4.7: planned date vs forecast tag

OmniFocus
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I’m curious how others are using the forecast tag now that planned dates have been introduced in version 4.7. Previously, I used a combination of the defer date and forecast tags as a workaround for planned dates.

Now that we have a dedicated planned date field, what would be a meaningful use case for the forecast tag?

One concern I have is that if I fall behind on my workflow, I risk losing track of items with planned dates - especially since they continue to roll forward with the forecast tag, potentially slipping through the cracks.

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I’ve stopped using the Forecast tag now that I’m using Planned Dates.

For me, the Forecast tag was a way to put something in today’s Forecast without giving it a false due date. Now that we have planned dates, I can use those to add something to today’s Forecast. Or tomorrow’s. Or next week’s. I just find planned dates to be more expressive than a single tag.

If you miss having a quick keyboard shortcut to assign an item to today, you might be interested in this plug-in (which you can assign to any key you choose):

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Perhaps a forecast tag could be used for tasks where you haven’t thought through any scheduling for it. I’ve used an errands tag in the forecast which will bring up various tasks I haven’t planned for a specific date.

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Interesting! I’m still using OF 4.6, but I imagine that when I move to 4.7, I will differentiate Planned Dates from Forecast Tags. I’ll use the former for things I would like to get done on a specific date, for various reasons (not much else scheduled, needing lead time for feedback, etc. I think I’ll continue to use the Forecast Tag for things that I think I should get done soon, especially those things I don’t enjoy doing but that need to get done, but for which I don’t think any specific date is best.

But who knows, after I get the new feature, my approach might change. I wasn’t initially a big fan of turning single contexts into multiple tags, but I find them useful now.

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I’ve now changed my “today” tag to an “ongoing” tag. While this might go against most productivity methods, I use it for tasks that are less urgent, have no clear due date, and are difficult to schedule. These are the lingering items that still need attention, and having them marked as “ongoing” helps keep them visible and nudges me to take action.

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BACKGROUND

This is about the Forecast perspective, and the use of both a Forecast tag, and Planned Date (that displays in Today), and how I use Planned times to create a kind of priority list—somewhat unusual.

I just started seriously implementing: “Today includes: Items tagged: forecast”

I also recently started using Planned dates so items would display in Today—but didn’t like having to manually drag items that didn’t get done forward to a later date—although doing so has the benefit of possibly having to look at / consider if such items should actually be moved to tomorrow, for example, or moved to an even further date, or have their Planned Date removed.

It’s a classic conundrum (for me) of GTD principles (stay aware of your lists and actions, and make decisions based on your current environment), vs. ‘less effort’ (auto forwarding).

BEHAVIOR

With an item set with a Planned Date of today, and with a Forecast tag set to show in Today, when I drag an item forward to tomorrow, the Planned Date is moved forward, and (after cleanup) the item displays on that future date, even though it has a Forecast Tag (and behavior set to show in Today). This behavior (actually) works well for me.

Most people would probably use a Forecast tag or a Planned Date, but not both, for items, but I’ve been experimenting with Planned Dates with a time value I set, and items sort by their Planned time, to create a kind of priority list (I also set Planned times for when I need and/or can only do, something). I.e., I might set “pour concrete” to a planned time of 9am, “buy widgets” to 11am when the widget store is open, and “clean up garage”, which isn’t a high priority, to 4pm.

If I don’t move the Planned Date for items forward, they nonetheless move to the next day (at midnight) based on the forecast tag—which is why I’m experimenting with using a Forecast tag in conjunction with Planned Dates.

I know, the fiddlier you act, the less GTD you get. :)

UPDATE: Now that a day has passed since I started using both Forecast tags and Planned Dates with some items, I noticed that those items with a Planned Date in the past show up in the Past piano key, meaning Planned Date wins out over the Forecast tag, which I had intended to use to cause auto-forwarding of items with a Planned Date to the current date, after midnight.

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