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How do you handle 'non-project' tasks? Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Hello everyone,
I keep going back and forth in OF, trying to determine the best way to handle tasks that don't belong to a project. I feel like I'm gumming up my system by having too many projects, or too many tasks sitting in a Single Action List.

For example, for things that would belong in a certain context, like phone calls, but would not belong to a project (Call the Dentist, Call the Vet, Check on Credit card bill), I created a project called Phone Calls, and all the items in here contain tasks with a Phone Call context. (Make sense?)

I thought it would be a good idea to just have a single action list, with all the tasks containing a context, but that gets way too long, and hard to review.

I also create a lot of repeating tasks (car and house maintenance), and put those in a Project called Tasks with Due Dates. Unfortunately, since OF doesn't order tasks in a vew by due date, I have to constantly reorder them so they're in date order (or am I missing something here?)

Would appreciate any ideas you all have. Just basically looking for ways you all organize tasks that don't belong to a project.

I apologize if this has been discussed in a previous thread, but this subject makes it kinda hard to search on.

Thanks!
-Marc
 
Marc, first, to review, David Allen defines a project as anything that we need to get done which involves at least two action steps. So, with this in mind, it seems to me that some of your phone call examples appear to be action steps of actual projects, and not single actions like you are trying to make them.

Take your "Check on Credit card bill" phone call. Is this a regular monthly task for you or is there a particular reason that you need to call your credit company on this? It actually suggests to me something like the following:

PROJECT: FIX VISA 6/08 statement. (Set to sequential) Due 7/10/08

Action #1: Reconcile statement (Context: Home Office)
Action #2: Find supporting documents (Context: Home)
Action #3: Call credit card company @ 1-800-xxx-xxxx (Context: Phone)
Action #4: Pay bill in full (Context: Home Office)
Action #5: Waiting for credit to 07/08 statement in the amount of $400 (Context: Waiting For)
Action #6: Verify that credit amount is correct on 07/08 statement (Context: Home Office)

I see a similar issue with your "Call the Vet" example. What is the reason you're calling the vet? Is this a routine annual exam for your pet, or related to something more specific? And, since I would make the "vet call" one action step within a project, another action step would be to "Take Poopsy to vet." With a due date of next Thurs. (Context: Errands)

Now, when you switch your OF view to Context, you'll see all that you have to get done within those contexts, such as Errands--are there other errands that you could get done while on that vet trip on Thursday?--and Phone Calls: call the credit company, call the vet, etc.

I guess my point is that your single actions list should be relatively small. In other words, your default when planning is that most everything you need to do is a project of some kind (two or more action steps). And only when there is truly only one action step involved, does that go into your single actions list.

I am also a strong advocate of using folders as much as possible (and sub-folders) to organize projects. For example, one folder for WORK, another for PERSONAL, and then perhaps sub-folders within each, say, HEALTH in the PERSONAL folder, and so on. Then, when you select a folder or sub-folder and click on the FOCUS icon in the toolbar, you will be looking at only those items contained in that folder. It's a good way to cut out all the clutter when working through the day.

I hope this helps.

John
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by keone View Post
your single actions list should be relatively small
I don't see why I can't have some longish single-action lists if I want to, sorted by start date, say. That's a decision that the user should make, not the software. Fans of David Allen may have reasons to keep their single-action lists short, but I don't think it is the OmniGroup's responsibility to tell me how to organize my life! They should provide a flexible tool people can use as they see fit.

Quote:
Originally Posted by keone View Post
I am also a strong advocate of using folders as much as possible (and sub-folders) to organize projects. For example, one folder for WORK, another for PERSONAL, and then perhaps sub-folders within each, say, HEALTH in the PERSONAL folder, and so on.
I love that idea, but it's severely undermined by the fact that folders ALL show up in the main pane. Why does the main pane not respect the hierarchy, and give me a choice of expanding or collapsing folders? That would make it a lot easier to see the structure of one's life.
 
I have many ginormous single-action lists. I split them up somewhat (e.g. Domestic Tasks, Work Tasks, and the all-important Misc. Tasks). I'll also frequently create a new bucket of tasks when I start a major new goal. So, for example, now that I'm job hunting, I've got a "job hunting" folder with a ton of projects (I don't care for sub-projects, so I use folders), and it has a couple buckets, one of which is Resumes to Submit. A day of filtering through want ads will generally add 6-10 items to that list, so it gets big fast.

