ActivityOwner.Com - Getting Things Done with MindManager » Mark Task Complete

MindManager 2012

ActivityOwner — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 03:32:36 +0000

Updated add-ins for MindManager 2012 have been posted for Map2Excel, MindReader, MarkTaskComplete, MyMapMacros, and Omni2Map.

OmniFocus for IPad Review

ActivityOwner — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 14:32:20 +0000

As I mentioned in my last post on Declaring GTD Bankruptcy, I recently decided to switch my personal GTD system to make better use of my new Ipad 2.

Why Switch?
Besides the value of having to reconsider all my priorities in the migration process, the main driver was to get away from my home desk a bit more. I spend a lot of time at my office keyboard and was spending a correspondingly high amount at my home desk for a variety of things. The Ipad can get you away from your desk for many activities where you are just consuming information (reading/deleting mail, news, searching) and reduce desk time to more focus on creating things and keyboard-intensive activities.

Using the information and tools on the ActivityOwner.com site you can do quite a bit to synchronize information back and forth between your MindManager maps and mobile-accessible formats (e.g. dropbox), but that can be a bit clunky and it introduces a delay between when you add or complete something and when you next refresh your dashboards. I continue to use ResultsManager at work, although to be honest I spend most of my time just taming my inbox with OutLinker.

Why OmniFocus
I tried a few web-based tools including Remember the Milk and Nozbe but they didn't resonate for some reason. Nozbe's reoccuring cost is reasonable but a bit of a deterrent. I initially stayed away from OmniFocus for Ipad since its is an Apple application and has no Windows counterpart, but the reviews and functionality looked good. At $39.95 it is not cheap for an Ipad App, but I figure you get what you pay for so I took the plunge.

The Pros
OmniFocus for Ipad has been on the market for awhile and there are many reviews of it available, so I'll just enumerate the things that jumped out at me as a long-time ResultsManager user and GTD add-in developer:

It is great to be able to capture/process/plan/review/do on the move away from my PC as time permits. The quiet Sunday morning "Weekly Review" is a nice concept, but doesn't always materialize.
OmniFocus organizes itself in realtime. There is no dashboard refresh step between when you change something and when it shows up in your lists.
OmniFocus tracks your "Weekly Review" on a project by project basis. By default, each project puts itself up on the "Review" list on weekly basis, but you can change this default to any frequency you wish. This is a nice way to ensure your "Someday" items get a once over at some frequency and that you continue to have the right next steps for your active projects. This means you can do a partial review of your projects and pick up where you left off when you next have time. This concept could be a nice addition to the Next Action Analysis framework and would just require a standard way of leaving another type of date stamp on a project (perhaps as a tag).
OmniFocus lets you organize your projects in a folder structure and also allows for sub-contexts. You can choose to limit your "focus" on a folder or sub-folder of activity or on a context.
OmniFocus has a very rapid "Search" feature that gets you to tasks and projects quickly.
You can easily convert tasks to projects or move tasks to a new project. Reorganizing contexts and folders is also easy.
Its repeating task capabilities are fairly good. Its not quite as advances as Mark Task Complete, but is more than adequate.
The program and data are native to the IPad. It doesn't suffer from web delays and does not require an internet connection.
As a stand-alone fully capable GTD application, $39.95 is not a bad deal.
The functionality seems "just right" for the task. I am not familiar with the desktop version of OmniFocus, but I get the sense that the developers have slimmed down from its (perhaps bloating and complex?) function set down to the key features.

The Cons
If veteran OmniFocus users find any of these observations off-track, let me know, I may not fully understand the capabilities at this stage.

If you are not a Mac user, your data is relatively stranded and not backed up. It it synced to itunes when you sync your Ipad, but you don't necessarily do that very often, and doesn't provide that much peace of mind when you do. If you misplace your Ipad you need to buy a new one to get at your lists?
It doesn't highlight "Projects needing next steps" like ResultsManager does, although timed periodic project review helps catch those.
It doesn't highlight "aging" tasks like Next Action Analysis.
While you can email individual tasks, you can't export or print a full to do list.
It doesn't provide the month-based archiving of completed tasks that Mark Task Complete provides.
Its not a team-oriented tool.
Typing speed is slow and there is no MindReader to facilitate mark up.
Its ability to prioritize is limited to whether something is flagged or not.
It doesn't include a time-required field
Attaching information to a task or project isn't that easy. You can send web links from Safari to OminFocus.
Its not web-based, so you have to keep your ipad handy (e.g. carry it to work rather than pull up web app at lunch).

