The way Repeating tasks work

[joshuarobison]

What I have found is that recurring tasks do not work as I expect.
I am trying not to say that I think the way they work is wrong but it is SIGNIFICANTLY different from how I have experienced them in the past and in various other task managers.

When a task is set to recur / repeat, I expect to be able to differ it if I need to.

I often forget to help my wife with vacuuming the house so I set a recurring task every 8 days to do it but if she did it that day then I don’t need to.

You might say, “just delete the cloned task that is thrown up” but it is WAY TOO COMPLEX to remember which tasks are safe to just delete or not. I have soooooo much other things to think about I don’t need that extra confusing step.

I hate that clones are made. that is so confusing.

How I have figured out to hack around this complexity is this

FIrst I set the task to repeat for only one day in the past. This will make it unable to check off in the future and it will not make useless clones in the future.

Next I set it’s due date for the future , so that in the future a task will pop up that I am unable to check off. This will alert me that it simply needs to be deferred.

As you can see, I put the time that I need to differ it (5D) in the task name so if I complete it then I skip it ahead 5 days but if I don’t do it I can just skip it to tomorrow.

This is how I EXPECT recurring tasks to already work. Instead , recurring tasks just throw up clones at specified intervals.

I honestly CANNOT imagine a scenario where I would need a clone 0_o

yeah basically, I would never ever need a task to be repeatedly cloned. Basically, never.

[Andrei]

Overall, I didn’t understand what the problem was.

@joshuarobison

When a task is set to recur / repeat, I expect to be able to differ it if I need to.

What do you mean by that?

@joshuarobison

You might say, “just delete the cloned task that is thrown up” but it is WAY TOO COMPLEX to remember which tasks are safe to just delete or not.

If you know it’s done, why not just mark it complete?

@joshuarobison

I hate that clones are made. that is so confusing.

Once you know how it works, what is confusing?

I think you might like the new way of repeating (Frequency-based, as opposed to schedule-based) that is going to be added - It will not create more than one clone of the repeating item, and the next occurrence will be calculated based on the last completion time.

[Andrei]

@joshuarobison

I honestly CANNOT imagine a scenario where I would need a clone 0_o

There are cases where cloning is absolutely beneficial. Not for tasks like vacuuming or taking pills of course, but for something with more content like checklists. It’s useful to be able to add notes to a clone, or re-schedule it, or convert to a project. Think about things that repeat infrequently, like monthly or yearly.

I have several repeating actions for filing various paperwork quarterly/yearly and once a clone is made, I’m confident I can do whatever to it until it’s done, and the original template will remain intact and work in the future.

[joshuarobison]

@Andrei

Overall, I didn’t understand what the problem was.

joshuarobison:

When a task is set to recur / repeat, I expect to be able to differ it if I need to.

What do you mean by that?

Say I need to take out the garbage once a week.

I make a recurring task

(7D) TAKE | out the garbage

The task comes up today but I don’t have time. I decide that I will just do it tomorrow.
So, I differ it to tomorrow.

Tomorrow and the next day I get really busy and in fact, I keep differing it until next week and because it is a recurring task, a duplicate clone pops up and now I have two tasks that are telling me to take out the trash.

[joshuarobison]

@Andrei

There are cases where cloning is absolutely beneficial.

Okay. I can also think of many ways to use clones but don’t you think that people will be confused if you are calling them repeating tasks when actually they are not; they are scheduled clones.

It is really a hugely different idea.

I don’t expect repeating/recurring tasks to throw out scheduled clones. I also expect that If I have a once a week recurring task , due every 7 days then if I have it due on Saturday but then don’t get to it until Monday I expect the next occurrence to be the next Monday, but your clones will shoot out on Saturday even though that is only 5 days after I last did the action.

repeating/recurring actions are usually timed for after the last time you do the action.

[Andrei]

I understand what you are saying. This is exactly what the upcoming new type of repeating will achieve.

[manu]

In many cases “repeat X days after completion” is the solution. e.g. for a task like “mowing the lawn”

Maybe an option like “only repeat if latest task was completed”, or the other way round “do not repeat if latest task was not completed” could sometimes be useful. But I did think this through in details.

On the other hand carrying on a task with a half done checklist that is already a week old may also not be what you want…

[joshuarobison]

I just want to throw this out there that the current way repeating tasks work is not at all a deal breaker for me.

I’m sure I can find a different use case for the cloning feature.

[Ebech]

@joshuarobison: In my opinion nothing could be easier as mark a task complete, if it’s done already, maybe by someone else. That’s only one click.
And I like that feature, that repeating tasks create a copy instance when occuring. Sometimes I use this to add a note to the actual copy. For example I see a dirty place in my house I normally not vacuum clean or I always forgot to clean, I can add a note to the next instance of my vacuum clean task to take a focus on that dirty place.

But one thing regarding routine tasks I don’t know how to solve. Let’s say, I want to vacuum clean my house every 8 days (like your example). But I hadn’t the time for it and solved that task to late, let’s say 3 days late. The next occurrence of the repeating task is in 5 days and now - I have a clean house - it’s necessary in 8 days from now on. This could be a sensible feature for me: A checker or something, if I want to repeat the task from its last occurrence or from the completion date.

But as always: We should keep it simple. If Everdo becomes to complex, it would become inconvenient for most users.

[joshuarobison]

@Ebech

But one thing regarding routine tasks I don’t know how to solve. Let’s say, I want to vacuum clean my house every 8 days (like your example). But I hadn’t the time for it and solved that task to late, let’s say 3 days late. The next occurrence of the repeating task is in 5 days and now

It was pretty easy for the people at Quire.io to solve this problem.
They just leave a little check box “since last completion day”

[coffee]

Thumbs up for this feature, I have exactly the same problem with my “cleaning the bathroom” task and the solution of Quire.io would be the perfect solution for it!

[Hydro]

Yes it’s a very important option !

[Mai]

@Andrei

I think you might like the new way of repeating (Frequency-based, as opposed to schedule-based) that is going to be added - It will not create more than one clone of the repeating item, and the next occurrence will be calculated based on the last completion time.

I came to ask for this - great to hear it’s already in your plans!

[Hydro]

Clickup also have a nice way to handle repeating task :