For those that use Kourosh Dini method, how do you deal with repeated projects?

OmniFocus
#1

Hi there!

So you have the navigation folder, and say I have to optimize my ads for one of my products and I MUST do it every week. I have a task in navigation folder (major routines project) that says “Optimize Ads for products” that has a link to the project AND repeats every 1 week because it has a defer date. So I click on the link and it takes me to the project itself that sits in my business marketing folder.

I check off the tasks in that project and then it just sits there with all tasks completed and greyed out. But if I want it to disappear and defer for another week, the navigation folder task with the link AND the actual project sitting in the marketing folder shows up (along with the subtasks) on my forecast view because they are both deferred to show up a week later.

If I do not repeat the project sitting in marketing folder, it just sits there greyed out so I have to uncheck it after I completed it, and put it on hold and only check off the task within the navigation folder that gets deferred and shows up in my forecast view one week later.

Is that the only way or am I missing something?

My main issue with omnifocus is that I love to plan ahead but hate the subtasks that show up in forecast view since I have plenty of them.

@Kourosh
Thanks

#2

Have you tried unchecking “deferred items” in the forecast view settings?

#3

I think you need the project itself to repeat each week as well as the navigation task. Set the project to repeat weekly and complete with last action.

I rarely use the forecast view other than for checking I have not missed anything. If you are following @Kourosh’s methodology (as I do) you should have a today perspective which surfaces both the flagged and “key” or “meta” tasks taking the friction of using a congested forecast view to work from away.

Hope that helps.

1 Like
#4

Thank you for the replies!

you should have a today perspective which surfaces both the flagged and “key” or “meta” tasks taking the friction of using a congested forecast view to work from away.

I do have a Today (tagged+Flag for focus mode) perspective set up according to the book. I work from the Today perspective, and only use the Forecast view to plan my projects. In short, I am trying to merge planning a week in advance by not having all subtasks showing up in the forecast view and just having the “big picture” project show up instead.

My business projects are usually 6-8 months long and I have to work on all of them at once because they depend on waiting for other people to finish their work. So I break up my big project like for example “Launch cat toy product” into smaller projects that go on my navigation view like “Get packaging done”, “Work on the product design for cat toy.” If I didn’t, a project like the product launch would have 100+ tasks. On top of that, I work on several launches at a time since they take so long.

Because I depend on other people to complete work for my projects (suppliers to manufacture, photographer to take photos), I need to plan them out in advance so that I have everything under control and each project gets time every week. I have several routine projects every week so when I repeat the navigation task and the project itself, the forecast view gets flooded and I have a hard time planning in advance because I see all the subtasks.

Is there another alternative on how I can plan in advance via the forecast view without having to see the project and its repeated subtasks and just see the navigation task? or is there another way to set up a “forecast” perspective so I can plan my navigation tasks a week in advance? What do you think I should do?

@TheOldDesigner

Have you tried unchecking “deferred items” in the forecast view settings?

I need deferred items to plan my week ahead, it is crucial for my work flow :( Unless I can make a perspective that mimics the forecast view that just considers deferred projects with the “next” tag

#5

Just focus (⇧⌘F) on your Navigation folder prior to opening the forecast perspective. Alternatively you can clear the defer field of your project every time you complete the last action.

I too wish the forecast perspective was more clean. When I set a due date on a project I do not need to see all the numerous tasks in the forecast. I just need a visual reminder that something is due (the container). My patch consist in two separate perspectives, one for deferred items and one for due items, where I can better filter out the detailed tasks and sub-tasks. As is, the forecast perspective is useless to me.

#6

Hi @smarttomato,

Either @TheOldDesigner’s or @silverc75’s suggestions are useful. Another possibility that I often use is to avoid the Forecast deferred option, for similar issues you are describing. Instead, I have a dedicated “Future” perspective that excludes specific areas that would not be useful to me.

For example, I don’t want to see which piano pieces I have to practice in the future. It’s too much detail. There are also simple routines I don’t care to see. So I have the following perspective:

Future Perspective with exceptions
Future Perspective with exceptions1100×1140 124 KB

An example of excluded projects are as follows:

Excluded Projects
Excluded Projects966×674 66.3 KB

Hope that helps!

  • Kourosh
#7

In one of two ways:

  1. If they are regular/large projects then they are accessible via Engaged Projects launch tasks. Every day I select which projects to engage/park so they appear in Today perspective. Once they are completed, the launch tasks are deleted.
  2. If they are routines, habits, or persistent projects then they are accessible via Major Routines launch tasks. Every day, when I select things to work on I balance regular projects and major routines.

A regular project is something that has a definitive completion/done-done state - think deadline.
A major routine is something that goes on forever or I plan to work on for a very long time - think habits.

#8

Thanks!

These are all very helpful suggestions that to be honest I haven’t really thought about. What I decided was to repeat both the Navigation task and the project like @TheOldDesigner suggested.

And so I will try out both methods, so thank you @silverc75 for the suggestion of focusing that could definetly help me out when planning in Forecast. I usually do not even bother to look at the forecast view throughout the week, but rather it is for planning the week during my weekly review to have a general idea and of what needs to get done so that I do not miss anything.

#9

Thank you for personally responding to me!

I think I will also include the “next” tag in this perspective because I would like to see navigation tasks and any individual tasks that have that same tag to ensure I do not miss anything else that is not in my navigation.

I really wish there was a way where there was a cleaner forecast view because I do enjoy having my calendar events beside the projects I need to complete that day. I really love your method because I can focus on the big picture projects without individual tasks. Having individual tasks from projects in the forecast view creates a lot of problems for me because my projects have the same process (tasks) and I work on about 4-5 at a time.

Excellent suggestion, thank you!

#10

Thanks! I like to plan and review omnifocus every Sunday or Monday.

But the problem is that the project and their subtasks show up in the forecast view if they are also deferred. I tried taking it day by day but I have anxiety on whether I missed something so I like to know a week in advance and plan out those navigation tasks a week in advance. For me, having a very general project like “Design and create product 1” does not work because each product launch has 100+ tasks so I like to divide that project into several navigation tasks like “create product design for x”, “launch ads for product x.”

I am still experimenting with my workflow and trying to find something that works