The first four items were somewhat concerning to me, particularly the stranding of data and potential disaster recovery issues (I don't need involuntary GTD bankruptcy at this point). After a bit of googling, I discovered that OmniFocus uses xml as its native data storage format, which liberates the data in an albeit cryptic organization. MindManager can actually open xml files, which allows the content to be processed with macros. I used this approach several years ago to develop import routines for BaseCamp and (non defunct?) nactionr.

I found I was able to take a similar approach with the main contents.xml file that stores the OmniFocus information. Getting access to the data is a little involved if you are a PC user. I needed to set up a webdav folder with DreamHost to sync the data with. This wasn't a big deal since I'm already set up with them for the blog. Disclamer — referral fee goes to AO charity if you sign up via that link. Setting up the extra sync destination made sense in any case as a secondary backup/restore strategy. If you are a mac user of the desktop application, you can probably get the contents.xml file directly.

The first version of the Omni2Map addin is now available for download (version 9 only). It will export your OmniFocus data into a MindManager map and mark up your projects and tasks with due dates, contexts, etc. It uses ResultsManager conventions, which enables the exported information to be processed with ResultsManager and Next Action Analysis on a periodic basis. I've only used it a few times, but it addresses concerns 1-4 for me now (and likely #5 as well once I unfilter completed tasks).

This is an early version that is sure to have bugs and usability issues and needs a blog post of its own, but I figured I'd share it now for those that are interested in giving it a try.

Map2Excel exports topic notes as Excel comments

ActivityOwner — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 11:01:40 +0000

Thanks to Sam S. for sharing some of his improvements of map2excel, particularly around how to add notes as comments. The latest version (1.0.0012) of Map2Excel now can take notes in MindManager for all the topics and add them as comments in the excel export.

For example, exporting this branch as an outline

yields:

You have to select this under the new "options" button. The options dialog also has an option to not limit the export to only visible topics (e.g. those that are not collapsed or filtered out).

Comments open on MMDevX

ActivityOwner — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 13:02:17 +0000

You can now comment on add-ins on the MMDevX add-in site.

The site has entries for MindReader, Mark Task Complete, MyMapMacros, Map2Excel, and Outlinker.

New users might be encouraged if they see comments from other users on how these are working for other users.

Update on the ActivityOwner.Com MindManager Add-ins

ActivityOwner — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 04:29:51 +0000

I wanted to provide an update on my project of converting tools on the activityowner.com site to MindManager Add-ins.

The wiki.activityowner.com now has three independent stand-alone add-ins installs with domains that point to them:

and of course http://outlinker.com.

Each add-in is really stand-alone now and will be less intimidating for new users to understand and install separately. The buttons on the toolbars can be added to the quick-access toolbar as well. The add-ins only act when their command buttons are pressed, so one should expect any impact on performance or other incompatibilities by installing them.

Map2Excel interface:

It has been an interesting puzzle to convert legacy MindManager macros to more modern (and faster executing) VB.Net code. Thank you to the folks who have tested early version of these. I think the major bugs have been worked out, but there will be a few more for sure. Please kick the tires and comment below as you encounter them.

The new add-ins are no longer depend on GyroQ or the legacy setup/installation, but they backward compatible and share the "legacy" MindReader for GyroQ configuration files, so old and new can be used in parallel. OutLinker still needs to be ribbon-ized in OutLook to simplify its installation.

MarkTaskComplete interface:

The wiki has been overhauled to point to the new add-ins. All four should have some appeal to regular MindManager users. You don’t need to be ResultsManager user to make good use of them. With some menu elbow room they should grow a bit in functionality over time (e.g. new button to open last months completion map, analyze it, etc).

Note that Mindreader install brings along dashboard buttons, NAA, and Outlook dashboard syncing, but hides them unless user has RM installed.

The site is up to about $85 in donations (thank you), so we will need to see if this can be sustained once my Visual Studio trial expires.

MindReader interface:

Any Interest in an ActivityOwner Tools Add-in for the Ribbon Toolbar?

ActivityOwner — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 01:24:16 +0000

The blog has been relatively quiet for past several months so I'm not sure how many regular readers and tool users are swinging by the site or following by email, RSS, or twitter, but here is a question:

How much interest do you have in an add-in that adds an "ActivityOwner Tools" menu to the MindManager Ribbon Toolbar?

