How (and Where) do you keep running progress notes on projects?

OmniFocus
#1

I’m struggling to find a workflow that works for me on this and would welcome ideas if anyone has workflows that work.

In ye olde days of paper I had a folder for each project and at the front was a sheet on which I wrote a brief update following any activity on the project.

To take a simple example. I need to ‘chase’ a contractor. OmniFocus will hold the ‘call contractor’ task, followed by a ‘wait for contractor to return call’ task (which triggers a ‘he hasn’t called back, call him again’ task during the next review.) etc.

On the old paper solution there would be a running record (evidence) of the activity (or lack thereof).

How do you keep track of project activity/progress? I have experimented with using the notes field in the Project Title in OmniFocus (which has been the most successful way to date) however I suspect that there is a better way. Any recommendations or suggestions…

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Possible to detail progress of a task?
#2

If you use Evernote, you could have an Evernote note linked to your OmniFocus project (and vice versa). I posted a free video that explains the mechanics.

The same approach could be applied to any note-taking solution that allows you to reference notes through a URL. Unfortunately Apple’s own Notes app doesn’t yet have this ability.

I hope this helps!

Cheers,
Tim Stringer
Founder, Learn OmniFocus

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#3

Custom perspectives can help a lot with this. What you want is something where you group by project and sort by date completed. Set availability to all and maybe show the completion date in a column (on the mac). Focus on a project to, well, focus on it. I just set this up on my mac in a minute, and I can see all my projects and their history.

#4

I find myself linking a OmniOutliner document for each large project

#5

I wrote a Workflow flow on iOS recently to create a pair of items:

  1. An Editorial file that links (in Markdown) to an OF item.
  2. That OF item, with a link back to open the file in Editorial.

I’ve yet to use it “in anger” but I think that approach might help. I’ve submitted the Workflow; I’ve no idea if it passed review.

#6

I’m with @timstringer on this - Evernote with links is a great solution for overall project notes and reference material.

Sometimes I have just a single action which bounces between the “Email Joe” or “Call Joe” action for me to take, and “Waiting for response from Joe”. In these cases I use a script and Keyboard Maestro to toggle that action’s context and fill in notes with a timestamp of the state change. I can also add notes directly myself as well if needed for more support later on,.

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#7

I’m using notebooksapp.com … works very well and also has url functionality in macOS and iOS (btw there is also a version for windows … if you need your notes f.e. on machine in enterprise network without having macOS) sync with WebDAV or Dropbox

Pick up the URL and put (like Tim said in his example with Evernote) it into the projects

One thing: design in macOS for notebooksapp isn’t kind of fancy. iOS App is