Omnifocus

[Jim]

You only you lose synchronicity with the electronic version if you choose not to maintain it. That would be true of any system, paper and electronic or otherwise.

We have the reverse experience with losing things. Since paper is cheap and small, it is prone to being damaged or lost. I can't count the number of times that notepads have been misplaced. My friends have spilt their coffee on my papers numerous times. To them, it is just paper. They take extra care around my electronics. Electronic data is easy to replicate. Between my Drobo and MobileMe, I have never lost electronic data. And my data is backed-up hourly, something that would take notable effort and/or expense with any pure paper system.

As David Allen recommends, I use tools that I take pride in. I'm not rich, but I invest what I have in things that I love. I take pleasure in using them, whether it be as nice as a $900 Mont Blanc pen, or as low as a $200 desktop computer. Not surprisingly, I use my computers much more than a pen, and they give much more back to me.

Since you can attach files to items in OmniFocus, yes, it trumps paper by a mile (I'm being conservative here). Sketches, diagrams, annotations, mind maps, voice recordings, photos, live hyperlinks, mp3s, movies, you name it. Regardless of how good an artist is, paper isn't as fast as my iPhone capturing a photo in an instant. Maybe you can transcribe verbal dialog pretty fast, but OmniFocus can record every single sound (which could include music and sounds - which would prove extremely difficult to put on paper anywhere as efficiently). Draw anything on paper, and I can grab a photo of it in OmniFocus in my iPhone, and is automatically added to an item. That item, with the photo or voice recording, etc. is then automatically synced into my computer, where it can be used in other programs.

With an electronic system, there isn't any overhead to sorting projects versus context. I find it truly useful. For example, I often need to enter items that have a Hardware Store context into many different projects. When I am at a hardware store, my iPhone's GPS detects the location, and automatically presents me with a list of items that I want to purchase at that location. No sorting through index cards, no double entries, no plastic tabs on worn pages in a notebook. It just works, things get done, and I enjoy the process with a trusted system. Win-win-win, no?

 

[kewms]

With an electronic system, there isn't any overhead to sorting projects versus context. I find it truly useful. For example, I often need to enter items that have a Hardware Store context into many different projects. When I am at a hardware store, my iPhone's GPS detects the location, and automatically presents me with a list of items that I want to purchase at that location. No sorting through index cards, no double entries, no plastic tabs on worn pages in a notebook. It just works, things get done, and I enjoy the process with a trusted system. Win-win-win, no?

There may not be any overhead to sorting by projects or contexts, but there *is* overhead to creating the explicit project-next action link in the first place.

On paper, I just create a master Hardware Store list, add to it as needed, and refer to it while I'm at the store. It just works, things get done, and my system doesn't get in the way.

*shrug* To each their own.

Katherine

 

[Jim]

I think I see the overhead with paper in this instance (unless there is double entry, which is overhead in and of itself). The overhead is needing to clearly phrase the link to the project on each list that the project branches onto. In OmniFocus, the link is automatic, so that overhead isn't needed.

Your system would get in the way if you wanted to view all project actions together at once. Viewing by project (and seeing the status of all of the related actions in one view) is part of my weekly review, so your methodology wouldn't work for me.

I think this is one of the reasons why GTD is system agnostic, if it wasn't, it wouldn't meet everyone's needs. You need to use a system that meets your own personal needs.

 

[mcogilvie]

If you aren't concerned about security, control, and access - then we have core differences in our mental foundations (which are unlikely to be resolved in this forum discussion).

As it turns out, I know a bit about computer security, with over two decades of experience in many aspects of computing. I currently chair our department's computer committee. and supervise two full-time and two part-time staff members. I don't want to go into great detail about the issues, but typically both native applications and web apps are relatively insecure, particularly when native apps are used on more than one machine, with any kind of data transfer between machines. Web apps generally take hardware failure off the table, which is really more of an issue than security for most people. Of course, I don't do things things like put credit card numbers in next action lists, and I don't think anyone else should.

I took another look at Toodledo, and using it feels very sluggish compared to using a native program. It is very fast as a web application, but very slow as a native application. The keyboard shortcuts leave the shortcut as a entry in the field in Opera, which I need to delete, which is a extra step. The iPhone interface feels like I am navigating through 2G speeds (I was using Wifi). Toodledo hardly feels minimalist to me (comparatively, Remember the Milk actually does) - there are plethora of settings, layouts and configurations - which makes it easy to get distracted. I felt lost navigating Toodledo. Its interface feels inefficient to me. For example, it takes three clicks just to make a selection in a drop-down menu (one to activate the menu, one to drop it down, one to make the selection).

