OmniFocus: how to handle delegated projects?

[mcogilvie]

Mcogilvie, yes, they are delegated projects. The problem is I don't want to create a special folder for delegated projects. I want them to go in line with my areas of focus. For example, my area of focus is Hiring and there's a project Sign a contract with agency XYZ. I want that project to stay in my AOF but with a status of Delegated so I could differentiate what projects are my Active or OnHold projects and what are Delegated.

Yes, so make a single-action list under hiring called something like "Hiring-Delegated". Then give each item in Hiring-Delegated the context "Delegated Project". Now you might like to see them on the same level as YOUR projects, but there's no good way to do it in OF. Oh, you could define a context called "Projects" and have a sub context "My Projects" and another "Delegated Projects". Then you have to assign that context appropriately to projects and set up a perspective to view both projects, sorted however you like. However, the truth is you don't need to treat delegated projects the same way as your own projects, and you probably shouldn't. My best advice is to stop obsessing over what you think you have to have, and make what you have work. Your system will adapt to your needs much better with use and a small amount of experimentation.

[billjw]

... I have just started committing to OF as a way to manage my workload (meaning I've had it for ages but haven't got stuck in). I now have an assistant that I want to ensure I include in my set of tasks so I can delegate and help her.

I've done two simplistic things:

1. Any project I have delegated to her I have named her in the Project Title: "On Boarding - Mary". My rationale being that it remains as an AOF for me but it stands out that it is with someone else. I also mentally know the project not just as "On Boarding" but as "On Boarding - Mary". That will help when I get asked something about what's going on, I know it is with her and I don't have to pick up any tasks related to it. At least initially.

2. I also created a context for Mary. So when I view my tasks by context, she shows up and with her name against the tasks so I know they are with her. If I want to know what's going on I just need to ask. This is great of our weekly catch ups and managing her progress and my ability to delegate and manage other resources.

As I said, maybe over simplistic and I am new to this so I may change as soon as I realise is not working but the logic seems fine (for now)

Feel free to critique ...