InfoQube IM - Community

Submitted by GSLulos on 2012/08/06 21:32

I am trying to find a way to produce a report showing all "Projects" (as defined by Getting Things Done - David Allen methodology) and the "Next Action(s)" associated to each project. Even more importantly, how to determine if any specific project does NOT have any Next Action(s) associated to it. The way the Project Field is set up in IQ by default it seems I can look at only one project at a time based on having the Project Field showing as a column in any particular grid. Then, I can filter by one Project at a time -- but if I have 50-60 projects, looking at each project one at a time to find out if it has a Next Action (or not) is way too laborious, iterative and time consuming. I can set the filter to show all projects but I cannot disover a way to sort the list by the project names, because items, sub items and sub sub items with that project checked off will throw off the sort chaotically.

Is there a way to use the default Project Field in IQ to be able to produce a master list of projects and associated "Next Actions" (or "To Do's", "Appointments", or whatever)? Alternatively, is there another way to customize a field for Project so that it can be listed and sorted in these ways?

Comments

So far I tend to work within each project individually myself.

[quote=GSLulos]

I can set the filter to show all projects but I cannot disover a way to sort the list by the project names, because items, sub items and sub sub items with that project checked off will throw off the sort chaotically.[/quote]

Normally all sub-items will inherit the Project value -

I dont understand then how that would throw off the sort (?)

[quote=GSLulos]

[/quote]

For sorting, I'd use the SortBar, (see 5. Sorting and Grouping Items -about half way down the page*- with apologies if I'm explaining stuff you're familiar with).

You can sort by "Project", and then by "To Do's", "Appointments", or whatever (fields have to shown in the grid AFAICR).

You can also filter the relevant column e.g. "ToDo" so only relevant items will be shown - see "Column Filter" in 2. Filtering

If that all doesnt work let us know...

* note there's two different sorting methods on that page - *not* the Sort Text Box!

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Win.7 64bit ~ IQ 0.9.25W10 portable

Thank you for the very helpful response on sorting as it relates to Projects.

There was obviously a lot about sorting that I did not understand, and after a couple of hours of reading and playing around there is obviously a lot about sorting (and Projects) that I still do not understand. I have tried sorting the project grid with Hierarchy and Context Parents on and off in all permutations, and I have sorted by Project only, then also by Project and Priority, by Project and NextAction, but no result yet has ended up grouping all items and subitems for each project all together in one continuous stack for each respective project. It may have to do with how I am tagging my items to the project, sometimes TLI's, sometimes sub-items of contacts in the address book, sometimes sub-items of Meeting Notes in the Inbox, etc.

The only solution I can see is to have a special Grid called Projects and every TLI is the name of a specific project and then have a catch-all project called Projects - All in the Projects field and check Projects - All for each TLI item. But the drawback of that would be that I would have to either list every project sub item directly under that project title instead of where I would normally put it e.g. as a sub-item under a contact or apptmt, OR hyperlink each such sub item for each project from wherever it naturally occurs.

I am sure I am missing something so I will continue to study the manual and play around with it, but for now this remains an issue, and a fairly significant one for how I want to run my business.

You are working too hard.

Let IQ do the work for you.

Create a grid called Projects, source = projects

and create a series of fields with the names of the various projects

so if you add an item for project 'X' you click on field "x" , etc which assigns that field to that item

you can add all your projects as field columns in the grid & check 'em off as needed (you may have one items which applies to multiple projects)

you can then filter by column to pull up a specific project or

create another view source = projects, filter = project 'x"

[quote=GSLulos]

I am sure I am missing something so I will continue to study the manual and play around with it, but for now this remains an issue, and a fairly significant one for how I want to run my business.

[/quote]

I'm *not* so sure you're missing something - but it's hard to say without being able to see the grid. Would a screenshot be possible? (I realise that it might well not be possible).

Jan's method should work, but then this method *should* work too...

For when Pierre is back from his holidays:

he offers telephone support/introductory talk through the workings of IQ. (I've also on occasion sent him IQ files to see what the problem is.)

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Win.7 64bit ~ IQ 0.9.25W10 portable

I'm with Tom here.

Please show us how your grid looks like, with the source bar visible (alt+S) + all the relevant fields, etc.

IQ is one of the few application which lets me sort and group stuff exactly the way I want... or almost. There's a bug with the "group items by sort columns" feature, which should be fixed eventually (it would help), but, in the mean time, it's completely possible to group things without using this feature.

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