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My GTD system using Bonsai Rate Topic: -----

#21 User is offline   StuGib 

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Posted 07 February 2006 - 08:13 AM

Hi eiswein,

Quote

Originally posted by: eiswein
There are some questions:
1.
I saw in the picture that you would link some action to other outline, however, i could only see one outline in your example.
Could you explain more about how you use link function and how many outline you actually have?
I though you have one outline named "TODO LIST" only.



All tasks and things I have to do go in the one TodoList outline. This could include some simple support material, e.g. phone number to ring when I do the task, or details of a change to make in a document. However, in some instances the support material is more complex so I separate this out into a separate outline, and link to it from the task in TodoList just so I can refer back to it quickly when I do the task.

An example in one of the screenshots: I had a separate outline listing all the presents I needed to buy for my family for Christmas. I could have put each item in my todo list as 'Buy camera for brother', but my todolist would get clogged up, and all I really needed was 'do the Christmas shopping'[@Shops/Car] as my task in the todolist. I can then refer my presents list when I'm doing the shopping task by clicking through to the linked outline. There may be other tasks that are listed on my todo list that are related to the same project, e.g. 'look for ideas for wife's present', but it's just a matter of where to draw the line between actions and support material (or things to do when you're doing the task). My criteria is to just list actions that have a different context or time - e.g. I may list 2 'do shopping' tasks if I need to visit 2 towns, or a separate 'do shopping online' task in the @Computer context.

So, in short, one outline + as many as it takes to hold support material i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif


Quote

Originally posted by: eiswein
2.
You have set some categories like !A~D and TargetDate....etc.
What's the difference between !A~D and "DO ON DAY" and "TargetDate"?
I could guess that TargeDate is that task only have to be done before some specific date, but DO ON DAY?
I really don't get it and can't think of any difference between !A~D.



This is a non-core GTD thing which I've found I need over time as I've gone through different systems. The different types of priorities I've found useful are:

1. Tasks that need to be done ON a day or they're not worth doing, and I don't need to worry about until that day arrives. These get linked to my calendar.
2. Reminders about deadlines I'm working to - these won't be associated with a particular task, but they get linked to my calendar to make sure any related tasks are progressing to meet the deadline.
3. Anything undated that needs to be done when I'm not doing things on my calendar (which for me means filling 7 hours of work a day, but others are mainly calendar based).

In my system, 1=DO ON DAY, 2=TargetDate. For my undated items (3), I've found prioritising them helps me decide what to do, but this is non-GTD. My undated items are assigned A-D roughly on Covey principles (A=important and urgent, B=important but not urgent, C=do soon but not important, D=do whenever).

Hope this helps,

Stuart
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#22 User is offline   eiswein 

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Posted 07 February 2006 - 09:48 AM

Dear Stuart~

Thank you for your prompt reply.After a few hours of trying, i have now build up a rough GTD system in bonsai with your sample as a template.And now i found some question.

1.Before, i used to have two outliners as "GTD@work" and "GTD", GTD@work is the task and project about work and GTD is relating to my own tasks. And i decide what to do first by their priority i assinged to them. Since i modified my system to yours, i found that NA under the category of "Waiting for" could not be easily told by theri emergency, so i have to look through all the outliner to know which "waiting for" task is really urgent and must be followed up. Do you have same problem?

2.You mentioned you also have filter named "@work". I tried to make a similar one, but i found i can't filter the exact items i want. Could you tell me how do you do it?

Thanks for your help.
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#23 User is offline   StuGib 

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Posted 07 February 2006 - 10:57 AM

Quote

Originally posted by: eiswein
Dear Stuart~
1.Before, i used to have two outliners as "GTD@work" and "GTD", GTD@work is the task and project about work and GTD is relating to my own tasks. And i decide what to do first by their priority i assinged to them. Since i modified my system to yours, i found that NA under the category of "Waiting for" could not be easily told by theri emergency, so i have to look through all the outliner to know which "waiting for" task is really urgent and must be followed up. Do you have same problem?