Based on some tips and a template provided on the MindManagerDev Yahoo Group by Nigel Goult of Olympic Limited on how to build a mindmanager add-in, I've been able to figure out how to create a prototype ActivityOwner Tools Add-in. Here is a screenshot of the menu:

You can install the current prototype to see how it works. The add-in assumes you have already installed the latest version of the existing setup program for the site's tools such as Map2Excel, MindReader, Mark Task Complete, and Next Action Analysis. Although several of these tools are oriented towards ResultsManager users, several have general use as well. The Ribbon provides a more convenient and expandable interface than the current method of using GyroQ or manually assigning macros to the topic context menu. As one example, there was discussion recently about how inaccessible the "save all maps" option is under the file menu. This was easy to add as a button here. It may also be less intimidating to new users in terms of the startup and learning curve.

Pursuing this beyond the 30-day trial I'm evaluating for Microsoft Visual Studio, will require an investment on my part, so I'd like to gauge interest first.

I've pursued this blog on a strictly non-for-profit basis over the years. I plan to keep it that way, but have always thought that perhaps at some point I might use the platform to raise some money for a charity. Unfortunately a cause has come along, in the form of a rare disease that is impacting a close family member. I'd like to raise some money to send to a university research center that is focused on this disease and that has been supportive of the family. To that end I've added a DONATE page to the site.

If enough interest shows up in the comments below, and particularly if it interest turns up in small paypal donations, I'll spring for the cost of Visual Studio and continue developing the ribbon add-in based on your needs and feedback.

Mark Task Complete updated for MindManager 9

ActivityOwner — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 04:27:54 +0000

In making the recent updates to Mindreader to address changes in how MindManager 9 works with task dates, I totally overlooked the need to also adapt the code in Mark Task Complete. Mark Task Complete needs to deal with start dates correctly in order to properly advance repeating tasks when they are completed. Thanks to Erik for catching this issue. The latest beta setup160.exe addresses this issue.

MindManager Project Management Part 4 — Project Planning

ActivityOwner — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 16:45:52 +0000

In Part 2, we had generated a rough outline of actions to be taken to address issues with Task dates in MindManager 9:

I left off at that point with a "Translate brainstorm into action plan @maps", which pops up in my daily action dashboard as a reminder to return to the project.

When I returned to the project the next evening, I sorted the tasks into a ResultsManager "Funnel Timeline":

The funnel timeline sets up a visual sequence of tasks. In contrast to typical mapping approaches which require a relationship link to set dependencies for tasks, ResultsManager also recognizes child tasks as precedent task as well as leveraging the "(list)" keyword that sets the task's precedent as the task above it.

With the map arranged in the manner above, my only next action is "translate brainstorm into project plan". Once that is marked complete, a new next action will activate being "Identify where to enumerate issues".

I also sorted some incomplete ideas to the "In-tray" for later processing:

This also included items added later as described in Part 3 (GyroQ Capture). At that time I decided that rather than dive into this project, the most efficient course of action was to "Wait for Mindjet to release SP1", so I placed that as the first item in the "List" of tasks.

Selecting this topic and processing it with the MindReader c tag, automatically marks it up appropriately:
.

Next I come back a month later when the service pack is release (having been reminded of it as it became overdue), and mark the task done with the d tag (mark task complete):

This stores the task completion in a monthly log map as well as in the reference section of the map:
.

"Mark Task Complete" is actually more convenient if you assign it to the topic context menu. In MindManager 8, this is done under "Tools, Macros, Organize Macros":

In MindManager 9, the tools menu and the underlying macro menu have disappeared?? It appears that you now need to add it to the quick launch toolbar manually in order to access it. I'll go down that rabbit hole here (diverting from planning focus) and add some screen shots so other uses are aware how to do it:

Unfortunately, MindManager 9 SP1 did not address the task issue. As I understand it, it did fix some bugs in the API related to task dates that might enable some of the issues to be worked around.

While more could be done in fleshing out a project plan, it seems the key next step is to enumerate issues in order to determine how feasible it is to work around them and how that might be done. In a collaborative corporate environment, a catalyst workspace map would be ideal for gathering information from multiple users. In our low-budget environment, a MindManager 9 Issues page on wiki.activityowner.com will need to suffice.

Feel free to add issues to the wiki page or comment below and I can add them. I have installed a MindManager 9 trial on my machine and will try to use it for day to day work to identify problems. Once the issues are identified, perhaps we can divide and conquer means to overcome them.

What is the Next Action for ActivityOwner.Com?

ActivityOwner — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:27:03 +0000

Reviewing my ResultsManager review dashboard this morning I found just a couple of projects related to my "blog" area and a long list of someday/maybes. I thought it might be useful to solicit reader guidance on where it would be most valuable for you to focus. Basically I'm wondering whether to focus on discussing, enhancing, or documenting MindReader, OutLinker, Mark Task Complete, Next Action Analysis, or Map2Excel or to focus on discussing my GTD workflow using these tools.

