This isn’t, however, limited to just locations and people. I could then create a custom perspective based on those two flags so, when Daisy is around at home, I can filter down to all tasks holding down those two tags. Using the above example, I can put a task that has both the “Home” and “Daisy” tags applied. You can now put any number of tags on a task, giving you much more power to filter tasks. However, with traditional contexts you could not qualify a task by both a person and a location because there was only one dimension of a context.
OMNIFOCUS CONTEXTS MAC
For example, some tasks can only be done on your Mac or with a certain co-worker. Traditionally, following GTD cannon, context was used to put a task in a certain place or with a certain person.
The benefit of tags is that it adds a lot more dimension to ways you can slice and dice your tasks. With the new version, context has been replaced by tags. Waiting – Any tasks that are part of active projects but are waiting on something or someone else before they can be completed.Traditionally, OmniFocus had three ways to index a task: by project, by context, by flag status.For a more detailed explanation, I wrote about it here: Creating a Smart Grocery List in Omnifocus Sub-contexts for each aisles – Subcontexts, in this case, allow me to keep my custom grocery perspective organized based on the layout of the store I shop at.Grocery Store – Anything I need to buy specifically at the grocery store.Errands – All things I need to do when I’m out and about.People – Anything I need to discuss with a person at a later date.bring that item that’s been sitting in my trunk in with me) Arriving – This is a geotagged context to alert me of anything I need to be reminded of when getting home (e.g.Home – For things that need to be done at home.Campus – For work or graduate school related tasks that require me to be on campus.Do – Some tasks can truly be done anywhere.Contexts and projects can be created, removed, or rearranged just as quickly as your life changes. While I’ve distilled my contexts lists down over the years, I still regularly consider making changes. In fact, I just got rid of two contexts today that were being used sparingly. It’s frowned upon, probably because it takes so long to recopy everything. The beauty of software like Omnifocus is that there’s no need to recopy everything over if you need to make a change. In the paper planning world, reconfiguring your system is seen as “Planner Fail”. You can still easily drill down to all tasks involving your boss by searching his or her name, but you won’t need to worry about a lengthy list of contexts. Instead of having a sub-context for a friend, consider putting their name before the task (e.g. Sometimes granularity does help as is the case with my Grocery Store context discussed later.Īdding a prefix to a task can also really come in handy here. Much like the trend towards fewer folders when managing email, I quickly learned that the cost of managing a lot of sub-contexts can be* far greater than the benefits especially if the contexts only contain a small handful of tasks. I had geo-tagged sub-contexts for each of the stores I visited, contexts for every person I regularly talked to, and even contexts for every room in my house. When I first started implementing GTD, I thought I needed an incredibly complex list of contexts. Prefixing tasks with a “mindset” such as “READ:” or “WATCH:” can also help you define your tasks by mode as well. There are due dates and flags to indicate urgency or importance and durations to indicate quick wins or when you’re looking for something to do during a set period of time. On paper it makes sense to define these various lists to drill down to what you can work on at any given moment, but if you use something as powerful as Omnifocus, there are more options available to you for this than just contexts. The problems tend to creep in when you start to factor in other things like energy levels, time available, or urgency. No matter how much I wish it were true, there’s simply no way I could get my shower cleaned while I’m at work. II need to be at home in order to clean the shower in my bathroom, so “home” is a great example of a context. In its purest form, a context is a tool or location. The age old answer of “It depends” truly applies here. That being said, a few things stand out for me when I look at those long lists of contexts that people have. How many should you have? What should they be? How many is too many? A quick look at the countless methods being discussed in the Omnifocus Forums show that there is no single right way for picking contexts, and when you consider the possibility of a task having multiple contexts (not currently possible in Omnifocus), it gets more complicated.
Contexts seem to be a point of contention when it comes to any GTD system.