If it’s on my calendar, that “guarantees” I’ll work on it. But unfortunately, I may not get it done.
If I don’t get it done, I’d like to keep it on my task list. Or better yet, update the estimated time on my task list. Then tomorrow, I can schedule time to work on it again. And this time hopefully get it done!
I used task lists to organize my tasks. But I really, really, really want to schedule specific times to work on those tasks. Two way integration between task lists and the schedule would be really effective for me.
So my workflow on a daily basis:
- Review tasks that need to be accomplished today in the morning.
- Schedule those tasks on my calendar. Using the estimated durations in OF.
- Work and mark tasks that actually got completed as “done.” Keep a log of how much time I work on tasks so that I can estimate better in the future. (So I’d like to also have a field for actual time.)
With OF and Fantastical on the Mac, I can actually do #1 and #2. But if I go back and look at OF at all while doing #3, I get really confused. Because OF lists tasks in a different order than when I look at my calendar. If I look at forecast, I see the task and then separately I see the scheduled event. Duplication and confusing.
And I can’t do anything with OF on iOS. It just doesn’t integrate well with anything else.
Peter Bregman has a pretty good book on this approach: 18 Minutes.
