How to Use Priority Matrix in OF?

OmniFocus
#1

Hi there i need some input .
i have own omnifocus but haven’t really use omnifocus due to lack of clarity of what i want .
lately been back again to reorganize the system after knowing what i want .here is my hthought

Project - is the area of life and projects are here ( very clear for me)
Contexts - here i divided in to 4 category ( Plan , Do , Think, Learn ) those 4 category is the main Aim in the daily activites and have subcontext in it .
i have flag the task that has to be done in the next day .
have been using this for few weeks
so when i review it back, although it have flag the task todo, i actually need to grade the priority q1, q2, q3, q4 . in order to filter the task that has been flag .
and i handle lots of things …
can some one help me with this situation ?

Thank you

#2

Are you flagged the task that MUST be done to meet a deadline?

Or are you flagged the task that you WANT to do?

Priorities are not directly handled with OF. Do you have a “priority” on Plan, Do, Think, and Learn? Can you sort on these categories to set your priorities. For example, all else being equal, is "Do"ing something more important that "Think"ing about something?

I suggest this approach because it is similar to what I use. My contexts are something like …

  • close
  • deliver
  • tidy up
  • do
  • prepare
  • consider

The “priority” is from the top down. All else being equal, I will do everything that is marked “close” before I do anything that is marked “consider”.

–
JJW

#3

Hi DrJJWMAc
i flag item i want to do that day
what i mean by priority is the priority matrix quad 1 - to quad 4 (urgent and important)

let say in context @Plan there are

  • this year holiday journey (plan hotel, places etc) Q2
  • this semester marketing program Q1
  • office outbound trip - Q3
  • Designing home office 2017 - Q4

@Think

  • tidy up my computer files - Q4
  • Decide the supplier - Q1
  • Respond Omni Forum - Q3

so in those cases
i would prefer finish Q1 and move to Q2 and Q3
that is what i meant

hope you can get it

#4

I have not found a method in OF to do this that works for me. As far as I understand, you will have to use one of these options:

  • Use #tags on your tasks. An example is
  • take out garbage #I
  • get medicines #U+I
  • Use the duration field as a priority ranking. An example is
  • take out garbage (10min)
  • get medicines (1min)
  • Sub-divide the context fields by priority. An example is
  • take out garbage (home:I)
  • get medicines (errands:U+I)

I do all of my priority planning at the project level using software other than OmniFocus.

–
JJW

#5

Very interesting conversation! Thank you!

I’m also struggling with prioritizing my projects (not tasks) in OmniFocus. At the moment I just have an Excel sheet and prioritize each project with two categories (Urgent and Important) Then I sum up these columns and the project with the highest sum has to be finished first.

What tools do you use for this? Is it possible to sync the project names from OF and the tools you use?

#6

I use Curio. My priority quadrants are obligated and important as …

  1. I+O
  2. I
  3. O
  4. none

See these discussion threads for further details.

–
JJW

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