[arsoucy]

Am I correct that I can only set parallel/sequential for an entire project and that there is no way to set parent/child relationships for individual tasks?

I want to do the following:

Clean the yard <Project>
Trim Bushes - Task, can happen any time
Pull Weeds - Task, can happen any time
Buy Weed and Feed - Task, can happen any time
Spread Weed and Feed - Task, must follow Buy Weed and Feed
Mow Lawn - Task, can happen any time
Buy Trailer Hitch - Task, can happen any time
Rent Chipper - Task, must follow Buy Trailer Hitch
Water Flowers - Task, can happen any time

I cannot figure out how to make this work.

Thanks,

[Toadling]

I think what you're looking for are action groups. These allow you to group actions together and change the parallel/sequential setting for just that group.

Your example would look like this:

Clean the yard (parallel project)
---Trim Bushes (action)
---Pull Weeds (action)
---Weed and Feed (sequential action group)
------Buy Weed and Feed (action)
------Spread Weed and Feed (action)
---Mow Lawn (action)
---Trailer Hitch (sequential action group)
------Buy Trailer Hitch (action)
------Rent Chipper (action)
---Water Flowers (action)

Does this make sense?

[arsoucy]

Thanks Toadling. That worked well.

[dancingbrook]

Is it not possible to label some actions as parellel and some sequential without creating another action group? Seems like this is logical for many mini projects.

[Toadling]

Originally Posted by dancingbrook

Is it not possible to label some actions as parellel and some sequential without creating another action group? Seems like this is logical for many mini projects.

I'm not sure I understand your question. Actions themselves are not labelled sequential or parallel. Because those settings only have meaning for multiple actions in relation to each other, it's a setting for projects and action groups and applies to the actions contained therein.

[indygreg]

Originally Posted by Toadling

I think what you're looking for are action groups. These allow you to group actions together and change the parallel/sequential setting for just that group.

Your example would look like this:

Clean the yard (parallel project)
---Trim Bushes (action)
---Pull Weeds (action)
---Weed and Feed (sequential action group)
------Buy Weed and Feed (action)
------Spread Weed and Feed (action)
---Mow Lawn (action)
---Trailer Hitch (sequential action group)
------Buy Trailer Hitch (action)
------Rent Chipper (action)
---Water Flowers (action)

Does this make sense?

I am new around here . . . can you better explain how this example works in OF? I get it logically, but how do I set this up? You are losing me on action groups.

[Lizard]

An action group is (visually) just an action that has other actions inside of it. So if you just typed "Weed and Feed" as an action, type return, and then command-]. This will create another action and indent it under "Weed and Feed". Now you can name this "Buy Weed and Feed" and type return to create "Spread Weed and Feed". Another return and command-[ will make the next action outdent, so you can type "Mow Lawn".
You can also just list out all the actions and then drag one up and to the right a bit, until a black right arrow appears, and that'll indent it.

Once you've got actions under an action, it becomes an action group. Then you can change it from parallel to sequential or vice versa in the top section of the group inspector.

[dancingbrook]

OK, I'm going to try to explain.

Let's say I'm going to put up new shelves in a room, and they require these actions.
Shelf Brackets (buy)
Shelves (buy)
Paint (buy)
Paint Shelves
Relocate Current Pictures
Install Brackets
Install Shelves

In this case there are somethings that are sequential, and some things that can be done in parallel. I obviously could Relocate Current Pictures at any point prior to Install Brackets. I could also Paint Shelves at any time prior to Install Shelves, but clearly after Paint (buy). I might buy paint at the paint store, brackets at the hardware store, and shelves at the lumber yard. There is no required sequence to those purchases, yet they precede some other actions but not all.

After looking at this, it is apparent that GTD (and OmniFocus) is a bit stilted in it's conception. Next Actions could be many things for any set of tasks (project). It is a bit artificial to create some action groups that are sequential and others that are parallel, as many projects contain some of both, ad to create "groups" just to separate them into parallel and sequential makes no sense, especially given one might find oneself inserting something sequential into a parallel group (or vice versa). In retrospect, I've would have thought Omni would have understood this and seen it coming, as they have OmniPlan, and thus have experience thinking this way. I've often thought that there should be overlap between OmniPlan and OmniFocus. Now I'm sure of it. Rarely is there such a thing as a "Next Action"; often there are many possible Next Actions in any project or even subproject, and what one does next depends on many other factors. Pert and Gantt charts illustrate this quite well. I think I'm heading of to a Project management app as those apps understand variable dependencies. I wish OmniPlan synced with iCal but apparently not yet.

I hope Omni can see this and work toward defining a convergent app. Project mgt with contexts. Include scheduling, estimating and tracking.

It's easiest to start by illustration:

Library Folder: Change Home
Project: Sell Home

---Declutter Home (sequential)
------Get Things Ready (sequential)
----------Sort Things (parallel)
---------------Food & Wine mags
---------------Ski clothing
---------------Books
----------Box Things (parallel)
---------------Box CDs
---------------Box VCR/Cassette Deck/Tapes
----------Rug (sequential)
---------------Research cleaners & storage
---------------Roll up rug
------Get Things Out (parallel)
----------Throw out JVC
----------Throw out table top
----------George's Car (parallel)
---------------Load up boxes for storage
---------------Load up carpet to drop off

Now, I don't want to see "Get Things Out" until "Get Things Ready" is accomplished. And although I set up "Declutter Home" to be sequential, it doesn't treat these Action Group/Projects as a sequence where you only get to see the 'next action' in the Context Mode.

In other words, can projects within projects get seqenced so that a project can be treated in the same fashion as a 'next action'? Or am I doing something wrong here?

Barry

[pjb]

In general, I use Folders for areas of focus, but I'm finding that for really big projects it is useful to have a Folder with a long list of Projects. For example, I have Work, People, Boat for Folders, but I also have Build New House and Sell Old House which ultimately will need to be marked as completed (a Project feature) but are so large that they're doing well as Folders and not Projects. Things got easier when I relaxed about what ought to be a Project.

I also have an OmniPlan document for Build New House, but it contains different, less granular information and is all about keeping track of what other people are doing. A link between the two apps, with Projects being shared in a collection starting at a level equal to Inbox and Library but with the actual Tasks living only in OF would be great.