Yes, because my priority scheme (ABCD) and WaitingFors are both Bonsai categories, and you can only have one category per item. Funny you should mention it because I experimented a couple of weeks ago with switching some categories and keywords so I could assign priorities to WaitingFors. You could move WaitingFor to a keyword (same as @Work etc) which would allow you to have WaitingFors with a priority category? Or, if the priority field works better for you, then by all means use that instead of categories - I'd do the same but I like my ABCD icons too much i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif


Quote

Originally posted by: eiswein
2.You mentioned you also have filter named "@work". I tried to make a similar one, but i found i can't filter the exact items i want. Could you tell me how do you do it?



My @Work filter is:
Status=Any Status, Type=Todo, All Priorities, Link Filter (Off), No Text
[tick] Limit view to NA item for NA branches=Sibling Order, [tick]Display as flat list=sort by category (this sorts by priority because my priority catogories are named !A,!B,!C,!D to appear at the top of the list in order), Scope=every item
Dates=All Dates for every type of date, Contact blank.
Categories=!A,!B,!C,!D,!Do ON day, ^Waiting For, Unfiled. (it's important not to show the #Project category for the NA filter to work)
Keywords=@Contact, @Office, show items that have at least one selected keyword.

If that doesn't work, let me know what you see that you don't want (or vice-versa) and I'll see if I can help

Stuart
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#24 User is offline   eiswein 

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Posted 07 February 2006 - 07:31 PM

Hi~ Stuart~

It's nice to hear from you soon, thank you for your kindness.

I have been thinking how to solve the problem, and i came up with the same way you suggested, move waitingfor to keywords.
So, in my work area, the keyword icon feild would have at least 1 and at most 3 icons in the same time, seems crowded i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif

Anyway, thank you for your help, and i'd try to improve the system as i can. If i have any idea, i'd come to share with you.

Tks again~i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif
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#25 User is offline   BobW 

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Posted 11 February 2006 - 11:08 AM

My first post - thanks for the great example Stuart. I went to one of David's seminars several years ago and was hooked. Just started using Bonsai with Treo and desktop.

I have some questions if you don't mind:

1. How do you use DayNotez and its'categories or keywords for desktop capture?

2. How do you use Diddlebug and its' categories for palm capture?

3. When do you purge or archieve completed projects/todos to keep things from getting out of hand - particularly on the palm?

4. Do you try to keep email as reference points or if they have attachments do you typically move the attachments to your working files?

Thanks again for the example!

Bob


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#26 User is offline   StuGib 

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Posted 12 February 2006 - 11:06 AM

Hi Bob, answers below:

Quote

Originally posted by: BobW
1. How do you use DayNotez and its'categories or keywords for desktop capture?


Daynotez has two uses in my system.
1. As an inbox to drop notes into during the day (I try to keep Natara's 'right hand page' metaphor in mind and use DNz whenever I'd normally scribble something in my workbook).
2. As a record of my activities, so I try to start a new entry when I start a new block of work and record what I've done, reference info, things I learned and future actions that get triggered. Also see answer 3, and I'll explain categories.
I try to process all new entries at the end of each day. I try anyway! i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif By 'processing' I mean putting new tasks/projects into Bonsai, or reference info into my reference system (which is currently memos but I'm looking for other solutions). Anything that is no longer useful in Daynotez for future reference is deleted.

Quote

Originally posted by: BobW
2. How do you use Diddlebug and its' categories for palm capture?


Diddlebug is purely another inbox so I can scribble in new actions during the day. Again, I try to process Diddlebug once a day. No categories used - they get deleted as soon as I've processed them into Bonsai.

Quote

Originally posted by: BobW
3. When do you purge or archieve completed projects/todos to keep things from getting out of hand - particularly on the palm?


