Have You Attempted a Weekly Review on the iPad?
 

I absolutely love the OF iPad app...

However am super curious as to if anyone has attempted to work solely off the iPad OF app instead of calling the OF app on the Mac "Home Base."

I tried to do my Weekly Review with the iPad app, though as much as I enjoy using this app, must admit I couldn't barrel through it. I'm not wanting to dumb down the app, not at all..I'm producing this thread for sake of congregating the minds of those who live off OF and want to reach a bit closer towards easier, smarter productivity.

Like I said, I love the OF iPad app. Though I use it everyday, I'll admit it has made me use the Mac version a bit more...only to make sure everything is running smoothly, plus i'll say that few keystrokes are more productive in the long run.....of which leads me to ask:

IF you have done the WR on the iPad, if you've used a wireless keyboard; if that makes it any easier?

I'd imagine it would immensely. Before running out and getting the bluetooth keyboard, I figured i'd ask this forum. I'm seriously considering purchasing the wireless keyboard. I'm even thought about ditching the Griffin Passport Elan i'm carrying the iPad around in and getting the InCase Travel Case that has a multiple slots for the iPad, wireless keyboard and other necessities.

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Again, just thought i'd ask. In a way I feel that many of us, not just in the OmniFocus world but overall iPad ecosystem are natives in testing out how a tablet/different kind of computer will interact with us on a daily basis, and vice versa. I would love the OF iPad to replace my OF on Mac app...but perhaps its the years of having OF on my Mac that i've been accustomed to all this horsepower.:p

I now do all my reviewing on the iPad. I currently am in a period of slow productivity or a period where my tasks are currently well defined, so during my review process, I've not had to add too many additional items. With that in mind, the lack of proper keyboard has not been an issue.

Once OF iPad finally refreshed the review cycle on my reviews, I had a mountain of projects to review. I have taken the advice of someone on this forum to loosely assign a handful of prime number intervals to my different projects. This keeps the amount of stuff to review to a minimum and always keeps the list manageable.

Of course, now that I think of it, maybe I'm really doing a 2-3 day review cycle now instead of a weekly.

I must confess that before the iPad app, I never used the review functionality in the Mac edition. Sure, I'd give my projects a look and make sure they were in good shape, but I didn't find the review interface on the Mac all that helpful.

I think better on my couch, with the iPad (no keyboard) in my lap or hand. For me, reviewing is a 'lean back' activity, not a 'lean forward' one you do at a desk...

What Brian said. :)

What Brian and Gopi said!

I've used both Mac and iPhone apps since day one on each but I have to admit I used to be terrible at keeping on top of reviews until I got the iPad version. Now it's so easy to do my review I've already seen a huge improvement in my ability to work my system.

I have a little weekend ritual to go unwind in the coffee shop in my local Waterstones (large book store) on a Sunday afternoon. I'll get myself a large mug of coffee and a cake and go chill on the sofa with my iPad to do my weekly review and plan my '[URL="http://zenhabits.net/big-rocks-first-double-your-productivity-this-week/"]big rocks[/URL]' for the week.

[QUOTE=RiK;84871]What Brian and Gopi said!

I've used both Mac and iPhone apps since day one on each but I have to admit I used to be terrible at keeping on top of reviews until I got the iPad version. Now it's so easy to do my review I've already seen a huge improvement in my ability to work my system.[/QUOTE]


Same here and I believe that it's completely psychological but I find doing certain things on the iPad (in this case OF weekly review) simply engenders better focus.

My one gripe with OF4iPad review is the inability to lock the review period to a specific day, but the workaround of setting the review period to 3-4 days should work quite well for me.

I'd also like to have the 'option' to filter out on-hold projects and believe it should be an option in 'Settings' because some users prefer the current method.

Lastly, during review I'd prefer to be able to hide actions with contexts assigned on a per project basis. In general if it has a context assigned to it, I'm actively working it and don't need to see it cluttering up activities requiring legitimate review. However, I can also imagine that with sequential projects I'd actually prefer to see these items during review (I don't currently have any active sequential projects, but it's inevitable). It's because both scenarios can be simultaneously applicable that I believe this setting should be a 'per project' attribute.

Kind regards,

James

I had to turn in my MacBook to AppleCare last night and only had two hours to get to the apple store to drop it off, so I began my weekly review on the iPad. For a thorough, in depth review the iPad insisted with too many finger taps, while perhaps due to having the Mac version for years now it allowed me to quickly create and modify prOjects all around.

I do believe the iPad version is great for reviews, but personally only if I don't have 100+ inbox items to process. When it's time to simPly Scan and modify a few items then the MacBook is a power house.

Nevertheless, I dropped off my MacBook with Apple and will continue to use both the iPad and iPod app till I get my MacBook back.

I've found the iPad app to be very well structured and laid out, though currently believe I am subconsciously struggling to simply just tackle next actions.....

...but that's another story.

iPad only for WR
 

I've got to the point that my weekly review is only done on my iPad. The review functionality, like mentioned before, seems so much more in tune with how I want to do my review. I'll admit I do varying degrees of my WR. Some weeks it's Sunday afternoon on the couch sitting next to my kids while they watch a movie. On the other end of the spectrum is when my iPad is on a stand with a BT keyboard and I use my Mac. Those are the WR when I feel I need to do more collecting and processing.

Ditto to the above - I do all my reviews on my iPad. Haven't quite got into the habit of making them weekly yet (sometimes I set a task to do the review, how sad is that?) but the iPad works great.

I use OF for iPad to coordinate my notes and note-taking workflows with other apps so it's really useful for me to see if I need to outline some research a week earlier than I'd originally thought.