Perhaps I have a faster net connection and faster wifi, but I don't see much speed difference. For a new entry in Toodledo, hit 'n' for new, tab between fields, hit the first letter for a dropdown list ('w' for Waiting, 2nd 'w' to get Work), return to finish. It's a little faster for me than Omnifocus, I think, because I can hit tab without moving my hands, but I have to move my right hand to hit right-arrow in OmniFocus. I agree that Toodledo has a lot of flexibility. I think that is why I am curious about other people's use of OmniFocus: it has a lot of features, but I felt like I had to use a lot of them to get a working system.

If one needs to use an inefficient tool in order to limit its use, I would argue that the issue is a matter of discipline rather than an issue with the tool itself. My car is a tool. I could tweak it endlessly, drive to random locations, or spend superfluous time at the auto store. Or I could use the tool to get me to my destination. It is discipline (not the maximal nature of the car) that gets me to where I want to go. It is my choice how to use the car (I could use a car as a filing cabinet - but it isn't the car's fault if I choose to use it inefficiently). It is the same way with OmniFocus.

So tell us how you use Omnifocus, please. I really am interested, if it works well for you. By the way, are you related to the famous Lecter?

 

[mcogilvie]

There may not be any overhead to sorting by projects or contexts, but there *is* overhead to creating the explicit project-next action link in the first place.

On paper, I just create a master Hardware Store list, add to it as needed, and refer to it while I'm at the store. It just works, things get done, and my system doesn't get in the way.

*shrug* To each their own.

Katherine

I'm currently using a notation where the project and next action are tied.

Project needing next action (in projects list):
>project

Next action with single next action:
next action >project

Next action forked off from main project:
next action >>project

Next action for subproject:
next action >subproject >project

Almost everything is next action >project almost all the time. As stuff gets done, the next action and context change. I find it very fast, and helpful in maintaining focus. Project information rides along as a note, including possible future actions if I have any. I think this works pretty well for me, and could be implemented in many ways. Sort of minimalist to OmniFocus maximalist. YMMV, of course.

 

[mmurray]

mcogilvie: what do you do when you are not connected to the net ? Or is that so infrequent it doesn't matter ?

I've only just started on omnifocus because I just replaced by Palm TX with an iPhone. I would be interested in hearing how people are using omnifocus.

Thanks - Michael

 

[ext555]

omnifocus is great for GTD , but it might be more than some people need

I'm currently using Omni-Focus for GTD with Mac and iPhone .

it's a great program , rock-solid and omni group are very quick to fix any glitches that appear .

that being said , it might be more than I require . I find myself spending more time than I want to spend , creating and filtering and viewing lists .

To make it easier to use on iPhone I have my projects split into three main folders and then it drills down into sub folders from there , for example WORK and then a subfolder for each department , it's very easy to locate projects as needed and file away newly created projects .

If you are a fiddler and a tweaker like me , the desktop version of OF can be very dangerous ground , tweaking filters , and perspectives and formatting styles to create the " ultimate system " : (

Right now I'm considering converting to .txt files for all my lists if I can get " Text Guru " to handle them on the iPhone , or I may try an Evernote set up with one note for each context list [but that's not a true .txt file ]

Omni focus is well thought out program and if you have a heavy workload with detailed projects it's a great choice . They have a great example of some guy on their blog working on some mega project with hundreds of small sub-projects .

 

[mcogilvie]

mcogilvie: what do you do when you are not connected to the net ? Or is that so infrequent it doesn't matter ?

I've only just started on omnifocus because I just replaced by Palm TX with an iPhone. I would be interested in hearing how people are using omnifocus.

Thanks - Michael

There is a nice tool, Todo from Appigo, for the iPhone that syncs to either Toodledo or to Remember the Milk, providing off-line access everywhere. I use it to sync to Toodledo. I'm forced to use Toodledo folders for my contexts, rather than Toodledo's contexts (it has contexts and folders but Todo only uses folders). That's no hardship with me at present. Toodledo has just released their own native iPhone app with more features than Todo, but it has a few bugs for which fixes have been promised. iPhone Todo is $10, and iPhone Toodledo is $4, so neither is a big investment. I also use Appigo Notebook, which syncs with the Toodledo notebook feature. It's $5, and works well. I sync both Todo and Notebook a couple of times a day, over the air. I also use iCal and Contacts to complete the set of four traditional PDA apps.

