[smiggles]

Originally Posted by Ken Case

If you select an action, you can switch back and forth between viewing that action in Context and Planning modes using the "Show in [Other] Mode" command from the View menu (Option-Command-R)? (You'll also find this command in the contextual menu for an action, or you can add the "Switch" toolbar item to your toolbar for even easier one-click access.)

I use that command quite a bit to help me quickly see more context (and possibly add some follow-up actions), then use it again to quickly return to the context where I was working. Does that help?

I just tried this. Highlighting the action and toggling back and forth works, but I do think it would be easier and better (more intuitive) to see the full hierarchy including action groups in the project column of Context view. Anything to make one less step would work better for me. it would become unweildly to have to toggle back and forth b/w project and context on a long list of actions in context view.

[Ken Case]

Originally Posted by smiggles

I just tried this. Highlighting the action and toggling back and forth works, but I do think it would be easier and better (more intuitive) to see the full hierarchy including action groups in the project column of Context view. Anything to make one less step would work better for me. it would become unweildly to have to toggle back and forth b/w project and context on a long list of actions in context view.

Oh, I agree.

We actually started out by showing that full hierarchy, but it quickly made the view very busy and hard to follow (especially if the hierarchy had any depth to it at all). Maybe we could present the hierarchy at the top of the notes rather than in the project column. Or perhaps in the inspector.

OK, I know I just said that I switch back and forth constantly, but on reflection I find that's actually less true now that I've started following the advice Ethan posted last year in the 43folders.com article "Dear Me: Get to work." He suggested "Write your tasks as if you are delegating them to someone you actually know," and since then I've found my action names are often specific enough that it's much less common for me to need to switch modes to know what something means.

(Even if we do figure out a good way to display that hierarchy, that article is worth a read: as he points out, captured actions are really a form of delegating to your future self, so it helps to be specific enough that your future self doesn't have to spend time wondering what exactly you had in mind!)

[abh19]

Originally Posted by smiggles

Geez, my first week of use, my first post and I'm already requesting changes in the program. What nerve.

Sometimes a fresh perspective can give the best advice. When you get too used to something, you compensate for the problem and forget that fixing the problem is better!

I agree, I think action group parents should be specified in the context view.

[smiggles]

Thank you Ken. I will give the article a look see. Yes, specificity would remedy my frustration a bit. Although the repetition of writing the project and action group in each task seems unnecessary to me right now... although the article may shed some light on the subject for me. I'll report back.

[smiggles]

Yes abh19, I may for now try compensating for this by introducing more folders deeper into the project structure and see how that works. All-in-all some way to see the full hierarchy without having to push this button, toggle and then push that one over there when you want to toggle back would improve ease of use and intuitiveness of the system.

Sounds like other new users have run into this, then compensate for it, and then the concern goes away as a result. Yes I can see how by compensating i can make it work more like I want it. But I feel strongly that out of the box this program should handle this this Context View issue more smoothly... after all the main thrust of this program (as well as the GTD system) is to work powerfully from Context mode. In my field, I will be drilling deep with my folder, project, action group to task structures. IMHO having some way of seeing the full hierarchy immediately readable from context view is a must for any future version of this software.

[colicoid]

I agree with most of what has been said here but I don't think there is anything wrong with being in planning mode a lot if thats what you need.

At work I am highly project driven and live more in planning mode (maybe because of the shortcoming expressed in this thread), but at home I live more in context mode.

[Toadling]

I'm with colicoid on this one. I spend equal amounts of time in context and planning modes when I'm trying to get things done (i.e. not planning projects but actually *doing* them).

It really comes down to what is most important at the moment: depth or breadth.

At work, doing software development, I'm usually more interested in depth, going deep into a single project and working through all or several of its actions, so I usually focus on a project in planning mode.

At home, on the other hand, I'm usually more interested in knocking off one or two actions from a wide variety of different projects, so I work from context mode.

I guess the main point I'm trying to make is that planning mode isn't just for planning. It can also be used as a work mode.