Easily identify a "next action": sort by sequence
dheeren says:
Let's say my one of my project lists is "Build a House." At some point, I will need to hire workers, purchase materials, install the windows, etc. Many of these tasks will need to be accomplished in a specific order. For example, I can't install the windows until I've hired the workers.
However, RTM lists currently do not allow the user to sort a list by sequence. They only allow you to sort tasks by priority, due date, and task name. Of course, you can cheat and add prefixes such as “1. ”, “2. ”, etc., but this method makes it hard to insert a task between two tasks, especially if your sequential list is rather long.
I propose that another option be added to the “Sort by…” menu which would allow the user to customize the task order by sequence. This option would be local to a specific list and would have no effect on smart lists.
In GTD terms: Right now, to determine my “next action” in a list, I have to hunt through 20 or more tasks for the next task I should do. Adding this option would allow for “next actions” to be easily identified.
However, RTM lists currently do not allow the user to sort a list by sequence. They only allow you to sort tasks by priority, due date, and task name. Of course, you can cheat and add prefixes such as “1. ”, “2. ”, etc., but this method makes it hard to insert a task between two tasks, especially if your sequential list is rather long.
I propose that another option be added to the “Sort by…” menu which would allow the user to customize the task order by sequence. This option would be local to a specific list and would have no effect on smart lists.
In GTD terms: Right now, to determine my “next action” in a list, I have to hunt through 20 or more tasks for the next task I should do. Adding this option would allow for “next actions” to be easily identified.
daniellink says:
I second this.
gstrout says:
I am seriously working to get a functional GTD setup working on my new Android phone and have been planning to use RTM pro for this .... BUT this "Sequence" feature is inexplicably missing!
TASKS + REAL WORLD = SEQUENCE
As best as I can tell this concept of "sequence" is deeply fundamental to the idea of task lists. One task can not be completed until another is done first. This has been a part of tasks lists since probably the dawn of task lists.
So now, in this world of uber-advances in tech we have services like RTM pro, which I naturally assumed would add this ability. Maybe not first thing, but certainly after it had a chance to mature for a bit.
So I bought an Android OS phone specifically to use as a task-management device. I planned to use the pro service and support the dev team, but now I find I find this feature is missing... What happened? Why is it I don't hear attempts to add this?
AJAX REORDERING?
I'd just assumed sequence would be in RTM since it seems like it would be fairly critical aspect to many task-based projects and RTM has been growing for some time now. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding, but in other web project-management solutions, they offer the option to 'restack' the lists via AJAX. This produces a new order. I would assume this means that in some sense there is a kind of 're-ordering' of a list happening behind the scenes.
Heck, the ordered list is one of the earliest, basic features of html.
Can we get a little RTM "ordered list" love? (I'm kidding, I'm sure its not super-easy or you would've done it)
AN ORDERED LIST DYNAMICALLY?
I know that to tackle this would probably represent adding a new set of database variables to track per list rather than just adding markup, but if I remember conversations with my database-writing brother I think this "first returned item from a call to a database" function and then "second returned item" is not an unusual one. Am I wrong here?
SEQUENCE = NEXT ACTIONS
I aim to use a GTD system where I do not depend so much on the scheduled date of an action but its location in a task sequence. Hence an automatic "next-ness" quality for any item in a list.
Is this possible?
SMART LIST ORDERING
However, since I plan to use mostly Smart-lists, which as-near-as-I-can-tell are mostly "saved searches" which return a result, the "nextness" would have to run after the fact of the returned search. Maybe assigning a "next" label to whatever is at the top of the returned list.
How do we allow this "next-in-list" feature to be assigned by the user? (ie: allow user-designated ordering of smart lists)
(Please forgive the stream of consciousness approach. I'm just throwing out ideas as I encounter the issues).
NUMBER RANGES FOR LABELS?
Since most smart lists results are based on labels, what about adding a user-effectable (by dragging) number-count variable for each label; say if the label is "Dinner", the item "Buy eggs" would be "Dinner"+5, and "mix eggs with flour" would be "Dinner"+8 and then they are presented in descending/ascending order based on this. This way the users order choices could be retained even in a smart search (theoretically).
*(Actually I imagine assigning a number that starts in the mid-1000's might be wise in case people keep adding new items and ordering them before the "first" one.)
SMART LIST LABELS
Yet, perhaps this might get problematic if multiple labels are involved in the search, so how about getting around this by assigning each saved search its own unique (randomly generated) "invisible" label, similar to the Gmail "Inbox"
(This label would exist only if the search were "saved" (and removed if the saved-search is deleted).
Any increment or ordering sequence data could then be attached to that "invisible" label, hence avoiding the multiple label conflict.
