Contexts or Tags

Folke

09/10/2013 10:56

This question is closely related to my other thread about tags. They both deal with my current headache concerning how to set up context classifications.

The task's Context is visible in the list, which I like, but they are mutually exclusive - you can only pick one - so you have to use plenty of Tags, too. And I am kind of wondering whether to even use Context at all, or just Tags.

If Contexts are used at all, then as far as I can see they are best suited for "necessary location" contexts, such as Errand, Home and Office, if the task can only be done in that particular location. Many tasks then will have No Context, roughly meaning "anywhere". Or do you see things differently?

So all other type of contexts would have to be managed as Tags. Tags are nicer in the sense that they appear in the filter bar on top, you can have more than just one, you can filter any list with them, and you get a more consistent system if you use Tags only instead of using two entirely different mechanisms. But Tags are invisible in the list.

So how do you do this? Do you use Contexts at all? What particular type of mutually exclusive contexts have you chosen to use it for, that you find most useful to see clearly in the task lists?

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• mahony2k  (积分：45)09/10/2013 14:54
  1 floor

  I just had my first look at Doit.im (also coming from Nirvana) and my first thought was to use Context as filter between private and work stuff (like Areas in Nirvana).
  
  For real context I'm planning to use tags and smart filters (e. g. "office" is a filter which shows tasks with the tags "phone", "computer" and "office").
  
  But I have yet to test, if it works out the way I want.
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• Folke  (积分：2425)09/10/2013 15:39
  2 floor

  @mahony2k - yes using Context as Area works, too. I did that initially, then abandoned it, but cannot quite remember why. Good to have the Area consistently visible, though.
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• mahony2k  (积分：45)09/10/2013 18:48
  3 floor

  As I need the separation between work and private stuff I have to use it that way, because you can't add tags to projects. But you can add context.
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• Folke  (积分：2425)09/10/2013 21:13
  4 floor

  Beware, though, whether you use Contexts or Tags, that Doit does not let the tasks inherit anything from the project. You have to tag each individual task. (Maybe something that should be suggested? But I am fine without it so far, on a prayer, touch wood ...)
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• Anjum  (积分：100)09/10/2013 22:46
  5 floor

  I input contexts on Doit.im, but that's only because it's relatively easy to add them via batch edit. In practice I find the Today/Tomorrow/Scheduled pretty much covers everything. I also thought of using Contexts as Areas of Focus like Mahoney2 suggested but I am still weighing up whether the effort is worth the payoff. Perhaps if there was some form of gamification or chart accountability attached this would add more incentive. I've used Todoist Pro for a year and that's a nice feature over there. The integration with Gcal is much better with Doit though.
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• sellaro  (积分：70)09/11/2013 17:03
  7 floor

  Hey, folks. Nice to see you here.
  
  I am trying a setup with place-based context (home, office etc.) and areas of interest listed as tags. I am also using the Goals feature to link project/actions to one of my 30K feet objectives view.
  
  I miss a bit the "automatic next action" feature from Nirvana, but I reckon that not having this feature may become a good thing for my review process. I'll let you know how it goes.
  
  On my tags scheme, I use a simple one that is working fine for me for about two years now:
  
  * aTag: Area tags (as in aPro-Ops for my Operations tasks at work; aPro-Exec for my Executive tasks at work etc.; aPersonal etc.)
  * pTag: People tags (a task may be waiting for pFolke, for instance)
  * sTag: For some systems (as Todoist, I had to create a sNext and sWaiting for tags. Here, I believe that a sNext is necessary to identify the real next action for any given project)
  
  I hope this helps.
  
  Cheers
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• hntopper  (积分：395)09/11/2013 19:54
  8 floor

  @sellaro
  
  Thanks for sharing. I use something similar for me in terms of my tag scheme
  
  aTag for Areas of Responsibility
  wTag for Waiting For
  tTag for Touch base with (i.e. a project that a person may have interest in being updated on it's progress)
  zTag for all other tags that may come up.
  
