Projects vs Contexts redundancy

OmniFocus OmniFocus for Mac
#1

Hi!

I am quite new to Omni Focus and am trying to use it better. One thing I struggle with is that I have started to create some redundancy between mu projects and contexts.

Let’s say I want to buy some furniture. This is related to my “Home” project where I keep house related stuff with subproject like keeping reminders for equipment controls, todos for my (like changing locks, building a shelf etc). I also have some stuff that I need to but in e.g. Ikea or other shops. Now I also created Contexts for that like “Errands: Ikea” and now I think I am having too much of redundancy.

I have also a lot of redundancy for all someday things. I have a context for that but in my projects I tend to create a subproject called someday and add it there.

Any suggestions how I should handle this? Maybe I am doing a lot of subprojects in my project? Should I just dump stuff into my project and add contexts? That’s a little less readable for me, but maybe I should start using perspectives? (I just now started using a trial for Pro versions and try to figure out the perspectives.

thanks for suggestions!

#2

Think of a Project as a group of related tasks that need to be completed in order to reach a definable outcome, and Contexts as the place where you will be when you complete the Project or the Tasks associated with a project.

For example:

Project: Furnish patio with new table and chairs (Context: Home)
Tasks:

  1. Go online and research patio furniture (Context: Computer)
  2. Confirm purchase with spouse (Context: Spouse)
  3. Go to Ikea to buy new furniture (Context: Errands/Ikea)
  4. Assemble furniture (Context: Home)

Note that the context for tasks may not always be the same as that for the Project, but the project itself has a context of where you primarily will be when you are completing the project.

Projects = Outcomes
Tasks = Actions
Contexts = Location

That’s my two cents for a Friday afternoon.

8 Likes
#3

Thanks for your cents!:)

They helped me with my understanding of handling projects and contexts.
Now I rearranged some of them. I think my contexts were quite ok, but I tend to create big projects with lot’s of actions with subsections where I would create an action like “Ikea shopping” and have subactions for that. This is where I created a lot of redundancy.

thanks again!