Looking for software that checks next actions against projects

[tominperu]

How clever!

Katherine,

How clever! Yes I can see that works really well. My gratitude is only tempered by an annoyance I hadn't thought of doing it that way myself! I had come up with making projects another category but having a task as the project itself solves the issue of quickly seeing which project needs a next action, as you point out. So thanks!

One can also use the space for text in the project/task for projec planning.

Well, I suppose that's it then, problem solved. Why you are the first to come up with a simple solution after so many have recommended expensive software and add-ons is an interesting question in itself.

I think there is a tendency to look for fancy new software rather than making do with what we have.

I will stick with Outlook and use your method without the add-in. ( I recieve few emails and its for email I think the Outlook add-in comes into its own).

Hope others benefit from this method...

 

[kewms]

Using project names as category names does create some problems for people who use Palm PDAs, as the standard Palm software doesn't support very many categories, and only supports one category per item. With my method, you'll end up with at least two, for the project name and the context. Beyond Contacts for Palm removes these limitations.

I actually use a fancy add-in as well, since my main task management hub is ResultManager, a MindManager add-in. But having the tasks in Outlook as well is useful, and the standard Outlook tools work fine for me.

I think one of the reasons why people look for add-in solutions is that most software is very poorly documented. They say the average user only uses about 10% of the features in large packages, and as a result most people probably don't even know that the other 90% of features exist.

Katherine

 

[tominperu]

Have now spent time trying out Katherine's method. After my initial enthusiasm I have to now say there is a downside to using this method compared to the Contacts as Projects method.

When one uses the Contacts as Projects method one can categorise one's projects in different folders and sub folders. It makes it much easier to go through the projects at the project review/planning stage of the weekly review. Having all the projects listed in just one long list is hard to take after getting used to that facility. One can categorise to an extent by creating a new field and writing in themes etc but this is not as good as having lots of different projects for different aspects of one's life clearly listed in separate folders.

Am I being difficult? Guess I am. I suppose I didn't appreciate how much I like about some aspects of the Contacts as Projects method, when I complained about its shortfalls.

I think I will shut up now and just getting on with using the system I have.

 

[TesTeq]

Add one more category - aspect of your life.

Having all the projects listed in just one long list is hard to take after getting used to that facility. One can categorise to an extent by creating a new field and writing in themes etc but this is not as good as having lots of different projects for different aspects of one's life clearly listed in separate folders.

Add one more (third) category - aspect of your life (area of focus). Or add the area of focus prefix to the project's name.

 

[tominperu]

Add one more (third) category - aspect of your life (area of focus). Or add the area of focus prefix to the project's name.

Some people might like to use that...

but for me, that's just two many categories! I like to see a short streamlined task list, not one with everything repeated again and again under numerous different categories.

And having to think about a possible prefix everytime one writes a next action makes thing too slow.

 

[CosmoGTD]

I may be repeating myself here, but in the GTD Outlook Add-in, there is a project field and even a subproject field you can use, where you can group-sort your subprojects together.
They added those in after folks asked for them.

So when you create a task, you not only add it to a Context (category), you also click a box to add it to a Project you are running, and even a subproject.

For me, this is all I need at this time, even more than I need.

 

[Vadim]

I previously came up with this myself, but it doesn't solve the problem.

> Yes, with this method one can easily see which next actions are grouped together into which projects, but it doesn't make it any easier to check each project has a next action - which of course is a crucial part of the weekly review. If there isn't a next action for a project, the project simply doesn't appear as a project category!

> I've also tried to use Tao Notes but it has seemed rather complex and until now I haven't had the time to play around with it to see how it works.

Tom, actually it's very easy to check NAs for EACH project in TaoNotes. And a project APPEARS in the Project View EVEN It has no next actions!

Vadim

 

[TimeKing]

Try MyLife Organized

I have been a heavy Outlook user for many, many years. I have tried FranklinCovey Ascend and PlanPlus for Outlook, GTD Outlook add-on, Bonsai, Life Balance, Achieve Planner, and MyLife Organized.

I highly recommend you take a look at MyLife Organized. With it, you can click a checkbox, "complete subtasks in order", so that only one NA shows up on the To-Do list for that project at a time. Once the first is completed, the next NA pops up!

You can also sort the To-Do list by Context (the program calls this categorization "Places", but it's the same thing. In fact, in the next version, I believe they are going to rename Places to Context.

This program picks up, in some ways, where Life Balance left off, in terms of user-focused software development. Beside excellent Outlook sync capabilities, they are also building a nice PPC app which should be completed in the near future.

I've tried so many different systems since I read David's book a year ago, and MyLife Organized is the best software program I've found that meets my various needs and circumstances.

Good luck with finding and implementing a GTD system that works for you!

 

[tominperu]

Thanks for the suggestions

Thanks TimeKing. Yes, I will try My Life Organised. It looks very promising.

And Vadim, I promise to make a proper try of TaoNotes. It will have to be at the weekend.

Thanks to all.

 

[GGG]

very easy to do this in Life Balance

Following a suggestion by Ratz, it is extremely easy in Life Balance to check for projects with no next actions.
(If what I write below does not make sense, come back to it after you have tried the software.)
What he suggests is to assign to each project name in the outline the Place of "Projects", which is set to be always closed. Then the next actions that fall below this are assigned to the actual contexts they belong to. So any project whose next actions are missing or are completed will show up in the To Do List in the place Projects, but only if you check the box for "All" instead of "Open" (this is so you don't have to see them if you use "All Places" to see all your next actions in one big list. If this doesn't matter to you, then set the hours however you like).

The point of this is that if you assign the place of "Projects" to all your projects, each of their children tasks will also be assigned to Projects automatically, and so any that do not have a next action will show up in the ToDo list when you invoke the place "Projects" . Then you can jump directly to the project in the outline and assign it a new NA if you want to, or check it off if it's done. And any projects that you do NOT see in the ToDo List have next actions assigned.

One more great feature that I can't resist sharing with you. Suppose you create an elaborate project with many subdivisions (children) at many levels, next actions, etc, and you decide you can't work on it this week. Just drag the highest level item in the project under a heading called (say) Maybe Next Week, and set that heading's importance slider to zero. The result is that nothing from that project will show up in your To Do List, but when you are ready to make it active again, all you need to do is drag it out of Maybe Next Week and back to wherever you want to have it. No need to redo all the planning work you already did. This works because LB does not put any items or subitems in the ToDo List if the importance slider is set to zero.

I am a Mac (and a Palm) user, so I don't know much about MLO or the Outlook Add-in, but for my money Life Balance is superb for GTD.

George