  I thought about using Context for my areas of responsibility but I didn't think it would work that well. If you used a context such as "Work-Project".... and only used that for the Project itself, nothing was listed when you clicked on it to filter. I guess that the filter only works for task who have that context versus projects that had that filter. Therefore it was useless. By creating a tag for Area of Interest, I found that the Smart Filters worked just fine and to list out the projects.
  
  Has anyone else had this expereience?
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• mahony2k  (积分：45)09/12/2013 11:33
  9 floor

  @ hntopper
  "I thought about using Context for my areas of responsibility but I didn't think it would work that well. If you used a context such as "Work-Project".... and only used that for the Project itself, nothing was listed when you clicked on it to filter. I guess that the filter only works for task who have that context versus projects that had that filter. Therefore it was useless."
  
  That was what I noticed too when I had the time to play with it a bit. Now I'm thinking about alternatives
  
  So do you all use the Context at all? Doesn't seem like it.
  
  @Folke
  "Beware, though, whether you use Contexts or Tags, that Doit does not let the tasks inherit anything from the project. You have to tag each individual task. "
  
  That Doit tasks don't inherit anything is a general problem for me. In Nirvana every new task was set to the Area "work", while I was viewing that area. Now I have to set each task I create during the whole work day with the same tag. :(
  
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• Folke  (积分：2425)09/12/2013 12:32
  10 floor

  @mahony2k
  
  If you want the "workspace" kind of separation between (Work and Personal etc) that other apps offer, I believe you probably need to work off filtered lists, and basically stay off the built-in lists. For me personally, however, this is not a problem. I do not use "workspace" separation even if it is available in the app. I find i clunky. I want it all wide open. I pick tasks for my Today/Focus/Hot list from all over the place, but concentrate it around what I believe will be possible and important. If I plan to be at home, then I primarily star tasks that can be done at home. Etc.
  
  The Contexts in Doit are generally less useful than Tags, as you can only apply one and cannot filter via the top bar, but they do have one advantage. They are the only ones visible in the task list. For some strange reason the Tags are not visible, and this is hard for me to live with; maybe even a deal-breaker.
  
  But what this means is that if you use the Contexts they are best used for something that you absolutely need to have visible more than anything else, but do not need to conveniently quick filter by (and which is a mutually exclusive characteristic, since you can apply only one). Now what would that be?
  
  Areas of Responsibility: Sure, good to see clearly, and I filter by it mainly during my reviews. (But I have chosen another approach, collecting the standalone tasks in separate "area projects", which serves other puposes as well, and I do not have the energuy to tag all my tasks with an Area Context just to see them more clearly.
  
  Required single Location, like Home, Shops, Office1, Office2, Clubs etc: Sure, very good to see clearly, but I also want to quick filter by it. So no. And besides, many of my tasks are "anywhere" (my default), so it is a also a waste to use this one and only visible tag for something that I often do not even apply.
  
  So what the heck could we use Contexts for?
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• hntopper  (积分：395)09/12/2013 13:19
  11 floor

  @folke
  
  I still use the context function for labeling things such as phone calls, errands, doing things at home, etc. I don't tag every action item with a context but more like 50% of them. I also use tags for the engery (high / low) and time (15 min/ 1 hour / > hour).
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• Folke  (积分：2425)09/12/2013 16:31
  12 floor

  Yes, @hntopper, I believe this might be the best kind of use.
  
  Take Calls as an example. If you are sitting at your desk or in a similar "multi-function" environment and look at your Next list in order to select additional tasks to star (or to do directly), then you do not usually care whether you need the phone or the computer or the filing cabinet to do the task, so you do not need to filter by it. And if you are out or in a "limited" environment, you can select tasks by successively going through the various applicable contexts one by one via the left menu (Calls, Errands etc). Not ideal, but workable. (No app is ideal.)
  
