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More Silly Questions
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DSM_2

Posted: Mar 10, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Continuing on my quest to ask the silliest question... ;-)

If you have a task scheduled for sometime in the future, what is it's status?

* Next Action ?
* Active ?
* Scheduled ? (not currently supported)
Claudio

Posted: Mar 11, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Well, you don't win the prize for the silliest question ...

I'm guessing that most people leave the Status blank.

According to the GTD methodology (http://www.toodledo.com/info/gtd.php), "Next Action" is simply the next task that is required to move towards completing a Project, which consists of multiple tasks.

"Active" can refer to a Project that currently has a Next Action.

Unfortunately, Toodledo does not have anything called a "Project", so you have to use a Task with Subtasks, or a Folder with Tasks.
DSM_2

Posted: Mar 11, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
This would seem to need a "Scheduled" Status so you can filter things by Status properly.

Enhancement request..?
Claudio

Posted: Mar 11, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Well, for now, you could Filter for "No Status" or you could Search for "Status = None".
saskia.x

Posted: Mar 12, 2009
Score: 1 Reference
Unfortunately, Toodledo does not have anything called a "Project", so you have to use a Task with Subtasks, or a Folder with Tasks.


I quite like the fact that Toodledo doesn't dictate to us how we should be managing projects, it gives us the freedom to adapt the system to the way we want it to work; one of Toodledo's biggest strengths is its flexibility. Personally I use a context called "PROJECTS", since, in GTD terms, projects don't have contexts, only actions do, so the context field isn't needed for projects (it also mimics the division of "lists" in GTD, with one for each context and another for projects). I then use subtasks to group tasks under each project.

On the original (not so silly) question, I would just mark the task with whatever status it WILL have when it appears on my list, since I shouldn't need to worry about it until then (if I do need to think about it before then, I probably should have scheduled the start date sooner, or created a separate task to remind me to do whatever preparation needs to be done). I use the "next action" status quite loosely, to indicate that this item is a single well-defined action which shouldn't need any further thought or preparation before I act on it (basically pretty much like a GTD NA but without neccessarily being the very next action I need to do, so each project will probably have several "next actions"). I use "active" to indicate both projects and less well defined actions (which might turn out to be projects when I've thought more carefully about them), and "planning" for things I need to review and think about further before I can act on them properly.
Claudio

Posted: Mar 12, 2009
Score: 1 Reference
Posted by saskia.x:
I quite like the fact that Toodledo doesn't dictate to us how we should be managing projects, it gives us the freedom to adapt the system to the way we want it to work; one of Toodledo's biggest strengths is its flexibility.
If Toodledo had something called Projects, it still wouldn't be dictating to us how we should manage projects. By not having the option of Projects, Toodledo is less flexible.
Personally I use a context called "PROJECTS"...
I then use subtasks to group tasks under each project.
Do you then review your list of projects by looking at a list of tasks with a context of "PROJECTS"? Have you created a Search or do you just click on Projects in Contexts? How do you handle the Context of newly-added subtasks? (The Context will not be "PROJECTS", right?)

Thanks.
Jake

Toodledo Founder
Posted: Mar 12, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
It was our intention for Folders to be the same thing as Projects. We just picked the word "Folders" because it was a little more generic.
DSM_2

Posted: Mar 12, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Doesn't this present a problem for cross-program syncing?? For instance, in syncing with Outlook, should Toodledo folders be equated with Outlook email folders or Outlook Categories? Should tags be equated with Categories? If both are equated with Categories, doesn't that create problems when syncing back to Toodledo?

I guess what I'm asking is -- is there a "standard" data model that applications like Toodledo, Outlook, RTM, etc., should conform to?
Claudio

Posted: Mar 12, 2009
Score: 1 Reference
I would like to use Folders as Projects, but, so far, it's been awkward to do so. I've been using Folders to capture groups of related Projects, with each Project consisting of a master task with subtasks as the specific actions. But the creation and manipulation of subtasks is awkward.

If a Folder is a Project, then:
1. How do I see a list of my Projects as part of my weekly review, and easily view the tasks that are part of the Project?
2. How do I know the Status of the Project?
3. How do I create a project on the fly and immediately start entering the tasks for that project?
4. How do I indicate that the Project has been completed?

Also, my projects tend to have long names which would take up a lot of space if I were accessing them at the top of the screen by using Folders.
And, as David Allen points out, it's common for someone to have 40 or 50 projects, either active or planned. (I have about 50.) Accessing the relevant tasks from so many Folders would be very awkward, or perhaps even impossible. (I think that you have a limit on the number of items in the top menu. Is that right?)