I would appreciate it if you could please click here to take a brief Survey Monkey survey or comment below.

I've recently cleaned up the layout of the site with a new site overview map and new "related post" links added to the entries. I hope it will help folks navigate around the posts on their topic of interest.

Synchronize Outlook Task Lists with MindManager

ActivityOwner — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:03:52 +0000

I'm working on improving my Next Action Analysis (NAA) score this week and am faced with a "Project Needing Next Action" penalty for my "Create Macro to Sync up Dashboard to OutLook Task List" project. This was a reader requested script I finished up a few days ago. It looks like the next action it to mention it here, so here goes…

There is a new macro installed by the MindReader installer and also available on the wiki MindManager Macro Library that will do a basic syncronization of tasks between your ResultsManager Daily Action Dashboard in MindManager and your Microsoft Outlook task list.

The macro (ao_nextactions_to_outlook.mmbas) does the following:

Delete previosly transferred or exported items from oulook unless marked complete
If marked complete in outlook, run mark task complete on them in the daily action dashboard.
Transfer new items from Outlook into MindManager via MindReader.
Leave them behind as well but add "ao_transferred" into note to mark them as transferred
Export next actions from daily action dashboard to Outlook task list. Set basic attributes like context, due date, and priority.

Note that this is designed specifically for use with a ResultsManager Daily Action Dashboard.

This basic macro isn't smarter than described above, and will not detect changes in attributes (beyond completion) to sync back to MindManager. Attempting to do anything fancier than this is is buried deep on my GTD someday/maybe list.

I've never had much success in attempting to do this type of synchronization with other "built-in" methods. This provides some basic functionality that might be of use to those who need it.

If you want to have ready access to your next actions from outlook or your smart phone, this can be a good strategy. This also allows you to capture new actions in Outlook and feed them in. For 1-way transfers into MindManager from OutLook, OutLinker provides a more robust approach.

You can run the macro manually or incorporate into the "Put it in front of the door script" for overnight processing.

Next Action: "Waiting for reader feedback on Outlook Task Syncronization".

NAA score +0.1 :-).

A different approach to marking tasks complete

ActivityOwner — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:28:03 +0000

Juan has been collecting on his 2008 Next Action Analysis Contest prize with some macro requests. This weekend he asked for a MindManager macro that could take a ResultsManager dashboard with tasks that had been manually set to 100% complete (not processed with the "d" tag or "mark task complete" macro) and process them all at once with mark task complete. Right now you have to select sets of tasks and run the macro to mark them complete.

The new "ao_select_complete_and_mtc.mmbas" macro on in the mindmanager macro library and added by the new install will do as requested by Juan. You can manually set tasks complete (including repeating tasks) and it will process them in 1 shot. You just need to make sure you run it before you refresh the dashboard. Juan envisions having this macro run as part of the "Put it in front of the door" script.

If you take this approach, you want to avoid using the built-in ResultsManager "send changes" command before running this macro as it will permanently set repeating tasks complete if you set them 100% complete in the dashboard.

I figured I put up a quick post in case others wanted to test it or had ideas on how to best implement approach.

MindReader Repeat Category Keyword Updates

ActivityOwner — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 21:43:11 +0000

Marco is working on creating Dutch Configuration maps for MindReader and Mark Task Complete. As part of that effort the language specific code was eliminated for Mark Task Complete and moved to the configuration map. The project also triggered a review of the keywords recognized by MindReader for setting the repeat codes for Mark Task Complete and some improvement opportunities were identified. In particular there is some overlap between strings being recognized as due date codes and repeat codes (e.g. "end of month"). Secondly some common repeat codes often cause false positives. For example "read monthly report" is often a single task with an attachment rather than a repeating task).

With the latest update to MindReader, the following default MindReader category keywords changes have been made. The actual codes in Mark Task Complete remain the same and the program will recognize either keyword when entered as a category.

daily -> rdaily
weekly -> rweekly
fortnightly -> rfortnightly
monthly -> rmonthly
quarterly -> rquarterly
yearly -> ryearly
biannual -> rbiannually

The following category keywords (which also server as due date keywords) are deleted:

end of month
end of quarter

These can still be entered manually as categories or set by MindReader using the endofmonth and endofquarter keywords.

This may evolve a bit further as the Dutch language project progresses.

[edit: Here is the current list:]