Since quite a while I was searching for a nice gtd-Software, that runs on linux. I testet a few apps and was not really happy about them. But then I found Everdo and its the closest to my desires I have ever seen. (sorry, my english is bad)
Now I have a question how to do the following: Lets say, I want to create a task for buying a birthday present for a good friend. His birthday is May 20th. For having a good idea and buying/creating a present I want to reserve 2 weeks.
I would like to have a repeating task, that every year appears on May 6th (May 20th - 2 weeks) and has a due date May 20th. Is that possible?
I didn’t find out by myself how that could work.
Presently, you can set Due Date to the same day the task is scheduled, by setting the “Due Date” checkbox.
It’s not possible to set the date in the future relative to the scheduled date.
A workaround might be to set the “Due Date” checkbox, and then, as the action becomes active and due, change the due date to +14 days manually. This can be done very quickly via a command :d 14. Here’s more commands if your are interested.
That said, this is a valid use case that is not supported. I will check if it’s already in the backlog, and add it if it isn’t.
I have another comment to this: In my birthday example and many similar situations I think it’s not practical to schedule a start date, that has to be manually calculated (birthday minus preparation time) and set a relative due date (that is backwards calculated by due date + preparation time = birthday).
In real life I would repeating schedule the birthday (due date) and have another value that is the reminder duration before the due date (14 days in my above example). While this duration and until completion my task is shown in the Next view. And my scheduled task would show the real birthday date, because this is the repeating date I entered, and not a manually calculated schedule date.
I think I do, but this is not at all how scheduling (or due dates) work in Everdo
Here’s how I would approach this. Let’s say the birthday is May 15th.
First, I wouldn’t create an action for the birthday itself, as it isn’t really actionable (you can’t complete a birthday by doing some work), so I think it should go in a calendar, not on any GTD list. Instead I set up a yearly repeating action that will occur on May 1th every year (14 days before the event). The action is called “Prepare for x Birthday on May 15th”. This is actionable, so it makes sense to put into GTD.
When May 1 comes, the “prepare” action will become focused. I will notice it and set it’s due date to May 15th so that I can track how urgent it is (I would like this step to be automatic, but it isn’t at this moment).
Once we add the the ability to set due date relative to the scheduled date, step 2 becomes automatic.
I totally understand your point and for sure I don’t want to tell you how your software has to work
My understanding about the term “get things done” is reverse: The term points towards the end of a task. It’s all about finishing tasks before their deadline. If there is an important date concerning a task then it’s the due date. It’s not important for anybody else, when I started a task but if I met the deadline. A task planer should know about the deadlines and - considering my total job load - plan schedule dates early enough. This could be done automatically or manually (“Time” is a great feature in Everdo to support manual planning).
About your “1.”: You’re right. The birthday is something for the calendar. But the actionable task is to “get the present done” (gtd) and the due date for that task is the birthday itself. Another example could be sending the present by mail. In this case the due date of “get the present done” has to be a few days before the birthday.
So in my opinion there should be:
optional due date (for single and repeating tasks in the same way)
reminder duration (for single and repeating tasks in the same way), this is how long a task should appear in “Next” view before deadline.
This would fit my natural way of gtd. Again: It’s just my definition of gtd.
I’m looking forward to that moment, when Andrei implements that automatic feature (repeating due date). Here he described it himself. But it didn’t find it’s way to the roadmap yet.
Don’t worry, there’s another system to keep track of pending features and improvements. So it’s all in there.
The public backlog post often gets out of sync, but I’ve just added this improvement to the list.
I use the pre-date method for recurring bill payment tracking as recommended in this thread. 7 days pre-due is my trigger date.
My contribution is that I put the actual due date in the subject of the item so that I have a reference for the actual deadline.
The current ability to schedule by quarterly or bi-monthy is a fantastic feature. Adjustable pre-notification of a due item would be the icing on the cake.
I’ve just started testing Everdo as a possible org mode replacement. I’d like to vote +1 this feature Context: monthly bills, quarterly tax payments, etc.
Isn’t this question just about recurring tasks?
Isn’t this already a feature?
Although, in the mobile app I was not able to find this feature.
I really need reoccurring tasks. I have so many Routine tasks that I need to setup in my task list like reminders to vacuum the house once a week and refresh my Podcast list etc and send my work timesheet twice a month.
Todoist really helped me here. I’ve not yet run into a GTD app that didn’t have a recurring task feature. This is why we do GTD on mobile.
I’m really waiting for notifications on mobile as well.
This is literally the whole point of having GTD on my phone so that it can beep me when things are due , SPECIALLY ROUTINES.
Improvements to the scheduling is high priority. I promise that I will try to make priories more explicit once the the product improvement phase begins (after the iOS app is done).
Context: monthly bills, quarterly tax payments, etc.