During my weekly review. I skim through my Bonsai list to make sure I've ticked off any completed items, then file and delete completed items/projects and their notes away in Daynotez using the /Z command (p.s. I'm still hoping for a toolbar button for this in v4.1 i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif) I don't file everything, just things I think there's a possibility of needing to refer back to.
I have two DNz categories defined (CompletedWork and CompletedPers) for these filed completed actions. I have other categories for recording new notes into Daynotez, such as Personal Log, Work Log, Phone Call etc but I find most things tend to go in as Unfiled then processed later into these categories. I also had some templates defined for these type of notes but tend to skip using them now.
N.B. Filing away completed actions/projects is part of your review, not just a mindless dump - make sure you don't file away projects that look complete (i.e. have all child actions completed) but you haven't yet achieved the outcome - you need to define a new next action for these, not delete them!


Quote

Originally posted by: BobW
4. Do you try to keep email as reference points or if they have attachments do you typically move the attachments to your working files?


If you take a look further up the thread I describe how I keep e-mails in my response to rcdbonsai. I usually have different folders for each major client/project I'm working on and each of these has a @Tasks folder. I record the action/project in Bonsai, but keep the e-mail (and attachments) in the right task folder. I make a note of the date of the e-mail and who it was from in the note of the Bonsai item so it helps me look it up. I purge my @Tasks e-mail folder now and again and move completed e-mails to another reference folder if there's any useful info in it.





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#27 User is offline   brantfredrickson 

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Posted 19 March 2006 - 12:08 PM

Stuart,

I use Bonsai for my projects that have 50+ steps in them with 3+ of those large projects going on at one time, and Outlook Tasks for my next actions. When I'm on the Desktop computer I use a split screen with Bonsai on one side and Outlook Task View on the other and it is easy to covert project steps into next actions.

My problem is that when I'm on a job site, and things go better than planned, and my guys are going to finish at noon what I have planned to have taken the entire day, I find it difficult to go to my palm and pull project steps out of Bonsai and make them into next actions in KeyTasks. I do bunch of taps of the pointer to go from one program to another. When I go through all those taps of the pointer, I end up having an "ADD" moment which is detrimental to planning.

I'm not literate in the Palm device, Bonsai Software, and KeySuite software. Is there anyway I can pull up a bonsai outline from the notes section of a KeyTask? so I can quick convert a project step in Bonsai to a next action in a new KeyTask? Or is there anyother mechanism I can use to go between Bonsai and Chapura KeyTasks on the Palm

Brant

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#28 User is offline   sajman9 

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Posted 25 March 2006 - 12:23 PM

Hello folks.

I am using the Bonsai trial testing a GTD implementation right now because of this thread. Thank you very much Stuart. i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif

I gave up Palm devices several years ago, so I will only be using the desktop application.

Thanks.
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#29 User is offline   Sophi 

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Posted 25 March 2006 - 10:57 PM

How did you do your Single Action filter? I could not get mine to work right.

Btw, thank you very much for taking the time to lay out your solution. I have found it tremendously helpful.

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#30 User is offline   StuGib 

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Posted 27 March 2006 - 07:46 AM

Hi all,

Thanks for your comments and I'll get to the questions ASAP, but first an update, because I've tweaked things a little (same concepts, just changed a few things in Bonsai to make it more efficient).

A couple of the changes were also inspired by a couple of posts I've come across in the last few weeks:
- The Real Todo List on the MLO group, which identifies GTD as giving you a 'suggestion list' rather than a todo list. I've interepreted this as creating a 'todo today' category, which I try to populate each morning from my prioritised list. 'Pure' GTD has a model of selecting items from your list based on energy, time etc etc but this is a way of marking those things out for the day, which can easily be moved back to the 'main suggestion list' if you change your mind etc.
- Gtd 2.0 on the David Allen forums, discussing introducing time as way of prioritising. As a result of this I'm now prioritising my next actions differently from my projects. Projects are important/urgent as before, but actions are 'by the end of this week', 'within the next few weeks' etc.

I'd emphasise that this is my interpretation for my needs - you may need to experiment with what your time bands and priorities are that you want to distinguish.


