[lmsboy]

Hey,
for what is review and how to use it?

[Greg Jones]

Allen's book would be most helpful to describe the review, but a search here would be useful also. In particular, search for anything that Curt Clifton has posted on the topic. He has described in great detail here his excellent review process and how he uses the technology to assist him with his reviews.

[lmsboy]

I'm sorry, but I don't find it -.-

[Greg Jones]

This link will get you started.

[lmsboy]

Thank you, but I think it's a misunderstanding:

In this thread the guy told about his daily-review for his workflow, I meant the 'review'-function in OF. For what is this and how to use it?

Is it like a reminder for me, to look at review-marked projects, that this wan't goes out of focus or what for it is?

[whpalmer4]

OmniFocus provides tools for you to keep track of which projects have been reviewed, and to allow you to review each project on its own schedule. There is a Mark Reviewed button which can be added to the toolbar (see View->Customize Toolbar...), the ability to group and/or sort by Next Review date in the project/planning view, and fields in the inspector to allow specification of the Next Review date and the interval between reviews (on a per-project basis). With these tools, you bring up a view grouped by Next Review, look at the first project, make any changes needed, then click the Mark Reviewed button. Doing so timestamps the project as being reviewed, advances the Next Review date to be the project's review interval in the future, and selects the next project in the view. You stop reviewing projects when you have reviewed everything with a Next Review date of today or earlier.

If you are careful about how you assign next review dates and review intervals, you only have to review a small number of projects each day to keep all of your projects reviewed. Do a search for "prime number review" for more details.

[lmsboy]

So the 'review' thing is a kind of a reminder/controler for me to remember the tasks I've to done in the projects (before they come overdue/due-soon)?

[ksrhee]

Originally Posted by lmsboy

So the 'review' thing is a kind of a reminder/controler for me to remember the tasks I've to done in the projects (before they come overdue/due-soon)?

Not really. Here is what I do with OF. I typically use the review function to review all my project/subproject/task group every week. As I do my review, many times I can think of the new tasks that need to be done on the project or revision (in terms of due/start time, duration, etc.) that need to be made, and I can make those during the review. This way nothing falls through the cracks and I'm doing this proactively.

This is different than scheduling something in the organizer, and having the organizer keep track of it so that it doesn't fall through the cracks.

I have found this feature extremely helping in my planning, and I know of no other program that offers this convenient feature (e.g., you can do this in Things or other programs, but it takes a lot more effort to do this). Why spend more time planning when I would rather spend time acting on things that are important to me so that I can get things done.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by lmsboy

So the 'review' thing is a kind of a reminder/controler for me to remember the tasks I've to done in the projects (before they come overdue/due-soon)?

The review is what David Allen calls "closing the open loop" and is what ultimately drives progress on your work. You already do some haphazard reviewing when you use due dates on actions or projects. When you see the orange or red signifying something being due soon or overdue, you look at that item again and take action. The review is where you look at a project, evaluate what else needs to be done to achieve the project's goals, and whether the schedule is realistic. If the project is progressing well, and there are no additional items to add, you mark the project reviewed and go on to the next. If the review shows that there are other tasks which need to be added, you add them. If the review shows that the project is falling behind schedule, you know to spend more effort on the project, or renegotiate the commitment to finish it on that schedule.

If you set a goal of trying to accomplish a task from a project each time it is reviewed, you can use the review interval as a way of pacing your workload of tasks and projects which do not have a due date. An example might be having a bowl on the counter where you put notes to yourself about things around the house that need attention, but don't necessarily have a due date — replacing a light bulb, repainting the trim on a door, etc. If you take an item out of that bowl every weekend and do it, you'll slowly work through all of those tasks, but without the structure of taking a task each weekend, many of those actions might linger indefinitely. While doing your review, you would notice the equivalent of the bowl getting fuller (because you are generating new tasks faster than you are doing them) and you can make the needed adjustment of doing two tasks each weekend, or hiring a handyman to take care of some of the work.

In the end, it provides an organized way to make sure that you are aware of the status of each project, so that the work gets done. Once you have a substantial number of projects, it is essential.