  But of course you could also use Tags. Then all you need to do is filter the Next list even when you are in a "limited" environment. No need to switch to another list. (But you still have to check these applicable tagged contexts one at a time, successively).
  
  Honestly, I have not quite landed yet when it comes to what aspects to use the Context for. I'd like to have them all in the tag bar and visible for each task in the list (and be able to filter for combinations, too). Those are the main things, and I cannot have it, so a choice needs to be made.
  
  The current capability to "filter" via the left menu is sometimes useful, if you want to see all tasks, Next, Someday, everything, but this need is not nearly as frequent, and can be done using hand-made filters, so for me the choice between Context and Tag boils down to a choice between visibility vs "quick filterability".
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• hntopper  (积分：395)09/14/2013 01:04
  13 floor

  @Folke, not sure what computer you use... but I've downloaded the Doit.im app for my iMac and for some reason, you can see the Tags in the line items for each action item. I'm not sure if the Windows App does it as well, but I know the Web version doesn't yet. I don't know why each App offers a slightly different interface but it does. So if you have a Mac, it may interest you in trying it.
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• Folke  (积分：2425)09/14/2013 11:15
  14 floor

  @hntopper - great, thanks!
  
  I am on Windows, but have been using the web app. It worked!
  
  @michelle1987, if you are listening here, why didn't you say so in all those feature request threads?
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• hntopper  (积分：395)09/14/2013 11:19
  15 floor

  @Folke, you're welcome.
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• hntopper  (积分：395)09/14/2013 12:17
  16 floor

  Just as a point of discussion for the group within this "Context / Tag" discussion...
  
  I've been tinkering with my Doit set up for the last week and think I've stumbled upon something that could be effective for others so I'm going to share it. I'm kind of excited about it but I understand that it's just my take on GTD and it may break some "GTD principles". In addition, it is a slight "hack" to address the current features and / or limitations of DoiT. If enhancements come in the future, I may need to go back to the drawing board. So here we go...
  
  For me, I have never really liked the use of the traditional GTD Contexts of "phone, office, home, computer, email, etc". As stated so many times in other threads, these contexts don't necessarily apply when in today's technology driving environment. Case in point, I have my smart phone or iPad with me everywhere I go. So making a call, sending an email, or participating in a meeting does not have the same meaning today as it did even as short as 10 years ago when Mr. Allen published his book. So for the last 18 months, I've been assigning context to my Action Items religiously but when it came to doing stuff, 90% of the time I never ever filtered my todo list by context. On rare occasions when i was out doing errands, I would filter on my "errands" context but that was it. So I was spending time assigning a context to every single action item I entered into my system and it wasn't really adding any value.
  
  What I found more effective for me is having a clear understanding of "priority". @Folke has mentioned this many times in this forum and others. I do much more filtering of tasks via priority than anything else. I also filter tasks based on what I've started or have "in process". Based on my work and my environment, there are a lot of tasks (30%) that get started but not completed right away. Now I know this can be a topic for a whole other post, but I'll let this go for now. As such, I really like to know what actions I've started vs which I haven't begun yet.In addition, I work with a global team of more than 400 colleagues so collaboration is very high. For me, that means that I delegate a lot and I'm waiting for a lot of things with people from all over the world. (One last thing to note that while I would like for all my co-workers to use Doit as well so I can take advantage of the collaboration tools it offers (assigning tasks), this is not realistic so it's a feature of Doit that I am currently not leveraging or in the future.)
  
  So, as I just started to use Doit a couple of weeks ago, I was trying to figure out how to best optimize the setup for me. How do I leverage contexts better, how to focus on Priority, and how do I visually see what's in process or not, and how do I make sure I know what needs to be delegated vs what I'm waiting for already. And how do speed up the time I take to "process" a task into my system.
  
