Forums / Ideas

ranbarton

I see the value of not seeing a task until a certain date (several threads here have suggested the value of a start date), but I am less clear why it's better to have a task float than to have it reflect its initial due date.

On Palm PDAs, users of Pimlico's DateBk software always rave about the value of floating tasks, but I'm afraid I don't get it. Sorry to be so dense, and if you can explain it to me, I'll be very appreciative, as I've wondered about this for years now.

Posted 6 years ago

There are tasks that I want to try for starting by a particular date...just when I think I might have time. However, if I don't get to it on that date I'd like that task to stick with me until I either do it or drop it.

An overdue task implies more urgency to me. That is a task that truly had a due date that I failed to hit...hopefully few and far in between.

Having the floating task is simply a convenience. I can postpone a couple tasks every day for awhile, but why do that when the program is perfectly capable of doing that for me.

Posted 6 years ago

Floating tasks are by far the most important feature in a calendar for me. It's HUGE. I used to love the ability to float a task on a Palm. The reason is because it enables a whole new way of forcing oneself to accomplish as many VAGUELY time-specific tasks each day as possible - and those that you don't do overflow to the next day. So if you think you might have a window to pick up the dry cleaning at 4pm on Tuesday, when you know it will be available - you set a floating task to hit that window. But if something comes up, then the next day at 4pm you will get another shot. It's about predicting when you think you will have a chance to do something - but not having a hard "due date" attached to that task... and having that integrated along side more solid, time-specific appointments on your calendar. That way you only have one place, that you trust, to look at to figure out what your next action is.

Every calendar app should have this option IMHO. Why it's sort of died out since the days of Palm is beyond me... Total no-brainer.

Posted 4 years ago

+1 on floating tasks! Especially repeating floating tasks. My canonical use case is "make haircut appointment" or "vacuum under couch"; anything where the ELAPSED TIME BETWEEN the tasks is more important than doing it every 3rd Wednesday or whatever. In other words, if I don't get around to making the haircut appt til a week later than it was originally due, the next repeat shouldn't occur until 3 weeks after I actually schedule it, not on the original schedule.

Posted 4 years ago

davidscottweaver

Just use "after 3 weeks" instead of "every 3 weeks". It's already built in.

Posted 4 years ago

I don't get this one... if the due date auto-updates, then it's not really due on that date, is it?

Posted 1 year ago

christopher.weible

I can kind of see this one. If a task needs to be done periodically, but not on a strict schedule.

Say I want to check my tire pressure about every week or so, but it doesn't need to be done precisely every week. If I don't get to it on the date it's "due" I may not want to have it listed as "overdue". I moves from day to day. I mark it as done and it is rescheduled "after 1 week". At that time it floats again.

Can't say I would use it though.

Posted 1 year ago

@christopher.weible: I see, that is certainly a use case, but I would say that it is a mis-use of the "due date". I would prefer this feature to be implemented instead:

"Hide tasks until a certain date"
https://www.rememberthemilk.com/forums/ideas/2771/

Posted 1 year ago

henrikba

Don't get it - if this is to have a task to "do as soon as possible", there should be no due date, at least in GTD mindset. I have very few tasks with a due date. Day specific actions reside in my calendar.

Posted 1 year ago