I tried to use Omnifocus, but I found it hard to drive. I would also be interested in hearing how people are using it.

 

[mmurray]

I came to Omnifocus from using a Palm TX. I am finding it a little over featured at the moment in contrast to my previous bunch of lists in the Palm Tasks/ToDos. On the other hand not having the number of Contexts limited by a decision of Palm programmers from a decade ago to limit categories to 15 is nice!

One catch I am noticing is that with all the possible viewing options it is very easy to open up a Project and think you have no NA's whereas in reality you have left on some option like `Show only flagged'. That's OK when I know that Project has an NA and thus my `trusted system' is wrong. But that somehow seems contrary to the idea of a trusted system!

Michael

 

[ext555]

omni focus filters and perspectives

You definitely want to learn about and use " perspectives " in omni focus .
It will keep you from the " oops " of enabling wrong filters .
Omni Focus is very powerful and customizable but that power can bite you if it's not kept under control .

Perspectives are simply " custom views " of how you usually view your data .

 

[mmurray]

You definitely want to learn about and use " perspectives " in omni focus .
It will keep you from the " oops " of enabling wrong filters .
Omni Focus is very powerful and customizable but that power can bite you if it's not kept under control .

Perspectives are simply " custom views " of how you usually view your data .

Hi Paul

Thanks -- that's useful.

Regards - Michael

 

[mmurray]

Ah I just discovered that every time I make a perspective of my own it creates a corresponding icon I can drag in from the Customise Toolbar window. Very nice.

Michael

 

[ext555]

yes there's a lot of power under the hood, just use what you need and leave what you don't : )
I try to dumb down omni focus as much as I can to an organized workflow.
My favorite feature is the " stalled projects " view , it shows you all projects that currently do not have an Next Action available .

I don't have to look at the projects list very often , that one view shows me any that are " stuck " and I know all the rest are current and up to date in the flow.

 

[Gardener]

The reason I am not using Omnifocus (and I paid for it on both iPhone and mac, with not much regret) is that workflow wasn't working. Too much focus on the tool, not enough on getting things done. My lists filled with non-actionable items, because Omnifocus was too much like a filing cabinet for me. I would be interesting in hearing in detail about other people's usage of Omnifocus. I think it probably appeals to the maximalist (as opposed to minimalist) in all of us.

Hah! You invited detail! So I provide detail. Specifically about your complaint about non-actionable items cluttering up your lists.

I keep my non-actionable information in a separate "Info" folder structure in Omnifocus, so that those items don't clutter up the project folder space. I have a separate set of Contexts for these items, all set to On Hold so that the items don't show in my action lists. I occasionally also use these contexts for information items mixed into actual projects, if I want those items handy while viewing the project as a whole but don't want them popping up as actions. So if I'm viewing a project, I can filter by Remaining to see info and actions, and by Available to see just actions.

When filing items from the Inbox, and when doing my weekly review, I try to make sure that non-actionable items go to Info rather than Projects. In fact, items that could be considered either information or action, are often filed in Info.

For example, I have a backlog of things that I should read for work, but none of these items has a hard deadline. Each of these items could be considered an action, but I don't like that, because to me the list is really just a list of titles and the action is "Read something!". So I store the titles in an Omnifocus single action list named Work To Read, in the Info folder structure. Since all of these "actions" have an On Hold context, they're totally invisible to my action lists.

In the Project structure and action lists, this list of titles is represented by a single repeating action, "Activate something from Work To Read." This action comes up once a week. If I don't already have a Work To Read item that I'm working on, and if I think there's a chance that I will work on one this week, then I'll go look at the list in Info, pick an item, and give it an active Context instead of its usual On Hold context. That will make the title of the item pop up in my action lists. Then I check off the "Activate something..." item, it resets its date into next week, and so it vanishes for a week.

This is all much simpler to do than it is to explain. It's a method that I use often - a list of reference information in Info, and a "do something" action in the Projects area.

Another use of the Info structure: I have "Planning" lists in the Info folder structure, where I put ideas and plans that aren't yet ready to become actions. Those lists may or may not be represented in the Projects structure.

For example, if I'm working on a big feature for a project but the subsequent workload for that project is up in the air, the very last action for the feature may be a reminder to "Review (project name) Planning list." At that time, I'll go look at the list in Info, and I may promote it or some subset of its actions to a Project.

