Feature Request: View by Context in Android Client

[Stephen Said]

How embarrassing!

I was in a meeting today. My colleague said "So, what do you want to talk about?"

I flipped open my Android phone and tried to open all tasks by context @Agenda-Management.

No can do.

I opened my Android tablet.

No can do.

The only way I can get a list of tasks assigned to the context "@Agenda-Management" is to open the Windows client on my computer?

I need to drag computer to the meeting?

Seriously?

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that this should be a basic function of the Android client?

[Lisa Stroyan]

I haven't tried it on a tablet, but I have used it extensively on my phone and find it pretty powerful. It doesn't do everything, true.

For list by context, Did you try the Active by @ View?

Or, did you try "Filter by Context" and check the Context you want?

There is a separate group for Android, MLO-Android. If you don't get the hints you want here you might try there. 

Lisa

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[daniel sekera]

what am I missing?

I picked up my droid3 launched mlo and my landing screen is one with 12 icons starting with inbox upper left then starred upper center nearby upper right and so on

active by context is 3rd row from the top center

I touch that and I see all my active tasks by context

first on my list is none and then my next context is @agendas

I touch that and it displays perfectly.

I can't seem to make it break...

--

[Stephen Said]

So I reckon I might be missing something.

I open MLO on my Android Tablet. I have the following Icons:

Nearby, Projects, Active by Project, Bookmarks (Next line reads)

Starred, Outline, Active by Context, More Views (Next line reads)

Inbox, Goals, Active Actions, @ & Location

If I select "Active by Context", I cannot see my context called "@Agenda-Management"

If I back out of that part of the app (back to the main screen) and then select "@ & Locations", I can see all of my task contexts. In this location I can see "@Agenda-Management". It has the number 4 in brackets next to it (ie: "(4)")

I select the context and it gives me all sorts of information, but there is no way that I can get the four tasks that have the context assigned to display.

I assume that the reason I cannot see tasks assigned to a particular context is because in the outline view, they are still in a list, but they are not at the top of that list (ie: not the Next Action).

Does this make sense?

Now before people begin to say I need to reorganise my tasks differently, here is the logic:

• I have a list of tasks assigned to a project.
• I know that I need to chat to someone about that particular task therefore it stays in the project list yet it is not the "next action" (I do not assign dates to tasks as per GTD methodology. Namely, only assign a due date when there is a hard due date associated with the activity.) I put other tasks above the Agenda task so I can progress the project yet still be mindful that there is a conversation that needs to be had when I am skimming through the desktop app or outline view on the tablet.
• When I have a meeting, I want to pull out all of the tasks that I have tagged with "@Agenda-Meeting", which live in different projects and at different stages of the sort order.

I hope that all makes sense.

So in short, can you pull out a list of tasks by context from the Android app, that are not the next action (ie: sitting at the top of a project list)?

Hope it all makes sense.

[Stephen Said]

Lisa, I can't find an "Active by @ View" in my app. My icons as they appear in rows on my version of the app are:

Nearby, Projects, Active by Project, Bookmarks

Starred, Outline, Active by context, More Views

Inbox, Goals, Active Actions, @ & Locations

Where would I find "Active by @ View".

In addition, will it view ALL actions (ie: anywhere in a project list, not just at the top of a project list) by a particular context or just active actions by a particular context?

Thanks for your patience.

On Tuesday, 1 May 2012 22:22:59 UTC+10, Lisa S wrote:

I haven't tried it on a tablet, but I have used it extensively on my phone and find it pretty powerful. It doesn't do everything, true.

For list by context, Did you try the Active by @ View?

Or, did you try "Filter by Context" and check the Context you want?

There is a separate group for Android, MLO-Android. If you don't get the hints you want here you might try there. 

Lisa

On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 5:50 AM, Stephen Said wrote:

How embarrassing!

I was in a meeting today. My colleague said "So, what do you want to talk about?"

I flipped open my Android phone and tried to open all tasks by context @Agenda-Management.

No can do.

I opened my Android tablet.

No can do.

The only way I can get a list of tasks assigned to the context "@Agenda-Management" is to open the Windows client on my computer?