  What I've come up with is that I've eliminated the traditional contexts of GTD and I have set up the following Contexts:
  
  - Agenda
  - Delegate
  - In Process
  - Waiting For
  
  So how I use them:
  1. Any action that is just something that I need to do (no delegation) and that I haven't started yet goes into Doit with no context at all. This is meant to save time as I don't have to worry about adding a context.
  2. If the action item is to speak to someone about something (an update perhaps), then I assign the context Agenda and the Tag for the person's name.
  3. For things I know that I need to delegate to someone else and is something I can not simply email to them because it requires a live conversation or more background information or details than what can effectively be communicated in an email, I label it with a context of "Delegate". This way I know that it hasn't been "assigned" to them yet and need to do so accordingly.
  4. For things that I can delegate quickly (via email or have already said something to the person before getting the action item into my system) I assign those tasks with a context of "waiting for".
  5. For those actions that are mine to complete that I start but not finish right away (not because I'm waiting on someone else but because something else became more of a priority at any given time), I edit the Action item with a context of "In Process". Given that this is not the majority of time (as noted above only about 25%-30% of my action items), I don't have to do it all the time but I then can see very clearly which actions are "In Process" vs those that are not.
  
  Now I know that you can use Tags for these things versus using Context. However after experimenting with Doit for two weeks, there are advantages and disadvantages for each. What I've found is that when you have a list you can use the system sorting features to sort on Context, Priority, Deadline, Start Date. There is no pre made sorting feature for Tags. You can filter on Tags, but not Sort on them. These are two completely different things. So, this was the major "a-ha" that I had. If I made "In Process, Agenda, Delegate, Waiting For" Contexts instead of Tags, I can sort on them automatically in my various lists (such as Today) and have an instant appreciation of where everything stands (not started- no context, in process, things I need to delegate, and things that I'm waiting on). In addition, for the Web version you can see the Context listed on the Action Item line item so it was helpful to see which ones were "in process" versus being the default "not started" as it didn't have a context.
  
  Now for the traditional GTD contexts of "Phone, Home, Errand, Office", ect... I've turned them into Tags. As I stated above, I don't use them often. So for those actions that I need to be in a particular location to complete them, I will assign these Tags to them but it's not with every action item. I've assigned Phone, Home, Errand to < 5% of my action items. I now use it as a simple way those Actions that could be or need to be completed in a specific situation if I'm out driving around or at home or have some free time to make a call. I can filter on my tasks to see what meets that criteria and off I go. I did the same thing for Time. I've created 3 categories for time (denoted in minutes): <20; <120; >120. I only use these tags on 20% of my action items. These tags simply denote time increments that work with my schedule (ie buckets of time that I usually have available). They are also design to be distinct so that they are quick entry into the system with one key stroke. So if I find myself having 20 minutes to spare, I can filter on those few that I could do, or if I need to plan some time during my weekly review for the upcoming week, I filter for >120.
  
  The other nice thing that makes this work for me... I meet with a lot of people for quick touch base meetings throughout the week. For those that I routinely meet with, I have smart filters set up with their name "tag". So when I meet with them, I can click on "their" filter and very quickly see everything associated with them in my system and the respective action's context (agenda items, things that I'm working on that they need to be updated on, things that I need to delegate tot them, and things that I'm waiting on them for).
  
  So, there you have it... my new set up and use of Context and Tags for DoIt. I hope this is helpful in some way.
  
  I welcome any feedback or suggestions for how you use Context or Tags or how I could improve my new set up.
  
  Regards!
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• Folke  (积分：2425)09/14/2013 13:34
  17 floor

  @hntopper - this is great!
  
  I definitely think you are on the right track, and I will need to digest some of these thoughts a bit better in order to be able to comment properly, but the fundamental idea here of using Context for "status" (can't think of a better word off-hand) is very appealing to me. It seems to add considerable value, and eliminates some of the artificial distinction you would otherwise have to make between what types of contexts you would use Context for and which types of context you would use tags for. Now, all your contexts, including people contexts, inner energy contexts etc, all go down as Tags. That's neat.
  
