Hi Keith (and whoever else reads these things),
Long-time Scrivener for Mac user here. Have written almost all of my PhD dissertation on it, as of this moment. I am fairly familiar with the program, though perhaps not an expert.
Apologies if this has been ‘wished for’ previously, but a quick search did not reveal so. First - I am not requesting a fiction ‘Timeline’ feature that I see has been rejected for a variety of reasons. That’s not my concern here.
Instead, what I really wish Scrivener contained - though perhaps it does contain the possibility of making it, though I am unaware of how to do it; and even if it does currently contain the possibility of making it, say, through custom meta-data, I am suggesting a more robust, integrated feature — is a way for the user/writer to set up project management for the writing projects one is working for.
For example (and though I assume non-fiction, I assume this applies for any writing with a deadline, especially longer ones): I have to complete my PhD dissertation over the next, say, 9 months. I want to plan out what I have to write out and by when, e.g. Chapter A has to be done, in draft form, by May 1st, Chapter B has to be revised by April 15th, Chapter C has to be started, or at least researched, by May 10th, etc. And one would be able to break down this further into sub-chapter levels, e.g. the section on historiography has to be done in 1 week, the Grand Conclusion to chapter C in 3 weeks, etc. You get the idea. Gantt charts and all that jazz would not be necessary, of course—in fact that would be too complicated. What I wish for is a simple, intuitive interface that allows one to see this information at a glance, and of course, the ability to enter it in the first place. Reminders could be thrown in, when projects or ‘tasks’ are overdue, etc. A ‘Project Review’ Interface of some sort.
Because Scrivener is specifically geared for, and excels at, long-form writing, I suggest in a future version it should also excel at long-term planning for those projects in the manner, or a variation of it, described above. As it is now, I feel the necessity to map it out in other programs like OmniFocus or XPlan, etc. In fact, nothing really suits my needs, as far as this writing management or time management is concerned. And I think Scrivener could offer it and do so in a way that makes everything fairly straightforward, not too complex, and intuitive. In fact, I think it’s the logical next step in Scrivener’s evolution.
Great work on Scrivener (and Scapple, which I have just tried) so far.