Project - task distinction¶

A couple of weeks ago I got triggered by a short article on working in project space . I've got a great project/todolist application (omnifocus) but there are days when I hardly look at it as I'm on the roll with a customer project. So I considered that a possible problem. The customer projects are managed in our extreme programming management website. No way I'm going to type over my tasks into omnifocus.

I'm now making a distinction:

• Projects that I want to work on for an extended period of time. It is   actually entirely ok to get into the flow of a customer project and spent a   full day on it. One day of focused work can make a huge difference on a   project. Getting into the flow is important.
• Loose tasks ("buy diapers") or projects that consist more of separate tasks   ("eventually I want to move my website from vanrees.org to   reinout.vanrees.org"). I can do those tasks anytime I want.

For me, omnifocus is great for the second type of tasks. I never have nothing to do if I want to do someting: just give me the list of things I want to brainstorm on or that I want to google.

An important note: maintaining the system you use for that second type of tasks is essential. Get all your commitments ("oh, I still have to ...") out of your head and put them in omnifocus/excel/paper. Only then can you really get into the project-flow, confident that you're not forgetting important things.