That is an outstanding post. I just used it as an example in a workflow for reading articles.
Very helpful, thanks!
Maybe I’ll stick with Things, now that I found out about their due dates and start dates.
But right now I’m playing around with OF.
I tried to create a custom perspective that gives me the following: Tasks that have a due date AND that are available plus tasks that are flagged. I tried setting it up like this.
My app is in German, but this is what it means: “Any of the following”, then “status: soon due” and “status: flagged”, then “all of the following”, then (indented) “available” AND "has a due date. So I intended to have the last variable depending on another by saying “all of the following”.
But the resulting list now gives me all tasks with due dates, even the ones that are not available. What am I doing wrong?
On the topic of Things workflow, you may find the Fu Master Productivity Checklist to be a useful resource, I believe it really captures the workflow intended to be used with Things.
3 Likes
It’s kind of like we dive in to using a piece of software, develop a habit of how we use it, and then that’s that. But reflecting on, reviewing, and revisiting that piece of software we may take for granted to develop updated or more useful habits can be really useful.
2 Likes
Perhaps you are getting “tasks with due dates, even the ones that are not available” because those tasks are flagged? I tried to create a perspective with the way you stated your original condition. Perhaps try this? (Surely there is more than one way to filter the tasks you are looking for, however.)
1 Like
Thanks, you‘re right! Those were old, flagged items! They didn’t show up in the „Flagged“ view, so I didn’t think of them as flagged, but that’s because the flagged view filters out unavailable tasks. I simply added another „available“ filter to the flagged part an now it works!
1 Like
You can do this in Things, set a Deadline for when it is due and then a start date a few days before when you want to start working on it.
For durations, I use tags. I have nested tags for 5 minutes, 15, 30, 60 and 2 hours. This way I can filter by let’s say 30 minutes and it will show me all 30, 15 and 5 minute tasks.
2 Likes
I think the idea of the flag is a checkered flag at the finish line: 
. That’s how I’ve always understood it.
1 Like