Since I review the Info section in the weekly review, that also provides an opportunity to promote information to actions. So a list of wild ideas for decorating my office may live in Info for a long time, but once in a while an item will be promoted to an action in Projects - "Order magazine sorter", say, or "Measure closet for file cabinet".

And if I want to make sure that I occasionally turn my attention to a list that's still just speculation and wild ideas, I'll, again, have a pointer in Projects to that list. So I have "Make preliminary list of Christmas gifts" in Projects, and the gift list itself is in Info. If I have a thought about a gift, that thought will flow from my mind to my Inbox to the Gifts info list. I don't want to forget that gift idea, but it's not yet ready to be an action.

Gardener

 

[mcogilvie]

Hah! You invited detail! So I provide detail. Specifically about your complaint about non-actionable items cluttering up your lists.

Thanks!

I keep my non-actionable information in a separate "Info" folder structure in Omnifocus, so that those items don't clutter up the project folder space. I have a separate set of Contexts for these items, all set to On Hold so that the items don't show in my action lists. I occasionally also use these contexts for information items mixed into actual projects, if I want those items handy while viewing the project as a whole but don't want them popping up as actions. So if I'm viewing a project, I can filter by Remaining to see info and actions, and by Available to see just actions.

So I think you are saying that projects (and their next actions) and information about those projects live in totally different folders. It's sounds like something I would have trouble keeping in sync.

In the Project structure and action lists, this list of titles is represented by a single repeating action, "Activate something from Work To Read." This action comes up once a week. If I don't already have a Work To Read item that I'm working on, and if I think there's a chance that I will work on one this week, then I'll go look at the list in Info, pick an item, and give it an active Context instead of its usual On Hold context. That will make the title of the item pop up in my action lists. Then I check off the "Activate something..." item, it resets its date into next week, and so it vanishes for a week.

This is all much simpler to do than it is to explain. It's a method that I use often - a list of reference information in Info, and a "do something" action in the Projects area.

Another use of the Info structure: I have "Planning" lists in the Info folder structure, where I put ideas and plans that aren't yet ready to become actions. Those lists may or may not be represented in the Projects structure.

For example, if I'm working on a big feature for a project but the subsequent workload for that project is up in the air, the very last action for the feature may be a reminder to "Review (project name) Planning list." At that time, I'll go look at the list in Info, and I may promote it or some subset of its actions to a Project.

These tricks remind me a lot of the things people figured out how to do with Lifebalance. I've used them in the past, but ultimately I found it a lot of work for not that much payoff. I find that I really like the spontaneity of reading something because it's at hand, I have the time, and I feel like it.

Since I review the Info section in the weekly review, that also provides an opportunity to promote information to actions. So a list of wild ideas for decorating my office may live in Info for a long time, but once in a while an item will be promoted to an action in Projects - "Order magazine sorter", say, or "Measure closet for file cabinet".

And if I want to make sure that I occasionally turn my attention to a list that's still just speculation and wild ideas, I'll, again, have a pointer in Projects to that list. So I have "Make preliminary list of Christmas gifts" in Projects, and the gift list itself is in Info. If I have a thought about a gift, that thought will flow from my mind to my Inbox to the Gifts info list. I don't want to forget that gift idea, but it's not yet ready to be an action.

I'm curious about your use of notes in Omnifocus. I would just put that kind of information in a note associated with the project. Granted, the iPhone version of Omnifocus makes getting to that information a little painful, but it is very accessible (and formattible) on the desktop. I'm guessing you use (mostly?) the desktop version, and use multiple windows to look at information and projects simultaneously? In any case, thanks for sharing your process.

 

[Gardener]

So I think you are saying that projects (and their next actions) and information about those projects live in totally different folders. It's sounds like something I would have trouble keeping in sync.

I have become puzzled. When you mentioned your lists being filled with non-actionable items, I assumed that you were referring to project support material. But it sounds like you want your project support material stored with your actions, so now I'm curious as to what kind of non-actionable items were causing a problem?

In my case, I definitely prefer the support material to be separate from the actions. I do like the support material handy, which is why I keep some of it in Omnifocus, but I prefer to keep it in the separate Info structure.

I suppose the "planning" stuff doesn't seem to fit this model, since many of the items in those planning lists look like actions and could turn into actions. But in my own mind, those items are purely speculative until I polish them up and move them into the Projects area.

