@tek Hi, actions to be done as soon as possible but with no exact start time are moved to Next . So you can set the start time context, tags before converting to project.

Thanks for your response.

Yes, I know what Next is for. And I am not talking about converting a task to a project. I am talking about adding a task to a project.

The thing is, if I have a task in my Inbox and add a tag, the task remains in my Inbox. If I set context, due date, importance or reminder, the task remains in my Inbox - as it ought to. If I want it transferred to Next, or if I want to Schedule it or move it to Waiting or Someday, I have to do so manually. This is great, and exactly how I want it to be. It makes perfect sense.

However, if I assign it to a project (not convert - assign - it is still a task, but it now belongs under an existing project), it is immediately moved to Next. This makes no sense at all. Why would deciding which project a task (or action if you will) belongs to be sufficient information to move the task to Next? As long as I have not decided on things like context, importance, due date, etc. I want to be able to keep the task in my Inbox. Adding project means I have started processing the task, not that I have finished processing it.

@tek Hi, the task that you haven't organized will be saved in the Inbox. As long as you assign this task to a project, it will be moved to Project's Next. For example, you assign a task to a project, and then it means the task has already be organized so that it will be moved to Project without being saved in the Inbox.If you set time in detail, the task in Project's Next will be appeared in other box such as Today box or Tomorrow box, which depends on the time you have set . However, It does not mean you have completed the task ,instead that a new task will be assigned to a project. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Hi!

I don't understand what you are trying to tell me. You are repeating what I have already described, but you are not answering whether this is something you would consider changing, or whether you think this strange behavior is, for some reason I am unable to comprehend, actually desirable. To me it's a big problem.

To be quite clear: A task that has been assigned to a project is not necessarily organized! If I have added Project to the task, but not added due date, for example, the task is not organized (if it needs a due date, and in my work it often definitely does). So you are making unorganized tasks less visible by removing it from my Inbox. Why are you doing this? How can I counteract this? How can I make sure I do not forget a task because I accidentally assigned it to a Project without at the same time finishing entry of all other organizational information like scheduling, due date, context etc.?

Yes, explicitly assigning a task to Next or giving it a Schedule should, of course, move it to that Focus - because that's what Next, Scheduled and Someday are. But assigning a task to a project does not implicitly give it a specific Focus. It can still be unorganized (Inbox) or it can belong in either one of the different Focuses: Today, Next, Tomorrow, Scheduled, Someday or Waiting. You shouldn't just assume that it belongs in Next! Please?

Hi mate I am not a Doit.im representative but based on my understanding of the GTD Methodology (which Doit.im is built upon), everything you capture whether they're ideas, tasks or anything else goes into one big box called the Inbox. You can actually think of it as a real inbox within your hands. If I'm not mistaken this process is called "Capture" or "Collect". The second step would be to "Clarify" upon which you decide whether the task is actionable or not. After the clarification phase comes the part of organization, so you should "Organize" your tasks and put them where they belong to (which list/project they have to be in). At that moment, this task is no longer part of your "Inbox".

Since you are saying that you're picking up the task from Inbox and then assigning it into a project (list) it means you have passed the "Clarify" step and you're actually going into the "Organize" step at which point the task should indeed disappear from your Inbox.

Please refer to the official GTD website for these 5 steps explained here: http://gettingthingsdone.com/fivesteps/

Best regards,
Wassim

Oh and one last thing I forgot to mention. If your task does not have a due date and you don't like to see it in the "Next" box and you're not waiting on someone, then you can simply up its due date as "Someday". Because by default the "Next Actions" are tasks that need to be completed as soon as possible but with no specific due dates, but in case you're not in hurry about finishing this task anytime soon then you can always move it into "Someday". I often put in "Someday" things that I want to do but can't right now and not sure when I will be able to (For example if I want to buy a new phone it depends on my financials, etc...) so I put it in someday and every few weeks I revisit that folder to see what I have there and if I can finish anything inside of it. Hope this helps.

Thanks for your comments. What you describe is exactly how I understand GTD (except for the things I comment on below) and it is how I try to work. And if I worked with shoe boxes instead of an online web based system, I could create a little note reminding myself to "Buy paint for garage painting project." The project may exist already, and I thought I had enough paint, but I ran out. Consequently, I need to add a new item to the project. So, I write a note and I put it in my inbox. Later, during the organizing step, I decide where it goes. I "Put it where it belongs." In other words, according to GTD, putting an item where it belongs is a conscious and explicit decision made during the organizing step.