Anyway, the changes are:
- contexts are now moved back to the Bonsai category field.
- priorities are now using the priority field. Whilst I was reluctant to go back to a number rather than an icon, keywords are currently just too cumbersome to add/change when you have to apply it to every item when I was using keywords for contexts. However, I've done a little trick to keep using my icons (see below).
- For the same reason, I now use the keywords column just to give icons to permanent items (such as top-level headings). It's no problem setting the keyword once and it's nice to have icons.


So, my main Bonsai categories (note I've changed the initial letter so it's easier to select by keyboard) are now: #Project, -Someday, /ProjSupport, ^Tickler, Office, Home, Computer/Web, PC-Home, Shops/Car, WaitingForW, WaitingForP and some special categories called ~Heading, ~ProjPriority, ~TodoPriority

My keywords are just added when I need specific icons for top-level items (and see the priority trick below) - e.g. Career, Documents, Process, Personal, Financial... e.g. my top-level now looks like:


My priorities are 1-5 plus I use the 0 as 'below 5'. As I said before, I have a different priority scheme for projects and todos. How do I remember two different schemes and use them in one field? By using the ~Priority categories. I have set up the following:

These are normal Bonsai items, where each is given the project/todo priority category (where dark blue = ~TodoPriority, light blue=~ProjPriority category), the correct priority number, and also an icon via a keyword. These should start with a suitable character which will force them to the top of the list in a flat filter (a space, or I use double-dash).

My filters now sort by priority and include the ~ProjPriority or ~TodoPriority for projects (Project list filter) or tasks (Work/Home/Out filters) respectively, giving me a nicely partitioned list with icons:
Work Filter:


Project List:


I can then reprioritise on the fly with the keyboard priority shortcuts and the items move into the correct 'partition' (if you have the reapply filter settings option set).

Stuart
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#31 User is offline   StuGib 

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Posted 27 March 2006 - 08:15 AM

Quote

Originally posted by: Sophi
How did you do your Single Action filter? I could not get mine to work right.



Hmmm, I must admit I'm not sure this actually worked 100% reliably now I've looked at it again. Apologies i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif

The filter was (in my original system):
General: Any status, all types, all priorities
Options: no NA filter, not flat, Scope=hide entire branch....(middle option), start level=1. REVERSE FILTER=TICKED
Dates: All dates
Categories: #Project only
Keywords: blank/default

It seems to work but also includes completed items (including projects). If you try to filter them out you get your live projects back (the reverse filter option just messes with my head! i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif ). See if you can find the right options from that starting point.

Quote

Originally posted by: brantfredrickson

Is there anyway I can pull up a bonsai outline from the notes section of a KeyTask?


Am I right in thinking this was answered on another Palm list? The answer was Back2Bonsai (assuming it works with KeyTasks). Ah, actually, no I see where the problem is. KeyTasks doesn't use the standard Palm todo database, so you must be copy&pasting by hand into Outlook rather than linking your Bonsai items? The solution would be to move to another Palm PIM which is based on the Palm databases (DB5/6, Agendus, or built-in Calendar), link your items to todos in Bonsai and use Back2Bonsai to jump back to the outline, or use filters in Bonsai to make Bonsai your main todo list manager (you're in the right thread i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif ) and drop Outlook/todos altogether.


Stuart
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#32 User is offline   Sophi 

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Posted 28 March 2006 - 02:42 AM

Stu,

How do you control the font color for the items? By priority?

Thanks.

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#33 User is offline   StuGib 

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Posted 28 March 2006 - 03:17 AM

Quote

Originally posted by: Sophi
How do you control the font color for the items? By priority?



No, by category:

~Heading = black
~ProjPriority, ~TodoPriority = blues
#Project = red
Context (Office,Home,Shops/Car,Computer/Web,PC-Home) = green (i.e. my 'go'/action items)
WaitingForW, WaitingForP, ^Tickler = orange (my no action required now items)
-Someday = grey

And the completed items setting as light grey.