These tricks remind me a lot of the things people figured out how to do with Lifebalance. I've used them in the past, but ultimately I found it a lot of work for not that much payoff. I find that I really like the spontaneity of reading something because it's at hand, I have the time, and I feel like it.

But you do have the time and you do feel like it. If that were true of me, I'd read the item too - it's not as if I think, "Hey, I want to read something" and then think "But I can't, because my Read action has a start date in the future." I'll read it if I want to and think to read it.

The issue comes up when I _don't_ have any impulse to read the thing, ever, and I realize that, oops, that document that my manager sent me four months ago is still unread, and so are sixteen others. Reading this stuff is seldom urgent, and it's usually boring, so without a little structural help, it never floats to the top of the priorities and never gets done.

That's a big part of what GTD does for me - getting non-urgent but nevertheless important tasks worked on, so that they don't slide until they become urgent or otherwise bite me.

I could, of course, have an action in my Projects area for each document/book/article/whatever that I want to read. But I prefer separating the backlog list from the backlog-clearing action, so that all the clutter of the list items is out of my Projects area.

It's generally flexible backlogs that I treat this way. If I had an item that I definitely needed to read by a given date, I would give it its own action and a due date.

I'm curious about your use of notes in Omnifocus. I would just put that kind of information in a note associated with the project. Granted, the iPhone version of Omnifocus makes getting to that information a little painful, but it is very accessible (and formattible) on the desktop. I'm guessing you use (mostly?) the desktop version, and use multiple windows to look at information and projects simultaneously? In any case, thanks for sharing your process.

I never put lists in notes - I create lists with an OmniFocus action for each list item, rather than entering the list in the Notes area. If the actions aren't really actions, I would, again, give them an On Hold context - usually my generic "List" context.

I mostly use notes to clarify actions, but the actions have already been cut into bite-sized pieces. So I wouldn't have an action "Shop for Christmas" with a list in a note - I'd have a project or action group "Shop for Christmas" with an action for each gift, and if I needed more detail for a gift I'd put that in the action's note.

In general, I want to see a separate action/item for every logically separate piece of information - where, of course, I'm defining "logically separate" for myself, so I realize that that doesn't necessarily tell you much. I don't want to ever miss the need to do something because I failed to look inside a note - the action name should either give me everything, or make it perfectly obvious that I need to look in the note.

Gardener

 

[Jim]

I tried to use OmniFocus, but I found it hard to drive. I would also be interested in hearing how people are using it.

Tools are tools, and driving them is user-based. For example, when examining Toodledo, I spent more time tweaking it than getting things done with it. Is that the tool's fault? Maybe if it has some major design flaws, but that is another topic.

You should use the tool(s) that facilitate getting things done for you. For me, that is OmniFocus. It could be pen and paper, or a online web app, but I have found that I get more things done in shorter periods of time when working with OmniFocus. It works for me, it is definitively faster and it gives me a feeling of being Captain and Commander of my system (which I feel is utterly important when selecting a tool).

I have OmniFocus set up with the following areas:

• Inbox
• General
• Mind
• Body
• Spirit
• Home
• Office
• Car
• Objects
• Monthly
• Quarterly
• Annually
• Lifestyle
• Incubate
• Done

I have OmniFocus set to start up when my Mac boots. It is running all of the time (it doesn't drain system resources on my G5 with 2GB of RAM). I have a Quicksilver speedkey set to invoke OmniFocus when I type F5. It is always a single keystroke away.

I gather actionable items into OmniFocus using the Clippings service speedkey, which gathers pertinent data simultaneously (for example, while in Mail, typing the speedkey instantly captures the e-mail into OmniFocus' Inbox, with the subject as the title, and a link back to the e-mail in the notes - this is faster than I could do these steps with any web application - the speedkey literally takes a second to do all of this). For new projects, I use the Quick Entry speedkey.

Three times a day, I process my inbox items. I use speedkeys to move them into areas. This is also the point where I make decisions about the validity of the project. If I don't commit to the project at this time, it is deleted. If I have doubt (which is rare), I send it to Incubate.

Once a day (generally at the end of the day), I organize the next actions and contexts for projects. I add start and due dates (if needed), and set actions as sequential or parallel.

When there aren't any projects taking my active focus, I review the lists in OmniFocus, and choose next actions to do based on my active context(s).

