With talk of the Things beta today, I decided not to spend much time with it, and instead re-work my OmniFocus theme. I’m pretty happy with how it came out:
(Click on the image to see a larger version.)
It’s all set in Helvetica Neue, and uses burgundy and brown for due and “due soon” items. You can download it here.
David has put all of wonderful videos on one webpage. If you’re serious about OmniFocus, you need to spend some time on it.
Living with OmniFocus is like having a garden. If you don’t take care of it, weeds take over and ruin it, choking out anything healthy. But if you tend it carefully, it will provide you with beautiful, bountiful results that are delightful.
I didn’t share then about how I keep OmniFocus tended to, but I have a project in OmniFocus named “GTD” that is setup to help keep my system running well. Here’s what it looks like:
It’s pretty simple. Here’s a breakdown of the tasks:
The review functionality built in to the iPad app makes the app worth it. Stepping through each project and folder is a great way to make sure that no corners of OmniFocus get too dusty.
I sweep the OmniFocus Inbox at least twice daily. I add all sorts of things to the app — especially from the iPhone — that initially land in the Inbox. During my sweep, things get a context, project and due date.
I used to just look at the Inbox at 4 PM each day, but I found that things would sit too long without being addressed. A few weeks in to the change, and things are working smoothly.
Back in September, I shared the “Capture Form” I created to take notes in meetings.
I’ve been using this form consistently, but have come to a point where my system breaks down when moving from the paper to my computer. Things aren’t making it in to OmniFocus, iCal, etc. Additionally, in some meetings, I have to have my laptop or iPad with me, so bringing paper and pen seemed like too much to carry.
So I’ve created a new version of the Capture Form, in TextExpander.
Now, when I type ;mtg TextExpander gives me this:
+ MEETING:
DATE: [DATE]
TIME: [TIME]
ATTENDEES:+ NOTES:
–
–
–+ ACTION ITEMS FOR ME:
–
–
–+ ACTION ITEMS FOR OTHERS:
–
–
–
Now, I can type four characters on any of my devices and start taking notes. The snippet includes the date and time automatically, and moves the cursor to one space to the right of the colon after the “MEETING” line.
Likewise, each of the dashes includes one blank space to the right. This makes entering text just a tiny bit quicker.
I still don’t like using my iPad or MacBook Pro in meetings, but this is helping it become a little easier when I have to do it.
PlainText for iOS has TextExpander support and syncs with Dropbox. Here’s a screenshot of the Capture Form in PlainText on my iPad as proof.
You can download the snippet here as a .txt file.
The ability to have reminders sync via iCloud to iCal on the Mac is a welcome addition to iOS 5. However, this system isn’t nearly as good as it could be.
I set out to try to replicate the core functions of OmniFocus I use. They are:
Here are some notes on things I’ve come across that I like:
…and some things I don’t:
Reminders seems like a great little app for little tasks. But I don’t think it can replace OmniFocus, even for someone like me, who doesn’t use lots of the app’s features.
To be honest, this is a little disappointing. I like the idea of using fewer apps. Sadly, there’s still too much friction with Apple’s programs for me to be able to move to them.
As I’ve discussed before, I’m a pretty heavy-duty user of OmniFocus.
Recently, however, I’ve noticed some gaps in my system of managing tasks. Mainly, I struggle getting tasks from “real-life” things into OmniFocus. Tasks that start on my Mac (from Mail, Safari, etc.) are easy to send to the Inbox.
Sadly, most of the time, these “real-life” events are meetings. Say what you will about them, but the reality is that in my day job, meetings are a necessary evil.
I don’t like taking my MacBook Pro to meetings to take notes or capture tasks. I find it distracting, and it can create a barrier between me and other meeting participants.
About a month ago, I started taking my current Field Notes notebook into meetings with me, but I found that I need more space to take notes, and often, tasks get lost among the notes and other things that live in there.
So, I’ve made a form. (Well, I swiped Shawn’s design and re-worked it a bit.)
The single sheet — which I’ve dubbed the “Capture Form” — includes space for four things:
I can take the form with me to a meeting, take notes, capture action items, and file them away later in OmniFocus. I have a binder on my desk of past forms, which will (over time) create a nice archive of past meetings and events.
You can download the Capture Form as a PDF. (right-click to download)
Update: I’ve created an alternative version (right-click to download) with an expanded Notes section and no Reference Information section.
Update #2: If you want a TextExpander version of the form, check out this post.
For some unknown reason, I’m jonsing to try Omnifocus, the online GTD system of choice for Mac users. That said, my own Moleskine-based GTD system works just fine already. There are certainly advantages to the digital system including easy refactoring of projects and actions and delaying actions until you actually want them to show up in your path. It was these advantages that got me to drop the $80 for it.
Mike’s cases for OmniFocus and for a Moleskine-based system are great.
To maintain a task list in Evernote is fine and not especially difficult in terms of keeping the data in the app. For me, it gets dicey when I need to access or manipulate the data, particularly on a mobile device. If I keep my tasks in a separate notebook and tagged them all such that I could call them up quickly with a saved search, I’m still looking at what I would consider a prohibitive number of taps + waiting time.
OmniFocus, on the other hand, is an application whose sole purpose is task management, so it’s built with the understanding that the user who opens it is, in all likelihood, interested in creating or performing a task. It provides lots and lots of ways to slice and dice my task data (including grouping tasks based on my current location) and it’s very, very fast. Depending on how you structure you task list in Evernote, it’d also probably be a bit difficult to get a bird’s-eye view of your “plate”. That coupled with a few tactical-level things like dependent tasks, date-based availability and others are what make OmniFocus a clear winner for me.