Thanks.
Jake

Toodledo Founder
Posted: Mar 12, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
There is no limit to the number of folders that you can have, but if you have more than can fit across the top of the page, the rest will appear in the "More" box.
roddyt

Posted: Mar 14, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Posted by Claudio:
If a Folder is a Project, then:
1. How do I see a list of my Projects as part of my weekly review, and easily view the tasks that are part of the Project?
2. How do I know the Status of the Project?
3. How do I create a project on the fly and immediately start entering the tasks for that project?
4. How do I indicate that the Project has been completed?

A suggestion for #1 is to view by Main, select All Tasks, then sort by Folder. After that you can select Toggle Dividers to collapse the tasks, then all the folders (projects) are listed by themselves if you want to easily see the list.

For #4, there is an Archived checkbox for folders that hides them in the Manage Folder view. I don't know if it has any other effect, but that's what I use to indicate a complete project.

As for my own experience, when I started with Toodledo I read most of the past forum posts to see what others were doing. I liked the idea of using subtasks for projects so I started doing it that way. I tried to get used to it but I found using the parent task as a project awkward, so I rethought the whole scheme.

I ended up going with the folder-as-project design. My primary folder is called Tasks, and that is where all non-project tasks go. All other folders are projects.
This method is really working out for me, even though folders can't be created on the fly. While I would like to see improvement there, I've gotten used to it, and it is only a minor speed bump now.

Roddy
Claudio

Posted: Mar 14, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Posted by roddyt:
A suggestion for #1 is to view by Main, select All Tasks, then sort by Folder. After that you can select Toggle Dividers to collapse the tasks, then all the folders (projects) are listed by themselves if you want to easily see the list.
Good idea! Thanks.
For #4, there is an Archived checkbox for folders that hides them in the Manage Folder view. I don't know if it has any other effect, but that's what I use to indicate a complete project.
Yeah, I looked at this. Not really what I'm looking for. I'd like to see a list of completed Projects, and then get an overview of the completed tasks. Whether or not I archive the Folder, I still can't get this view, even using Search.
I tried to get used to it but I found using the parent task as a project awkward, so I rethought the whole scheme.
I agree.

Thanks for your suggestions.


This message was edited Mar 14, 2009.
saskia.x

Posted: Mar 24, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Posted by Claudio:
Posted by saskia.x:
I quite like the fact that Toodledo doesn't dictate to us how we should be managing projects, it gives us the freedom to adapt the system to the way we want it to work; one of Toodledo's biggest strengths is its flexibility.
If Toodledo had something called Projects, it still wouldn't be dictating to us how we should manage projects. By not having the option of Projects, Toodledo is less flexible.


I think that if Toodledo had something called projects, people would feel that was where they were "supposed" to keep their projects, regardless of whether that suited their own method of working (I'm really glad they didn't call the folders "projects", as it would be a real mess very quickly for me!). It would be distracting to keep seeing something called a "project" in the interface if you chose to use something else to represent this concept.

Personally I use a context called "PROJECTS"...
I then use subtasks to group tasks under each project.
Do you then review your list of projects by looking at a list of tasks with a context of "PROJECTS"? Have you created a Search or do you just click on Projects in Contexts? How do you handle the Context of newly-added subtasks? (The Context will not be "PROJECTS", right?)


I click on the "PROJECTS" context to review my projects, and also have a search set up to find projects with no subtasks which I check as part of my review. When I create new subtasks they only get the same folder as the parent task, not the context (which seems to default to "no context" regardless of what I have as my new task defaults in the settings. Do your tasks inherit the context? That's very odd if I'm getting a different behaviour!). I give subtasks whatever context is appropriate, so a project could have several subtasks with a variety of contexts.
saskia.x

Posted: Mar 24, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
One thing that strikes me reading these and other posts is that different people seem to have different ways of conceptualising a "project", and hence different ways of organising them.

I use parent tasks to represent projects because I think of projects in much the same way as David Allen does in GTD, i.e. something that can't be done in a single step (which could even be something rather small, and might be something many people would think of as a single "task"). I'm guessing some of you are using the word "project" to represent larger scale projects, and are therefore likely to have far fewer of them on the go at once, making them more suited to folders. I use folders to represent the different areas of my life, some of which are things I call "uberprojects". At the moment we're buying a house, which is a huge project (with many subprojects) that eats up quite a large chunk of my life, so I have a folder to represent that rather than a parent task. As the focus of my life moves, I'll archive that folder and maybe create some new ones.

I think parent tasks make good projects if you are using GTD-style projects, but maybe folders are better if your projects are fewer and larger.
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