So, contexts aren't working the way I expected them to.
I've been thinking of subcontexts as more specific versions of more general contexts.
Like, I have one context for "on my mac". I have another for "on my mac, online". I have another for "on my mac, online, at a desk". I have another for "on my mac, online, at a desk, in my office". And another for "on my mac, online, at a desk, in my office, with my co-worker".
There are some tasks, like doing light editing, that only require me to have my laptop with me. I set those in the "on my mac" context. There are other tasks, like doing some web reading, that require a network but no specific location -- I can do those from my couch, from a coffee shop, et cetera. Those go in the "on my mac, online" context. There are other tasks such as programming where I need to be on my mac, on a network, and with room to use a mouse and spread out documentation, and I put those in the "online, at a desk" context. Other tasks require me to be on a mac at a desk with resources that are available at my office, such as manuals and the fax machine, and those go into the "at a desk, in my office" context. And some of those tasks require me to work alongside my officemate, and those go into the "in my office, with my co-worker" context.
What I expected was to be able to say "here's the context I'm in now; what tasks can I do?". But that doesn't work. When I specify my context as "on my mac, online, at a desk, in my office", I expected to see the stuff from "on a mac" (since I'm in fact at a mac and can do those), from "online" (since I'm in fact online and can do those), from "at a desk" (since I'm in fact at a desk and can do those), and from "in my office" (since I'm in fact in my office and can do those), but I expected to not see the stuff from "with my co-worker" (since he's at another site today, so I cannot do those).
Like, let's say I specify my context as "mac, online, desk, office". If I had a task "review the last architecture document", and a task "see if any wiki documents need an update", and a task "write six new servlets", and a task "implement a new HR process in SQL", I'd expect to see those, since they're all things I could do at my desk at work. But if I had the task "write a servlet that uses this feature that only my co-worker knows about", I wouldn't expect to see that, because I can't do it without my co-worker.
I guess I could reverse the contexts, putting the most specific at the top level and the least specific at the bottom level, but that seems completely wrong. Am I just completely misusing contexts? Any advice?
I've been thinking of subcontexts as more specific versions of more general contexts.
Like, I have one context for "on my mac". I have another for "on my mac, online". I have another for "on my mac, online, at a desk". I have another for "on my mac, online, at a desk, in my office". And another for "on my mac, online, at a desk, in my office, with my co-worker".
There are some tasks, like doing light editing, that only require me to have my laptop with me. I set those in the "on my mac" context. There are other tasks, like doing some web reading, that require a network but no specific location -- I can do those from my couch, from a coffee shop, et cetera. Those go in the "on my mac, online" context. There are other tasks such as programming where I need to be on my mac, on a network, and with room to use a mouse and spread out documentation, and I put those in the "online, at a desk" context. Other tasks require me to be on a mac at a desk with resources that are available at my office, such as manuals and the fax machine, and those go into the "at a desk, in my office" context. And some of those tasks require me to work alongside my officemate, and those go into the "in my office, with my co-worker" context.
What I expected was to be able to say "here's the context I'm in now; what tasks can I do?". But that doesn't work. When I specify my context as "on my mac, online, at a desk, in my office", I expected to see the stuff from "on a mac" (since I'm in fact at a mac and can do those), from "online" (since I'm in fact online and can do those), from "at a desk" (since I'm in fact at a desk and can do those), and from "in my office" (since I'm in fact in my office and can do those), but I expected to not see the stuff from "with my co-worker" (since he's at another site today, so I cannot do those).
Like, let's say I specify my context as "mac, online, desk, office". If I had a task "review the last architecture document", and a task "see if any wiki documents need an update", and a task "write six new servlets", and a task "implement a new HR process in SQL", I'd expect to see those, since they're all things I could do at my desk at work. But if I had the task "write a servlet that uses this feature that only my co-worker knows about", I wouldn't expect to see that, because I can't do it without my co-worker.
I guess I could reverse the contexts, putting the most specific at the top level and the least specific at the bottom level, but that seems completely wrong. Am I just completely misusing contexts? Any advice?