Advice needed on how to use Flags & Contexts in MLO. (e.g. Can Flags be set to be 'inherited' ?)

[J Smith]

Hello

I still need advice on how to structure things.

I am finding that putting too much information into my Context-tags gets pretty messy - particularly when I use views like "Active Actions by Context"(!)

Areas of Life

I am using top level folders to distinguish my Areas of Life (e.g. Work, Personal-Admin, Recreation). I think this works well because tasks will almost never change Area of Life. (Fwiw, I also have some stuff I dont have to do stored in other different top level folders.) So far so good.

But I can't decide how best to use: 
   A) Flags and
   B) Context-tags  
in MLO ... so as to control:

   - GTD "List"   (e.g. .Active, .Someday/maybe, .Waiting etc) and 

   - GTD "Context"   (i.e. "where" type information: @PC, @Errands, @Phone, @Home... and also "required mood" type information:  ~Low_energy, ~High_Resistance, ~Tiddler )

From first principles, in MLO

A) Flags:
- A task in MLO can only have one flag. 

- A new task in MLO will not inherit the flag of its parent

B) Context-tags:

- A task can you have multiple Contexts-tags per task,

- MLO can be set up so that at a new child task will 'inherit' its Context-tag(s) from its parent.

It seems to me that any given task, in fact any entire Project, should only be in one GTD "List" at a time.

This would initially seem to point toward using Flags to control 'GTD List', but it is a pain when you add a child task to a project that it doesn't inherit the parent's flag (i.e. what would be the parent's GTD list status)

Likewise it would be nice to be able to apply both a "where" type Context-tags AND a "mood" type Context-tag to the same task. 

For example a task might be say:      "Ask boss for pay rise"    @Phone   ~High_Resistance

But in general these contexts for individual Tasks are unlikely to inherit their values from their parents.

So, thinking it all through...

- Is there any way to get either get Flags to inherit their values 

OR

- Is there any way to get multiple Flags per task (without needing to inherit)

Any suggestions?

Thanks

J

[Stéph]

Hello John,

No, I'm afraid there's no way of setting preferences for inheritance. I've raised it for consideration a few times - In my case, for example, I'd like to switch off inheritance of contexts and I would like new items to have a default start date of Today and default end date matching its parent's. All this was possible back when I was a Bonsai user, but there's no sign that it's going to be introduced in MLO in the near future.

All the best,

Stéphane

[J Smith]

Are there any other fields in MLO (other than Context-tag) that a child task does inherit from a parent task?

For me these are deeply irritating issues, because I still haven't really managed to get MLO to work properly with the GTD method.

To be honest sometime MLO feels like "The Monkey's Claw" [GRRR]. i.e. MLO has so much potential and is so full-featured, but there is always some unintended consequence of any new way of doing things that I manage to think up.

My main problem I just cant work a good way move tasks & projects between GTD 'list'. MLO is such a powerful system and yet I feel stuck in 1st gear!

For my "waiting for" list I mostly live in Active tasks views and just kick things along the road by putting the Start Date into the future, and review things then, but that's not ideal.

My main problem is moving things between my "Someday-maybe" and my "Active" lists.

I have experimented by putting everything into one of 2 folder (i.e. one called "ASAP" and one folder called "Sometime_Maybe"). I then physically move the tasks between the 2 folders, but it's very clunky, particularly when you get into the hundreds of tasks.

To be honest I'm tempted to move back to pen & paper for a while as this technology is slightly getting in the way. 

J

[Wallace Gilbraith]

Hi John,

 

If I recall, GTD was developed as a paper-based system, eg with lists in sections of a filing cabinet.

MLO can do it with Dates, all in one list (profile). When do you want to Do, or Be Reminded Of, a task?

I found Due Dates alone to be a good way to start, and I don’t mind postponing tasks.

I experimented with Start Dates, but don’t use them much, as I don’t use auto-sort.

Someday/ Maybe doesn’t have dates. They’re usually whole projects.

What I do probably isn’t ‘Pure GTD’, but it’s enough to keep me on track.

 

Regards

 

Wol

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[Nick Clark]

I just use a context @Someday to filter tasks out. I remove the context to make something "Active".

[J Smith]

Wol - I'm afraid I don't really understand. Do you not use the concept of a Someday/Maybe list at all?

Or if you do, then how do you flag a task as being in that list?

And likewise exactly what are you using Due Dates for? I mean are you using Due Dates as the date when you want to be reminded to start a task? If so how do you remove them from view until that time?

Cheers

J

[J Smith]

Nick 

I'm loving the simplicity of this. (Aside: Why didn't I think of that?!)

So to get clear, in order to get your list of Active stuff, I guess you create a tab ('work area') that contains the Advanced filter with something like:

"Context does not contain .Someday", yes?

