@Russ, no problem!
One of the complaints many Outlook users have is that it's not always easy to see an overview of a project, it’s not obvious how to see the next actions that belong to that project.
Often, it’s just a list of projects and a list of next actions with no link or interaction between the two. So there’s much switching between lists and having to remember which next action belongs to which project etc.
You might see in Outlook you have the [Create XYZ Website] Project, but how can you see in an instance what next actions belong to this project, how many have been completed and how many are dragging?
There is Third Party software to help with this, such as the Netcentrics GTD Outlook Plugin, but the method below is pretty simple once you get into it, it doesn’t require any extra software and syncs perfectly with Windows Mobile.
I’m not sure how popular this method is, as I’ve never seen it described here, but I have seen a few posts asking about the relationship in Outlook between projects and next actions!
In a nutshell, what you do is create a new task category with the same name as the project, then assign to next actions both a @context (@Car, @Office, @Online etc) and a project category too ([Create XYZ Website]).
This means a next action has both a context and project category assigned to it. So the next action will show, say in your @Calls list and effectively in the [Create XYZ Website] project list too.
If you don’t do this, even though you may have a project category/list with [Create XYZ Website] in it, your next actions are simply scattered around the @Context lists – i.e. @Calls, @Online, @Home etc with no link back to the project they’re supporting.
Also, when you look at the project list, how do you know the current next actions for the project? You might just look through your next actions lists to jog your memory, but it’s not something that can be seen in an instance.
Here’s a step-by-step to the method that should make project/next action relationship a lot clearer! (Forgive me if it’s over simplified – no offence meant!)
Before you can start, to set up this, you need to create a new Master Category that will be used for all future projects.
Open any task, click on it’s categories, then click on “Edit Master Category” then enter [!Projects] as the new master category. Next click the prompts to save this, but don’t assign it to the task you opened.
The new [!Projects] category you created can now be assigned to any projects in the future. You wont have to repeat the above step each time, it’s now been created.
So you decide you have a project called [Create XYZ Website] and you already have some next actions to include.
In Outlook, create a new task.
In the subject, title it [Create XYZ Website].
Next, click on it’s categories, then click on “Edit Master Category List”.
In the “Master Category List”, create [Create XYZ Website] as a new Master Category.
Then, come out of that screen and assign to your new task the new category of [Create XYZ Website] and the category of [!Projects] (already created earlier).
So you now have a Task item called [Create XYZ Website] with two categories assigned; [!Projects] and [Create XYZ Website]
To see how this is beginning to work, in Outlook Tasks screen, select “View By Category”.
You’ll see the various headers for each category. If they’re collapsed, click on the + to open them.
You should see the new category of [!Projects] with 1 item. Click on the + if it’s collapsed and the should see the item appear [Create XYZ Website]. This is now listing your projects and as you create further projects and assign them the [!Projects] category too, they will list here too.
Now, look further down at the category/grouping headers and you should also see one as [Create XYZ Website] with 1 item. Again, expand it so you can see the item and it’ll only show one task [Create XYZ Website].
This is because no next actions have been assigned yet, it’s only showing it “Project Task”.
Next, imagine the next action for this project is “Call Simply.com re hosting options”
So, create a new Task, enter “Call Simply.com re hosting options” as the subject and in the categories assign it to @Calls (i.e. the context) and [Create XYZ Website] (i.e. the project it’s assigned too).
Save and close it, now, look again at the Tasks – View by Category display. Under the group heading for @Calls is “Call Simply.com re hosting options”. You can look in the categories column and see it’s assigned to @Calls and [Create XYZ Website].
Next, look down to the [Create XYZ Website] header and it should now have two items; it’s own project task and the new “Call Simply.com re hosting options” next action.
As you go through, creating next actions and assigning them both an @Context and [Project Name] category, you’ll see in the View Tasks by Category screen all the tasks assigned to a project. Just look for the project header, expand it and there’s all your next actions for it.
You can also store subsequent actions (i.e. not currently next actions) and other snippets of information in the project task itself.
If you then went through and added some more actions such as;
“Call Lucy at XZY re first draft XYZ Website revisions” set to @Calls and [Create XYZ Website] categories
“Google for DreamWeaver Random Image Script/Extension” set to @Online and [Create XYZ Website] categories
“Buy new batteries for camera, for XYZ Website photos” set to @Online and [Create XYZ Website] categories
In the above example, when viewing Tasks by Category would give you the following; (I’ve missed out other non-relevant contexts and actions, but in reality, the @Context lists would contact all your other next actions too etc.)
@Calls:
Call Simply.com re hosting options
Call Lucy at XZY re first draft XYZ Website revisions
@Online:
Google for DreamWeaver Random Image Script/Extension
@Town:
Buy new batteries for camera, for XYZ Website photos
[!Projects]
[Create XYZ Website]
[Create XYZ Website]
Call Simply.com re hosting options
Call Lucy at XZY re first draft XYZ Website revisions
Google for DreamWeaver Random Image Script/Extension
Buy new batteries for camera, for XYZ Website photos
So here, you can see all the next actions linked to the project, can see the projects list and the next action contexts too.
When you complete @Online “Google for DreamWeaver…” it’ll also be completed under the [Create XYZ Website] heading too – as it’s the same task, just assigned 2 different categories.
You can also take this a stage further and if you have any emails, calendar items, notes – in fact any item in Outlook that are part of the project, you can also give them the [Create XYZ Website] too.
You can then do an advanced search on all Outlook items for the category [Create XYZ Website] and you’ll see everything in Outlook to do with that project.
Of if you’re in Calendar, view it by category and only [Create XYZ Website] calendar items will be listed.
It’s a great way of keeping track of everything!
Hope this helps – let me know if anything’s still unclear or you’d like further info!
Best regards,
Andy.
