Postpone feature?

[natG]

Does MLO have a 'postpone task' feature? This would be similar to the existing 'skip task' feature except that the task retains its original due date and correctly becomes overdue. For example, if a task that is due 'today' is postponed, it disappears from today's todo list, but in tomorrow's list it shows [red] as due *yesterday*, which is the truth. This way I do not get rewarded for procrastination. :)

Fwiw, rtm works this way.

Thanks,

nat

[m...@grantsmiths.org]

Hi, Nat: On the Windows version of MLO you could create a “today” list showing items that (are due today) OR (are due on or before yesterday AND are not yellow flagged). I just picked yellow randomly. Any flag would do.

 

Then when you want to postpone a task that’s due today, you would add a yellow flag, it would vanish but reappear tomorrow. You could not use this to postpone tasks that are already overdue.

 

If you like this idea and want me to spell out the steps to accomplish it, let me know.

-Dwight

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[Mazey]

Hi nat, hi dwight,

hope it is ok if I just jump in and say yes dwight, please do share the steps! I follow this question since I had a similar one on my to-ask list, so I'd be very interested to find out how this works.
Plus I have not found a really useful use for flags, other than simply marking stuff manually.

Have a nice evening.
Brienne

[natG]

It's a good idea in general but, as you say, would not always work. I postpone [same] tasks many times!! <sigh>

Also, I refrain from using flags (as wonderful as it is) altogether, because the Android version (with wifi sync) on mlo does not support flags.

Thanks;

nat

[m...@grantsmiths.org]

I hope you will not mind this question, but how often do you complete a task well in advance of the due date? I suspect that you may be using due date for the same thing as I keep in start date, which is the day that I want to do the task. Due date to me is the last date on which it makes sense to do the task, so postponing would not be meaningful. I adopted this approach from GTD because under my prior scheme, I had a daily task of postponing all the things I didn’t get to yesterday, and all the things that long ago I arbitrarily assigned to today but that I know are just not going to happen. This task of postponing other tasks took up a bigger and bigger chunk of my mornings until I began to feel like a juggler juggling more balls at once than ever before and people keep tossing me more balls. Honestly, I still do some postponing now, but it’s much less, and not so much of a productivity killer as before.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/mylifeorganized/-/g9KZvUKqHssJ.

[natG]

Your observation is correct that I don't  utilize the start-date. I set start & due to the same date. (My previous task manager, RTM, does not have this concept.) After about five years on RTM, I couldn't adjust to this metaphor. BUT, for the majority of my tasks, which REOCCUR DAILY & weekly, a start-date is not applicable anyhow. Say about 15 daily tasks averaging 20 minutes each. If 1 of these tasks is not done on a given day, no sweat, spend 40 minutes on that task the following day, and if pushed off again, fine, but 60 minutes the following day, and so on. (Weekly tasks are the same, although these might utilize start dates.)

Thanks

nat

[m...@grantsmiths.org]

OK, Brienne, here it is.

1.       On Windows MLO, select “manage flags” from the tools menu

2.       Look over the defined flags (if any). If you see one you would like to use for this, press ESC or Escape on your keyboard and go to step 6

3.       If none of your flags seems appropriate (or you have no defined flags), press INS or Insert on your keyboard to create a new flag.

4.       Type the name for your new flag, like “postponed”

5.       Click on the icon button and select an icon. Click “OK” then “close”.

6.       Click the “to-do” tab

7.       Is there a column on the right that shows a series of filter selections? If not, click “Filter >>”

8.       Under the word “Filter” does it say “Active”? If not, click whatever word you see and select “Active”

9.       For contexts select (all) and be sure “include closed” is checked

10.   Under Start Date clear the from date and the to date, and be sure “hide undated” is not checked.

11.   Under Advanced click Add Advanced then click Setup

12.   In the setup window click Add Rule

13.   In the first dropdown, click DueDateTime

14.   In the second dropdown, click “on or before”

15.   In the third box type “Today-1” without the quotes.

16.   The fourth box should say AND. Change it to OR.

17.   Click the big blue plus. The first line should now read (DueDateTime on or before Today-1)OR

18.   On the second line click the icon between the blue plus and the red minus. Or, click the “add subrule” button above.

19.   In the first dropdown click “Flag”

20.   In the second dropdown click “<>” which means “not equal”

21.   In the third dropdown pick the name of your selected flag.

22.   In the fourth box leave the AND, then click the big blue plus.

23.   Assuming that your flag is called “Postponed”, the second line should now read “>”, the third line should read “(Flag<>Postponed)AND” and you should be on the fourth line.

24.   In the first dropdown, click DueDateTime

25.   In the second dropdown, click Today

26.   The third dropdown should be hidden. The next one you see is the fourth one, and it should say AND. Click the OK button at the bottom.