  I intuitively like your Delegate status. This is a regular Next action (to tell somebody to do something), but the status Delegate really conveys something important - that maybe someone is waiting for me (for instructions) and/or that there is quite some leverage here (since that person will actually do the work, I can get a lot of result delivered out of just one little conversation.) That's good to see clearly in the list. (I like to see things clearly :-).
  
  How to you draw the distinction between Agenda and Delegate? Are they both "agenda", but either with or without "leverage"? Or is it like they are both "agenda", but with or without good timing (mainly whenever you want or only at a time of mutual convenience)? This I need to reflect upon. How do you see it?
  
  How come you use Waiting For as a "status" within Next? Why not the built-in list? Is it because you want to see it all on one single list?
  
  About In Process, I personally have no problem picking up the pieces wherever I left off and would probably not use the In Process status. Or do you see some further advantage in separating those?
  
  Overall, I love your "status" approach and will see if I can come up with a version of it for my own needs and personality. It seems to be the best way so far to make use of Doit's Context.
  
  As for tags in general, I agree that the old standard sample tags (desk, internet etc) are of minimal use.
  
  Tags could be immensely useful, though, if it were possible to exclude and include etc - not just "pick this". If you have only the "pick this" feature, then you have to define all your tags in such a way that each one of them shows you a meaningful and "complete" list of viable options that you frequently need, e.g. errands, or "quick and easy" or whatever you find useful. But if you were able to exclude and include tasks that have a particular characteristic (e.g. alt-click and shift-click the tag) then it would become worthwhile to define all kinds of little "exception tags" and apply those to tasks that stand out in some way, e.g. "requires total quiet" or "requires background noise as camouflage" and all kinds of quirky moods etc that suit your personality, and then prune your list of choices by picking, including and excluding tasks that have or do not have these characteristics. This would open up entirely new avenues for tagging and for finding the tasks that best match a given situation.
  
  @hntopper - since you are an Apple guy (Mac, iOS) and I am on Windows (and iOS), could you tell me why you are not using the famous Mac apps Things or Omnifocus? Aren't they as good as some people say they are?
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• hntopper  (积分：395)09/14/2013 16:29
  18 floor

  @Folke...
  
  Thanks for the kind words.
  
  Agenda vs Delegate: This is a tough one and one that I've thought about for awhile. I've thought about not having either, having one, or having the other. At the end of the day it comes down to preference. My preference is to have a clear distinction between those things that I need to delegate to someone in order to get the task underway and ultimately completed vs those things that are simply a touch point or update. I guess when you boil down to it, Delegate could be Agenda but I don't think you could say it the other way around. But for me, and why I've chose to use both, is that a Delegate Action will turn into a Waiting For action as per my process flow. An Agenda item may not turn into anything after you have the conversation. These are all nuances that for some make a difference, and others don't. For me, it just was more aligned to my view of my current universe. In terms of your comment about Delegate denotes leverage, I think there is something too that, but I would say it's a blend of priority and leverage as you can't move forward with something without them completing the thing it is you are waiting on them for.
  
  Waiting For Status - Why not use the Waiting For list?" This one is simple... in the current DoIt design, anything that is in the Waiting For list, if it has a due date, will transfer to Today, on the due date. I don't always write my tasks in such a way that the Task describes that I'm waiting for it to be completed by someone else. So when it automatically hits Today, there's no reference to the fact that I'm actually "Waiting For" it from the Person, I just have to know that. Again, another nuance, but for me, I would rather know that I'm "Waiting For" the action to be completed from someone when it automatically hits today. The only way to do that in the current DoIt design is to Tag it or put it as a Context. So hence why I use the Waiting For context. If I remember I will drag the Action item to the Waiting For list but my default is to use the Waiting For context. Other apps (that we both have experience with) once it's on the Waiting For list, still denote that you're waiting for someone to complete the task when it comes due and gets automatically shows up in the Focus list. It's just that with DoIt, they're perspective is that you're only waiting for it until it's due, then it moves from the Waiting For list to the Today list and you only have the person's name attached to it if you've assigned it a tag or you're using the Collaboration tool (i.e. where the person you assigned it to is also a DoIt user).
  