Stuart
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#34 User is offline   Sophi 

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Posted 02 April 2006 - 11:43 AM

Stu,

Any chance you would share your trimmed-down current icon set? I can't find anything that will let me build up an icon collection on Windows (no palm here). In case you can ... the email is (itsme213) (at) hotmail (dot) (com).

Thanks.

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#35 User is offline   baldhead 

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Posted 03 April 2006 - 01:56 PM

Quote

Originally posted by: StuGib
Hi all,

Thanks for your comments and I'll get to the questions ASAP, but first an update, because I've tweaked things a little (same concepts, just changed a few things in Bonsai to make it more efficient).

A couple of the changes were also inspired by a couple of posts I've come across in the last few weeks:
- The Real Todo List on the MLO group, which identifies GTD as giving you a 'suggestion list' rather than a todo list. I've interepreted this as creating a 'todo today' category, which I try to populate each morning from my prioritised list. 'Pure' GTD has a model of selecting items from your list based on energy, time etc etc but this is a way of marking those things out for the day, which can easily be moved back to the 'main suggestion list' if you change your mind etc.
- Gtd 2.0 on the David Allen forums, discussing introducing time as way of prioritising. As a result of this I'm now prioritising my next actions differently from my projects. Projects are important/urgent as before, but actions are 'by the end of this week', 'within the next few weeks' etc.

I'd emphasise that this is my interpretation for my needs - you may need to experiment with what your time bands and priorities are that you want to distinguish.


Anyway, the changes are:
- contexts are now moved back to the Bonsai category field.
- priorities are now using the priority field. Whilst I was reluctant to go back to a number rather than an icon, keywords are currently just too cumbersome to add/change when you have to apply it to every item when I was using keywords for contexts. However, I've done a little trick to keep using my icons (see below).
- For the same reason, I now use the keywords column just to give icons to permanent items (such as top-level headings). It's no problem setting the keyword once and it's nice to have icons.


So, my main Bonsai categories (note I've changed the initial letter so it's easier to select by keyboard) are now: #Project, -Someday, /ProjSupport, ^Tickler, Office, Home, Computer/Web, PC-Home, Shops/Car, WaitingForW, WaitingForP and some special categories called ~Heading, ~ProjPriority, ~TodoPriority

My keywords are just added when I need specific icons for top-level items (and see the priority trick below) - e.g. Career, Documents, Process, Personal, Financial... e.g. my top-level now looks like:


My priorities are 1-5 plus I use the 0 as 'below 5'. As I said before, I have a different priority scheme for projects and todos. How do I remember two different schemes and use them in one field? By using the ~Priority categories. I have set up the following:

These are normal Bonsai items, where each is given the project/todo priority category (where dark blue = ~TodoPriority, light blue=~ProjPriority category), the correct priority number, and also an icon via a keyword. These should start with a suitable character which will force them to the top of the list in a flat filter (a space, or I use double-dash).

My filters now sort by priority and include the ~ProjPriority or ~TodoPriority for projects (Project list filter) or tasks (Work/Home/Out filters) respectively, giving me a nicely partitioned list with icons:
Work Filter:


Project List:


I can then reprioritise on the fly with the keyboard priority shortcuts and the items move into the correct 'partition' (if you have the reapply filter settings option set).

Stuart


Dear Stuart ,

Hi, it is Michael from Hong Kong. I've been using shadow for a long time and I'm test running bonsai. I can't thanks enough for your great work. I start using Bonsai right after I read your gtd implementation on Bonsai.
If you don't mind, would you please tell us what's your filter setting in your work filter and Project lis filter, I simply can't do this.

Thanks for your attention
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#36 User is offline   StuGib 

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Posted 03 April 2006 - 03:04 PM

Quote

Originally posted by: baldhead
would you please tell us what's your filter setting in your work filter and Project lis filter, I simply can't do this.

Hi Michael,

Glad you're finding it useful. Filter definitions below:

Work filter
General: Status=incomplete, all types, all priorities, link filter(off)
Options: Limit view on, based on Sibling order; Display as flat list on sorted by priority, Apply to all items
Dates: All dates for all items,contact blank
Category: Office, WaitingForW, ~TodoPriority
Keyword: no changes to default settings (all blank)

For Home, Out filters the categories are the only things different, but ~TodoPriority should be be included in all action filters to get the headings.

