Steven Schulman's Profile

s JDK 1.4, th

The indirect relationship between organizational-level knowledge worker turnover and innovation: An integrated application of related literature

Certainly a good idea. I just wanted to give you this tip: When you complete this sort of project, change the status to reference. That way when you want to recreate it, you can easily find all tasks and subtasks in a search, and reactivate them.

---

Interesting. I started using Toodledo a while back, and based on this thread, finally worked out a system that works fairly well for me.



Folders - used for general areas of focus



Inbox (used for quickly adding tasks that I don't have time to file)

Work

Personal

Leisure

Contacts (used for reminders about people, birthdays, etc.)

Someday/Maybe

Vehicle Maintenance

Buy/Sell

Job (job search)



Contexts - used for locations, or denoting project/next action



.Calendar (used for reminders)

.Inbox (used for quickly adding tasks that I don't have time to file)

.Project (if I have a project, it is a task, which will have this context, then the subtasks will be the childs, and will have other contexts, this allows you to pull up projects by filtering by context)

.Research/Read (any time I need to do some research, or read a book)

@Computer - Home

@Computer - Office

@Errands (mobile tasks other than at home or office)

@Home

@Office

@People/Calls (face to face meetings or phone calls)



That is pretty much my system for now. If a task is just a single thing, such as, pick up milk at the store on the way home from work, then it will be just a task, in the folder "personal" with a context of "errands." If a task is involved, and requires multiple steps, then the overall project would fall in a given folder (generally personal or work), then under the .project context. The subtasks are just that, subtasks, that fall under that main task, and will generally be in the same folder, but with a different context that applies to that task.



This seems to be working pretty well for me. I open the online version of Toodledo, select folders, and pick the one I want to work on, then filter by context, if I'm at a computer, at home, or at the office, or about to go out and run errands, etc. I can do this same thing on my iPhone too.

I use folders as main categories (work, freelance, personal, study, commerce, review, someday).



For now, all my tasks (about 100 of them) fit within these folders. I have my default view set to my folders. That way I know all of my tasks are accounted for in one of them.



I use my contexts to help if when I am at a specific place (@store, @mac, @corporate, @home, etc).



I just started using tags for my projects. I use them sparingly and some tasks don't have tags. This way, if I am designing a website for "ClientX", I may have tasks to complete at many different contexts. Some tasks may (not often) even fall into different folders. But I can always search by tag and know that any task tagged "ClientX" covers all my bases.

So what I did instead is created a folder called "Work", "Household", "Personal".



Then I can use my context more specifically to the medium in which these task required for their completion. So now I can click on my Work folder and know that every single task in the folder is related to Work and nothing else. Then I can filter by context as GTD System suggest.



So let's say I am at work and my internet went down. I can filter task by different context that would allow me to GET THINGS DONE. So I may filter by "Phone", "Email", "Meeting", "Computer" This way any task that required "On-line" for me to complete was not listed.



Maybe I feel like making calls. I am in a talking mood. Filter my task in the Work folder by the context "Phone" It's easy to break everything down this way.



I use Sub-task for Projects and name the Parent task title with "Project: name of project"



This allows me to do several things. I can search task by Project and find my projects quickly. I also created a context called "Project" and assign it to only my parent task. This allows me to use the Context view and I see a tab called Projects. Quick and Easy.

You can make the main task recurring as well, and it will contain the recurring subtasks! This is what I do for my monthy bills:



* "pay bills - first batch" is due on the first friday of every month, and contains a bunch of bills that are usually due in the first half of the month.



* "pay bills - second batch" is due on the third friday of every month, and contains the rest.



The bill subtasks are due when the bills themselves is due, repeating monthly (but since the actual bill due dates shift around a bit, I'll tweak it once I see the bill).

Goals = Goals

Folders = Roles

Tasks = Projects

Subtasks = Tasks

Contexts = Locations

Statuses = Statuses

Tags = Contacts



Using Folders as Roles is a spin-off from when I used the Covey method. I use Tasks as Projects and use the Star to further identify them easily. I do use the Notes as you described for my Projects.

---

I use goals for the big picture like 'BA Graphic Design' or 'Get a job'.

A folder within that goal for each individual project including 'Exhibitions', 'Final Major Project', or 'Dissertation'.



I use the project view to keep track of which task belongs to which folder (project) but I also name each task with a three letter prefix (e.g. EXH, FMP) which shows up no matter what view you use e.g. 'EXH-Send work off to printers', shows me that the task is part of the Exhibitions folder as opposed to my Final Major Project - works really well for me.



I use Contexts to categorise what, how and where i will do the work - ie;



. Read&Notes (Can be any book, done anywhere)

. CompApp (Mostly Photoshop, Illustrator or Word, can be a computer at uni or at home)

. Tel (Telephoning)

. TaskAway (task away from desk at uni or home)

. Meet1-1 (meeting one-to-one)

. Meet1-Many

. GoTo (Visit somewhere)

. BStorming (Brainstorming)

. Select (Selecting work)

. Photo (photographing work)



Tags

I use these to label the part of the development process the task belongs to e.g:



Inspiration

Clarification

Evaluation

Distillation

Incubation

Perspiration



I also use them to describe the general theme of the task:



MockUps

Printers

Portfolio

Analysis

etc . . .



Hope this helps.

I am using Folders as all of the BIG projects I have. Then, for any sub-projects, I have created a context called "Project" (as DA says, you can't do projects, so they really don't have contexts) So I create subtasks with their own context, and if they need to be sequenced, I put numbers in front of the tasks--at least I just learned that today on another post.