Prioritizing Projects

1, 2, 3, 4
This topic is locked, no new messages can be posted
avatar boxfan Mar 6. 2007. 1:26 pm #1
I have a list of 35 or 40 projects and it appears a little overwhelming. Is there a way to prioritize the projects so that they are sorted by priority or some other user determined method. I would like to be able to visualize which projects I should begin working on next.

I suppose Milestones could be used in some fashion but I'm not sure. How is everyone else managing their projects?
avatar Mar 6. 2007. 4:06 pm #2
Are your projects currently ordered alphabetically? If so, you can prefix 01, 02, 03, etc... which would sort them to your requirements.

Also you can use the * character to bring a listing above 01. Useful for flagging something as 'top priority'.
avatar attiks Mar 6. 2007. 4:22 pm #3
Is this a request shared by many people, if so I'm willing to provide a hack?
avatar Ryan Cross Mar 6. 2007. 4:54 pm #4
I think this is a quite popular request. The idea of ordering for tasks for priority doesn't work for quite a few people. Thanks for your work attiks.

avatar attiks Mar 6. 2007. 5:09 pm #5
Ryan,

So there are 2 request:
1/ ordering projects by means of a priority field
2/ ordering task_list by means of a priority field

Hence
1/ display of projects on my projects ordered by priority, than by name
2/ display of task_list on tasks page ordered by priority, than by create date

OK?
avatar Mar 6. 2007. 5:37 pm #6
Yeah, that sounds good. I would much prefer to be able to select the sort order of my projects by either alpha or priority then use 01,02,03 in the titles.

attiks, I would like to see a sort by link to choose either of the two sort orders and then a place to assign a priority to the project.
avatar attiks Mar 6. 2007. 6:31 pm #7
i'll have a look, but sounds good
avatar Ryan Cross Mar 6. 2007. 11:10 pm #8
Shouldn't there also be some sort of combined priority? For example project1 has priority 1 and project2 has priority 2. Each project has tasks with various priorities as well, what I think alot of people would like to see is some sort of combined list where a Priority1 task inside of a priority2 project, may or may not be ordered higher on the list then a priority3 task in a priority1 project. I hope that example is clear. Task lists might possibly also driven by date where tasks/projects with closer deadlines/milestones would be pushed higher up the list in terms of priority.

There are probably several different prioritization schemes that could be used such as the six sigma, gtd, or covey approach, just to name a few, but a simple system would be an important first step.
avatar attiks Mar 7. 2007. 2:10 am #9
Ryan Cross:
Shouldn't there also be some sort of combined priority? For example project1 has priority 1 and project2 has priority 2. Each project has tasks with various priorities as well, what I think alot of people would like to see is some sort of combined list where a Priority1 task inside of a priority2 project, may or may not be ordered higher on the list then a priority3 task in a priority1 project. I hope that example is clear. Task lists might possibly also driven by date where tasks/projects with closer deadlines/milestones would be pushed higher up the list in terms of priority.

There are probably several different prioritization schemes that could be used such as the six sigma, gtd, or covey approach, just to name a few, but a simple system would be an important first step.


Ryan,

You kind of lost me, the last sentence contains to many new terms for me, I assume these are different ways of organizing projects, can you send me some background information?

I propose we start the easy way: prioritizing projects and task_lists seperately, order them alphabetically or by priority. Same principal for the 'my tasks', I guess this is what you mean, if not drop me a line.
avatar Mar 7. 2007. 3:27 am #10
Morning all!

I'm currently running a temp hack which orders the task lists alphabetically as so:

In ProjectMilestone.class.php, line 154;
change 'order' => 'created_on' to 'order' => 'name'

In Project.class.php, lines 495, 513, 529, 547, 563 and 581
change 'order' => 'order' to 'order' => 'name'

However this was a quick fix and I was intending on providing a better public hack.

I agree that a simple approach would be best. Ideally, I was aiming for an Ajax style drag and drop that would prioritise the tasks by order.

See http://www.activecollab.com/forums/topic/964/1/

In terms of simplicity and full control, I propose that we introduce a new task order page (or somewhere appropriate) to display all the tasks assigned to you (or Anyone) in one long list. Something that looks like mytasks but that doesn't split up into individual projects. This would include assigned tasks across ALL projects. The projects they belong to will be displayed in a column. To order, drag and drop.

Drag and drop would mean either Ajax, which may be best to leave till later, or some javascript implementation as mentioned in the above thread.

This manual ordering of tasks would be a first step and we can later looking into automatic ordering systems used by Stephen Covey etc.

With regards to the Projects, milestone dates should determine their priority.

Also, have a look at basecamps ordering feature;
http://www.basecamphq.com/demos/todos/

PS. @Attiks, about to reply to your email.

Topic is locked

If you have something important to say about the issues discussed in this post please write at hi@a51dev.com.

or Go To Next Page