(A) OmniFocus is awesome.
(B) That bit about mobile sync is why I don’t use Evernote.
I’ve written at length about OmniFocus here before. It’s a fantastic app, and has quite a following.
This isn’t an OmniFocus-specific phenomenon. Mac nerds cling to and defend their favorite programs will a fervor rarely seen. The TextMate guys beat up us TextWrangler folks on Twitter, while MarsEdit fans scoff at those who like living in WordPress’ web interface.
But in the GTD landscape, the fighting is fierce. Everyone has an opinion on what app and what method is best. But Chris Bowler gets it:
Adam King recently wrote a great post on his paper based “stay-on-top” set up, titled The Daily Rind. It’s the kind of post I’ve always enjoyed ever since this topic started to replace actual real work.
I say that with tongue in cheek, and I’m laughing at myself, not Adam. I always enjoy getting a look at how the people I admire process things and complete their work. The difference for me now is that I quickly recognize the pull to adapt my own habits because their’s seem a lot cooler in the flush of caffeine-fueled excitement. Call it what you like, but I’m going to call it maturity.
I like the word maturity. And while I love Bowler’s point that everyone needs to get work done — instead of just talking about how they do work — we’d all be better off.
So, we should be getting things done, and we shouldn’t let GTD get in our way.
This is an interesting thing to think about. So often, I think about OmniFocus as a helper, but sometimes, it isn’t.
My job — like most people’s — includes long-term projects and oddball “here and now” tasks. For example, last week, I was working on a strategy for a component of our marketing, but got interrupted by a user with a sick Windows 7 notebook. She needed my help. So I helped. I didn’t stop to create a “Fix Bethany’s HP” project in OmniFocus, with tasks including “Reinstall Symantec” and “Run updates.”
I just did the work.
That said, I wanted to enter it into OmniFocus. I even thought about adding it after the fact, just to mark it as complete.
The other version of OmniFocus guilt involves the app itself. This weekend, for example, I had a big freelance project that I had to complete on a very tight deadline. As such, the things I had planned to do got pushed back. With each task that I moved back, I felt a pang of guilt.
Truth is, I got work done this weekend. It just wasn’t the work I told OmniFocus I had planned on doing. I felt like I had let my GTD system down.
I think Chris gets this right — it’s more important to do things than to keep a system up and running. Of course, as with all things, there is a balance. I need OmniFocus in my life, but I don’t need it to be handicapped to it in a way that slows me down.
Balance is key to avoiding the guilt, I suppose. Imagine that.
Be sure to check out this screen shot John Rust posted of how he uses the GTD application.
Living with OmniFocus is like having a garden. If you don’t take care of it, weeds take over and ruin it, choking out anything healthy. But if you tend it carefully, it will provide you with beautiful, bountiful results that are delightful.
I wrote this back in September:
At the end of the day, I don’t give a crap about categorizing tasks due to location, topic, tags or what color shirt I’m wearing. All I need is a convenient way to list tasks and their deadlines. Nothing more; nothing less.
Shockingly simple, I know.
For me and my simple needs, Things and OmniFocus are overkill. With systems like this, I spend more time entering tasks than doing them. When I was using Things, by the time I was done going over the day’s to-do list, it was time for lunch. OmniFocus just gives me seizures.
For years, I’ve used Remember the Milk to get things done. It is a relatively flexible system, but I’ve been growing more and more unhappy with it. I think the very option to use of priorities, tags and contexts makes me nervous.
On the analog end of things, I have found that keeping a physical, paper notebook full of tasks to be frustrating. Not only is it another item to carry around everywhere, editing tasks and deadlines on paper is too messy for my tastes.
Starting earlier this week, I’ve been using TeuxDeux for task management. And I love it. It has no lists, no tags and no notes. Just task names, due dates and a place to keep “someday” tasks.
As it turns out, I was a little short-sighted when I wrote this piece. After using TeuxDeux — which is a great app — for several weeks, I discovered that I had moved to a solution that was too simple. My job is comprised of numerous projects, all moving forward at once, but at different speeds. Adding school, freelance and family to the system made it all the more complicated. I need the ability to see my tasks from a 30,000-ft view, or up close and personal, easily.
So, I continued to bounce around, until I finally pulled the trigger and gave OmniFocus a shot.
Lots of people think about OmniFocus as “Things with OTA sync.” Such a statement far understates the strength of this application.
Over the last few months, I have come to understand that I have limited bandwidth in my brain. Just like a computer network, I have a set number of lanes for traffic, and when big things come, smaller issues get pushed to the outside, and eventually, get dropped altogether.
As I’ve come to realize my struggle with depression, this has become an increasingly important issue. I’ve been working to cut unnecessary things out of my life. I can’t afford distractions from my family, my job and getting better. So what does a piece of software have to do with this? A ton, as it turns out.
The more I can off-load onto a system that I trust, the more bandwidth I have available for dealing with the things that matter more deeply than errands or meetings.
Being able to file away tasks in a manageable way helps me think clearer, be a better employee, and a better husband. I’m getting more done, and OmniFocus makes it easy to stay on top of things.
Being productive doesn’t make me a better person, and can’t make me better. But it does help me wring a little more sanity out of my day.
OmniFocus can be overwhelming to learn. I — like most people, I imagine — struggled at first to get my head around it. After tweaking for a bit, I’ve settled on a workflow that works for me:
Am I using OmniFocus to its full potential? Probably not. But in another, very real way, I am, since I’m getting things done with better results than ever before.