Project List
General: Status=any status, all types, all priorities, link filter(off)
Options: Display as flat list, based on priority. Next action item filter OFF, Apply to all items
Dates: All dates for all items,contact blank
Category: #Project, -Someday, ~ProjPriority
Keyword: no changes to default settings (all blank)

Again, ~ProjPriority is just to get the heading entries in the right place.

The key thing is to have your ~TodoPriority and ~ProjPriority items to start with a letter which will force them to the top of each priority set (1-5) because in a flat filter items are sorted alphabetically after the main sort criteria - you sort by priority then each group of items with the same priority is sorted alphabetically - you want the heading to go to the top of each group.



On a separate note, I experimented with my top-level headings today. Instead of roles/goals (e.g.personal>>FINANCIAL) I'm going on the basis that GTD is just a set of lists so instead of trying to categorise everything into a role I'm trying to be more flexible in my top level items, so I now have things like 'Design decisions for project X', 'Documents to write', 'Websites to visit', 'things to buy', 'Things to do around the house' and I'll just create new 'lists' (=top-level items) as required. This system could actually be a flat list (except projects & NAs) but I prefer to try and split it up a little to make planning easier. I'll see how it goes anyway...


Stuart
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#37 User is offline   baldhead 

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Posted 04 April 2006 - 12:28 PM

Dear Stuart,

thanks so much for your details instructions, it really help.
However, I still can make the filter works even I have follow every single step of it.
Here again is some more questions I need your advice:

1. Should I place all the priority items under the -PRIORITIES- item ? then what category should the -PRIORITIES- item use ? #heading ?
2. Do you use the personal>>workrelated (etc) item as "focus area" place holder ? what category should I use ?
3. Should I place all my project under the focus area place holder ? what category should I use ? #project or priority related (e.g someday/ maybe ) ?
4. Consider the following case :

personal>>workrelated <-- place holder
Project A
task A1
task A2 <-- task A2 depands on A1, A2 cannot be done before A1
Project B
task B1
task B2 <-- task B2 do not depands on B2, they both can be done at the same time
Task C
Task D <-- task C and D are simple tasks which do not form a project but file under personal>>workrelatd


Is is possible to setup a filter to filter show only tbe ~todopriority, alltask except task A2

Thanks in advance
Best Regard

Michael





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#38 User is offline   StuGib 

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Posted 05 April 2006 - 04:22 AM

Hi Michael,
Quote

Originally posted by: baldhead
1. Should I place all the priority items under the -PRIORITIES- item ? then what category should the -PRIORITIES- item use ? #heading ?

No, the priorities items are just dummy items that show up in flat filters. The priority field (1-5+blank) is used to prioritise items. Maybe this will help:



The following categories are used:
- The black text are just to structure the outline and are under the ~Heading category.
- The darker blue text are task priorities and are under the ~TodoPriority category.
- The lighter blue text are project priorities and are under the ~ProjPriority category.

Note that the priority dummy items have the relevant priority number (1-5+blank)

You don't do anything with these dummy items - don't move actions below them, don't reorganise, just ignore them!

Quote

2. Do you use the personal>>workrelated (etc) item as "focus area" place holder ? what category should I use ?

All of these are under the ~Heading category. These are just to split the actions into sub-lists. These aren't necessary - the system works equally well as one big list, but you'll have to weigh up whether having these sub-lists is worth the extra time to organise your projects and actions by focus area. I tend to add new items to the bottom of the list at the top-level, then process them later and 'drop' them into their focus area sub-lists. I find if I try to break down focus areas into more than one level you spend too much time finding the right place to drop the item.

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3. Should I place all my project under the focus area place holder ? what category should I use ? #project or priority related (e.g someday/ maybe ) ?

