Omnifocus comment

[loocartlu]

I am really intimidated by this program. This is not what I expected at all. I am going to have to pay someone to show me how to use it. I live in Minneapolis if anyone is interested that has decent training skills.

I like the soft esthetic look unlike iGTD. I like the ability to make sub projects and (sort of) sub contexts unlike Entourage.

I like the idea that it will be more Mac centric than Entourage. I want to use Apple mail and the iPod if possible etc.

Why did they put so much power in the thing? it's hard to learn and a lot of people are going to have a huge temptation to fiddle too much with the it.

I just don't get what their objective is. Maybe it will work out for me.

I might just end up hacking Yojimbo into a GTD system.

 

[ext555]

omni focus mac gtd style app

Have you watched the introductory video the creator of KGTD did for omni focus ? Omni focus is designed very well to be both powerful and very simple if needed . You don't have to use every feature that's available .

 

[mcogilvie]

Why did they put so much power in the thing? it's hard to learn and a lot of people are going to have a huge temptation to fiddle too much with the it.

I might just end up hacking Yojimbo into a GTD system.

They have to put a lot of power into it 'cause they're charging $80 for it.
You can dumb it down very easily. Start with contexts and context lists, and branch out to projects gradually.

I think Omnifocus is a perfectly reasonable solution for people who use one and only one mac (not 2 or more, and not pc's), want to group actions by context and by project, and don't use priorities. But if you don't fit that profile (I don't), then I wouldn't recommend it for you.

I don't recommend Yojimbo for GTD- too much of a temptation to blend action and reference, and there are other issues. If you just want a nice front-end to iCal that supports gtd, try anxiety (the program, not the mental state ).

 

[Eponymous]

Interesting. I had the exact opposite reaction to Omnifocus. I had downloaded and tried a whole bunch of GTD apps, and Omnifocus was the only one that made any sense to me right off the bat. It was the only one I tried that didn't make me feel like I had to first figure out how the developer's mind worked before being able to use it. I watched the intro video and then just took off. I'd be lost without it now.

 

[loocartlu]

This is all good information. I hope I just got off to a bad start. The reality is I'm not that sharp with computers. Right now I feel like I'm in a funhouse for the first time.

I don't mind shelling out for a little training and perspective. We shall see what happens.

What I want is:

Largely Mac centric
Cut way down on keyboarding & typing
Soft, easy on the eyes esthetic
Sync part or all to an iPod or PDA (that isn't going out of business, changing soon, or is part of a cell phone.)

 

[loocartlu]

OK

I am calming down now and I am starting to see the light.

Question:

Do you guys put your someday maybe under projects or contexts or what?

I don't want it to clutter up my active next actions.

 

[Eponymous]

Do you guys put your someday maybe under projects or contexts or what?

I don't want it to clutter up my active next actions.

I make my Someday/Maybe items into On-Hold projects. (You can mark projects as Active, Pending, Stalled, or On-Hold using the Inspector.)

 

[dschaffner]

Do you guys put your someday maybe under projects or contexts or what?

I don't want it to clutter up my active next actions.

I have a context called "someday/maybe"... actually I have another called "someday, just not now" too.

Those contexts can hold both projects, and next actions for projects that are on hold.

This way I can look at projects (either active or not) and next actions (by context or inactive)

 

[loocartlu]

Excellent. Thanks.

What I had to do was delete all of the preloaded stuff and then by starting from scratch, stuff started showing up in the right places.

One thing I noticed is even though omnifocus has a lot of glowinkies, they don't really clash with GTD theory. Personally, I find it irritating to see a priority grading column that can't be removed or something similar in GTD software. It's like the guy didn't even read the book.

 

[tfadams]

They have to put a lot of power into it 'cause they're charging $80 for it.

Not much time left, but if you buy before January 8th it's 50% off

http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnifocus/

 

[Julian]

Placing S/M NAs "on hold" in OF

I have a context called "someday/maybe"... actually I have another called "someday, just not now" too.

Those contexts can hold both projects, and next actions for projects that are on hold.

This way I can look at projects (either active or not) and next actions (by context or inactive)

When I have an active project in OF, but several next actions that are far enough in the future to be S/M, I label them with a context of "future".
Then, in Context mode, Future is placed "on hold" (use the option gear at the bottom).

 

[ext555]

Excellent. Thanks.

I find it irritating to see a priority grading column that can't be removed or something similar in GTD software. It's like the guy didn't even read the book.

but a lot of those apps don't claim to be a canonical GTD program like Omni Focus does .. and the omni group has resisted a lot of flak from the user base even during the alpha testing to keep priorities out of it . There's work-arounds though if you require priorities ,flagging items is one way , but I use flags for items that require a lot of energy and focus ..I try to do those in the morning or when I'm fresh and filter them out if possible when I'm toast .
Just as long as I look at everything often enough to " feel good about what I'm not doing " .

 

[loocartlu]

the omni group has resisted a lot of flak from the user base even during the alpha testing to keep priorities out of it .

I don't even know what to say about the user base regarding this. Unbelievable.

Good for Omni for keeping that nonsense out of it.

Read the freaking book people. GTD has a different approach to this problem.