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Goalscape and To-Do Lists

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Michael Piz

24 Mar, 2021 12:18 AM

If I break down a goal all the way to action items, can Goalscape produce a to-to list ordered by importance?

Thanks.

1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Richard Parslow on 24 Mar, 2021 01:45 AM

   

   Hello Michael

   Thanks for your inquiry.

   For a simple GTD type process you can use tags like Now and Next, then use the Highlight Sidebar to filter your goals by tag (and/or by Due date).

   You can see a Goal List any time using View > Show Goal List, or by clicking the List button at the foot of the foot of the Highlight Sidebar. The Goal List will reflect any filters applied, and if you are using Focus View in the goal map it will show only the goals in that view.

   There are 2 options for the list display: Tree View (indented text hierarchy) or Table View. The columns in the Table are Name, Progress, Start Date, Due Date and presence of Attachments or Notes – and you can sort the list by any of these.

   In Goalscape, Importance is shown in the goal map as the size of the slice: it is a direct visual indicator. Right now you cannot sort the Goal List by Importance; with the correct use of filters though, you can get a good idea of their relative urgency, which might be more useful. You can also export your Goal List via the clipboard or as a CSV.

   To reorder your goals by Importance (or any other attribute) you can export your project to CSV (Project > Export, or use the Download As options – see screenshot). If you use Report Options you can 'pre-edit' your export, selecting which attributes and/or goal levels to include (you can also export only the goals in the current Focus). Then when you open that file in Excel (or any other spreadsheet application) you can use the Sort function to reorder the list by any attribute.

   Keep achieving great goals – and stay safe!

   Richard

   • Download_As_Report_Options.png 35.1 KB
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2. 2 Posted by Michael Piz on 24 Mar, 2021 02:12 AM

   

   Great, thanks for getting back to me so quickly. With all that, I'm sure I can figure out something that works for me.

   Thanks!

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3. Support Staff 3 Posted by Richard Parslow on 24 Mar, 2021 10:35 AM

   

   No worries – glad to help. If you need anything else please post again.

   Enjoy the journey!

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4. 4 Posted by Michael Piz on 24 Mar, 2021 06:57 PM

   

   While I'm thinking of it, ask Marcus if his design for Goalscape was
   influenced at all by Florence Nighingale. It was
   <https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?entryid=3815>, even if he
   doesn't know it. She invented that style of graph, though for different
   uses. :)

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5. Support Staff 5 Posted by Richard Parslow on 24 Mar, 2021 09:57 PM

   

   Hi Michael

   Thanks very much for the follow-up.

   Yes, Florence Nightingale's graphics are considered to have been instrumental in persuading the British Army to improve hygiene! Although Goalscape's circular goal map may look similar to those charts, they are actually quite different. Florence Nightingale's charts are a visual calendar that illustrates monthly increases in various metrics (eg deaths in combat and from infections) as growing areas. She used 12 equal slices (each subtending 30° at the centre) – one for each month of a year – with the measures for that month expressed in different colors extending to different 'heights' (distance from the centre). So it is actually a circular version of an annual bar chart by month (ie with the x-axis 'rolled up' to a point and the bars becoming sectors).

   Goalscape's fundamental format is really a multi-level pie chart (which may have been around before Ms Nightingale). The crucial elements of Goalscape's 'goal map' (and the basis for our patent) are that the size of the slice represents each goal's Relative Importance (compared to its neighbors); and shading represents Progress. It uses the circular structure itself as a constraint: when you make any goal bigger, all its neighbours must get smaller.

   So while you could use Goalscape to represent a circular calendar (and produce something that looks like one of Ms Nightingale's charts, with 12 Level 1 subgoals of equal Importance), it works far better as a visual representation of a goal hierarchy for project planning, prioritisation and progress tracking.

   Thanks again for taking the time to write – may you achieve great goals!

   Richard

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