Yes, as above, your projects and single actions just get dropped in the focus area. Each project is under the #Project category and gets a priority number to match the priority scheme you set up (e.g. 1=Must do soon). Someday/Maybe items are under the -Someday category and similarly get dropped into a focus area/sub-list, and gets a priority number (0 in my scheme).

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4. Consider the following case : NB: I've added example category and priorities

personal>>workrelated (~Heading) <-- place holder
....Project A (#Project, pri 3)
.........task A1 (Office, pri 1)
.........task A2 (Office, pri 2) <-- task A2 depands on A1, A2 cannot be done before A1
....Project B (#Project, pri 2)
.........task B1 (Office, pri 2)
.........task B2 (Home, pri 3) <-- task B2 do not depands on B2, they both can be done at the same time
....Task C (Office, pri 2)
....Task D (Home, pri 1) <-- task C and D are simple tasks which do not form a project but file under personal>>workrelatd


Is is possible to setup a filter to filter show only tbe ~todopriority, alltask except task A2



Yes, this should work as the system is set up now. Things to check if it's not working:
- A1,A2,B1,B2,C,D should be using context categories (Work, Home, Computer,...)
- ProjA, ProjB should be #Project category.
- ProjA should have the 'Parent of Next Actions' setting on (Alt+X - red triangle).
- Your Work/Home/...(action) filters should NOT include the #Project or #Heading categories. It should include the relevant context categories only, plus the ~TodoPriority category, and should select next actions based on sibling order, and should be a flat filter sorted by priority (see Work filter definition above).

The filter basically works as a recipe (hoping the analogy holds out!):
1 - put only next actions (A1, B1, B2, C, D) into a big pot and ignore things that can't be done yet (A2). Also put all the ~TodoCategory items (' Today's todo list', ' Should do this week',...) into the pot.
2 - anything you can't do in your current context (i.e. items that doesn't match your context categories) is taken back out of the pot (e.g. take out B2 and D if these are under 'Home' and you're filtering for 'Office' context categories.
3 - start taking out everything that's left in the pot in numerical (priority) order - take out all the priority 1's including the ~TodoCategory items, e.g. you may take out A1, D and ' Today's todo list' if these are all priority 1.
4. Arrange the items you've just taken out of the pot in alphabetical order. Because you started the ' Today's todo list' with a space, this is the first item.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for other priority numbers (2,3,4,5,blank).

This should give you something like:
--Today's todo list--
task A1 (Office, pri 1)
--Should do this week--
task B1 (Office, pri 2)
Task C (Office, pri 2)
--Like to do this week--
--Within next 2-3 weeks--
--Within next few months--
--Lists&Agendas--


Any other questions, let me know - if you have any problems with filters, let me know what results you're seeing so I can try and see where you're going wrong.

Stuart
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#39 User is offline   kai 

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Posted 05 April 2006 - 02:15 PM

Hello,

this does not work for me as a simple item is never "incomplete"...how do you solve that?

Best regards,
kai

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Originally posted by: baldhead
1. Should I place all the priority items under the -PRIORITIES- item ? then what category should the -PRIORITIES- item use ? #heading ?

No, the priorities items are just dummy items that show up in flat filters. The priority field (1-5+blank) is used to prioritise items. Maybe this will help:



The following categories are used:
- The black text are just to structure the outline and are under the ~Heading category.
- The darker blue text are task priorities and are under the ~TodoPriority category.
- The lighter blue text are project priorities and are under the ~ProjPriority category.

Note that the priority dummy items have the relevant priority number (1-5+blank)

You don't do anything with these dummy items - don't move actions below them, don't reorganise, just ignore them!

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#40 User is offline   StuGib 

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Posted 05 April 2006 - 02:36 PM

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Originally posted by: kai
Hello,

this does not work for me as a simple item is never "incomplete"...how do you solve that?

Best regards,
kai



Aha, well spotted! You need the global setting 'Show Simple when Status Filter' turned ON. That's the problem with lots of options - you forget what you turned on months ago! Thanks kai.
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