Hopefully this isn't too much of a tangent, but it feels related to what
you are trying to do (and what I want to do).
I really have two kinds of sub-items that I deal with right now that I feel
MLO could be better at. One is note like items and the other are "detail
tasks" that I plan to work on in the context of their parent task (which
may be a task or a project). I currently use contexts for both (because
they are easy to activate using hot key) and then filter my views using
those contexts.
With custom views I can hide the sub-items away pretty well. This is
important to having a manageable list of just the main tasks.
The problem I am having is I don't have an easy way to see these sub-items
in the context of their parent task. Some possible ways of solving this:
- Show sub-items in the side bar when a task is selected
- Simple but effective
- Show sub-items when item is selected (so it kind of auto-expands)
- Probably tricky to make UX work well
- Support "zoom to first" pane option for tabs (so a tab shows a zoomed
view of the first tab selection) plus the ability to have new window with
that view
- Definitely my favorite, but a power user type approach since it
takes multiple windows.
- Show notes field across the bottom of the window (for more width)
- This is a poor man's approach, but if notes were more generally
usable I would probably just through more sub-items in there. With them
on
the side I find them to small to be of use for a list of items.
-
d
On Saturday, August 24, 2013 5:03:27 AM UTC-7, JimboDimbo wrote:
>
> "... What is the functionality, other than the icon, you're looking for?"
>
> Yes (Lisa). That's the question I suppose.
>
> It's just that notes are not tasks and they're not folders. Maybe the
> request is mainly theoretical?
> I don't know why it's so important to me to carefully flag notes, but I
> use a separate context (#Note) and an automatic formatting rule to add a
> note icon in the icons field.
> Dwight is correct that once you start having "notes" then the next
> (logical) step is likely to be formatting and attachments; then maybe a
> whole new set of properties. I would not want MLO to change from being a
> super task manager.
> Also, like SRhyse says, we all use our own techniques in MLO to manage
> hundreds of tasks and how we view them. I agree that there are actually
> only a small sub-set of tasks we really need to see (bring to our
> attention) and it's how we handle the rest that I think this note category
> may help with.
>
> Having notes as a different category would allow you to:
> 1. Easily format them (with a new Note Format in the Options, Themes and
> Formatting) to distinguish from the other categories.
> 2. Easily produce views showing them, e.g. Outline: Notes; or Notes by
> Project, etc.
> 3. Recognise that it is OK to have a lump of data that informs our process
> model and helps us get stuff done but which is not a defined task.
>
> GTD asks the first question about incoming data items: Is it actionable?
> This is where notes comes in. No, they are not actionable; but notes can be
> very useful in processing incoming items and reviewing our tasks.
>
> Here is a bit more explanation about how I manage my tasks, or rather
> manage them when I actually do review them, since I'm not very disciplined.
>
> Apart from notes to help inform and facilitate new tasks, I would also
> like a method to move existing tasks down the attention ladder. Sure at the
> top end we have the starred and goal methods to lift critical tasks up
> above regular tasks to get our attention, but how about tasks at the bottom
> end? Ones which we don't want to delete or complete, but are useful to
> remind us during a review that a topic may come up again or will change
> into a new set of tasks. I like to turn these into notes, so that they drop
> out of the To-Do, but remain as items for review under a project or topic.
> The idea is that the task becomes data for a while until it either stops
> being useful (delete or archive), or turns into a new task.
> I know these can simply be tasks without dates or hidden in To-Do, but I'd
> really like them not to be tasks anymore, because they are not. They are
> not actionable, they are notes.
> In fact any data which helps to manage my tasks and is useful right next
> to them is in MLO. A lot of it is in the task notes field, but sometimes a
> separate data task (note) is more useful.
>
> For work I usually have several projects on the go, each has a different
> set of people. So I use a simple list of the people involved in the project
> (internal people and external customers, with job titles, phone number and
> email address) in a sub-task in the MLO project. Then I can use the task
> properties to set a reminder or review date, rather than leave it as a note
> in the project task itself.
> This is what I mean by active data, stuff that changes and I need to keep
> tabs on or refer to quickly, but not a task in the project because it is
> never a real committed task and is never completed. I view it as data, or a
> note.
> I also have meeting checklists, design priorities (I work as a solution
> architect), risks and life-cycle considerations as active notes for some
> (but not all) projects.
> I don't want these to appear in my To-Do list, but I do need to review
> them occasionally. If I need to formalise them (maybe 15% of them), then
> they become a task (or spawn a new task) until my commitment is complete,
> then they can become a note again.
> They can spawn tasks because (for example), after a review, one of the
> risks seems more likely or some action needs to happen.
>
> Maybe this is just another way to move tasks between someday/maybe and
> things we have commitments on. But for me, someday/maybe usually means
> forget it. Having a notes category of task allows me to easily keep data
> visible in the project (in Outline view) that I need instant access to, but
> which does not appear in the To-Do list, unless I want it to (switch to a
> task).
>
> I think we need some better ways to manage the tasks and meta-information
> at the edges of our core task set and for me a note category of task would
> do nicely and fit well with how MLO works.
>
>>
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