ForumsGetting Things Done®Auotomatically change task status


Auotomatically change task status
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gregg.plummer

Posted: Dec 17, 2013
Score: 0 Reference
I am a new Toodledo user and am also trying to follow the GTD methodology. I read the book a few years ago, but haven't really used the technique and would like to integrate it with Toodledoo. I am also using an Andorid app that is compatible with Toodledoo called "EveryTask", which seems to follow the GTD method.

In EveryTask, they have collection boxes labelled Inbox, Next, Waiting, Scheduled, Planned, Sometime, Projects and Horizons.

I assume these collection boxes are the same as the STATUS in Toodledoo.

I also assume these Status categories mean the following in GTD:

none = Inbox
Active = Next
Next Action = Next
Delegated = Waiting
Waiting = Waiting
Postponed = Scheduled
Planning = Planned (these seem to be scheduled tasks that are several weeks away)
Someday = Sometime
Canceled = not applicable to EveryTask
Reference = not applicable to EveryTask

When I started using Toodledoo, just a couple days ago, I also started immediately with EveryTask. The GTD methods are part of EveryTasks UI, but the method isn't obvious when you work with Toodledo. After entering the tasks in Toodledoo, I used EveryTask to move them into the 'Scheduled' container. After discovering the 'Status' field in Toodledo, it shows that the scheduled tasks that are coming up pretty soon are given the 'Postponed' status in Toodledoo and those that are scheduled later (not sure what the time frame is for this) are given the 'Planning' status in Toodledoo.

Is there a way to have Toodledoo automatically move a task from 'Postponed' to 'Next Action' on the day the task is due? Is there a way to set the time frame for when a task is set to postponed or planned?

Is there a relationship between a task's priority and the GTD status? Does a negative priority put a task in the 'Someday' status?

I appreciate any advice you can provide.
gregg.plummer

Posted: Dec 19, 2013
Score: 0 Reference
It would be great if there was some sort of 'Rules' feature.

For my example above, I'd like to create a rule so Toodledo automatically changes the status of every task that is due today to 'Next Action', unless the task has an optional due date.

It might be nice to have a similar rule that set the status for everything else that is due this week to 'postponed' and tasks due beyond this week are set to 'planning'.
Purveyor

Posted: Dec 20, 2013
Score: 0 Reference
Hi Gregg.

The answer to each of the questions in your first post is "No".

As for advice, first re-read Getting Things Done.
Then watch this video in which David Allen explains why method matters more than a productivity tool.

Then take a look at this: http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/08/getting-started-with-getting-things-done

And this: https://www.toodledo.com/forums/5/2660/0/proximos-gtd-setup.html


This message was edited Dec 20, 2013.
gregg.plummer

Posted: Dec 20, 2013
Score: 0 Reference
Thanks for the link. I understand that GTD is more than a productivity tool. I still don't think creating a way to automatically set a status is necessarily such a bad thing.

Thanks for the other link as well. I see it was originally posted more than 4 years ago. Have some of the features changed in Toodledoo since his original posting (sorry, but I don't have time to read through the whole thread at this time...)? Why doesn't he just use the 'Status' field instead of 'Folders'?


This message was edited Dec 21, 2013.
tophyd

Posted: Dec 23, 2013
Score: -1 Reference
This is one of the resons why I don't use the status field.

If I want "Next Action" te be stuff that's due today, I pull up the list of tasks that are due today. (I actually would pull up a search of both "Due Today" and "Overdue," but that would depend on your system.

I use negative priority as my someday list, and exclude it from other views. When I review my someday list, I just pull up my negative priority tasks.

If things that aren't due today, but are due in the next week are "postponed," just pull up a list of everthing that meets those criteria when you want to view "postponed" taskes. The same goes for "planning"

My references are in Notes or a negative priority someday task with REF: at the beginning of the task name (I haven't decided which way to go yet). I found that Delegated and Waiting only help me if I can quickly see who they're delegated to or what they're waiting for, so I just add W/F and what I'm waiting for at the beginning of the task name and re-prioritize the task as the tickler should be. For "Cancelled," I just close the task, adding a short comment if I think it's important enought to note it was cancelled.

If two different fields give you the same information, you only need to use one of them.

Also look into settings you can give the hotlist to make it a good representative of something meaningful to you.

I actually rank my main list by importance. For me, everything that's at least an importance of 7 is a next action, and everything that's at least a 4 is for this week. I use priorties to help set "soft" due dates (a low due tomorrow has the same weight as a medium due a week from now, a high due two weeks from now, or a top with no due date. My "due today" list of importance>=7 includes lows and mediums due today, highs due tomorrow, and tops due a week from now).
DSM_2

Posted: Jan 25, 2014
Score: 2 Reference
Boy, seems that people invent tricks to do things that Toodledo (or any task manager) should do by itself. The tricks seem to come down to a desire to trigger something to happen to a task when something else happens that is related to the task. For instance, automatically promote a task to "Next Action'" when its dependencies are done. Ranking your Next Actions by Priority gets you what to work on next.
Dave

Posted: Jan 28, 2014
Score: 0 Reference
Doesnt the hotlist solve this issue? You can change the settings of it to show tasks due today and next action, etc.
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