OK so, if I'm showing the hierarchy and I've got a complex project (i.e. parent) that I have flagged with the context of ".Someday", but which still has even one task that is not flagged with ".Someday" then the project it will still appear on that view.  I guess I can live with that. (I might use some clever formatting rules to show items that are .Someday formatted)

And then in order to create your list of Someday/maybe stuff, I guess you have another tab ('work area') with an Advanced filter with:
"Context DOES contain .Someday", yes?

 
One slight problem is that now when you are working in the "Someday" (only) view and you want to add something to another project (or task) the risk is that it will disappear from view immediately after you enter the name. One way around this seems to be set up a special hotkey for the purpose (e.g. say Alt/Shift/S) and to use it while you are still editing the name of the item.
OR I guess you could add it as a child (using Alt/Insert), which will therefore inherit the .Someday tag from the current parent and then just out-dent it using Shift/Alt/Left-Arrow.

This sounds extremely promising - thanks!

J

[Dwight Arthur]

Here's  a  trick for solving your "one slight problem ". I didn't originate this,  I learned it on the forum, but I forget who posted it.

For your someday view, write a filter that says:
Context contains someday or modifiedDateTime is greater than now minus 0.002.  Then, whenever you add or modify a task it will stick to the someday list for almost 3 minutes to give you time to finish editing  it. After 3 minutes if you have not added a someday context, it will drop off.

Slight new problem: if your time zone lies to the west of GMT and to the east of the date line,  tasks added via TaskByEmail will linger in the new someday list for a number of hours equal to how many time zones you are west of GMT (adjusted for DST).

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[J Smith]

Dwight

Sounds ingenious - love it! However I'm having to admit defeat on how to implement this. 

My progress so far:

1. I have created an Advanced Rule:

"Context contains .Someday "

2. I clicked "Add sub-rule" and created:

"ModifiedDateTime after now-0.002"

What am I doing wrong?

Cheers

J

[J Smith]

OK - as you were - I think I've cracked it ! 

So I've abandoned "sub rules" (I always get confused by them) and have added an additional rule which defaulted in as an "AND". I then edited the first rule to end with "OR" instead of "AND".

My second rule now says:

"CreatedDateTime after now-0.0002"

Which seems to buy me a crucial minute or so which is enough for me. What's slightly unnerving is that "now" is only re-valuated when you edit something!

Nice one - many thanks

J

[Wallace Gilbraith]

Hi John

 

Sure I use the Concept, I just don’t use a list for it

The concept is, if a task needs to be done (or reviewed) by a certain date, it gets a Due Date

If it doesn’t (and it’s therefore by definition a Someday/ Maybe item), it doesn’t

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[Michael Emerald, CFA]

Hi Wallace.

 

Keep talking.  I agree that if something doesn’t have a TRUE due date, then it shouldn’t be shown.  But how do you get tasks to sort by semblance of due date?  Like, if I need to check the post office box every 4 days or so, how do I implement that task without putting in a due date?  I’ve asked, in the past, for another field marked “deliverable”. 

 

Your thoughts?

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[Wallace Gilbraith]

Hi Michael

 

Same as usual - give it a Start Date and an End date, on say Monday, and set the recurrence to be every 4 days. (Alt-2/ Properties > Timing and Reminder > Recurrence, and maybe set Advanced Options > Do not create a completed copy …, if you prefer)

On Mon it will appear on your radar. When you check the task off it will regenerate with a due date of Thu, and won’t show again until that gets near.

That’s how I’d do it. But then, I don’t use Computed Score, I use a combination of Due in Next 30 Days, and Starred view with manual sorting. I’d like to get slick enough with advanced filters to trust the computed score but I never get around to it.

 

Regards

 

Wol

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[J Smith]

I agree that if something doesn't have a TRUE due date then I dont use the Due Date field.

My problem is that I wind up not using the Due Date field at all, because I use my (Outlook) Calendar for important/firm deadlines. 

I don't think I'm using MLO very effectively but here is what I do:

Rather than have a GTD Waiting For list as such, instead I live mostly in the Active Tasks view and if I want the task to disappear for say 4 days I just go "Alt/S 4 D" which puts the Start date 4 days into the future. 

*Occasionally*  I do the same thing for Someday/Maybe tasks - i.e. I put them into the future in the same way, but I am now trying to train myself to use a ".Someday" Context-tag, (which for ease of use I have set up with a Alt/Shift/S hotkey). With the use of Advanced filters, this of course causes the task to disappear off my Active Tasks tab, and appear on my Someday tab.

I am also trying to train myself to actually review my stuff more often - particularly full GTD Weekly Reviews of everything actionable, as if you don't do this you can end up losing track of the big picture of your life and start to feel out of control, because you wind up doing lots of stupid little things that in hind-sight were a slight distraction.

I'm not sure if that helps - just 'sharing'.... !

J