Slicing and Dicing OmniFocus data?
 

It seems silly to be doing this for an app that is still in alpha, but I suppose it's not long before people start wanting different ways to see data from OF.

One that would be great would be a screensaver module that can show you your current list of next actions. Maybe someone who's more adept at QuartzComposer could figure out how to do it. Until then I've cludged together an AppleScript (which I suppose you could run via cron) that dumps next actions to a text file along with context and project name. A php script then parses it and spits out an RSS feed that the RSS Visualizer screensaver can see. I suppose a more elegant option would be to have the AppleScript dump out RSS in the first place...

What other ways will people want to view OF data (ignoring the obvious "I want OmniFocus Mobile on my iPhone)?

[url]http://allocsoft.com/fadetext/[/url]

Maybe this would be an easier interface.

[QUOTE=mmcroberts]What other ways will people want to view OF data (ignoring the obvious "I want OmniFocus Mobile on my iPhone)?[/QUOTE]

With Tracks, and then with iGTD, I was able to get a text list of items with looming due dates, sorted by context. I then had GeekTool overlay this list on my computer desktop. This was handy - I hope to be able to do the same with OmniFocus someday.

I've been hassling the support ninjas for some way of displaying my contexts/projects in Quicksilver's large type function, which I think would be quite useful, and surely not _that_ difficult? I would like to be able to just type the first letters of the project or context into QS and have it display them across the screen.

Unfortunately, I am a hypocrite and can't script, so I have to ask - has anyone made a script for this already?

Another thing I was wondering about (I'm not yet testing OF :'( ), which might also fall into this area:

What are, or will be, the options for analysing past actions?

I know so far there is some kind of archive (from the thread about archiving repeating actions or not), but I haven't seen how it works.

Does GTD as a concept ever look back and analyse to improve future planning or is this something GTD doesn't bother with?

Disclaimer: I have to admit, I'm not a GTDer, I just built myself a system very similar to GTD in LifeBalance and I'm dying to get a better app for that purpose. I'm planning to read the book this summer though.

[QUOTE=Weasel]Another thing I was wondering about (I'm not yet testing OF :'( ), which might also fall into this area:

What are, or will be, the options for analysing past actions?

I know so far there is some kind of archive (from the thread about archiving repeating actions or not), but I haven't seen how it works.

Does GTD as a concept ever look back and analyse to improve future planning or is this something GTD doesn't bother with?

Disclaimer: I have to admit, I'm not a GTDer, I just built myself a system very similar to GTD in LifeBalance and I'm dying to get a better app for that purpose. I'm planning to read the book this summer though.[/QUOTE]

Currently the alpha version just keeps all completed actions and projects around. The filters let you view completed items and group them by completion date. There isn't yet any analysis of past data.

GTD is primarily concerned with accomplishing things in the present. There is a notion of "higher altitude" reviews, but those are only treated briefly in the book. I personally tend to draw more on Steven Covey's ideas for broader reviews of past performance and future plans, stuff from [I]Seven Habits[/I] and [I]First Things First[/I].