When projects are finished, I move them to Done (I prefer to move them, rather than just hide them).

Once a week (currently on Wednesdays, but I am evaluating changing that), I use the Review perspective and mark each item as reviewed. This provides me a record of when I last reviewed something. This helps me review items on a regular basis while leaving monthly, quarterly and annual items to their respective review periods.

On the road, I use OmniFocus with my MacBook Pro, which is synchronized through MobileMe.

When my computers aren't accessible, I use OmniFocus on my iPhone, which is synchronized to MobileMe. I will often capture audio or photos directly into OmniFocus on the iPhone, to facilitate rapid inbox items.

When running errands, I utilize OmniFocus and GPS on the iPhone to identify my location and instantly access my contextualized lists. For example, GPS detects that I am at the grocery store, and it presents me with my grocery list (items with a context of Grocery Store).

If any of the single systems fail (power/battery gone, hardware failure, theft, etc.), I go to the other. Since things are synchronized, there is no risk of losing my data.

As a further back up (in case of hardware failure or batteries running down), I carry a stack of 3x5 index cards (ala the HipsterPDA). I find that I rarely use them, but they take little room, and are nice to have as a resource.

For pure research gathering (not actionable items), I use Evernote. I like that it has native clients (Mac, Windows, iPhone) in addition to a synchronized web interface.

MobileMe keeps my OmniFocus data, calendar and contacts synchronized. It is stable now, and it just works.

The above works smoothly for me, and gives me complete confidence. I have trust and pride in the system. There isn't any double-entry, specialized phrasing/descriptions or unnecessary upkeep. There was a period where I did tweak OmniFocus, but that passed, and now it is a tool that facilitates getting things done. I think that is the case with all tools. You need to work with them until the familiarity threshold allows you to truly trust/work the tool. For me, it was about a month. I feel it was well worth it.

On a web application side-note - about a week ago, our internet connection was out for half a day (IT blamed it on fiber being cut as the telco laid new lines). If I was using a web only application, I would have been at a complete loss. Another concern is service terms and reliability. Take a moment to read this article, and then ask Toodledo about TOS and uptime guarantees. Just some food for thought.

Jim

 

[mcogilvie]

I have become puzzled. When you mentioned your lists being filled with non-actionable items, I assumed that you were referring to project support material. But it sounds like you want your project support material stored with your actions, so now I'm curious as to what kind of non-actionable items were causing a problem?

I like outlines, but outlines pretty much inherently contain things which are not next actions: future actions, "tasks" which are larger than next actions, subprojects, possible actions, information, considerations, et cetera. Now I keep small amounts of that material in a note attached to the project. I use a simple text-based outline style.

But you do have the time and you do feel like it. If that were true of me, I'd read the item too - it's not as if I think, "Hey, I want to read something" and then think "But I can't, because my Read action has a start date in the future." I'll read it if I want to and think to read it.

The issue comes up when I _don't_ have any impulse to read the thing, ever, and I realize that, oops, that document that my manager sent me four months ago is still unread, and so are sixteen others. Reading this stuff is seldom urgent, and it's usually boring, so without a little structural help, it never floats to the top of the priorities and never gets done.

That's a big part of what GTD does for me - getting non-urgent but nevertheless important tasks worked on, so that they don't slide until they become urgent or otherwise bite me.

I could, of course, have an action in my Projects area for each document/book/article/whatever that I want to read. But I prefer separating the backlog list from the backlog-clearing action, so that all the clutter of the list items is out of my Projects area.

It's generally flexible backlogs that I treat this way. If I had an item that I definitely needed to read by a given date, I would give it its own action and a due date.

I have kind of the opposite problem. I have zillions of exciting, stimulating things to read. I don't have to read everything, but I need to make a lot of judgement calls: read the abstract, skim, read parts, read in detail, et cetera. I could easily spend 40 hours a week or more "handling" my reading. It's crucial that it not appear in my project and next actions lists.

I never put lists in notes - I create lists with an OmniFocus action for each list item, rather than entering the list in the Notes area. If the actions aren't really actions, I would, again, give them an On Hold context - usually my generic "List" context.

I mostly use notes to clarify actions, but the actions have already been cut into bite-sized pieces. So I wouldn't have an action "Shop for Christmas" with a list in a note - I'd have a project or action group "Shop for Christmas" with an action for each gift, and if I needed more detail for a gift I'd put that in the action's note.

