Dear Omnigroup,
Of all the application developers for the iOS platform, I hold the Omnigroup in the highest esteem. *Why? *Quite simply because of all the developers I see, your company has a very "Apple-esq" feel.
Apple focus less on adding hundreds of features to their platform; rather, they focus on adding less features but making them work especially well. *And their attention to detail, IMHO, is second to none especially to interface design.
I see these traits with the Omnigroup, from the customer support through to the attention to detail placed on bringing your range of apps across 3 platforms; Mac, iPad and iPhone.
I run my own company employing 12 people. *And let me tell you, any test of a task management system is with someone in my position as any small business owner will testify. *For me, a truly robust task management system is one that still works well despite the constant interruptions I have during a typical working day. *Every day I problem solve MANY things in order to keep my manufacturing business on track. *Manufacturing bespoke products is truly challenging. *All of these take me away from my task list for any given day! *And many of those tasks are truly time dependent. *For example, ordering from component suppliers may have a 12pm deadline otherwise products will not arrive the next day. Just in time manufacturing is necessary to keep control on such vital things as cash flow!
Omnifocus is a remarkable piece of software but no matter how hard I try, I continually fall off the bandwagon in terms of using it successfully in my life. *When I analyse WHY this is the case, unfortunately it is not because I don't adhere to a "strict" system of GTD practices, rather, it is because the software has not kept pace with how the world is changing as a result of technology. *The very thing you support, for example iPhone and iPad, are the things which now show weaknesses in the underlying design of Omnifocus.
5 years ago, my main use of technology was a desktop! *Not any more. *Walking around my two factories, I spend more time with my iPhone and iPad than a desktop. *These necessarily change how I deal with things like, for example, email. *Even at my desk, I am inclined more to use my iPad since as soon as I need to get up and go deal with something or see a customer, I have everything I need in the device.
Whether you believe in the hype or not, we are in a post PC world. *In that post PC World, I see few developers (other than people like Evernote) who seem able to ensure a smooth and seemly transition across the varying platforms - from Mac to iPad to iPhone. *One of the biggest criticisms I have for ALL DEVELOPERS is their incorrect assumption about what features are NOT included in, for example, an iPhone app because they feel they don't make sense! *Wrong wrong wrong. *This presumes how people are using their devices or will use their devices rather than actually HOW they use their devices. *This is very evident in how Omnifocus translates from Mac to iPhone to iPad and no - I am not talking interface design here.
Think about it for a second. Release an iPhone or iPad app missing features found on the desktop or another platform - of course that user cannot use the missing feature! It's been predetermined. Put that feature in from day one and people have options! People will evolve their use of a given product as opposed to being "forced" down a road.*
Focusing specifically on task management, the iPad and iPhone represent opportunities to think beyond typical software design. *Most software developers, no matter how clever they think they are in terms of designs for mobile devices, still have the mindset of a "desktop" designer. *Using the iPhone as an example, the inclusion of location based tasks and reminders would on the face of it seem "smart". *And it is. *But its barely scratching the surface IMHO. *An iPhone is a device that travels with you in your life nearly all of the time (well, it is in my life). *This opens up the opportunity for the software to be SUPER SMART since it can communicate with you its owner in a very different way than if the software merely exists on a desktop! *When you add CONTEXT and SEMANTICS into software, it can become something truly different, but most importantly, useful and relevant. The key thing here is the software engaging with the user in some cases rather than a user always initiating that interaction.*
Keeping things simple, let me explain why Omnifocus and every single other task management application out there fall very short of the mark.
My inbox, like most people, is created from varying sources. *A phone call. *A text message. *A conversation. *All of these are easy to capture into a GTD system.
But - love it or hate it, email is for me, and I am sure a HUGE number of other people, the largest source of "things I need to do" and it is here that Omnifocus and everything else fails…and fails badly!
When I process an email into a task, it almost ALWAYS has an attachment or something else I need to keep with it. *Except like more and more people today, I am processing email from an iPhone or iPad. *The entire system is destroyed at this point when on my iPhone I open an email - I know there is something I need to do - attached to is an important PDF file, yet I am screwed!
