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-   -   Working with OmniFocus, OmniPlan and OmniOutliner (http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=12602)

DamonC 2009-05-22 10:52 PM

Working with OmniFocus, OmniPlan and OmniOutliner
 
I'm a software developer, building applications in FileMaker Pro and I'm trying to decide on the best strategy for tracking my work. I'm becoming overwhelmed with where I'm storing my notes, planning and tracking tasks and projects, and I'm duplicating data in a number of places.

I use OmniFocus for tracking my life, work and personal. I don't feel this is the best place to track all the detail of projects I'm working on and feel it's best placed to track higher view items (project phases), setting start and due dates etc. I use OmniOutliner to track project details. I have to duplicate the information in OmniFocus as I can't enter project tasks without them being assigned to a project phase. I'm not really using OmniPlan yet and I'm thinking about how best to schedule the projects. I would have to duplicate the project phases and larger tasks into the schedule.

I also have a Customer Relationship Management database in FileMaker Pro where I track my customers, estimates, projects, invoices, purchase orders and payments. I create an estimate, which, if accepted, converts to a project. I enter the project's phases here and track the time each phase takes and then use the information for billing and an invoice is created based on the project information.

I'm struggling to work out the best way to manage this information and I'm concerned that I'm spending too much time managing my projects and not enough time actually working on them.

Does anyone else have a similar dilemma? Have you worked out a strategy for managing your work like this?

I've been toying with the idea of pushing information from OmniFocus to OmniOutliner and from OmniOutliner to OmniPlan with AppleScript, pushing the data in both directions to reduce the duplication of data that I'm currently dealing with. Has anyone done this with AppleScript?

DamonC 2009-06-13 01:41 AM

Does anyone have any comments on this?

Lucas 2009-06-13 05:15 AM

I don't know that you really want to use OF at all. If you're just tracking larger milestone issues with OF, isn't that better handled by OmniPlan or something else? My feeling is that OF is better suited to the nitty-gritty detail tasks, since really, in context mode, all the milestones and organizational whatever is pushed aside in favor of the detail tasks.

whpalmer4 2009-06-13 05:18 AM

Can't some of your goals be met by simply embedding links to OmniOutliner documents in your OmniFocus database?

lanthano 2009-06-22 09:23 PM

Could online applications be the answer
 
Have you seen what 37signals.com have to offer? It may be just what you need. The have a suite of online apps. Some of the simpler versions are free, and, if you find you need more features, you pay a monthly fee. The are all to do with project management and project communication.


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