Two months ago we completely redesigned the Routines section and introduced a number of improvements. However, there were a couple of pending issues that we have just published:
- The possibility of turning any action into a routine. This option also allows you to edit the programming of a routine from one of the recurring actions generated.
- The possibility of generating more than one recurring action in certain routines. For example, all the actions required for a week or for a month.
1. Turning actions into routines
We have redesigned the window that allows you to assign a date to an action (1) within the Task Editor, and we have provided it with greater functionality:
Now, if when you’re assigning a date to an action you realize that you must perform it with recurrence, you can turn that action into a routine within the Task Editor (2), without needing to exit and go to the Routines section. If the action you are editing is already a recurring task generated by a routine, then you can update its recurrence right there:
This new option allows you to program a recurring event in exactly the same way as you would do in the Routines Editor.
2. Generating several recurring actions
Until now, only one action was generated for each routine, which appeared in the Calendar or in the Next Actions list (depending on whether it had a deadline or not). When you set that action as done, then the next iteration of the routine is generated.
In some cases, due to planning issues, it’s interesting to simultaneously have all the occurrences of a routine for the next week in the Calendar, so you don’t miss any appointment.
We have added a new advanced option in the Routines programming section that will allow you to generate all the recurring actions of a routine during a week or a month. This can only be done with routines whose actions go to the Calendar and have a daily or weekly frequency (it does not make sense for routines with a higher frequency).
This option has three possible values: Generates one item, generates item for a week, generates items for a month. The recommendation is to always generate a single item, except for those events that you really need to take into account when consulting the Calendar during the week. Normally, if you don’t skip the Weekly Review, generating all the actions for a month will not be necessary.
Once you have generated all the recurring actions for a week or a month, there will always be the same number of actions of that routine in the Calendar. When you mark the first one on the list as done, a new action will be automatically added at the end, and so on.
Other improvements and bug fixes
Other recent changes:
- We have refined the whole process of calculating dates in routines, since in some unusual cases they were not completely accurate.
- We have corrected a specific error that occurred in the calculation of certain types of routines when a start date was indicated (“Starts” advanced option).
- To make it more manageable, we have added a paging tool to the Done list in the Projects section, when this list has more than 100 items.
- We have improved the detection of links in the text of the emails that are received in the Inbox.
- We have extended to two weeks the time in which the integrations with Google Calendar and Evernote are automatically disconnected once a user cancels the subscription. In this way, if the user reactivates the account in the following days, he does not have to reconfigure these integrations.
- We have refined the data synchronization mechanism between the server and the mobile app.
- We have fixed an error that occurred when adding actions to kanban-type projects during the Weekly Review.
- We have fixed an error that occurred when importing a project via email, as the list of projects in the task editor did not get refreshed.
- We have fixed other minor errors.
7 comments
Every moth a good dose of improvements, great!
Every moth a good dose of improvements, great!
Great improvements as usual! Thanks!
Great improvements as usual! Thanks!
Wonderful improvements. Moving FT ever closer to the best GTD application the world has ever seen. Thank you for your continued good work!
Wonderful improvements. Moving FT ever closer to the best GTD application the world has ever seen. Thank you for your continued good work!
Thanks for keeping us informed about what you do Francisco!
Thanks for keeping us informed about what you do Francisco!
Great work as normal, the improvements over the last few months to the system and the especially the mobile application have been great. I like to use a gantt chart when panning larger projects. I would love to see this planning method integrated into the facile/GTD system in the future.
Great work as normal, the improvements over the last few months to the system and the especially the mobile application have been great. I like to use a gantt chart when panning larger projects. I would love to see this planning method integrated into the facile/GTD system in the future.
I agree with Matthew about planning using Gantt chart within FacileThings would be a great help.
Thanks for these improvements and your hard work!
I agree with Matthew about planning using Gantt chart within FacileThings would be a great help.
Thanks for these improvements and your hard work!
Thanks for your encouragement!
Matthew, Sunil: In principle, Gantt charts are beyond the scope of a GTD application, but in the future we want to offer optional modules (not related to GTD) that users could incorporate into their workflow if they consider they add value. Gantt charts could be one of them ;)
Thanks for your encouragement!
Matthew, Sunil: In principle, Gantt charts are beyond the scope of a GTD application, but in the future we want to offer optional modules (not related to GTD) that users could incorporate into their workflow if they consider they add value. Gantt charts could be one of them ;)