Rob, I must agree with you. I tried MLO months (maybe a year or two?) ago, and simply moved on. Been using GTasks since. Yet, the one thing missing from Gtasks (which is an extremely simply interface for Google's Tasks, and auto-syncs effortlessly with Google) is the whole idea of "Next Task". This is quite literally the only thing that I miss, and, these past few weeks I started searching once again for something along those lines. Came across MLO, didn't even look at it, remembering my past experience. Then, while looking specifically for GTD hierarchial task lists, it popped up again, and I noted the "NEXT ACTION" feature.
I installed it, tried it again, and gave up again. Because I didn't find anything else yet, and because I'm a bit of a troubleshooter/techie geek, I decided to try and dig deeper, but, your experience is mine too. It is waay too over complicated and unwieldy to qualify as a GTD app. It is super powerful, but it lacks simplicity for those who want to do GTD (which holds that the tools SHOULD NOT get in the way). Yet, currently, I am desperate enough that I will try and learn this, so that hopefully, after qualifying in my Doctorate Degree of MLO, I would actually be able to use it transparently :-) But for sure, it needs simplicity, with the super power as additional/optional activatable/user-selectable features. On Tuesday, 1 November 2011 09:48:35 UTC+2, Rob wrote: > > Thanks again, your tip did make it possible for me to use Active by > Context (which didn't work until I unhid the inbox). I guess first > off, I should clarify that I don't have the desktop version, so there > might be some things you've mentioned that I'm missing out on. > > It seems like most of the people here have been using MLO long enough > that it's very difficult for them to appreciate the potential problems > a new user might run into. And even once they have been made aware of > the problems, they choose to dismiss the problems as indicators of > MLO's sheer awesomeness. Well, here I am, and I'm doing my best to > inform you of all my difficulties as I encounter them. > > I do appreciate the other more advanced workflows that people use for > adding as many layers of organization as desired. MLO is promoted > first and foremost as a GTD tool, so I'm just coming from the > perspective of the other GTD tools I've tried--namely, that the tool > should permit you to rapidly do as much or as little organization as > desired, then get out of the way. > > To answer your question about where a task would go after it's been > processed, I've already made one suggestion--a catch-all "Active > Tasks" folder. Or maybe it would be called "Unassigned Tasks." Or it > could be configurable. The name doesn't really matter; only that it's > not the Inbox, because the Inbox should not contain items that have > already been processed. If I could really have my way, I would just > rename the current inbox folder in the outline to "Unassigned." Then > the actual Inbox would simply be the holding area for quickly-added > items _before_ they go into the outline (and the Inbox itself would > not need to be shown in the outline). > > As I mentioned in the other thread, there's nothing that would stop > you from organizing your tasks as you do now; but just to be safe, I > did suggest that the "remove from inbox after processing" feature be > an option that can be configured from the main program settings (or > elsewhere, as appropriate). There are other ways to implement the > feature, as well--such as having a combobox at the top of the inbox > that lets you select the parent folder for the next task(s) you are > about to process, or just letting you select the parent folder/task > from the Edit Task screen. (Personally, I found it very confusing that > I couldn't set the parent folder/task from the Edit Task screen.) > > But getting back on topic, the only difference between the simplest > implementation and the current behavior would be that new users like > myself would have a much easier time picking up the app and using it > without having to put their evaluation on hold while jumping through > hoops--i.e, register on the discussion board, post questions, and hope > someone from the community has a really great workaround. Other people > I know would have tried it, assumed it was broken, and moved onto the > next tool. I myself lost a lot of my enthusiasm for MLO while I was > waiting for answers, and the first few that I got were good > workarounds but also gave me the impression that MLO was going to be a > hassle to use. I'm warming up to it again, but at this point I still > can't say whether this is the tool I'm going to stick with. Users who > are new to MLO should be able to start using it without having to > learn all of its idiosyncrasies. > > A few final comments that might help other new users: it wasn't clear > to me from the start that everything revolves around the Outline view. > Although it doesn't seem very prominent in the main screen of the > Android app, you can't use MLO without at least doing some > configuration from the Outline view. Setting the default visibility of > the Inbox to visible (i.e., long press the Inbox in the Outline, tap > Edit Task, then uncheck "Hide the branch") as Lisa suggested does make > it possible to use MLO without fiddling with the Outline view any > further, if you just want to concentrate on organizing tasks by > context at first. Third, I just now discovered the "new profile" > templates. I think the Zoom4Focus template looks like a really good > place for any new user to start. The notes on some of the folders are > especially helpful. Also remember to go through the tutorial again > after you've started using the app. A lot of things in the tutorial > seem mundane at first glance, but there are a few points that will > jump out once you've struggled with MLO for a little while. > > > > On Oct 31, 10:59 pm, Lisa Stroyan <lstro...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I don't believe this is a missing feature nor an issue, but a part of > the > > complex design that gives MLO it's power. > > > > The Outline task structure is completely independent from Contexts and > > other attributes. Where would the task *go* when you set a Context? A > > context isn't a place. Neither is whether a task is active, it's > due-date, > > it's Goal status, etc. > > > > There are many ways to set up your tree (your Outline which includes > your > > Inbox as one folder), and then the various lists (active actions is just > > one) are slices on the data. For example, my tree has major life focus > > areas as the main branches. Work, Health, Family, Self, etc. > > > > When I set a context, e.g., Phone Calls, there is just no way for MLO to > > know whether that is a phone call regarding Family, or Work, > or...whatever, > > so how would it know where to move it to? Contexts are more powerful > than > > a tree structure so it would be counterproductive to try to set up the > Tree > > to mimic Contexts. (plus you can have multiple contexts, which I often > do). > > > > There is a lot of power in keeping these separate. For example, I can > > narrow my view to only the active Phone Calls regarding Work, or all > Phone > > Calls and Errands that are starred and have a Goal of Week. Those are > just > > slices on the data -- they don't actually change the permanent location > of > > the task. > > > > If you set a context, say, Phone Calls, and in your Todo tab on the > > desktop, you define a view for only, say, Phone Calls, then, yes, adding > > the context automatically places it in that list. But suppose you are > > working out of a Weekly Goals list, like I am, you wouldn't want to > > physically move the task to a Weekly Goals list and take it out of Phone > > Calls list through the setting of the Goal field. They are independent > > attributes. It's a Weekly Goal and a Phone Call. > > > > Sorry, I feel I'm not explaining this very well, hope that clarifies a > bit. > > > > On Android, the views are pre-set. But you might take a look at Active > by > > Context, it might be what you are looking for. > > > > Lisa > > > > > There is a related issue in that the tasks are not removed from the > > > inbox after processing. If anyone else thinks that feature would be > > > worthwhile, you can vote for it on the MLO UserVoice site: > > > > >http://mlo.uservoice.com/forums/9235-general/suggestions/2357839-andr... > > > > > -- > > Lisa Stroyanwww.empathic-parenting.com -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MyLifeOrganized" group. 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