I need to drag computer to the meeting?

Seriously?

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that this should be a basic function of the Android client?

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[Stephen Said]

Hi Daniel, thanks for the reply.

First think I should mention is that my icons actually appear in a different order to yours. Not sure if something is amiss there.

So, Asus Transformer Prime in landscape mode has the icons appearing from top left to bottom right:

Nearby, Projects, Active by Project, Bookmarks,

Starred, Outline, Active by Context, More Views

Inbox, Goals, Active Actions, @ & Locations

So, when I hit "Active by Context", I DO NOT GET the context "@Agenda-Management".

If I go into "@ & Locations" (from the main menu) I can select "@Agenda-Management", but I can only (a) tell that there are 4 tasks with this context assigned and (b) I can change details about the context. Yet I cannot actually get the app to tell me what those four tasks are.

If I am on the desktop client, I simply do a search for all tasks with that particular context assigned. Bingo.

I can't seem to do that on the Android app.

Make sense?

On Tuesday, 1 May 2012 22:46:50 UTC+10, daniel sekera wrote:

what am I missing?

I picked up my droid3 launched mlo and my landing screen is one with 12 icons starting with inbox upper left then starred upper center nearby upper right and so on

active by context is 3rd row from the top center

I touch that and I see all my active tasks by context

first on my list is none and then my next context is @agendas

I touch that and it displays perfectly.

I can't seem to make it break...

On Tue, May 1, 2012 at 7:50 AM, Stephen Said wrote:

How embarrassing!

I was in a meeting today. My colleague said "So, what do you want to talk about?"

I flipped open my Android phone and tried to open all tasks by context @Agenda-Management.

No can do.

I opened my Android tablet.

No can do.

The only way I can get a list of tasks assigned to the context "@Agenda-Management" is to open the Windows client on my computer?

I need to drag computer to the meeting?

Seriously?

Is it just me, or does anyone else think that this should be a basic function of the Android client?

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[Lisa Stroyan]

I was meaning the view called Active by Context, with context abbreviated with the symbol @. Also, from a view (not homescreen) if you tap on the view name (even Outline) you will get a view selection menu. From this menu, if you have the paid version, you can re-order your views. I rarely use the home screen anymore for selecting my views.

Lisa

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Lisa Stroyan, mailto: lstr...@gmail.com

[Lisa Stroyan]

Hi Stephen,

I'm copying the MLO-Android group as I think this would be a good discussion for that group, perhaps we could continue it there since you are a member of both.

There are several ways that tasks won't be listed as "Active" which is a key concept in MLO.  It is probably not because they aren't at the top (unless you have "complete in order" checked) or aren't next actions -- as long as they meet the criteria for active you should see them.

Active is a task that can be worked on now, and means things like:

- If they have a start date it has already arrived or passed

- they aren't complete

- they aren't marked as "Hide in Todo"

- They aren't dependent on another task

- The parent doesn't have "Complete in order" set

-They aren't in a Context that has certain "closed" hours

- If they are, it's during Open hours, *or* you have "Include closed contexts" set in settings/ToDo

I may have missed some.  

You CAN pull a list of all Active tasks -- that is what Active by <whatever> views are for. (And you might like the Active by Project / Goal views from the pull-down.  But you cannot do this if you have "complete in order" set. And there are other views to pull ALL tasks in an area, such as "Goals".   I do not think there is an "All by Context". (A very nice feature addition would be the ability to go into the Contexts menu and see everything with a certain Content no matter what).

I suspect it could be "Complete in Order" that is biting you. If you want to combine "Complete in order" with tasks that you don't complete in order, you would need a separate task to group the ones that need to be completed in order.  For example:

Project 1

        Do in order

            Do 1st

            Do 2nd

        Do anytime

        Do anytime

As to your question about reorganizing your structure to fit with MLO Android...In my experience there sometimes is a bit of compromise. Android just doesn't have all of the features of the desktop, but it certainly is do-able.  What I do suggest is that you don't try to "work around" any of the key concepts of MLO such as the definition of "Active" (not saying you are because I don't know) -- it's a powerful model that sometimes takes some getting used to, but there are so many features that support a consistent, highly-featured work model around the key concepts that you would be crippling your use of it to try to redefine them.