The software should get out of my way to allow me to productive! *But it doesn't. *From my iPhone or iPad I cannot deal with that email. *Yes, I can create a task that says "get email about XYZ and process into OF on my desktop". *Is this being productive? *Really? *I think not! *Yes, at some point when I get to my desktop I will probably remember to process that email. *But now I have dealt with the contents of that email TWICE rather than once. *Is that being productive? *I don't think so. *Even if I add a task about the contents of the email and don't worry about processing it from the desktop, I then have decisions to make about where I file the email; do I leave it cluttering my inbox? *And I will need that PDF file and want to get to it quickly when I review the task which will almost certainly be on my iPad or iPhone. *It's a horrible nightmare!
I need to deal with that email on whatever device I am using. *I need that attachment to go into Omnifocus where I can process it immediately. *No matter where I am. *OR add it to an existing task for continuity. * *Yes, a cloud service would be great. *But at the very least the OPEN IN feature supported through iOS should allow me to attach that PDF to an EXISTING TASK or create a new one. *And that isn't a especially difficult proposition.
I realise iOS imposes restrictions. But that's why you guys are clever. You find ways around them!*
Now let me talk to you about alarms! *First of all, alarms are ESSENTIAL. *With real world interruptions that you cannot control, ALARMS are essential to get you back on track. *But the alarms featured in Omnifocus and all other apps are stuck in the 1980's software design. *OMG!!!!
Let me explain. *When an alarm goes off, I could be talking to a customer. *The alarm is ignored. *5 other iOS notifications later and it is lost in a sea of notifications that are all distractions. *The concept of the "alarm" failed not because of me, but because its linear concept just doesn't cut it in 2012!*
For tasks I deem urgent, that alarm should go off; go off again; and again; and again until it is dealt with! *I need the tasks I deem SO IMPORTANT to repeat their alarms until the alarm is removed or task ticked as completed. *Who knows what I will be doing when that alarm goes off and again, real world interruptions will prevent me getting to it. *As I said at the beginning, true task management software should be as robust as possible against interruptions. *
Continuing with alarms, why do I have to set a time? *If I need to get something off to a supplier by 12pm, the software should be gently reminding me in good time from the START TIME of the task to the DUE TIME. *How? *Well, for starters, if I have not entered the application to review my tasks for today that should be an instant alert to the software which should be analysing "well, this task has been marked as super critical, it has a deadline, his working day starts at 8am, its now 9am and he has not reviewed his tasks for today, best I start warning him now"! *That's what I call smart! *How difficult is it to log whether someone has actually reviewed their tasks for today to reflect that in the whole process of "when is a good time to start reminding…."
When we set TIMES for alarms, sometimes they are relevant but many times we will never know what we will be doing! *Current "thinking" about software - imposed by developers - is "let's give the user a time to choose". *IMHO this is far from clever or intuitive. *Add a small amount of semantics and it should not be necessary to tell the software a time to remind you, but rather have the software provide the alerts in good time, automatically, intelligently so there is considerable less risk that a really critical time deadline is missed. The only time a user should enter is the time of the deadline.*
And now let's talk about delegation and SHARING information. *Love them or hate them, we live in the "social" world of Facebook, Twitter and around 1 million other social networking sites. *No, I don't want to share my tasks with twitter thanks very much! *BUT, I struggle to think how most tasks do not involve interaction with other human beings. *And we need to share those tasks or delegate them or both!
Please can I:
Share a task to someone else using OF! *Think - more licenses sold!
Share a task to someone using email
And send gentle "nudges" to users too either automatically (yes --- automatically so I don't have to think about the follow up especially if I have set a deadline) and manually! *And let me send those nudges not just by email but by iOS notifications for other OF users or by text message.
I could go on and I know this appears as another list of "I want's" but it truly isn't. *As one of the REAL ethical developers out there, I am asking the Omnigroup to take a moment to sit back and RE-IMAGINE task management, not taking one single thing away from its GTD roots but rather, focusing on the future. *The future are people using OF across 3 platforms, using and creating data in a variety of applications (for example Evernote, Dropbox) and needing to bring that information into a mobile platform that's then available across ALL platforms and then interacting with those tasks and projects with people in the real world.
Thank you :)