What you seem to be suggesting is that according to GTD I cannot put a note saying "Buy paint for garage painting project" in the shoe box labeled Inbox, because by defining that it belongs to the project "Paint garage" I am obligated to put it in the shoe box marked Next. So if I want to put it in the Inbox and organize it later, my note must simply read "Buy paint." This is counter intuitive and goes against the first principle of GTD, which is "clear your head," because it won't let me clear my head of information relating to which project I have to buy paint for. I have to keep that information in my head until I am ready to organize things in my inbox.

Like I already wrote in an earlier post, explicitly assigning a scheduled start date, Next, Waiting or Someday is the same as moving the action out of Inbox and into some other box - these are different shoe boxes than the Inbox, and an item cannot be in two shoe boxes at once. However, projects are not shoe boxes. I don't move items to projects, I move them to Inbox, Scheduled (Agenda), Waiting, or Someday/Maybe. There is nothing in GTD, as far as I can see, that implies that assigning an item to a specific project overrules the necessity of making a conscious and explicit decision regarding where it belongs in the organization step. In this sense, projects is like contexts (and due dates). And Doit.im does not move items from the Inbox when context or due date is assigned - which is how it should be.

You wrote:
"Since you are saying that you're picking up the task from Inbox and then assigning it into a project (list) it means you have passed the "Clarify" step and you're actually going into the "Organize" step at which point the task should indeed disappear from your Inbox."

By this logic, assigning a context should also mean that I have passed the "Clarify" step and moved it out of my Inbox. Which does not happen in Doit.im, which still means that Doit.im is inconsistent. Furthermore, I can add project while adding the item to my Inbox, in which case, by definition, I have not picked the item up from the Inbox, I have merely added it to the Inbox with project information included. (Which Doit.im, but not GTD, precludes.)

I think David Allen writes that when you have finished the "Clarify" step you should have a stack of "pending" items on your desk that you need to organize. So while clarifying means that you move something out of your Inbox, it does not mean that you have moved it into any other box. It means that you are ready to organize it. And when you organize it, that's when you put it in another box. There is no stack of pending items in Doit.im, so the most appropriate way to handle this would be to work through the Inbox twice. First you clarify (give the items appropriate names as actions, trash, them, do them if done in shorter than two minutes, delegate them), then you go through the remaining items again and organize them. Because clarifying does NOT, by definition, put items in a different shoe box. Organizing does.

Finally, while David Allen says that you should never pick something out of your Inbox during processing only to put it back in again, I don't think he ever says that if you think of something you could add to some "stuff" in your Inbox to make sure you remember when you are ready to process, you shouldn't. My guess is that he would say "by all means. Get it out of your head and down on paper. So feel free to add context or project information or other things you think of when you think of them."

Hence, I repeat my request: Don't move items to Next just because project has been assigned.

Hi tek, how's going? Thanks for the clarification.

I do keep meta-data about the tasks I put in my Inbox. For example "Write report for Patrick" or "Fix dashboard for xyz". This makes it clear for me when picking on tasks where to put each task.

Anyway I understand every person works differently so I can understand where you are coming from but still don't personally find it to be a problem in my case (but again I can understand if it's a problem for your specific workflow).

I never assign due dates or context to tasks while entering them into my Inbox because if I have time to put in these details then it takes one extra step to pick the project too after assigning due date and context, it won't take more than 3 extra seconds.

Anyway I have three work arounds for you and I hope these help.

1) Do it my way. Write the project name or abbreviation at the end of the task. It doesn't have to be verbally correct but anything that makes you remember where does that belong to.

2) Take one extra step to pick up the project while entering the task. I know it's not as quick as adding to the Inbox but I got used to it.

3) Create a project and move it to the top of the projects list and call it "My Inbox". Then pick the project called "My Inbox" everytime you create a new task. You can then ignore the top "Inbox" tab and just consider the other one you created to become your inbox.

I hope these help but I again I am just trying to help so you will need to check with Doit.im to see if they have any plans to make Inbox tasks appear in the Next and other due date boxes too.

Best of luck.
Wassim

Hi Wassim,

I think 1 is the best workaround. That will at least keep the task in the Inbox rather than moving it to a potentially inappropriate Focus and skipping the GTD mandatory phases of clarifying and organizing.

Thanks,
Tom