Using OmniFocus
 

Hi,
I invested in the iPad, iPhone and Desktop version of OmniFocus, from doing lots of research it seemed to be the best tool thats well integrated across the iOS and OS X platforms.

Took me about a week to clear out my Home Office and Work Office and have everything in my inbox and then another few hours processing them into Projects and Contexts etc..

This is where things started falling apart, I just cannot seem to get into a standard workflow to keep using the tools. I am sure there is more to OmniFocus than just the initial sorting of things todo.

Can other users please share how they use OmniFocus? Maybe I am missing the secret ingredient?

What finally clicked for me was consistently doing the weekly review and making use of the "Active" status and "On Hold" status.

It's nice to be able to sort everything into place the first time around. But if you let the weeds grow, it'll become unmanageable.

Every week, go to review mode to refresh yourself with all your projects and tasks. Either delete a project/task, delegate it to someone else who may be better suited for it (they either have the time and/or the expertise to complete the project/task) or keep it on your list.

By doing the weekly review, you'll feel confident that everything is still relevant - all your projects/tasks are still meaningful.

If a project/task has lost its value (because the time has passed or priorities have changed), then you may as well just delete it.

I weed out all the irrelevant projects every week (it was a nice idea at the time but three weeks later, I realize that I really didn't want to do it anyways).

You may also try using a Someday/Maybe folder and put projects placed in that folder with that "on hold" status.

I usually put all new projects that I brainstorm up in "on hold" status and place it into the Someday/Maybe folder. I already have enough "active" tasks to keep me busy.

In the weekly review, I'll review my Someday/Maybe projects and see what I can delete. Sometimes a project interests me again and I'll take it out of Someday/Maybe and set the status to "Active."

Check out [url]http://usingomnifocus.com/[/url] and get the book. It's well worth the money spent on that book. You'll probably find a lot of forum posts praising the book.....

Thank you Wilsonng

I have done one review on the iPad which actually proved to be worthwhile.

The folders will help, I also felt that deleting or delaying a project is the wrong thing to do as you are not really achieving anything by being organised. However the Someday/Maybe makes more sense to me.

Definitely getting the book, thanks for the link.
I will also set time aside every week to do the review, and consider delegating tasks along with placing things on hold.

Me and my roommate wrote a whole article series on how to use Omnifocus, from setting it up to using it across Apple devices. You can find the articles here:

[url]http://www.asianefficiency.com/omnifocus/[/url]

Contexts are the biggest things for me which made a difference.

Once actions have a context, you can know where and when to work on them, but the biggest thing is the weekly review.

Get this book. It will give you awesome ideas on how to use OF, and much more.
[url]http://usingomnifocus.com/[/url]

Asian Efficiency's blog is great too. They've been making a lot of OF tutorials.
[url]http://www.asianefficiency.com/[/url]

I've been working through the book and found that it has greatly enhanced my use of OmniFocus. Highly recommended.