Hi Dwight
Ah - I hadn't quite realised that a Folder in MLO *cannot* be marked as
completed. And that in the Active tasks view, MLO's "Complete subtasks in
order" will hide a folder it if it does not contain any uncompleted tasks.
OK so yes, using a folder would certainly be one way of getting a number of
subtasks to appear simultaneously in a project that had "Complete subtasks
in order" set. The only problem is that the Folder itself is a slightly
artificial construct (that my have no obvious name for example)
However there are problems with the form you suggest i.e.
Project
> Task 1
> Task 4
> > Task 2
> > Task 3
> Task 7
> > Task 5
> > Task 6
One problem is that Task 4 and Task 7 have become out of sequence.
e.g. After Task 1 is completed, you would see Task 4 which looks like it
should be done *before *Task 2 and Task 3.
Project
> Task 4
> > Task 2
> > Task 3
Moreover if you do complete task 4 early then if you also tick it off as
being completed, then Tasks 2 and Task 3 would disappear from view
prematurely - not good!
Reflecting on all of this, I think one of my problems is that:
A) because I think in shapes, all my instincts are to create a mind map by
subject area, but then when it comes to *priority* - i.e. the sequence in
which I need to execute things... that is a totally different dimension and
not remotely the same thing priority.
Moreover:
B) I also like to sort things by relative priority (i.e. priority relative
to each other)
However it is dangerous to conflate subject area with priority as they are
clearly totally different concepts.
AH-HA! I have just had a *mini-breakthrough* regarding my need for "Forced
Next".
If I create a flag called ForcedNext, if I then create a view that has
"Show Actions: All" and I create an Advanced filter of:
ActiveAction is true OR
Flag = ForcedNext
In this view it will show the first Active action and it will also show any
actions that I have flagged up as being ForcedNext.
Better yet, if I want to see visually (with only minimal reading) what that
task is by subject area I can set Show Hierarchy to Yes.
Or if I want a more compact view I can of course switch the hierarchy off.
And of course Hierarchy view is useful if I want to change the sort order
without resorting to a "manual sort" which always gets me confused later.
I can then work through these views to pick off the "focus on today" tasks
using stars.
OK this sounds v promising - now to put it into practice. More later
J
On Tuesday, December 13, 2016 at 11:25:20 PM UTC, Dwight wrote:
>
> The folder counts as a subtask but it is one that does not need to be
> marked complete. So at the beginning of the process, the project has
> five steps: Task 1, Folder 1, Task 4, Folder 2, Task 7. These steps will
> be done sequentially. When the next step is a folder, the folder itself
> need not be marked complete but the step cannot be considered complete
> until the uncompleted subtasks are done. There is no "complete subtasks
> in order" set for the folders, so the subtasks of each folder are done
> in parallel.
>
> The result is, initially Task 1 is shown. When task 1 is completed,
> tasks 2 and 3 are shown together and can be done in any order. Suppose 3
> is done first, then task 2 remains visible and is the only task for this
> project that's visible. When task 2 is completed, task 4 is shown, When
> task 4 is completed, tasks 5 and 6 show together. When they have each
> been completed task 7 is shown and then the project is done.
>
> As I said, this does not show you "the task after the next task" or "the
> task after that" but it does allow you to specify certain groups of
> tasks as acceptable to execute simultaneously, or in parallel. In this
> case, tasks 2 and 3, and tasks 5 and 6 were designated as parallel
> tasks. The folders are just there because it makes it easier to compose
> and to read. The most efficient form for this same project would be
>
> Project
> > Task 1
> > Task 4
> > > Task 2
> > > Task 3
> > Task 7
> > > Task 5
> > > Task 6
>
> This project is exactly equivalent to the one with the folders, in terms
> of what is visible at each point and what happens when any particular
> task is completed. Although is presents the tasks in strictly numerical
> order it appears to the human eye to be out of order, which is why the
> version with the folders is easier to read.
>
> BTW the "Task 1" project that you presented below, assuming that "task
> 1" itself is marked "subtasks in order" and that no other task has this
> marking, would be executed as follows: tasks 1.1.1, 1.1.2 and 1.1.3
> would be shown all at the same time. After all three were complete, then
> tasks 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and finally task 1 will be displayed one-at-a-time
> sequentially.
>
> -Dwight
>
> On 12/13/2016 1:35 PM, John . Smith wrote:
> > Hi Dwight
> > [message crossing, btw!]
> >
> >> You previously stated that you found folders to be a waste of time
> > To be fair I have now tried so many different configurations of
> > everything insight I am losing count!
> >
> > I'm probably being a bit thick about this but in your example...
> >
> > Project
> > > Task 1
> > > Folder 1
> > > > Task 2
> > > > Task 3
> > > Task 4
> > > Folder 2
> > > > Task 5
> > > > Task 6
> > > Task 7
> >
> > If I make the Project which contains all 7 tasks set to "Complete
> > subtasks in order", the only task that is now visible is Task 1.
> >
> > Also what impact does creating those Folders actually have?
> >
> > In general "Complete subtasks in order" only seems to work for one layer
> > of subtasks. i.e. If Task 1 any children or grandchildren e.g.
> >
> >> Task 1
> >> > Task 1.1
> >> > > Task 1.1.1
> >> > > Task 1.1.2
> >> > > Task 1.1.3
> >> > Task 1.2
> >> > Task 1.3
> >
> > Then all of the above would be visible, yes?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"MyLifeOrganized" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/mylifeorganized.
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/0352cbbb-c937-4878-a266-11ba2acc9f32%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