In general, I want to see a separate action/item for every logically separate piece of information - where, of course, I'm defining "logically separate" for myself, so I realize that that doesn't necessarily tell you much. I don't want to ever miss the need to do something because I failed to look inside a note - the action name should either give me everything, or make it perfectly obvious that I need to look in the note.

If I do that, I end up with lists like:

present for wife-
present for son-
present for daughter-
present for dad-
present for mom-

which are tasks or subprojects and therefore non-actionable,
so I put that stuff in a note. Next actions look like

@ agenda: ask wife re sat shopping

which will lead to progress on most of these items.

 

[Gardener]

I like outlines, but outlines pretty much inherently contain things which are not next actions: future actions, "tasks" which are larger than next actions, subprojects, possible actions, information, considerations, et cetera. Now I keep small amounts of that material in a note attached to the project. I use a simple text-based outline style.

I guess that even though the outline capability is there, I don't use it as an outline in that way in my Projects area. I have an outlined folder structure that leads to my projects, and then each project is usually just a linear list of actions.

I may occasionally have an action group, but it's still just actions - and if I find myself making a large action group or several action groups, that's usually a signal that it's time to break the project up into multiple projects. On the rare occasions that I really do want a non-actionable "action" there, like maybe a phone number that I'm sick of looking up, I'll give it one of my On Hold contexts so that it doesn't appear in an action view.

The other information that you mention - possible actions, information, considerations - tends to be of two types. If it's theoretical or not directly relating to an action, it'll go in the Info area.

If it's directly related to an action that I actually plan on doing, it may be in the action note, or it might cause the action to be cut into even smaller bites. So, for example, if I have an action, "Prepare Widget Lab for demo" and I find myself needing a list of actions for preparing the Widget lab, I won't put those in a note - I'll instead replace that one action with those several actions.

On the question of reading, I kind of understand and kind of don't. I understand that an activity that you want to spend time on, and need to keep under control, is completely different from an activity that you have to force yourself to get done. But I tend to have a lot of actions for both kinds of activities.

On your example gift list, I don't see the items as non-actionable, because to me they would mean "Figure out what to give wife as a Christmas present", "Figure out what to give son as a Christmas present", and so on. And I think that "figure out" tasks are actionable - they can easily expand into subprojects or break out into full projects, but they're still actionable.

So I might have:

Project: Get Christmas Gifts
Action: Joe (which translates to "figure out Joe's Christmas gift".)
Sub-action: Look at ThinkGeek website, list likely items.
Next Sub-action: Look at Wind & Weather, list likely items.
Next Sub-action: Try to choose gift from list of likely items.
Next Sub-action: Make list of other gift sources, if no gift chosen

Now, all this elaborate structure reflects the fact that Joe is hard to buy for and I need something to lead me into the frustrating process of finding his gift. And it suggests that it's time to create a new project called "Choose Joe's Christmas gift" instead of burying this in the subproject level.

If Sally, on the other hand, is really easy to buy for, I may just have a single action "Choose and buy Sally's Christmas gift" or even, if the choosing happened in my mind as I was typing the action for Sally "Have _Joy Of Cooking_ shipped to Sally." So I don't create all these bite-sized pieces with everything, I just create them when I feel that I need them to attack the task.

Gardener

 

[mcogilvie]

Tools are tools, and driving them is user-based. For example, when examining Toodledo, I spent more time tweaking it than getting things done with it. Is that the tool's fault? Maybe if it has some major design flaws, but that is another topic.

I think one has to be careful of the following fallacy: if my tool doesn't work for you, it's your fault, but if your tool doesn't work for me, it the tool's fault. There are many, many todo list applications available, and some of them are even relatively bug-free. I prefer Toodledo to Remember the Milk for small, subtle interface reasons, but they both work.

You should use the tool(s) that facilitate getting things done for you. For me, that is OmniFocus. It could be pen and paper, or a online web app, but I have found that I get more things done in shorter periods of time when working with OmniFocus. It works for me, it is definitively faster and it gives me a feeling of being Captain and Commander of my system (which I feel is utterly important when selecting a tool).

I find that I prefer the incredible lightness of almost not being aware of my lists at all, of dancing in my work from next action to next action.

I have OmniFocus set up with the following areas:

• Inbox
• General
• Mind
• Body
• Spirit
• Home
• Office
• Car
• Objects
• Monthly
• Quarterly
• Annually
• Lifestyle
• Incubate
• Done

I have OmniFocus set to start up when my Mac boots. It is running all of the time (it doesn't drain system resources on my G5 with 2GB of RAM). I have a Quicksilver speedkey set to invoke OmniFocus when I type F5. It is always a single keystroke away.

