Workflows: Choosing Your Next Action

Hi, I'm Ada—welcome back! In this series of videos, we're getting hands-on, exploring the workflows within the Status Tracker. In this module, we'll cover how to choose your next action directly from the agenda SkedPal has created for you. We also know that unplanned tasks arise, so we'll show you how to handle those situations, ensuring your schedule remains relevant and effective. We'll also delve into updating your estimated activity durations, understanding how your current actions impact the rest of your day, and how SkedPal's notifications keep you informed of any potential risks to your schedule. Let's dive in.

Alright, let's get practical. We're going to walk through how to choose your next action and update the Status Tracker. The Agenda view is your roadmap for the day. You'll see three types of scheduled events: time blocks, bundled tasks, and fixed-time events.

As a quick refresher—time blocks are for focused, deep work. Bundled tasks are lighter to-dos, often grouped together, and fixed-time events like meetings are locked to specific times and won't auto-adjust.

Now, take a look at the bottom of the agenda view. If you have any unscheduled tasks for today, they'll show up in red, so they're easy to spot. And if you've set up daily productivity zones, you'll also see a quick status report here.

In this example, I can already tell that my day's been filled with other types of work—I haven't really prioritized any creative time.

To start an activity that's already on your agenda, simply hover over it and click the Play button.

Once you start, the status bar at the bottom of your screen will update to show when you started the task and how much time is left. And remember—you can always adjust the estimated duration from here as well.

Now that we've seen how to start an activity directly from your agenda, let's talk about those times when you need to start something that's not on the agenda. It's a common situation, and the action itself is simple—but the thinking behind it matters.

There are two main scenarios. First, you know exactly what needs your attention—maybe it's urgent or just something you're absolutely sure about. No hesitation. Second, you're considering working on something else, but you're not sure what the impact will be. Could it delay an important task? Are you still staying aligned with your goals?

In both cases, you'll manually start the activity, but the key is to make that decision with awareness. That's where the Status Tracker really shines—it helps you stay grounded in your plan, even when you need to pivot.

Now, let's explore how to start an unplanned activity. The quickest way is to start an ad-hoc activity—perfect for those moments when you're short on time and just need to get moving.

You'll always find the Ad-hoc button at the top left of the screen in the desktop app, and at the bottom right in the mobile app. Just tap or click it, and a popup will appear asking for a short, optional description of what you're about to work on, along with an estimated duration. Once you enter the time, your current status will switch to ad-hoc, and you're off and running. You can always come back later to edit the activity, link it to a specific task, or add more context if needed.

The second method is to use Quick Add to schedule the activity for right now. Before you start, make sure you've set up your Quick Add shortcut. Just head to the desktop app settings, scroll down until you see the Quick Add keyboard shortcut, and set it to any key combination that works best for you. This makes it super easy to launch Quick Add without breaking your flow.

Once it's set up, simply press your shortcut, and a Quick Add box will pop up. Just enter the activity name, the estimated duration, and the keyword 'now'. SkedPal will automatically schedule it to start immediately.

And here's a really neat feature: 'Favorites'. If you find yourself frequently starting the same unplanned activities, you can create favorite items. This allows you to quickly start them with just a click.

You can save preset values for linked tasks, estimated durations, and even customize icons and colors for easy identification. It's a great way to streamline your workflow and save time on recurring ad hoc tasks.

Another convenient method is to start an unplanned activity from your activity history. This is particularly useful when, for example, you worked on a task earlier in the day and want to continue it, even if it's not scheduled for the rest of your day.

And of course, you can always use the Search tab in the desktop app. Here, you've got three options: you can browse the Outline, search for a specific task, or select a Zone to find tasks within a certain context.

We'll dive deeper into Zones later, but for now, just know that this gives you a flexible way to start the right activity based on your current priorities.

Now, here are a couple more interesting ways to start an unplanned activity. Imagine you have a project with multiple tasks. You can simply start the project itself, the parent line that holds all the sub-tasks. When you do this, the sub-tasks that fit within your estimated duration will automatically fill your schedule.

Alternatively, you can choose a specific productivity zone and indicate your intent to work within that zone for a set duration, say an hour. SkedPal will then populate your agenda with the highest priority tasks from that zone. Note that the tracker will track your time spent in the zone, but not the individual tasks. However, the tasks will be listed on your calendar for your reference.

Once you start an activity, a crucial element of your current status is the estimated time you'll be busy. This is vital for updating the rest of your day's schedule and ensuring you receive timely notifications. As soon as you start an activity, the default duration, if set, is used as your estimated duration. However, you can always override this default and update it with your best estimate.

When updating the estimated time, you can either set the estimated completion time, for example, 'I'll be done by 3:15 PM', or you can set the estimated duration, like '1hour 15 minutes'.

Once you start your activity and update the duration, your agenda updates after 10 seconds to re-align based on the current estimated time. You may also get notifications in case your decision on the current activity and the estimated duration causes either a risk for other tasks, such as them getting unscheduled, or missing your daily goals for meeting the minimum time on certain productivity zones. SkedPal is constantly monitoring your schedule and goals to keep you on track.

And here's an important nuance: if your total task duration is, say, 3 hours, and you decide to work only 30 minutes on it right now, updating the remaining duration in the Status Tracker to 30 minutes doesn't change the full 3-hour estimate. You're simply telling SkedPal, "I'm going to work on 30 minutes of this task for now." The rest of the task remains untouched and will be scheduled later as needed.

Curious about how to stay accurate with your time tracking? In the next module, we'll show you exactly how to update your estimated duration while you're in the middle of an activity. It's a simple step that can make a big difference in keeping your schedule realistic—so stick around, you won't want to miss it!