Hello everyone,
Defer is a synonym of postponement.
You can defer an existing action or project at a later time once it has shown up with a tentative start date. So calling it Defer instead of Start Date doesn’t seem coherent if the idea is that it’s something that should start at a later date.
So I would like to ask my fellow users what they think: Start Date or Defer Until?
Thank you.
Aimé
i agree that defer seems to suggest adjusting an already assigned date - ‘i was going to do this but i think i’ll put it off until … '. if you just decide that you don’t want to do, or start doing something, until a future date, then, i agree that ‘start on’ or ‘start date’ would seem more logical. perhaps it’s something to do with standard GTD terminology.
You’ve probably already read this, but from the OF2 manual:
“Start dates are now defer dates. This is to more accurately capture the intent that an item shouldn’t be considered until a later time—it’s been deferred.”
Excerpt From: The Omni Group. “OmniFocus 2 for Mac User Manual.” iBooks. https://itun.es/us/-3Mz0.l
Like you I had reserved defer for a different meaning than OF2 supposes. However, I am coming around to their logic, since if I am processing the task or project to the point of setting a date for it I am actually deferring action on it until X date. If the task comes up and I wish to postpone its action, I will again defer it.
Still getting used to it myself, but I can see what they are attempting to standardize in the app.
I just look at it as “deferring the start date”.