  Omnifocus and Things.... I've tried both of these apps and while there are features that I like in each, they just didn't suite my entire needs. I'm a Apple guy at hope and with my phone and tablet, and have a Windows computer at work. So I've found that I need something that works across platforms, has a web version that I can access via IE at work (hence Zendone doesn't qualify), sync's via the cloud. I personally didn't like the OmniFocus user interface and I just thought that Things hasn't implemented anything new in a while. My top three right now is DoIt (currently using), Nirvana (recently used for the past year but can't stand the fact that they are only developing on a part time basis, and they have no access to calendars or reminders or badge notifications on their mobile app), Zendone (needs tickler file and some mobile app update and ability to run on IE). FacileThings and IQTell are both interesting but they both need significant UI improvements. I know that people have complained about IQTell and how much set up is involved, but quite frankly I appreciate the ability to customize it to make it work for you. At last, the UI was just painful and wasn't something I wanted to work in daily (i.e. looks do matter). Omnifocus had some additional other limitations as well but I can't think off the top of my head what they were.
  
  
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• Folke  (积分：2425)09/14/2013 19:20
  19 floor

  @hntopper
  
  Thanks for explaining, and basically it all makes sense:
  
  Delegate vs Agenda; yes I also intuitively feel that same difference, and I think it can be well enough defined. With Delegate you expect it to become a Waiting for. With Agenda you have no clear expectation.
  
  Waiting for and Today: Yes, Doit's Today list concept is really a pain from every point of view. I hope they change that really soon. It should be just a "starred view", not a separate "container".
  
  How about a Hammer status and a PingPong status ;-) I am half serious, half joking. I haven't really reflected much upon status since I wrote my previous post, but has occurred to me that some tasks are "hyper-repetitive", say to call someone whose line is always busy (Hammer, i.e. alternating between micro-scheduled and Next) or you send emails back and forth to someone trying to find a mutually convenient time slot to touch base (PingPong, i.e alternating between Waiting and Next. In those kinds of cases it is simply way too much work to have to reclassify or move that task all the time - easier to just let it stay in Next (but maybe with a "status"). Whether this should be a Context or a Tag is pa different story :-)
  
  Mac: I see. Thanks for explaining. This means I don't need to go and buy a Mac just to get some decent software, then :-)
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• robvhoorn  (积分：130)10/29/2013 10:04
  20 floor

  I like the Today List :-) It helps me not to procrastinate (a lot of tasks I do don't have a deadline other than the one I set) but meanwhile if my calender changes rapidly that day I can 'unstar' some tasks. I find this to be very helpful.
  As for your original question Folke, you can't assign 2 or more contexts to a task but you can create more contexts. For instance I have a @office context but also a @internet pc/laptop and @pc/laptop context. Since my pc is in my office that is the same context. But my @office tasks only can only be completed in my office (I need paperwork or equipment that is available only there) and the other 2 contexts can be done everywhere on the laptop but ALSO in the office (with 1 for tasks that need a (fast) internet connection, and one that does not).
  So if you regularly have tasks that can be completed in 2 contexts why not make a new context combining the 2?
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• Folke  (积分：2425)10/29/2013 17:53
  21 floor

  @robvhoorn - yes I like the Today list, too. I use it all the time, and "all" apps have one :-)
  
  What I do not quite like in Doit's implementation of it is just the fact that here they physically MOVE the tasks away from the original list when you star them. This causes all kinds of problems. The common (and better) approach is to allow you to "flag" tasks from all over the place using the star, and thereby make these tasks visible on the Today/Focus/Starred/Dashboard list while still keeping them on the original list (where they still belong). That's all.
  
