Couple of quick thoughts just to see what everyone thinks about it. I often have a task which I start but don’t finish whether I hit a roadblock or run out of time or get pulled away etc. I usually just enter a status in the notes but I was thinking it could be helpful to have a field for percentage complete. Thoughts?
Could also be useful if a project had a percentage complete indicator which was determined by the ratio of tasks complete/overall tasks in the project.
I imagine the value in this would be at a glance status for projects…and for tasks an additional (meaningful?) criteria by which to review and decide what to do. For example if I sort my tasks by percent complete I would see that I have 3 tasks at 90% compete which I may be able to knock off really quickly.
Anyhow, does this sound like it might be useful? is anyone doing anything like this already through perspectives or contexts or some other creative means?
I’ve thought about this as well at times, but I also think it causes a little problem in some ways.
For those types of projects, I would typically use a project management program/website. OF can be used for project management, but it’s not really meant for details PM work, but OmniPlan is.
I come back to your suggestion when I realize that Project Management software (website services), expensive or the free kind, might be overkill for the small projects most of us keep in OF. So it’s a toss up for me. Maybe % complete could be something added to the Pro version. OF standard for task management; OF Pro for advanced task management and small project management; OmniPlan for full PM work.
I have used:
% in the notes field (on the first line)
% at the end of the action title
% at the start of the action title
I found % at the start of the action title to be the most useful for me. It was easy to see on all of my devices where something was right away. If a note was closed, I didn’t see it without expanding. If it was at the end of the action title, I might not see it without opening the inspector or clicking on the action item.
As much as I’d like to be a stats geek and analyse project numbers, sometimes I’m just focused on “the next action” to be done.
It becomes disheartening to me when I see I’ve only finished 5% of a multi-step project. I’d rather just see the next few steps in front of me.
When I’m in a marathon, I’m not worried about how many percentages points I’ve crept up to. All I know is:
Project not yet started (project status: on hold)
Project started (project status: active)
Halfway there
Almost there.
Finally, I’m done! (project status: complete)
Knowing that I’m 33.33% of the way finished doesn’t do anything for me. Maybe a small pat on the back and a bowl of ice cream as a reward? The only thing my boss or my wife cares about is “is it done yet and why isn’t it done yet?” They’re not gonna care that I’m 42.5% or whatever percentage of the way finished.
Sometimes, I’ve found that 80% of the work is in the last 20% of the project. The last few steps aren’t often seen as “put a bow tie on it and present it to the client/wife/boss.”
I wouldn’t worry about this. If the project has a more urgent priority or importance, I shrink the review cycle to a shorter time span - perhaps every day, every 2 days, every 3 days.
When I check my daily review each day, certain projects will show up more often on a daily basis. It will either bug me to the point where I put a project on the fast track to finally get completed or I become numb to having it appear in my daily review. At this time, I might have to determine a proper course of action. It sounds like you’re worried about getting stuck in a project? The options you have are:
Delete the project - is the project still needed? Has its importance passed with the passage of time or a missed deadline?
Delegate the project - perhaps the project can be given to someone else who has the time available, skills required, or tools needed to complete the project. If I can finish fixing the kitchen sink, I would do it. But if I realize that a project is just beyond my skill level or I just don’t have any free time available, I will hire someone else to do it for me.
Do the project. It could be time to just do it. Set aside some large time blocks to just finish the project.
Statistics such as percentage complete won’t help me finish the project. Doing, Deferring, or Deleting the project will…
No. I simply like dashboards. Anything that can give me information “at a glance” is good. That’s all I was really describing. Not some overly meticulous approach to task management. Quite the contrary. Simple visual cues.
Are there any updates on this feature? I would like to see it implemented too.
At the very least just a plain text field where I can enter any arbitrary number, without OF doing any automatic calculations, etc.
