PROBLEM: ALL Next Actions of a Project disappear if the 1st Action in list has start date in future

[John Smith]

Hi 

I have a question about Next Actions.

Background:

In alignment with GTD theory, and to prevent overwhelm, I generally like seeing only ONE Next Action (i.e. not the whole list of actions) per Project.

For this reason I want essentially all my Projects to have "Complete the subtasks in order" ticked.

Problem:

BUT if the Next Action happens to be delayed so that I have a start date for it in the future, then when I click on "Active Actions", suddenly there are NO active actions at all visible for that project.
Likewise it also disappears from the Next Actions by Project view  :^(

Is there any way around this?

i.e. Is there any way for a project to show the Next Action that is not delayed?!

J

 

[Dwight Arthur]

Hi, John. It's my opinion that you are using "next actions" together with "subtasks in order" where you should be using "next actions" only.

Next actions is implemented as: from each project or folder, show only the first active subtask.  "First" is determined by position within the outline. If the first subtask isn't active (ie is blocked) the following subtask gets considered, and so on. I think that this is what you want.

Subtasks in order adds a constraint that no subtask will be considered active if there's an uncompleted subtask in the same project or folder, higher in the outline.  Even if the higher task is inactive/blocked.
-Dwight
Mlo betazoid on Android sgn2

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[John Smith]

> It's my opinion that you are using "next actions" together with "subtasks in order" where you should be using "next actions" only.

Yikes, er yes, you may well be correct! 

BUT 

I dont like the "Next Actions by Project" for several reasons (see below). 
Meanwhile is it possible to set up "Next Actions" (with one next action for each project) that looks like "Active Actions" but without the line showing the Project name?

It appears that the sort order of "Next Actions by Project" does determines the sort order of Project by using the Project Urgency & Importance, even though it isnt even showing those fields(!). In fact would argue that the fact that there fails to show the importance & urgency of the project, (but does show both for the Next Task) is effectively a bug. This is irritating because you cant actually see what is supposed to be Urgent and/or Important being highlighted as being such.

Even more irritating is that if you click on a project in the "Next Actions by Project" view you can't either change or even see the Urgency or Importance of that project - you are forced to go back to the Outline view. In fact even if you manually format or "highlight" a project in the "Outline - All Tasks" view, still that highlighting fails to appear visually on the Next Actions by Project view.

Btw, on the "Next Actions by Project" view, how can I make the Project stop being bold?

Thanks

J

[John Smith]

To get clear:

In MLO, it appears that the sort order of "Next Actions by Project" does use the Urgency & Importance of the Project itself, even though it isn't even showing those fields(!). In fact would argue that the fact that there it fails to show the importance & urgency fields of the Project - (but bizarrely it does show both for the Task itself) - is effectively a bug. i.e. Why is it sorting by something that it isn't showing to the user?!

This is deeply irritating because you cant actually see which Projects are supposed to be Urgent and/or Important in this ("Next Actions by Project") view.

Even more irritating is that if you click on a Project in the "Next Actions by Project" view, you can't either change or even see the Urgency or Importance of that project in the Properties dialogue box on the right hand side of the screen. And you are forced to go back to the Outline view to see what is actually going on at the Project level. In fact even if you manually format or "highlight" a project in the "Outline - All Tasks" view, still that highlighting also fails to appear visually on the Next Actions by Project view.

This all means that "Next Actions by Project" is an absolutely terrible place for seeing what is Imporant and/or Urgent, even though that is how the projects are in fact sorted!

My only workaround seems to be to use the tickbox called "Complete subtasks in order" for the Project and use the view called "Active Actions", which is of course sorted by the Urgency & Importance of the (just) one subtask which is left visible, compared to the Urgency & Importance of the other subtask. This view does of course ignore the Urgency & Importance of the actual projects though!

Any suggestions?

J

[Dwight Arthur]

Hi, John. Question: Do you have a copy of the User Manual? If not, I would recommend that you get a copy and look through it. If you are having trouble finding it, try Googling “MyLifeOrganized User Manual” - Most if not all of the issues that you report as annoying or as deeply annoying would be easily resolved by using the controls documented in the user manual.

 

I also think that what you are calling a bug is actually a choice made by the designer of the view. Since you are free to design your own views that work differently, I don’t think “bug” is the right word.

 

If you are comfortable with the Active Actions view in terms of columns displayed, sorts etc but you want to see only those tasks which are the next action in their respective projects or folders, you would

1. display the Active Actions view

2. In the left panel, if you see a list of views click on the title “VIEWS” to switch to the view details for Active Actions

3. In the view details find a section “General” (probably at or near the top). If it’s collapsed click on the title “General” to expand it.

4. The first control should say “Show Actions: Active” – click on it and change it to “Show Actions: Next Action”

 

Have a look at the to do list in the center. If it’s not what you wanted you can adjust other view details like sort, or what columns are displayed, or contexts to include or exclude. If you like it and will be using it often, click Save View at the bottom of the view details, and give it a name, like “Active Next Actions” or something easy to remember.

 

You might want to create a new tab with an appropriate name and icon, make this the default view, lock the tab to this view, pin the tab and any number of other things that make it totally consistent with how you want to manage your tasks.

 

If you try out some of the controls that you will find in the manual you will probably find that you are able to create a view that allows you to achieve effective and efficient management of your tasks and a good implementation of GTD. When you get there, be sure to come back and share a description of your view design on this forum – users always appreciate a fresh look at have to make a better view.

-Dwight

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mylifeorganized/68487ea3-cd54-4e13-837c-199fb5fa20a3%40googlegroups.com.

[John Smith]

Dwight

OK I have looked long and hard at this.

To get clear: What I am trying to achieve is to create a list of Next Actions - one per Project, but also sorted not each Action's own Importance, but sorted by the Importance of the *Project* to which each action belongs.

AND 

To be able to see the Importance of the Project to which each Action belongs. 

From what I can see this does not appear to be possible.

What you describe is a good way to get a list of Next Actions sorted by the importance of each Action.

I have also tried going into the "Next Actions by Project" View, and changing the Sort to be Important. However although this does only show 1 Next Action project, and although the Projects are put into order of Project-level importance, like I said previously it is frustrating because you can not SEE (nor edit) the level of Importance.

Maybe I am asking too much of MLO?

[John Smith]

P.S. Can anyone direct me to the instructions on how to use Advanced Filters?

[John Smith]

PPS. I've thought of something - is there any way to make all Actions inherit their Importance & Urgency from the Project?

[John Smith]

P.S. Please see this thread. I may have found an answer...
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mylifeorganized/fQXgrLjcOWk

[Dwight Arthur]

Yes – that is more-or-less what computed-score is for.

-Dwight