[danz013]

I was showing the program to someone yesterday and one of the things that put them of was the fact there is no way to see how much you have at a particular time.

For example, imagine I've got a big project that needs doing in two weeks, how would I know when the best time is to pen this project in?

I'm finding that I have more task on a particular day than I can handle because there is no easy way to see how much I have on.

Do you guys have any ways you get around this? If not... can we have this feature sometime soon?

[brianogilvie]

You can see what you have coming due in context mode:

Group by Due date
Sort by Due date
Show Remaining actions (to get those that are blocked)

Of course, that doesn't include the things that have no due date per se but that need a lot of sustained work to accomplish. (I'm working on a book, and I don't expect to finish it for two or three years, but I have to do some work on it every couple of weeks if I want to get there.) It also doesn't include your hard landscape: if you have 30 hours of meetings in a particular week, good luck getting much else done!

OF is a task management tool; it's not a life planning tool. There are programs that try to integrate everything, but OF intends to be really good at doing one thing rather than mediocre at doing many things.

[pvonk]

Originally Posted by danz013

I was showing the program to someone yesterday and one of the things that put them of was the fact there is no way to see how much you have at a particular time.

It sounds like they are thinking of a calendar type application. GTD is generally not about appointments in a calendar.

Originally Posted by danz013

For example, imagine I've got a big project that needs doing in two weeks, how would I know when the best time is to pen this project in?

If the project can't be started until three days from now (perhaps the boss hasn't yet handed out the specs), you should set a start date. If the project absolutely needs to be done by a certain date, then enter a due date. Otherwise, don't bother with dates.

If you have to pick up a ticket from someone at 3:00pm on the 12th, then that should go in your calendar. If you have to pick up a ticket but it's not important exactly when, then that is something to add to your action list in OF. Usually, actions that you have in a project are done when you can. At times there are constraints as to when you can start and when they are due; that's when you use the start and due dates.

Originally Posted by danz013

I'm finding that I have more task on a particular day than I can handle because there is no easy way to see how much I have on.

Not quite sure what you mean here. Are you saying that on next Tuesday, say, you might have 15 things to do? Are you sure your tasks can't roll forward from one day to the next if you can't do them now?

[ext555]

One reason that " timed " tasks and such aren't considered part of GTD is that [this is purely my opinion ] GTD has a big audience among people that have very busy calendars etc ..hence the " how much free time do I have " features .. Some people don't have lots of meetings and they are usually the ones that struggle with this part of GTD [I'm in that category ] So, no matter what tool I"ve used for GTD I've had to put together combos of applications [previously on windows and now on mac ] If you fall into this category [open calendar lots of available time ] you might have to do the same . Just my .02

[ptone]

I've posted a toolbar script that creates a iCal view of the contents of your current window:

http://forums.omnigroup.com/showpost...39&postcount=1

[danz013]

Originally Posted by ext555

One reason that " timed " tasks and such aren't considered part of GTD is that [this is purely my opinion ] GTD has a big audience among people that have very busy calendars etc ..hence the " how much free time do I have " features .. Some people don't have lots of meetings and they are usually the ones that struggle with this part of GTD [I'm in that category ] So, no matter what tool I"ve used for GTD I've had to put together combos of applications [previously on windows and now on mac ] If you fall into this category [open calendar lots of available time ] you might have to do the same . Just my .02

I agree entirely.

Originally Posted by pvonk

Not quite sure what you mean here. Are you saying that on next Tuesday, say, you might have 15 things to do? Are you sure your tasks can't roll forward from one day to the next if you can't do them now?

This is how I use OmniFocus, i'm not sure how its supposed to be used but this is how I use it:

I run a business and use it to basically keep a track of everything that needs doing. There is no one there giving me deadlines, so to me, dates are more like targets. I want to achieve something by a particular date. If a customer complains that a product is broken I don't have to sort it out immediately but obviously I will set out to do so.

Some things don't really need to be done until next week (cashflows, print out invoices etc), some things need to be done immediately (customer complaints, enquiries, etc), some things are just ideas that I want to look into in a few months.

I have loads of different things going off, OmniFocus helps me to do all of these different things so I no longer have to focus on one project at a time.

The problem I have is this. In a particular day, I might have lots to d. I want to be able to see how much I have to do before I set a target date to achieve something. Without any way to see how much I've already set out to do I might be setting unrealistic targets.

I think the problem with these programs is that not everyone is the same. When adding something you may make it better for some, but but also make it worse for some. Omni have done a good job to get the program this far, I think its fantastic.

[pvonk]

Originally Posted by danz013

I agree entirely.
The problem I have is this. In a particular day, I might have lots to d. I want to be able to see how much I have to do before I set a target date to achieve something. Without any way to see how much I've already set out to do I might be setting unrealistic targets.

Instead of setting an artificial target date (it *is* artificial, since you'd be willing to change the target date if there's too much going on, on that date), consider not using dates, just have a task be an ongoing thing until you check it done. Use flags to highlight some things that really need your attention soon, and use the review to update flags and reassess what needs to be done. Also, I use start dates for tasks I don't want to begin now and don't want to view in context mode for the time being. GTD offers a different approach than the one I think you are describing.

[danz013]

Yeah I agree, and im trying to get used to it :) But, i'll give that a try and see how it goes.

[keone]

Originally Posted by danz013

The problem I have is this. In a particular day, I might have lots to d. I want to be able to see how much I have to do before I set a target date to achieve something. Without any way to see how much I've already set out to do I might be setting unrealistic targets.

I don't know if this will help, but here's what I do. In Contexts>View I sort the "Group Actions By" filter to Due and then in the "Show Actions with Status" filter I use Remaining. OF then groups all of my tasks by "Due Today," "Due Tomorrow," "Due Within the Next Week," "Due Within the Next Month," and so on. If I have a new project that I need to fit in, I will look in say, "Due Within the Next Week," and see how much I'll have going on. Depending on the relative importance of my new project to those already with scheduled tasks due next week, I will make adjustments accordingly--either start the new project the week after or defer some tasks from other projects to later due dates.