I have many recurring tasks in my GTD, and I have several issues with how the task instances are generated. I think they could be an even more powerful tool than they are now with these four ideas.
First, I don’t think recurring tasks are projects, yet they show up in left hand side of the GTDnext window as a project. Other top level tasks do not show up, and I wonder why recurring tasks do, as they are not projects. Is that intentional or a by product? To keep the left hand window useful, I have to keep reordering the list of projects and recurring tasks and have also taken to hiding groups of recurring tasks together in subfolders. I’d like to avoid either.
(edit - seems this next point is happening now. Not sure if I missed it or it was added in the mean time. Thx either way)
Second, I would like the task instances of a recurring task to inherit the focus and forced next properties if the recurring task has them. Several recurring tasks are important to complete for me, so I would like the task instances to automatically show up in the focus list. I also occasionally need to know I have built up several instances of a recurring task, so having an inherited forced next ensures these backed-up recurring tasks are all visible in next actions. If both are inherited, then backed-up task instances would all show up in a focus filtered next actions. Setting these manually to allow for planning is a pain, as I am sometimes managing my recurring tasks more than just doing them.
(edit - This one seems to be up for voting.)
Third, recurring tasks should get auto generated due dates, and it should be a setting in the recurring task setup panel. ie set a due date of x days after. Some recurring tasks should be done same day; others can be done within the week. These due dates would ensure recurring tasks appear a due date filtered next action with appropriate priority. (with the second one above as well, the recurring tasks would automatically enter the work flow of working on important&urgent first)
Fourth, there seems to be a trigger time for recurring tasks that is set to the time the recurring was setup. This is not always appropriate. I would like the task instance to be generated on the morning-of prior to waking in nearly every case, but there is no option to explicitly set the trigger time that I can find. A default of 4am might also work.
Thanks for considering these ideas.