I've found weekly reviews on the iPad to be very useful. I definitely find review to be best done away from my usual work area.

On issue I have is that I've not found an easy way to make bulk changes to review periods or to change the default review period. I'd like to change all the things I want to review weekly to 3-4 days as suggested by jwhitetoo. I usually aim for a Monday review, but various things cause me to miss it. If I do the review later in the week it seems like I need to skip a week of review later which is annoying.

If you adjust the review interval when there are no projects left to review, it changes the default. Changing a large number of review intervals (or anything else) on the iPad is certainly tedious work, but a snap on the Mac if the change being made is to the same value.

I had been neglecting my weekly review for a while, but having it on the iPad (a very new thing, as I have only had the iPad for a few days now) has made the review so easy. I can easily go through everything and keep it under control. Just having it there has given me increased productivity.

Just picked up my iPad 2 a couple of weeks ago and did my first weekly review on it last night.

I really like getting out of my house when I do these reviews (courtyard, rooftop, Starbucks, park, etc.) and I found that to be cumbersome when I had my Macbook Pro. This week I decide to try the iPad review. It was a huge success. Very simple and easy and I was focused on that one screen. On top of that I synced my bluetooth keyboard and was even more comfortable. All I carried was my iPad and that keyboard. It was great.

What I did was I set up all projects separately to review on a certain period of time. Like someones once per week, some once per year.

Now if I would want to suddenly review ALL my projects, how can I do this? I think in iPad I would have to individually press each project separately (by pressing down and pushing review project).

Is there an easier way in omnifocus for Mac to set all my projects for reviewing - so that I can then review them all on iPad?

[QUOTE=devastat;95463]What I did was I set up all projects separately to review on a certain period of time. Like someones once per week, some once per year.

Now if I would want to suddenly review ALL my projects, how can I do this? I think in iPad I would have to individually press each project separately (by pressing down and pushing review project).

Is there an easier way in omnifocus for Mac to set all my projects for reviewing - so that I can then review them all on iPad?[/QUOTE]

You can access the review setting under the project tab via inspector tab.

devastat,

If you want to set all of your projects to be ready for review on some specific date, in OmniFocus on the Mac, select all of the projects, bring up the inspector, and set the next review date for the whole bunch at once.

Now that I've told you how to do that, let me encourage you not to do so :-)

If you really want to review [b]all[/b] of your projects, why not just bring up the project view and look at each project in turn? The only thing that tapping the Mark Reviewed button does is to update the date the project was last reviewed, and the date it will next be due for review. If you are really going to review everything, and you like having different projects on different review cycles, reviewing everything at once (or rather, marking everything reviewed at once) can be counterproductive. For the day-to-day operation of your system (keeping your active projects moving and remaining alert to any impending catastrophes), I think it is better to review every day, looking at a fraction of your projects, so that you give each reviewed project a quality review, rather than an abbreviated glance. As a bonus, intelligent scheduling of reviews means you don't have to set aside such a large block of time—which is easier to carve out of a busy schedule, X uninterrupted hours, or 5 blocks of about X/5 hours? If you divide up all of the projects that are reviewed at a given interval, and set evenly-sized chunks of them to have their next review date today, tomorrow, etc. over the course of that interval, you get a steady stream of work, rather than one big pile. So, take all of the projects you review weekly, divide it in to 7 groups, and set 1/7 to be reviewed today, 1/7 tomorrow, and so on. For a bit of extra cleverness, use a prime number for the review interval, which maximizes the time between cycles lining up.

There are two key things about this workflow: you really want to do some reviewing every day (if you don't, the reviews will get bunched up), and doing any sort of "all projects" review should be done without marking the projects reviewed with the review mechanism (again, you'll undo the optimization). In exchange for that, you get a relatively steady review workload, and you can review individual projects on whatever granularity they require without any changes to your workflow. Got a project that needs daily reviewing, but you do weekly reviews? That's a problem. Got a project that needs daily reviewing, and you do daily reviews? Not a problem. Set the project's review interval to a day. Everything else can stay on a more relaxed schedule.

@whpalmer4 Thank you very much for a very helpful post.

Ever since the first release of the iPad app, I've been trying to do my reviews solely on the tablet.

I'm sad enough to have a repeating task for the review (I'd never get around to it unless nagged by an overdue task!) and on the occasion I've had to do it on my Mac it feels a chore in comparison. On the iPad it's almost a pleasure.

I'm still not sure whether it's the software or the hardware that makes the difference... I think it's the sign of a well-designed app.

Stopping Review
 

I do my weekly review on my Macbook Pro in a program called Daylite. However, I am considering making some changes. Today I clicked on Review on the OF iPad app just to see what it looks like. How do I get out of Review and back to the main OF program! Thanks.

Steve

Press the Home button just below the inbox button.

I was perusing through these OF forums and decided to re-hatch this thread.

I've sold my iPad 1 since, considering i'll be starting UCLA this coming fall.....


....however, I truly miss my iPad. I managed to perform numerous Weekly Reviews and came out feeling great about them all. I'd love to get an iPad again though considering i'll be starting university soon for the 1st time, I think i'll stick to OF on my MacBook Pro and iPhone.

As an advice to all those who've done a WR on the iPad; I wish you the best of luck in all your successful outcomes and genuinely encourage you to delve head first into the OmniFocus app on iPad as it's truly served me well.

On a personal note, I believe i'll be tackling UCLA on my MacBook Pro and iPhone for the first quarter till Apple comes out with a Retina Display iPad 3.

All the best,

HappyDude