Does this help?

Lisa

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[Stephen Said]

What you have written is helpful Lisa thankyou.

I still have my problem though!

I have three part time jobs, am studying my masters and in addition I am a husband and father. Consequently I have quite a few projects on the go and the ability to filter out all the stuff I need to do and just look at the "Next Action" is what makes MLO so great.

The problem is that, when I am with someone, in a meeting etc, I cannot believe that I can't just say "give me a list of tasks that are tagged with this persons name" regardless of which project the task is in right now. (I suspect that I am not the only person in the world who has one person in their life who happens to be involved in more than one project!)

I am also having difficulty imagining that I am the only person in the world who needs to be able to say "ok, so the task is not the next action in a project, BUT I have this person in front of me right now, what was it that I needed to talk to them about again?".

You can do this on the desktop software. Problem is, when you meet with someone or bump into someone, odds are you most likely have your phone or tablet on you, BUT not your laptop or computer.

It appears that the functionality is there in the Android app, it just needs to be "turned on". At the moment, you CAN get a list of Next (or Active) actions by context, and the rest of the tasks that are NOT Active/Next are filtered out. Does that make sense? If it could be turned on, that would be awesome.

The frustration is that there are a plethora of Android apps out there that can do what I (and I assume many others) need, but that DON'T do auto next action like MLO.

Seriously, the first app that can do this for me, I will like pay $100 for the privilege (and I am Australian, with the strongest economy in the developed world right now and the strongest dollar too! ;)

The app that comes closest to being pure GTD IMHO is ActionComplete. The problem there is that you cannot manually drag and drop tasks to order them. You have to use a rubbish "weighting" system. Their interface is butt ugly too! If you could drag and drop, I would be there in a flash, goodby MLO as wonderful and as powerful and much as I love to use it.

Seriously, this is something that I reckon is just a must!

Surely I am not the only person who needs something like this!?

Ok, enough ranting.

Thanks for your wonderful assistance here too Lisa, I really appreciate it.

On Sunday, 27 May 2012 23:37:18 UTC+10, Lisa S wrote:

Hi Stephen,

I'm copying the MLO-Android group as I think this would be a good discussion for that group, perhaps we could continue it there since you are a member of both.

There are several ways that tasks won't be listed as "Active" which is a key concept in MLO.  It is probably not because they aren't at the top (unless you have "complete in order" checked) or aren't next actions -- as long as they meet the criteria for active you should see them.

Active is a task that can be worked on now, and means things like:

- If they have a start date it has already arrived or passed

- they aren't complete

- they aren't marked as "Hide in Todo"

- They aren't dependent on another task

- The parent doesn't have "Complete in order" set

-They aren't in a Context that has certain "closed" hours

- If they are, it's during Open hours, *or* you have "Include closed contexts" set in settings/ToDo

I may have missed some.  

You CAN pull a list of all Active tasks -- that is what Active by <whatever> views are for. (And you might like the Active by Project / Goal views from the pull-down.  But you cannot do this if you have "complete in order" set. And there are other views to pull ALL tasks in an area, such as "Goals".   I do not think there is an "All by Context". (A very nice feature addition would be the ability to go into the Contexts menu and see everything with a certain Content no matter what).

I suspect it could be "Complete in Order" that is biting you. If you want to combine "Complete in order" with tasks that you don't complete in order, you would need a separate task to group the ones that need to be completed in order.  For example:

Project 1

        Do in order

            Do 1st

            Do 2nd

        Do anytime

        Do anytime

As to your question about reorganizing your structure to fit with MLO Android...In my experience there sometimes is a bit of compromise. Android just doesn't have all of the features of the desktop, but it certainly is do-able.  What I do suggest is that you don't try to "work around" any of the key concepts of MLO such as the definition of "Active" (not saying you are because I don't know) -- it's a powerful model that sometimes takes some getting used to, but there are so many features that support a consistent, highly-featured work model around the key concepts that you would be crippling your use of it to try to redefine them.

Does this help?

Lisa

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