onecanuck said:
For those of you with long lists of contexts, how do they work for you in practice? Do you end up blind to them, or are these actually working relevant distinctions for you?
I would think I'm one with a long list and they work very well for me.
Even though I CAN do most computer and on-line things most places on most devices it's not at all clear that I SHOULD. In fact, it's really clear the the effort to switch contexts (even from one app to another within the same machine or environment) is actually quite large. There is a time after the switch, ranging from 30 seconds to 5 minutes where I'm getting into the mode of dealing with that particular software package, user interface or device form factor. Multiply this over the course of a day, especially with hundreds of projects and it's a clear time waster.
The location based contexts of towns for errands, fields and barns is also critical. Our local town has a business section that is 2 blocks long. Once we've come down the hill in to town it only makes sense to stay and do everything we can at once. The fuel to go up and down the hill is very expensive, even with the low prices right now so we have to make the most of it. Similarly we only go into the city once a month because it's an all day trip with a 75 mile one way ride to get there plus all the time and fuel running around and stopping at the stores. When you are in one field or building you need to do everything there you can because you'll waste time walking back and forth if you don't. There are enough emergencies that will force you to change contexts (the sheep are out now I must go into the outside with help as it's all hands on deck to get them corralled again) or a phone call from the ditch rider with a potential flooding problem means drop everything and head out with the backhoe, shovels, pickaxes 4-wheeler etc. Coyotes chasing livestock means an immediate change of contexts to attempt to deal with them. Once the immediate problem is dealt with to save time and effort later it makes sense to take a quick look at what you can do while you are there. So after a sheep escape, I might take a picture or two of the gate that needs welding and add an action to pick up some metal stock next time we are in town to my system right then and there. Or while working on the ditch you might decide that as long as the backhoe is there, might as well pull a few of the rocks out too. If it's all a jumble of outside stuff you have no way to pull the things that you can add on to the task at hand before you need to switch contexts again.
Contexts are all about being efficient about what I have to do so I can do the things I want to do.
Also keep in mind that contexts are not fixed. They can and should be very fluid. I make, use and delete contexts almost on a whim. If I look at a list that is getting long, say over 50 items on it, I don't like to pick out a task to work on and I will procrastinate. The solution for me is to split into multiple contexts on some logical basis, maybe time required to do the task (which I am notoriously bad at estimating
) or all things that I need to be with full coffee on board to do or ones that I can do late at night vs daytime or something. Maybe I've stacked up 50 items in misc mac work but when I look at them 20 might be renaming files in folders and 15 might be scanning. Well I'll probably create a scanning context or a Finder context or even a File_Renaming context just so I can get the number of items i see in any given context to 30 or less. That is about what I can handle before I get overwhelmed.