27.   If you like doublechecking, click SETUP under Advanced. The first line should read “(DueDateTime on or before Today-1)OR” and the second line should read “((Flag<>Postponed)AND(DueDateTime is Today))”. Click OK

28.   Toward the bottom left of the screen you will see Save Settings in bold. Click it.

29.   Type a view name, like To Do Today, then click OK.

 

Now, the to-do view “To Do Today” will show you all the tasks that are active and overdue, as well as all of the tasks that are due today and have not been postponed.

Bring up the view and right-click on the view name to bring up the Show Columns menu. Click to make a checkmark before Flags. Now, when you want to postpone a task one day and it’s due but not overdue, you can right click in the Flag column for the task and select “postponed”.

-Dwight

 

From: mylifeo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:mylifeo...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Mazey
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2012 2:33 PM
To: mylifeo...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [MLO] Postpone feature?

 

Hi nat, hi dwight,

[Mazey]

Dwight,

thank you so much for this detailed info - I will set it up accordingly and experiment with it!
Since I just started with this app, any input is inspiring so I can find my own way of using it well.

Have a great day,
Brienne

[m...@grantsmiths.org]

My pleasure. Note correction in #7.

 

From: mylifeo...@googlegroups.com [mailto:mylifeo...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Mazey
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2012 9:27 AM
To: mylifeo...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [MLO] Postpone feature?

 

Dwight,

thank you so much for this detailed info - I will set it up accordingly and experiment with it!
Since I just started with this app, any input is inspiring so I can find my own way of using it well.

Have a great day,
Brienne

On 22.08.2012 02:10, m...@grantsmiths.org wrote:

OK, Brienne, here it is.

1.      On Windows MLO, select “manage flags” from the tools menu

2.      Look over the defined flags (if any). If you see one you would like to use for this, press ESC or Escape on your keyboard and go to step 6

3.      If none of your flags seems appropriate (or you have no defined flags), press INS or Insert on your keyboard to create a new flag.

4.      Type the name for your new flag, like “postponed”

5.      Click on the icon button and select an icon. Click “OK” then “close”.

6.      Click the “to-do” tab

7.      Is there a column on the right left that shows a series of filter selections? If not, click “Filter >>”

[MCA]

I often shift/postpone tasks that I don't want to do today. I don't only shift them for 1 day every time but also for a longer period sometimes, e.g. to the next saturday, the next month, in 24 days.. and so on.

Therefore I simply rely on a filter like "Start date on or before Today" or just use the Date-Filter in the To-Do tab. Works brilliant for me and tasks pop up again when the specific date is reached.

Unfortunately this behaviour conflicts with the default option of "inherit parent dates" turned on... or at least prevents me from building up a real hierarchy.
If I have a parent task I want to shift via modifying the start- or due date, also every child tasks now has this new date and is also shifted... A behaviour I don't want to have :(

So - is there a possibility to have "inherit parent dates" turned OFF by default? Doing that manually for each (new) entry is not possible/comfortable at all.


Update:
I just noticed that the "Reminder" can be used without affecting others entries. That's what I want! BUT this reminder can't be used as a date related filter, it's only possible to check whether the Reminder is set or not. So it's also useless for a real performant postponing-feature...

Any other solutions?
Thanks in advance.

[Lisa Stroyan]

I would suggest you don't have children that aren't sub-components of the parent. You can do it if you want but it's "swimming upstream" against the model that is built into MLO. In MLO A task is composed of the parent+the subparts, and that tree makes up the whole "task" or project. 

If you can give us an example of a hierarchy that you are wanting the children to start before the parent, maybe we can help with other ways to accomplish your goal.

Lisa

On Thu, Aug 23, 2012 at 9:05 AM, MCA <mca...@googlemail.com> wrote:

I often shift/postpone tasks that I don't want to do today. I don't only shift them for 1 day every time but also for a longer period sometimes, e.g. to the next saturday, the next month, in 24 days.. and so on.

Therefore I simply rely on a filter like "Start date on or before Today" or just use the Date-Filter in the To-Do tab. Works brilliant for me and tasks pop up again when the specific date is reached.

Unfortunately this behaviour conflicts with the default option of "inherit parent dates" turned on... or at least prevents me from building up a real hierarchy.

If I have a parent task I want to shift via modifying the start- or due date, also every child tasks now has this new date and is also shifted... A behaviour I don't want to have :(

So - is there a possibility to have "inherit parent dates" turned OFF by default? Doing that manually for each (new) entry is not possible/comfortable at all.

Thanks in advance.

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

[natG]

Please see my previous response to Arthur D. Your suggestion would not solve this situation.

Thanks.

nat