I gather actionable items into OmniFocus using the Clippings service speedkey, which gathers pertinent data simultaneously (for example, while in Mail, typing the speedkey instantly captures the e-mail into OmniFocus' Inbox, with the subject as the title, and a link back to the e-mail in the notes - this is faster than I could do these steps with any web application - the speedkey literally takes a second to do all of this). For new projects, I use the Quick Entry speedkey.

Three times a day, I process my inbox items. I use speedkeys to move them into areas. This is also the point where I make decisions about the validity of the project. If I don't commit to the project at this time, it is deleted. If I have doubt (which is rare), I send it to Incubate.

Once a day (generally at the end of the day), I organize the next actions and contexts for projects. I add start and due dates (if needed), and set actions as sequential or parallel.

When there aren't any projects taking my active focus, I review the lists in OmniFocus, and choose next actions to do based on my active context(s).

When projects are finished, I move them to Done (I prefer to move them, rather than just hide them).

Once a week (currently on Wednesdays, but I am evaluating changing that), I use the Review perspective and mark each item as reviewed. This provides me a record of when I last reviewed something. This helps me review items on a regular basis while leaving monthly, quarterly and annual items to their respective review periods.

You seem very disciplined in your approach.

On the road, I use OmniFocus with my MacBook Pro, which is synchronized through MobileMe.

When my computers aren't accessible, I use OmniFocus on my iPhone, which is synchronized to MobileMe. I will often capture audio or photos directly into OmniFocus on the iPhone, to facilitate rapid inbox items.

I know Omnifocus on the iPhone can do that. Do the photos and audio show up on the desktop?

When running errands, I utilize OmniFocus and GPS on the iPhone to identify my location and instantly access my contextualized lists. For example, GPS detects that I am at the grocery store, and it presents me with my grocery list (items with a context of Grocery Store).

I use a grocery list on the refrigerator, accessible to the whole family (well, not to Ginger, the dog). I shop at two "normal" grocery stores, one close to home and the other on the way home from work, as well as Trader Joe's and Whole Foods (on the way to my parents). It might be possible to get Omnifocus to handle this with nested contexts, but it would require some thought for sure.

If any of the single systems fail (power/battery gone, hardware failure, theft, etc.), I go to the other. Since things are synchronized, there is no risk of losing my data.

As a further back up (in case of hardware failure or batteries running down), I carry a stack of 3x5 index cards (ala the HipsterPDA). I find that I rarely use them, but they take little room, and are nice to have as a resource.

How often does that happen?

For pure research gathering (not actionable items), I use Evernote. I like that it has native clients (Mac, Windows, iPhone) in addition to a synchronized web interface.

I'd use Evernote more, but the iPhone app doesn't work without a good connection to the net.

MobileMe keeps my OmniFocus data, calendar and contacts synchronized. It is stable now, and it just works.

The above works smoothly for me, and gives me complete confidence. I have trust and pride in the system. There isn't any double-entry, specialized phrasing/descriptions or unnecessary upkeep. There was a period where I did tweak OmniFocus, but that passed, and now it is a tool that facilitates getting things done. I think that is the case with all tools. You need to work with them until the familiarity threshold allows you to truly trust/work the tool. For me, it was about a month. I feel it was well worth it.

I agree completely that the Omni folks have done a good job of producing a reliable tool. I suppose one of the prices for that reliability is the rather long sync times, on the desktop but particularly on the iPhone. Every so often the desktop tells you it needs to restart the application, thank you very much. The start-up time on the iPhone is long too.

On a web application side-note - about a week ago, our internet connection was out for half a day (IT blamed it on fiber being cut as the telco laid new lines). If I was using a web only application, I would have been at a complete loss. Another concern is service terms and reliability. Take a moment to read this article, and then ask Toodledo about TOS and uptime guarantees. Just some food for thought.

I don't really see your use of Mobile Me (which I use too) to sync OmniFocus as being very different from my use of Toodledo. After all, it was Apple that had the problems in the .Mac to Mobile Me transition. I have a local copy of my lists on my iPhone, back-ups via export, and any interruption of service (and I have very few problems) would be minor. If I lost everything, my lists would regrow themselves, anyway.