[Orgmode] Re: GTD: Tags or Custom TODO states?

[Bernt Hansen]

Matt Price <address@hidden> writes:

> Hi Everyone,
>
> So, I'm going to try to implement David Allen's Getting Things Done
> using org-mode, as so many other people have done already.  I'd like
> to set things up more or less right the first time, but since GTD is
> brand-new to me (just finished the book today!) and I'm still only
> barely competent at org-mode, I'm a little anxious about the choices I
> need to make.  I think I understand some of the steps I have to take
> now, but would love some advice from all the GTD'ers out there.  So
> here goes:
>
> GTD is a 5-step process:  Collect, Process, Organize, Review, Do.
>
> I have all my GTD stuff in Dropbox, under ~/Dropbox/GTD, so there
> won't be any syncing problems across computers (don't have a
> smartphone yet, so that's not an issue).  That directory currently
> contains:
>
> Collect.org
>
> this is where stuff gets collected before any processing takes place
> -- it's especially for things I think of or that get thrown at me when
> I'm in a rush, or for 'mindsweeps'; essentially, it's a kind of Inbox
> (I have an email inbox, too, with wanderlust as my mail client -- but
> i'm not going to get into that now).  The items in this file do not
> have TODO states because I haven't figured out how to manage them yet.
> Every morning, or thereabouts, I'm supposed to check Collect.org and
> quickly process each item. Either it gets done right away, thrown out,
> or assigned a category & refiled in one of the other GTD files...

I use remember mode and remember templates to record new tasks and notes
for later processing.  I suggest you use that for dropping things into
your Collect.org

>
> Reference.org
> Stolen from 
> http://www.jboecker.de/2010/04/14/general-reference-filing-with-org-mode.html,
> this is the one file that contains all my reference material.  Again,
> nothing in here is a TODO, and this file is not in the agenda-files
> alist.
>
> GTD.org
> this is the main storage place for actionable items, and items that
> are waiting for a response, so it is listed in the agenda-files alist.
>  My plan is to use custom agenda views to quickly access all actions i
> need to take and all items i'm waiting for.  Everything should be
> tagged with at least   a CONTEXT tag (calls, emails, office, home,
> errands, etc) and in most cases probably another tag that relates in
> some ways to content -- so e.g. a person's name could be used as a tag
> to build what Allen calls "agendas" for the next meeting you have with
> that person.  limiting on tags should make that pretty
> straightforward.  Everything should also have a TODO state associated
> with it; right now I'm thinking something like this:
> TODO WAITING |DONE
> but maybe there should be others.  (i do want to keep things as simple
> as possible, though)

With org-mode there's no real reason you have to keep these all in a
single file.  I use multiple files with org-agenda-files listing the
active ones which will contribute tasks to my agenda.

>
> Projects.org
> This file lists my projects and outlines the sub-projects associated
> with them.  Most of these are not _really_ todos -- but each project
> does need to have a "next action" associated with it, and this *is* a
> real TODO item.  Here's where I can't decide which way to go:
> Add this file to the agenda-files alist, and create two sets of TODO states:
> PROJECT | DONE and
> TODO WAITING | DONE
> and then create custom views for reviewing projects (during the Weekly
> Review, or maybe more often) and for viewing next actions along with
> the TODOS from GTD.org; or
> Just tag the projects headlines with :Project:, and only mark TODO's
> when there's a next action defined. This is simpler but it makes it a
> little harder to track projects using the Agenda view.  ; or
> just move the TODO items to GTD.org where they in some sense belong.
> that seems a little labour intensive though.

I've tried multiple things for projects:
  - todo state keywords (PROJECT and PROJDONE)
  - tags :project:

and I've recently moved to a lazy project definition described at
http://doc.norang.ca/org-mode.html#sec-12_2

This works great for me since I have level 1 tasks as categories and any
actionable items start at level 2.  So a project is any level 2 task
with actionable subtasks (any todo keyword)

I no longer spend any time deciding if something is a project or not.
If it has subtasks and is worth doing it's a project.  If it's not worth
doing I just cancel it and move on.

HTH,
Bernt