That's not a problem, though. These are indeed single tasks that can be fairly quickly dispatched. I don't waste time prioritizing or otherwise micro-managing these singletons. I just watch my Next Actions (via a handy perspective) and knock them down as they come up. It keeps me on-task (okay, now send the resume to Company X -- I don't have to think about the other pile of places I have yet to apply to) and when I knock that one off, I am magically treated to a new one. Knock 'em down, get 'er done!

Where these become overwhelming is when you try to prioritize too much. The single tasks are SINGLE TASKS that can be dispatched relatively easily.

I'll also move a task into a project of its own if it looks like it's taking more energy than I thought. So if I call the credit card company only to find that they've raised my rate to 130% APR and I need to transfer the debt to another card, I'll make a project for it while I close out the task.

And, if it wasn't obvious, NONE of my bucket projects are actually buckets in the traditional sense. Yes, the tasks COULD be handled in parallel, but I still treat them as sequential so that the Next Action Wizardry works to my advantage. I have other perspectives that will give me the full list of singletons.

Last edited by iNik; 2008-06-21 at 08:58 PM..
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by henri View Post
I love that idea, but it's severely undermined by the fact that folders ALL show up in the main pane. Why does the main pane not respect the hierarchy, and give me a choice of expanding or collapsing folders? That would make it a lot easier to see the structure of one's life.
In Planning mode, you can group projects by folder, and then expand or collapse folders as you wish.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by brianogilvie View Post
In Planning mode, you can group projects by folder, and then expand or collapse folders as you wish.
I was just about to reply something similar. However, I understand now what henri means. You can group projects by folder, sure, but if you collapse one folder's group in the main pane (not in the sidebar), you only hide the projects which are direct descendants of that folder: you still see the sub-folders and contents of the folder you just collapsed in the main pane. In other words, sub-folders are not displayed as children, but as siblings of their parent folders (I'm sure that sort of thing is illegal in most countries of the world…). I've never got too annoyed about this (although my default Projects view is grouped by folder), but I understand why it seems illogical.
 
Thanks for the clarification. Since I haven't reached the point where I am nesting folders, I didn't see the problem.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by henri View Post
I don't see why I can't have some longish single-action lists if I want to, sorted by start date, say. That's a decision that the user should make, not the software. Fans of David Allen may have reasons to keep their single-action lists short, but I don't think it is the OmniGroup's responsibility to tell me how to organize my life! They should provide a flexible tool people can use as they see fit.
Knock yourself out! Have as many as you want. Perhaps that statement would have sounded less didactic if I had prefaced it with "In my humble opinion..." And how exactly is OmniGroup telling you how to organize your life? If that were the case, you wouldn't have your "longish" single-action lists, nor would the original poster. Indeed, OmniFocus is flexible enough to accommodate even the worst of the many bad organizational habits we all have. And, yes, in my humble opinion, relying on long (and multiple) single-action lists is a bad habit and a terribly inefficient use of the power of OF. If you want to keep a bunch of to-do lists, why not just go back to pen and paper?

Quote:
Originally Posted by henri View Post
I love that idea, but it's severely undermined by the fact that folders ALL show up in the main pane. Why does the main pane not respect the hierarchy, and give me a choice of expanding or collapsing folders? That would make it a lot easier to see the structure of one's life.
Are you familiar with the FOCUS option in the toolbar? The reason I ask is that you didn't include that part of my statement in the quote you selected. Select a folder, click on the FOCUS icon, and miraculously "ALL" of your folders no longer show up in the pane, just the one you've chosen to work on.
 
... and then save that to a Perspective. I have 14 Perspective icons on my toolbar. Seems like a lot, but they are very convenient and have grown in number the more I use OF.
 
(1)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lightstorm View Post
For example, for things that would belong in a certain context, like phone calls, but would not belong to a project (Call the Dentist, Call the Vet, Check on Credit card bill), I created a project called Phone Calls, and all the items in here contain tasks with a Phone Call context. (Make sense?)
heh...you pick the best example. I have a bucket called "Dance with Communication" cuz that's exactly what David Allen coached me to do in his workshop :)

sometimes have no idea what you intuition is telling you - just make the call! (this is partially why David insists on getting through you call lists in whatever deadtime you have available)

that said, I resist making calls just like every other human being (ok i speak for myself :)

(2)
I also have a folder called "rubber hit the road!" - this is effectively my runway - for anyone that is on the edge of my life (at least I claim to be) - you really can't see what's ahead of you - sometimes things come up and you know it's an immediate project you have to deal with - not something to react to but something that deals with your current reality!

In my weekly reviews, I tend to organize the projects that "hit the road" into my main hierarchy and go from there.


hope these give 2 new perspectives on the matter - good luck!
 
 


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