  As for contexts, yes, I now have a set that I am reasonably satisfied with. The ability to group lists by context is very handy, so I have selected my contexts from that perspective, and use Tags for other task characteristics.
  
  Welcome to this group! It has been a bit quiet for a while.
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• robvhoorn  (积分：130)10/30/2013 13:11
  22 floor

  I totally agree, it would be better if the NA's flagged with 'today' also stayed on the NA list. Are you taking notes doit.im team? :-)
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• panther28  (积分：20)11/20/2013 22:54
  23 floor

  My setup is use the today feature as a way to get your appointments from google calender (that might come from other software) for me i also use pipedrive which allows you to set tasks for deals. Those are then synced with gcal, and once they do, they will appear in my today.
  
  I then do all my work in NEXT and then any subtasks or regular tasks i need just get kept in there with no timelimit. As for the tags and context, i use context for a location, or a piece of equipment, something that requires a movement from my seat/ environment change, and then with the tags i set as many as possible, including <30 or something for time, and then i also set a tag with morning and afternoon and then everyday., easy / difficult (obviously whatever ones you need) i like to put as many tags as possible in, and be able to link tasks together better.
  
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• Folke  (积分：2425)12/21/2013 15:24
  25 floor

  Update regarding the original question: Use Contexts or Tags for contexts? What's the best use of the Context feature?
  
  I have noticed both here and in the main forum that the Context feature is used for a whole lot of different things, not necessarily contexts. Some people use it to distinguish Work from Personal. Some people use it for "staging" (like "to be delegated" etc) and even for Waiting for (due to the fact that Doit strangely converts these to Next if they are starred). Others use the Context feature as textbook GTD contexts or for physical and mental contexts (context + energy) etc etc. Some people have very long lists of very specific combination contexts (e.g. In the car with Linda in a good mood etc), whereas others have just handful Contexts.
  
  For me, I want to be able to use the "group by context" feature for good overview, and this means I want about half a dozen "main" contexts all in all, which is a good balance for me between detail and overview. My contexts are a combination of physical, mental and "staging" (but I have decided to stick with the built-in Waiting For list and simply never ever star my Waiting For actions; I use other workarounds for dealing with the starred Waiting problem, but not Context.)
  
  My Contexts are :
  
  @Person - this action requires real-time interaction with a person (phone, meeting, chat etc)
  @Out - this action requires me to be in some temporary location (shop, others' office etc)
  @Reflection - this action requires a good thinking environment (mental calm, enough time, not tired etc)
  @Base - this action requires me to be physically at my Home/Office
  @Device - this action requires me to use of a computer, tablet, phone etc
  
  The listing order above is far from random. If an action requires more than one of those contexts I select the highest one. Specific people are usually the hardest resource to have access to, whereas computers etc are usually the easiest (maybe almost anywhere), so if an action requires me to sit with a person and look at a computer I will assign that action an @Person context.
  
  The @Reflection context also provides me with a convenient (perhaps a bit "dirty") means to flag tasks for reprocessing or special review if I think the task is not clear enough as it stands. For example, if I am not sure yet whether it is best to instruct Jim by phone (@Person; real-time dialogue) or to email or voicemail him (@Device; one-way monologue) I assign it a @Reflection context to begin with.
  
  I use that same convenient trick quite extensively (definitely "dirty"; not textbook GTD): For simple things I simply ping-pong the same task around between contexts rather than write separate tasks. For example, it is not beyond me at all to just write something sloppy like "Dinner" as a task and put that down as @Reflection to begin with. Later maybe I decide that I will just let myself be inspired by what I can find in the shop, so I will move the task to @Out, and then after I've bought something I will move it to @Base, where it will remain until I check it off. Since I have only five contexts I can keep the Contexts section of the left menu expanded at all times to allow easy dragging, and this allows me to "stage" many of my simple "micro-projects" without having to write every single step. (The Goals section I also always keep open, but the Projects section I normally keep closed.)
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