I imagine that development-wise its easier just to assign due dates, priorities-etc to everything, but this requires a lot of manual work, and pretty much removes the advantage of a centralized auto-populating list. This seems like a real problem to me, since right now I think RTM sorts by date/alpha and I highly doubt people prefer to tackle tasks based on which item comes first in the alphabet.
RESPONDEZ SIL VOUS PLAIT?
I imagine this may be a common request, but since it really does play a big role in determining if/when I'd adopt RTM, could you guys offer a response concerning:
- Is this request possible?
- Have you addressed this issue and dismissed it as unfeasible?
- Are you interested in providing this feature at all.
- If it is possible how long of a wait might there be before this feature could feasibly go live?
If you are willing-and/or-interested in providing this feature, I'd be willing to keep limping along manually assigning 'next-ness' for a bit, but if you aren't willing/interested, I'd at least prefer to know whether I should go find another solution elsewhere.
Thanks again for all your work on this service so far! It really is impressive!
TASKS + REAL WORLD = SEQUENCE
As best as I can tell this concept of "sequence" is deeply fundamental to the idea of task lists. One task can not be completed until another is done first. This has been a part of tasks lists since probably the dawn of task lists.
So now, in this world of uber-advances in tech we have services like RTM pro, which I naturally assumed would add this ability. Maybe not first thing, but certainly after it had a chance to mature for a bit.
So I bought an Android OS phone specifically to use as a task-management device. I planned to use the pro service and support the dev team, but now I find I find this feature is missing... What happened? Why is it I don't hear attempts to add this?
AJAX REORDERING?
I'd just assumed sequence would be in RTM since it seems like it would be fairly critical aspect to many task-based projects and RTM has been growing for some time now. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding, but in other web project-management solutions, they offer the option to 'restack' the lists via AJAX. This produces a new order. I would assume this means that in some sense there is a kind of 're-ordering' of a list happening behind the scenes.
Heck, the ordered list is one of the earliest, basic features of html.
Can we get a little RTM "ordered list" love? (I'm kidding, I'm sure its not super-easy or you would've done it)
AN ORDERED LIST DYNAMICALLY?
I know that to tackle this would probably represent adding a new set of database variables to track per list rather than just adding markup, but if I remember conversations with my database-writing brother I think this "first returned item from a call to a database" function and then "second returned item" is not an unusual one. Am I wrong here?
SEQUENCE = NEXT ACTIONS
I aim to use a GTD system where I do not depend so much on the scheduled date of an action but its location in a task sequence. Hence an automatic "next-ness" quality for any item in a list.
Is this possible?
SMART LIST ORDERING
However, since I plan to use mostly Smart-lists, which as-near-as-I-can-tell are mostly "saved searches" which return a result, the "nextness" would have to run after the fact of the returned search. Maybe assigning a "next" label to whatever is at the top of the returned list.
How do we allow this "next-in-list" feature to be assigned by the user? (ie: allow user-designated ordering of smart lists)
(Please forgive the stream of consciousness approach. I'm just throwing out ideas as I encounter the issues).
NUMBER RANGES FOR LABELS?
Since most smart lists results are based on labels, what about adding a user-effectable (by dragging) number-count variable for each label; say if the label is "Dinner", the item "Buy eggs" would be "Dinner"+5, and "mix eggs with flour" would be "Dinner"+8 and then they are presented in descending/ascending order based on this. This way the users order choices could be retained even in a smart search (theoretically).
*(Actually I imagine assigning a number that starts in the mid-1000's might be wise in case people keep adding new items and ordering them before the "first" one.)
SMART LIST LABELS
Yet, perhaps this might get problematic if multiple labels are involved in the search, so how about getting around this by assigning each saved search its own unique (randomly generated) "invisible" label, similar to the Gmail "Inbox"
(This label would exist only if the search were "saved" (and removed if the saved-search is deleted).
Any increment or ordering sequence data could then be attached to that "invisible" label, hence avoiding the multiple label conflict.
I imagine that development-wise its easier just to assign due dates, priorities-etc to everything, but this requires a lot of manual work, and pretty much removes the advantage of a centralized auto-populating list. This seems like a real problem to me, since right now I think RTM sorts by date/alpha and I highly doubt people prefer to tackle tasks based on which item comes first in the alphabet.
RESPONDEZ SIL VOUS PLAIT?
I imagine this may be a common request, but since it really does play a big role in determining if/when I'd adopt RTM, could you guys offer a response concerning:
- Is this request possible?
- Have you addressed this issue and dismissed it as unfeasible?
- Are you interested in providing this feature at all.
- If it is possible how long of a wait might there be before this feature could feasibly go live?
If you are willing-and/or-interested in providing this feature, I'd be willing to keep limping along manually assigning 'next-ness' for a bit, but if you aren't willing/interested, I'd at least prefer to know whether I should go find another solution elsewhere.
Thanks again for all your work on this service so far! It really is impressive!
milimetr88 says:
+1 to sequence (manual ordering) in task lists