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If I order the cases by Milestone, why is Undecided sorted before all other milestones? Technically I can understand this, as Undecided has the lowest numeric value in the database.
But does it make sense?

I think Undecided should be at the bottom instead of the top.

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+1 because it's important to know the reason. Personally, I think it's correct to have it at the top - just like the accepted answer explains. – torbengb May 11 2012 at 11:16

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We went back and forth about this at Fog Creek. I think it's a result of it always being that way (historical accident) and the idea that if you haven't even decided where it should go yet that's something you should take care of soon.

[Off the record, I think it should be last, too. :)]

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Thanks for explaining Ted! Apparently I'm the first to ask here. What if (you and) all other users vote this question up...? :-) – Michel de Ruiter Aug 9 2010 at 19:01
Probably not going to change (there's something to be said for consistency at least), but as a reasonable workaround you can create a "Decide Later" milestone with a date of 2020 and move things there as you encounter them in Undecided. – Ted Aug 9 2010 at 20:04
@Ted I dunno, 2020 is getting closer by the year :p – Phrogz Feb 11 2011 at 18:32
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I think this is pretty lame and also wish Undecided would sort at the bottom. To us, "Undecided" is synonymous with "Backlog" -- it's not that we haven't decided "where it should go", it's that we haven't decided to pursue it yet, so it doesn't have any milestone! It's silly that we had to make another Milestone just for this purpose. I wish you would let us change this; thanks for your consideration! – aseemk Mar 17 2011 at 6:01
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I'd like to take this further, and sort dated milestones (by date) first - after all, you've analysed the cases and come up with a date, so the soonest date is the most important thing, isn't it? This way you can have a sensible prioritised todo list sorted by milestone. If you sort by Milestone (Reversed) you can almost get this, but have to scroll down to the earliest dated milestone and read upwards. – Dave Hodder Mar 6 2012 at 12:55
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Throwing my hat into the "why is this first" as well. Seeing the archived threads on the topic, clearly this is a contentious issue.

It would be interesting if we took this approach in our home ... pile a bunch of stuff that is "undecided, tbd" at your front door, so that you are forced to step-over and acknowledge the stuff before proceeding to the things you have deliberately sorted. Sure, that approach works well for Stephen Covey & co, but in reality, anyone who lives with a spouse can imagine that it wouldn't last.

Any GTD or Four-D's followers want to chime in?

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oh, my spouse likes doing it that way :) – Avi D Jul 21 2011 at 11:04
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Why not to give the option to set order for milestones in settings.

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