have too much to do, then you need go through another GTD cycle and put more stuff in the "Don't Do Them" category. You can't do more than you can do, and a task management system won't change that. Stuff you might like to do but don't have time for you just have to give up on, in order to actually make progress on more important stuff.

If you've really gone through the GTD process, none of this should be a problem. As they say in IRC, "Read the ... Manual" ;-). You need to read the instructions before using the tool.
 
 


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