Once in a while I have a couple of OmniFocus-Projects that need some sort of project-planing, like:
project B can only begin after project A have been finished
project a, b and c can run in parallel and when the last of them is ready, then project d can begin
etc.
Do you have something similar?
Until now I’ve tried to keep this on paper - also as a reminder for myself about which project in which order etc.
Recently I’ve put some of them in mind-maps - but I don’t know if there are any better than paper.
Now I think about putting some “meta-projects” in OmniFocus in order to handle only this, something like
First meta-project (sequentiell) - for the first case above:
Task 1: Project A
Task 2: Project B
or
Second meta-project (sequentiell) - for the second case above
Yes, this works well for me in OF as long as I can give a name to a group of parallel projects that block a next step. Usually if I can’t it’s because I haven’t thought it through yet.
Examples:
Create website (sequential)
Design website (parallel)
header
body
footer
Develop website (sequential)
Develop content (parallel)
html/css
import copy
Javascript
Or if I choose to work differently:
Design website (parallel)
Header (sequential)
Design header
Develop header (parallel)
HTML/CSS
copy
Javascript
Footer (sequential)
etc.
Either way I am able to plan the work including the blockers and then be presented only with available next actions.
I should have stressed more: I was asking only about organizing projects, not tasks.
I’m searching for a way to visualize / organize a couple of OmniFocus-projects in a sort of workflow / Gantt-diagramm. This is probably the realm of OmniPlan, but - as far as I know - there’s no integration between OmniPlan and OmniFocus (and I don’t own OmniPlan yet).
I’m looking for this sort of overview / birds-eye-view / meta-project / project of projects because once in a while I want to review the big picture.
I don’t like sub projects. I prefer a larger list of small discrete projects compared to a big overall project so that affects how I structure those types of things.
For your first case, Project B can only finish after project A is done I make the last action in Project A be “Go make active Project B” In the mean time Project B is on-hold. Sure, I will be reviewing it weekly, but then again in my system that will only happen if Project A and B can both be competed in this season.
If Project A needs to be finished, and can only be done in the spring but Project B can only be started in the fall. Then The last action in Project A might be "Go check Orchard Management S/M List and see if I can start Project B located in folder X in DT S/M Lists (Or wherever my project planning materials are for project B) In that example it’s in DEVONThink. But I might refer to a paper folder in my filing system with details or an electronic folder in my electronic filing cabinet. Say I get to the end of project A this spring. I see its last action. I review Project B and decide that yes, this fall I will be able to work on it. I typically then will bring Project B into my OF system. Mark it with a defer date until The month that is the earliest I could start it and set the first review to be the week before then. So it will show up when it’s appropriate but I won’t have to review it until just before I can actually work on it. At that review I’ll go over the prior planning and see if it all still makes sense.
I don’l do sub projects either - that’s why I asked about organizing full fledged OmniFocus-projects.
Placing the date for the first review in the fall (= very far future) is a very good idea!
Thanks!
If I understand you correctly, my TaskPaper-list with the stalled projects is your DEVONThink, right?
How do you do this exactly?
I still don’t have / use / tried DT and I’m searching for a reason… ;-)
Returning to the OT;-) (because I’ve mixed the threads ;-): Do you use something to get an overview of the general progress of (Project A + Project B + etc.)?
A little more concrete example: I’m learning guitar and have a lot of smaller projects, like:
learn a little theory
do a beginner course
learn another piece of theory
learn to play and sing
do an intermediate course
etc.
They are all projects with a lot of tasks, and the list above is sequential (it doesn’t make sense to do the intermediate course now etc.)
I don’t want to be really pedantic and put everything in a Gantt-diagramm (it will depress me! ;-) but I can imagine something like paper or perhaps a sequential (meta)project in OmniFocus with this tasks:
So please ignore the repeated question about DEVONThink - I’m reading right now the response you gave me in November last year to an almost identical question! :-/
FWIW, I use mind maps and Kansan boards to handle the layout of my big picture as well as the status of projects. I do this within Curio. I find it well suited to brainstorming, collecting ideas and resources, and reviewing at a higher level than what can be afforded in OF.
Search these forums with the word Curio. The forums at Zengobi.com may also provide you some ideas.
As to DEVONThink, I use it as a resource manager, not a project planner.
I have various tactics - I do use omni plan for the planning of a project sequentially. An then I use Omni focus to manage all the sub actions that relate to the higher level actions in omni plan.
With regard to Omni focus I have played around with various tactics. The current one is to use hash tags in the notes. This way I can sort and isolate actions in a list of hundreds.
So for example in notes i may have #project 1 #sub project 2 #level 3 #[action number '00]
I use text expander for the hash tags so it is really quick to add the tags on to the notes and I use actions in 100 increments so if i find a sequential action i need to move in the list i can change the number easily. I t depends on what my priority is for the project, whether tracking projects, peoples responsibilities or order. If the sequence of actions in important I will just number the actions in the main action field so "100- Go get a new printer: for example this way I can sort alphabetically.
I use Omniplan for all my large projects. If the project has different stakeholders, I will create one file per project. If it is all part of the same client with multiple sub projects, I will use Omniplan in one file for all of them. The benefit of Omniplan is that if one action with many dependencies changes, I only need to change that one action and it moves the whole plan out by that amount, so I can see the effect across the whole timeframe of the plan.
I then go and visit the actions in omnifocus and and delay the actions it affects by the amount of time lost.
I don’t know whether this is the best way but it works for me, and the projects I am running are very very large.
