Next Actions by Project is showing tasks that aren't projects

[Chris]

So I just created a new MLO data file, input 20 tasks in the RTE box and didn't assign any contexts or anything. I created 2 folders, moved one task into each folder and then clicked on the To-Do tab and changed the view to Next Actions by Project. Strangely, I see 3 tasks listed, even though I've created no projects. The first task listed in this view just happens to be whatever the first task in my inbox is (if I drag tasks around in my inbox so that a different task appears first, then this will be the first task that shows up in the Next Actions by Project view. The other 2 tasks just happen to be the only two tasks that I've placed into folders. [See my screenshot]

Can someone please explain this behavior? Is this expected? I have to confess, it doesn't make sense to me.

[m...@grantsmiths.org]

Hi, Chris. First, let me acknowledge that I am not a user of “Next Actions” – I don’t see the use of it, though I recognize that many people rely on it.

 

On my system, “Next Actions by Project” shows 16 projects and the next action for each, and it also shows a group called Project: (none) and shows for each of my 14 root level folders, the first active task in each folder. To answer your question, yes this makes sense. If you believe in Next Actions, then the next thing you should do is somewhere on this list. Since the next thing you should do might not be a part of a project, then a good next actions listing should not be limited to projects. The only issue is that the report name is a little misleading.

-Dwight

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[Chris]

Dwight, thank you for the response! It makes a whole lot of sense now. However, you're right; it should just be named Next Actions, and drop the 'by Project' part.

[Chris]

One followup question: how do you get something to NOT show up in the next actions view? Specifically, I don't want certain actions that are in folders to show up as next actions as they are not something I'm ready to start working on.

[m...@grantsmiths.org]

You could try checking the box “hide the branch in to-do” that I described to you a couple of emails ago.

[Chris]

I'll try that for now. Is that what you use generally for keeping things off your To-Do list (e.g. @Someday, @WaitingFor) or is there some better way to do this?

[Trish Putnam]

It's the way I keep things off my to-do list, definitely.

 

Trish

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[m...@grantsmiths.org]

This is the simplest way. If you want to understand the full power of the tool you need to learn about active versus inactive actions. If you make a task inactive it will be hidden from any to-do list that displays active actions. A beginning overview of active actions is on page 48 of the MlLifeOrganized User Guide, do you have that? It’s about MLO 3, the version for MLO 4 has apparently not been written yet, but the concept of active actions hasn’t changed.

 

The hidden-branch idea hides tasks based on where they are in your outline without regard to the content of the task. If you want to hide tasks based on context without regard to location, you may want to try closed contexts. Hit F8 to bring up the Manage Contexts pop-up. In the left pane, select a context like @someday , then in the right tab select  “hours” tab and click “always closed”. Then, change your to-do view to exclude closed contexts. In MLO4, bring up the view definition in the left pane of the main window, expand the section called “Contexts, and at the bottom of the section clear the checkbox called “include closed”. Note that you can also use the :”closed context” concept for what it was designed for, which is to have a context and its tasks appear only at certain times. For example, if you review your @someday tasks every Saturday afternoon, you could set Saturday noon to 5pm as the open hours for @someday and the @someday tasks will be in your to-do at that time and no other.

-Dwight

 

From: mylifeo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:mylifeo...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Chris
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2013 11:35 PM
To: mylifeo...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [MLO] Next Actions by Project is showing tasks that aren't projects

 

I'll try that for now. Is that what you use generally for keeping things off your To-Do list (e.g. @Someday, @WaitingFor) or is there some better way to do this?

On Friday, January 11, 2013 9:24:46 PM UTC-7, Dwight Arthur wrote:

You could try checking the box “hide the branch in to-do” that I described to you a couple of emails ago.

 

From: mylifeo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:mylifeo...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Chris
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2013 11:14 PM
To: mylifeo...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [MLO] Next Actions by Project is showing tasks that aren't projects

 

One followup question: how do you get something to NOT show up in the next actions view? Specifically, I don't want certain actions that are in folders to show up as next actions as they are not something I'm ready to start working on.

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[Chris]

Dwight, thank you so much for all of your great help and suggestions. And I just downloaded the manual too; thank you for suggesting that.

The "closed contexts" is a great tip!

I'm realizing now, how truly powerful and deep a program MLO is, and yet has a frustratingly high learning curve and has several aspects to it that are nowhere near as intuitive as they could be. But I am not complaining, because I have literally tried every To-Do list program for Windows and for some reason I keep coming back to MLO (in large part because of a number of people who have said how much they appreciate having a program like MLO in their lives).

Again, thank you for your help (and patience ;)

[Dwight Arthur]

Chris,  my pleasure. You're right that there is a lot of counterintuitive stuff and a steep learning curve.  That's why I think we need a book on MLO for newbies.  Lisa is thinking about writing it, maybe you would want to send her some encouragement

[Lisa Stroyan]

You can also use advanced filtering and have a rule such as, "top-level folder does not contain…"

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mylifeorganized/-/nzR1kVmb-h8J.

[MCA]

I am now with MLO since about 3 years. During that time I optimized my system round about 1 million times, improving a lot of individual aspects, tried projects, contexts, flag, sorting/grouping in every means possible... I learned a lot during the last years but still struggling sometimes managing my >3000 entries in MLO in a way the fits my current needs best.

I understand why people, especially newcomers, ask for some kind of manual where the most basic concepts are about to be explained.

On the other hand there are some "experts" around who are already familiar with MLO but look more for ways to optimize their GTD setup.

While I fully appreciate any efforts towards creating a (static) manual for newcomers I was wondering if some more "interactive" solution could be more versatile...

What about some kind of MyLifeOrganized-Wiki? Instead of having one person who has the task to write a manual, a wiki could be filled with content by ALL users who are willing to do so. People could write articles on basic stuff, on working with MLO, present their setups...

Or what about a collaborative writing of a GoogleDocs-textfile taking care of the same aspects (basic questions, manual, GTD setup presentations, ideas, concepts...)...?

What do you think about it?

[Chris]

What I'd love to see would perhaps be a bunch of screencasts from several "seasoned" MLO users describing how they manage their tasks. Of course that could be a lot of work and have some privacy implications if you were revealing tasks that you didn't want to share. Of course you could create a dummy data file, but then it might be just as much work to set that up exactly the way you use your real task list. However, just hearing people describe their system and what they've found works for them, and seeing actual examples (screen shots, screen casts, whatever) might be very helpful!