The only use I have for durations is to create two views: “Under 15 minutes” and “Under 5”. The idea was to tick off things when I have what I call “interstitial times”, like waiting for the family to get ready to go out. :-) Less contentiously, when I need a small task to just get me going.
But being able to aggregate might well make me use them more. Having said that, I generally don’t roll tasks up into real projects.
Hi
I already use a variation of 2011 Dan Byler’s applescript (“total time”) to have estimated duration of manually selected tasks and can add a few details based on my experience. The only difference is this program does not insert duration on top.
the most basic calculation needed is an automated calculation done bottom to top just before syncing, what is missing here is just a clear way to add applescripts before standard processes start automatically.
I use this calculation to estimate total project workloads, which I organise in OF2 in waterfall form.
The core complication as defined by BriMercer is that we need a separate setup for time slot definitions.
For example I do not calculate total hours, I calculate mandays effort, where days are made of slots of 8 hours.
in BriMercer’s example we have even more, but it is still possible to modify the script to account for that.
the second complication is missing values treatment. Should we indicate total time if a dependent task has no total time indicated?
BriMercer’s request is even more valuable if you can’t move tasks because you are filtering on some tags and sorting on due dates (I use kanban-style statuses for my tasks to track whether it is me the owner of an active task or someone else)
It would be awesome if omni could provide a new script for pro users that performs a breakdown on those dimensions in a simple dialog. It would become a general purpose intra-day planner tool and certainly a powerful way to do some breakdown analysis for bottlenecks, helping us to kickstart busy days
I wholeheartedly agree with @BriMercer on this! With the introduction of manual task reordering in OmniFocus 3, I think many of us will find ourselves rethinking the way we use the app and rediscovering old features the way they were intended.
Estimated Duration is just one example used for proxy sorting; my other crutch during extra busy seasons has been to use the Due Date for proxy sorting, which comes with a whole host of other problems (e.g., not really knowing which due dates are for sorting and which are hard-stop due dates).
I also use Dan Byler’s “Total Time” applescript on the Mac, but its usefulness to me is limited simply because it is not an automatic calculation. Because it requires me to manually select a group of tasks and run the script to calculate, I find that I quickly bypass the tool or forget about it altogether whenever things get chaotic in life.
In some ways, OmniOutliner actually beats out OmniFocus in this category, with its ability to automatically sum totals of numbers within an outline group. I understand OmniFocus was initially inspired by OmniOutliner, and I would love for it to continue drawing inspiration from its older sibling.
One last point from me in support of @BriMercer’s idea. Having estimated time total calculated automatically for each view would transform OmniFocus from an already very powerful task planner to a very powerful time planner. And as those familiar with the GTD methodology already know, we care a lot more about our time than we do our tasks!!
I am also in favor of support of task duration totals as my experience has shown that many people have the issue of scheduling too many tasks. Anything that helps with load balancing would be extremely beneficial.
I’ve been advocating for this functionality since I first started using OmniFocus.
I was having a discussion this week with coworkers about causes of stress in people’s lives. I was surprised at the similarities in everyone’s answers. Their answers mostly amounted to this:
People get stressed when they have a list of things to get done in a given time period and they are unable to get what they planned to get done in the allotted time.
Part of that, of course, is due to the unexpected tasks arising that need immediate attention. Also, part of it is a result of people underestimated the time it takes to complete a given task. A majority of it, I think, is simply people over-planning their time, trying to squeeze too much in too small a time period.
I’m convinced the power of estimated time totals in OF3 could solve much of his, how much it could help people make realistic planning decisions before they even start their days.
YES! And for me, planning tasks is really just the necessary precursor to planning my time.
We really need this feature would be very helpful for increased productivity.
YES! This would be amazing for me too. I love that Forecast exist - but a total duration would be an amazing game changer for me. We seem so close to have this since we already have individual durations.
I use OmniPlan duration aggregation. But it’s annoying, error prone, fiddley and time consuming to copy my OmniOutliner and OmniFocus projects into OmniPlan for duration analysis.
I upvote this idea wholeheartedly. Note that adding such a powerful feature to OmniFocus might cannibalize OmniPlan sales, so such a move could be viewed as outstandingly generous and noble on the part of Omnigroup.
This is a very good idea.
This would be helpful.
indeed this should be put forward, we cannot keep using custom things for a core planning activity. also, since they have the events now in OF3, they could show in the forecast the sum of estimated duration of all tasks due or active that day vs a total “active hours of that day” minus the duration of calendar events coming from ical (capacity) .
This seems like a no-brainer. It doesn’t seem like it would take that long or be that complicated to implement. So why not just do it?
Because the user base has dozens or hundreds of “no-brainer” suggestions that need to be prioritized, and there are considerations for all of them individually as well as how they interact. :)
I wouldn’t mind being able to select a list of tasks and get the total duration, and to have the ability to limit total duration in a perspective. Definitely object to automatically trying to calculate it in the Today view or a perspective or project without making it toggle-able (which introduces UI complications already.)
For those who might not have seen this yet, @kaitlin has written a cross-platform Omni Automation plug-in which calculates the total estimated time for selected items:
Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Ken! This kind of functionality is so helpful!!! Is it really too difficult to put this functionality in the actual app (e.g., OmniOutliner)?
I second that it would be great if this could be integrated into core functionality
Thanks, @kcase for publishing this. And many many thanks to @kaitlin for her generosity in developing and sharing this. She’s done a fine job, and it sure beats having to learn apple scripts that might fall over with new OF releases!
It’s still a little frustrating that I have to select my rows then run the automation, and I would much prefer to have OF show me total time at each heading break (i.e. whenever there are tasks or sub-tasks listed below). That would be the ideal, but in the meantime @kaitlin’s solution lets me plan my day, as I can get a total of how many hours my selected tasks are likely to take.
I agree that this would be extremely useful if integrated into OmniFocus core functionality. @kaitlin’s plugin is a great help (thanks, @kaitlin!), but for me the ability to at-a-glance compare the Total Estimated Duration for every project in a view (instead of needing to run the automation for each individual project and record those totals for comparison) would save time and streamline my planning process.
