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-   -   Putting the Focus in OmniFocus (http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=6023)

CrzyMke 2007-12-03 11:52 AM

Putting the Focus in OmniFocus
 
Having quietly trolled this forum for the last few weeks, it seems like there's a rather consistent meme going one (a couple actually..). The one specifically tossing back and forth in my brain is the "How do i see just...." question. Some wanting to see just what they need to do today - or see just this context - etc. The typical forum response is the obvious one - use a perspective to sort your tasks by the appropriate property. Also useful in some cases is to simply select the contexts that are relevant for your current state, and the view window will show you want you need. For me, this is surely sufficient, but I feel like there is a philosophical disconnect for me with these responses.

The Focus feature was originally touted as the mainstay of working with OF - you could block out all the noise during planning and focus down on what's relevant - reducing any background distration. Is there any reason not to extend this out to contexts?

This isn't intended to be another post nagging about how OF "should be" - I'd much rather discuss how people view the OF philosophy - and why this functionality does/doesn't fit the mold. I always thought the main thrust of OF was literally to focus - removing things that may seem only marginally distracting like extra contexts in the side bar - or more importantly - extraneous data below the level of importance to you (ie not due for a week; items due to be reviewed after this week...etc)


Thoughts?

iNik 2007-12-03 12:30 PM

Although it's taken me some time to figure out how to set it up, I find myself enjoying perspectives and focus more and more. There are times when I just KNOW that I'm not giving attention to an important project or initiative in my life. Focus lets me look at my actions that are related to that goal, without having to prioritize it among other NA's in any given context. Wonderful!

Perspectives, likewise, help free me up from feeling stalled when I'm, say, at the office, and have the ability to do everything from phone calls to online research to talk to my co-workers, or just to leave and run errands. I can see a quick snapshot of what's on my docket and pick the best possible context to ENTER in order to accomplish something worthwhile.

What I find myself missing is some form of meta-focus where I can zero in on problem areas, such as projects without actions, contexts that appear neglected (e.g. no @Home tasks in a week usually means that my wife's been picking up my slack!), etc.

So, OF is great for ACTION control, but less good for reviewing, placing my info into the context of my life as a whole, etc. (Although, for that last, I've organized my work projects by folder, broken up by my areas of responsibility, thus making it easy to see what portion of my job I am not/living up to.)


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