Cool, this sounds like it would work. I should have been more clear: I DON'T need to assign tasks to Frank or track his progress--that's why I'm not considering traditional project management software. I DO need to know that I can't do anything more on this project until Frank does his part.
The ability to create a report from @waiting-for sounds great--my boss always wants to know about the blockers. Thanks! On Thursday, August 23, 2012 10:17:46 PM UTC-7, Dwight Arthur wrote: > > MLO does not let you assign a task to Frank or let Frank record his > completion of the markups. It may be possible for you to share a portion of > your profile (the database where your tasks are kept) with Frank and use > synch to replicate his updates into your copy of the profile but that’s > pretty advanced, fairly complex stuff – I’m guessing that you are not ready > to take on something of that scale yet. > > > > Two ways of representing the situation you described. First is to create a > project with subtasks like > > -Send document to Frank for review > > -Wait for Frank’s markups > > -Prepare final draft. > > In the **Properties** pane for the parent project, click “complete tasks > in order”. This causes the first uncompleted task to be _*Active*_ which > means Ready for execution, while the remaining uncompleted tasks will be > considered _*Inactive*_ or not ready for execution. So when you look at a > to-do report like Active Tasks, you will see the task about sending > documents to Frank. When you have sent the documents, click the completion > box for that task and it will no longer be shown in the Active Tasks > display – its place will be taken by the task about waiting for markups. As > long as you are waiting for the markups, the “wait for markups” task will > appear in your Active Tasks. When the markups are received, click the > completion box for that task and the final draft task will move to Active > Tasks. > > > > Everything above works no matter what you call the categories. But people > usually want to make a few improvements that require a specific category > for things you’re waiting for. I call mine “@Wait”. Once you assign tasks > to the @Wait context you can (a) build a report of things you are waiting > for, highlighting those that should have completed by now, and (b) make a > to-do list that excludes things you are waiting for and just shows the > things you should be doing. > > > > The other way of representing the situation is to use explicit > dependencies instead of the implicit ones that come of completing tasks in > order. If you have a simple series of tasks where each task is a dependency > for the next, then complete in order works fine. Explicit dependencies are > needed when a task is dependent on another task that’s in a different > branch of your tree, or you have one task that’s dependent on several (you > need markups from three people before doing the final) or many tasks that > can run concurrently but all dependent on the same task (when paycheck > clears, pay all my bills). For this you go into the task properties pane, > open the dependencies section, and create the specific dependencies. > > 0Dwight > > > > > > *From:* [email protected] <javascript:> [mailto: > [email protected] <javascript:>] *On Behalf Of *pwilder > *Sent:* Thursday, August 23, 2012 6:27 PM > *To:* [email protected] <javascript:> > *Subject:* [MLO] How do I create an external dependency? > > > > This is probably a really basic question, but I just got an evaluation > copy of MLO so I'm at the basic level. > > One of the features I was counting on is the ability to create > dependencies. Specifically, I want to be able to say "I can't do this task > until Frank gives me the markups" (or whatever it is Frank needs to do that > is blocking me). I see that there's an @OfficeWaiting For context, and that > SEEMS to be what I should use, but I don't see a way to say WHAT I'm > waiting for and these tasks appear in my To-Do list like all the others. I > don't see a way to create a task and assign it to someone else so I can > make my task dependent on that one, either. > > I can't be the only person whose work depends on someone else finishing > theirs! How do I create tasks that are dependent on external factors? > > TIA. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MyLifeOrganized" group. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mylifeorganized/-/_85zwEsL-qgJ. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]<javascript:> > . > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] <javascript:>. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mylifeorganized/-/BZXhAy6pe_UJ. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized?hl=en.
