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Someday, Maybe Never- project or context?
Simon Pride | Sep 29 2007
I recently moved a load of actions from a project (things to write about in my tech blog) [1] into my Someday, Maybe Never project, and then it suddenly struck me that maybe it wasn't a project at all, but a context. It makes sense if you think about it from the Contexts view - when you're executing, you just look at the context you're in at the time (calls, errands etc) and because you've never given one of your active contexts to the actions, you never see them in your current context context. In Projects/Planning mode, they're probably just single action projects anyway, because you've not put sufficient thought into them for them to acquire any structure. The benefits of treating SMN as a context to me include:
Maybe this makes no sense to anyone but me. Thoughts? [1] the reason is, I'm trying to work out how to get paid for writing that stuff, and refocusing my unpaid writing time on something more creative 4 Comments
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 Done well, this *can* work great (tho I don't do it)Submitted by Merlin on September 29, 2007 - 10:44am.
Good topic, and I have to admit that I go back and forth on this one -- although I'm firmly in one camp right now. In the past (in both Kinkless and OmniFocus), I've used "someday maybe" as a context. Fortunately, if you decide to do this, OF will let you create inactive (what I think of as "inert") contexts -- you can choose to have a given context or context group not generate next actions into your other lists. These contexts then show up only when viewing "All Contexts" (vs. just "Active Contexts"). And I think a system similar to this can work pretty well. But... Personally? I'm currently not keeping someday/maybe items anyplace near active task lists for a Talmudic GTD reason: they're not part of a project I've agreed (with myself) to undertake and complete, so they don't get to live anywhere near real actions. Does that make any sense? I keep someday/maybes in a text file that I review weekly, since it's become really important to me that I trust my task area will reflect open loops that I can and should do something about (the only slight exception is "waiting on" items which are also inactive contexts -- but they reflect stuff I will need to do something about once an external condition changes). As far as whether you're deferring too much? I dunno. I think that's the whole reason for your SMN list -- you know your idea is safe and sound someplace so you never sweat the possibility of losing it. Plus you're reviewing it weekly and can always escalate if the spirit moves you. I think either can work great for you -- just depends on your mental model and how you like to ensure that active and inactive (or non-existent) stuff won't get mixed up (but also won't get lost). » POSTED IN:
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