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View Poll Results: Do you use the stalled project filter in your workflow?
Yes. Every Day. 1 5.00%
Yes. Once a week. 5 25.00%
Yes. Occasionally. 3 15.00%
No. I know about it but don't use it in my workflow. 6 30.00%
No. I never knew it existed. 6 30.00%
If Yes: I use it to keep tabs on projects, but don't usually change project/actions from it. 1 5.00%
If Yes: I sometimes change projects/actions from using this filter. 2 10.00%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 20. You may not vote on this poll

 
Difference between Pending & Stalled? Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
When I look at the pending and stalled project filters in OmniFocus... the only difference I see between the two is:

stalled projects are projects that have children with future start dates

pending projects are projects that have a project future start date.

For me, projects that have only one child that has a future start date should be in the pending projects filter.

Does anyone out there use the stalled project filter in their workflow? If so how.
 
In addition to the "all dates in the future" condition, the Stalled filter will also catch a project that has no uncompleted actions.

It's a "project with no available actions" bucket; meant to help get those projects back in motion.

Hope this helps!
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpiralOcean View Post
When I look at the pending and stalled project filters in OmniFocus... the only difference I see between the two is:

stalled projects are projects that have children with future start dates
Or projects which have no children, or only children which are assigned to on-hold contexts. In general, if the project is active, but there is no currently available next action, it is stalled.
Quote:
pending projects are projects that have a project future start date.

For me, projects that have only one child that has a future start date should be in the pending projects filter.
Why? The project isn't pending, the action is. A pending project is one I don't need to think about until its start date rolls around; a stalled project is a project where I don't have something I could do at the moment, but that could change instantly (and probably should -- I review those stalled projects separately).
Quote:
Does anyone out there use the stalled project filter in their workflow? If so how.
By this point, you've probably concluded (correctly) that I do :-)

I have a perspective just for reviewing stalled projects, which I do first in my reviews. To my way of thinking, a stalled project is one that needs attention:
  • It may just need to be marked complete
  • It may need additional actions added
  • If it is waiting for some gating action, I'll want to keep an eye on that so I'm not surprised if it doesn't happen when it should
  • It may need to be put on hold (pending) if it is not complete, yet there will be no actions for some time
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by whpalmer4 View Post
[*]If it is waiting for some gating action, I'll want to keep an eye on that so I'm not surprised if it doesn't happen when it should[/LIST]
This is the point that trips me up. My way of processing items is to process buckets to 0. The Inbox is a great example of this.

Having actions that I have placed a start date into the future show up in this filter means I cannot process it to 0.

http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=16089

If I have placed an action in the future, I usually don't need to look at it until that start date. Have you used this filter, seen an action that you put a future date into, and changed the status of the project/action because it wasn't right?
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpiralOcean View Post
This is the point that trips me up. My way of processing items is to process buckets to 0. The Inbox is a great example of this.

Having actions that I have placed a start date into the future show up in this filter means I cannot process it to 0.
And you do your processing from project/planning mode, instead of context mode? This behavior doesn't seem to be an issue if you plan in project mode and execute in context mode (assumption: you aren't using the stalled filter in context mode).
Quote:
If I have placed an action in the future, I usually don't need to look at it until that start date. Have you used this filter, seen an action that you put a future date into, and changed the status of the project/action because it wasn't right?
No, the case I was referring to there is that of a project which has as its next action something that is in an on-hold context, such as I sometimes use for my Waiting For contexts. If work on some project is stalled until I get the new disk drive, I'm going to check the order status and/or tracking info on the order occasionally to make sure it is going to get to me in the expected timeframe, so that I can make other arrangements if UPS decides they can't find my house (I'm not kidding), or the vendor doesn't ship on schedule, or whatever.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by whpalmer4 View Post
, the case I was referring to there is that of a project which has as its next action something that is in an on-hold context, such as I sometimes use for my Waiting For contexts. If work on some project is stalled until I get the new disk drive, I'm going to check the order status and/or tracking info on the order occasionally to make sure it is going to get to me in the expected timeframe, so that I can make other arrangements if UPS decides they can't find my house (I'm not kidding), or the vendor doesn't ship on schedule, or whatever.
Ahh... I'm getting a better picture of your workflow.

For me, I don't use the on hold status of a context for waiting for.

I have a waiting for context that is active.
When I want to place an action into waiting for, I put a start date on that action in the future. It disappears from the active context list and I won't see it until the start date. If I want to view all waiting fors, I change the context filter to remaining.

The nice thing about this workflow is, if all my waiting fors have a future start date, the waiting for context disappears from the active list. As soon as the current time passes an action's start date, the action appears and so does the waiting for list. I then know I have waiting for items to process.

If an action in the waiting for context needs more time, I give it a future start date, it disappears and so does the waiting for context.

I have an action in my Process Collection buckets called:
process waiting for actions to 0
that repeats every day.

When I get to that action, I look to see if the waiting for context is visible, if it is, I look at the actions and either:
• move the start date to the future
• create a follow up action to find out what the status is
• complete the waiting for action

Once the waiting for context list disappears, I know I have processed the waiting for actions for the day.
 
I go back and forth on the matter of having my "waiting" contexts on hold. I've typically got more than a few things waiting, however, so it appears to me that your scheme would generate quite a bit of "make-work" for me -- fiddling with dates isn't getting things done, after all. Well, I guess it is if you've got projects that direct you to fiddle with dates :-)

I make no claim that my way is the best way to do it, only that it works for me right now. One of the things I enjoy so much about the forums is hearing about others' work practices, because there's often something useful to be learned even if one doesn't attempt to adopt someone else's workflow lock, stock, and barrel.
 
Fiddling with dates takes no time at all.

Using the tab key and +1d, +1w, +1m and all the other combinations.

For a user who is familiar with the keyboard, it's not that time consuming.
 
In my workflow, the stalled project in conjonction with the script by Curt, let me see the project with "missing na", and i have add this perspective in my weekly review.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian View Post
In addition to the "all dates in the future" condition, the Stalled filter will also catch a project that has no uncompleted actions.

It's a "project with no available actions" bucket; meant to help get those projects back in motion.

Hope this helps!
Did this change in recent sneaky peeks ? my projects without actions aren't showing in stalled anymore ? only projects with children with future start dates seem to be showing now .
 
 


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