ForumsGetting Things Done®Changing Todos?


Changing Todos?
Author Message
martin

Posted: Apr 03, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Hi all:

Still a gtd-beginner, I find myself very often updating todos to reflect the progress of an activity. So the todo was "make call about agenda" and then literally change the header to "send updated agenda by email". I am just wondering if this is not a bad habit and I should really declare the call-todo finished and create a new todo send-email?!
On the other hand, this way there will be no connection between the two. Or do I then miss a project (which could be "agree on agenda" which consists of the twho sub/tasks)?

Cheers, Martin
Anders

Posted: Apr 03, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Personally, I would use subtasks, or tasks in a folder if you use folders as projects. I don't think changing the name is necessarily a bad habit as long as the first task is complete, but it does deprive you of the sense of accomplishment that accompanies a nice check-off.
frossie

Posted: Apr 03, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Martin - I often do what you describe - it saves a few clicks as often the new thing you want to do shares a lot of properties with the thing you have just done (eg folder, tags, etc).

I can't imagine why it would be a bad habit, if you don't need to review your past history.
martin

Posted: Apr 06, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Posted by anders_royce:
Personally, I would use subtasks, or tasks in a folder if you use folders as projects.


I do use subtasks. I am still trying out many things, but coming from RTM (only a few weeks) I realized that folders do not work for me as projects. Subtasks just nicely meet my bundling-tasks requirements.

I thought about using tags for assigning tasks to "real" projects (such as my research projects, or private topics such as car, home improvement, ...). But there are other threads here that discuss that in more depth and I still have to find my way that works for me.

I don't think changing the name is necessarily a bad habit as long as the first task is complete, but it does deprive you of the sense of accomplishment that accompanies a nice check-off.


That is a very good point :) Especially as I sometimes peek into my "History"...


This message was edited Apr 06, 2009.
Proximo

Posted: Apr 13, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
I try to keep my task titles very basic and to the point. I use the note area to dive into details. One thing I found useful is to always start a note line with a date prefix. This allows me to keep track of updates as things progress or change related to that task.

If the task requires multiple steps, then it's a project and I use subtask to control this. But for simple tracking of a particular task, I use the notes section.

example:

04/13/2009 - Bob sent me an email with the updated list. Need to review it and update everyone.

04/10/2009 - Call Bob and ask him to update me on his projects related to widget.

In the example above, you will notice that I keep my latest entry on top. The original context could have been @Phone and then changed to @Email.

Hope this helps.
You cannot reply yet

U Back to topic home

R Post a reply

To participate in these forums, you must be signed in.