Tip: View Multiple Projects at Once
jasonquint says:
Hello,
I am a college student who has been using RTM to stay organized for the better part of a year, and I would like to share a tip for organizing projects and assignments.
Before starting on my work each day, I like to see the big picture of everything that's due in the next two weeks. I have a separate list for each of my classes, and within these lists I store all of my projects. Each project consists of a goal task (e.g. turn in HW4) as well as several required tasks (e.g. attempt all problems, check answers with a friend, go to office hours, etc...).
Creating a smart list with the criteria dueWithin:"2 weeks of today" would aggregate all of the appropriate tasks due in the near future, but they would be all jumbled together. In order to group all of my tasks by project (and to order these tasks properly within the project), I perform the following steps:
1. Each project contains one "goal" task that I assign priority "1" and give a due date X
2. All tasks within this project are also assigned due date X and are given priority "2"
3. The name of each task in the project starts with 1, 2, 3, 4, ...
When I create the smart list dueWithin:"2 weeks of today", I elect to sort the tasks by due date. The end result is a list of all of my tasks due in the next two weeks (sorted by due date), with project tasks grouped together.
In order to get a clearer idea of how my setup is structured, please see the photo at the link below. In the photo at the link below, you will see two projects (turn in 4770 HW and turn in 4860 HW) interspersed with several individual tasks (e.g. do SOC reading for Monday, email ATC).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76364417@N03/6853739855/
Jason Quint
I am a college student who has been using RTM to stay organized for the better part of a year, and I would like to share a tip for organizing projects and assignments.
Before starting on my work each day, I like to see the big picture of everything that's due in the next two weeks. I have a separate list for each of my classes, and within these lists I store all of my projects. Each project consists of a goal task (e.g. turn in HW4) as well as several required tasks (e.g. attempt all problems, check answers with a friend, go to office hours, etc...).
Creating a smart list with the criteria dueWithin:"2 weeks of today" would aggregate all of the appropriate tasks due in the near future, but they would be all jumbled together. In order to group all of my tasks by project (and to order these tasks properly within the project), I perform the following steps:
1. Each project contains one "goal" task that I assign priority "1" and give a due date X
2. All tasks within this project are also assigned due date X and are given priority "2"
3. The name of each task in the project starts with 1, 2, 3, 4, ...
When I create the smart list dueWithin:"2 weeks of today", I elect to sort the tasks by due date. The end result is a list of all of my tasks due in the next two weeks (sorted by due date), with project tasks grouped together.
In order to get a clearer idea of how my setup is structured, please see the photo at the link below. In the photo at the link below, you will see two projects (turn in 4770 HW and turn in 4860 HW) interspersed with several individual tasks (e.g. do SOC reading for Monday, email ATC).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/76364417@N03/6853739855/
Jason Quint
(closed account) says:
I like what you've done with RTM, Jason. But is it realistically possible to accomplish all those tasks in a certain day? Do you use RTM along the side with a calendar to determine if all these tasks can fit within a certain time range (on a specific day)?
Don't worry, I'm assuming the screenshot was just an example to demonstrate how projects can be shown in a view with all of their associated tasks. I'm just curious as to how you & other users would estimate the time that should be allotted to each of these tasks.
Don't worry, I'm assuming the screenshot was just an example to demonstrate how projects can be shown in a view with all of their associated tasks. I'm just curious as to how you & other users would estimate the time that should be allotted to each of these tasks.
jasonquint says:
The screenshot is not just an example --it's my actual "next two weeks" list. Unlike buying milk or washing the car, many of my academic tasks are not something that can be accomplished in a given day. For example, it may take me one day to complete all the problems in a homework set, or it might take four. This is why I don't like to assign my homework tasks to a specific day. Rather, I like to list all of the tasks for a given "project" as due on the day the actual homework or assignment is due. This way, my "due today" list won't get cluttered with tasks that aren't actually due today and that will take me several days to complete.
As you can see from the screenshot, tasks like "do SOC reading" are indeed assigned to a particular day because that's a task that I can complete in a single day.
As you can see from the screenshot, tasks like "do SOC reading" are indeed assigned to a particular day because that's a task that I can complete in a single day.
jasonquint says:
_
I would probably use upper case for my project tasks so it stands out more in the task view. Just my thoughts.
The beauty of RTM I am finding is its amazing flexibility and speed, something that other task managers out there cannot match at the moment and I have tried all the popular ones. Everyone can put their own individual stamp on how they use RTM. Try that with any of the others!
The beauty of RTM I am finding is its amazing flexibility and speed, something that other task managers out there cannot match at the moment and I have tried all the popular ones. Everyone can put their own individual stamp on how they use RTM. Try that with any of the others!
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