[boris.baesler]

Hi Mark,

I read GTD by David Allen - I'm not sure - about 5 times in the last four years. The first two times a little more intense and since then more for refreshing the knowledge and reminding me of the most important things. Additionally, I'm coaching friends and colleagues about GTD and in that learned a lot about the workflow itself and the individuals needs needs for a workflow.

I implemented the methodology for me first with a paper agenda and some folders for the projects and the next actions (about 4 years ago). And since day one (actually a little earlier ... about november or december 2007) I'm using OmniFocus and trust it since february (completely switched from paper to mac).

From my point of view, OmniFocus focuses pretty good on the GTD process by David. It supports all the steps in the process, even if it's not guiding you through.

I have two inboxes on my computer (OmniFocus Inbox and Mail Inbox) and two on my (i)phone (OmniFocus Inbox and Voicemail). When I got something on my mind or someone puts something on my mind, I put it into my (trusted) inbox. Every now and then (at least three times on a workday: in the morning, before I start, after Lunch, before I restart and in the evening, before I finish) I process all of my inboxes (as OF iPhone and Mac sync, there are only three left: OF, Mail and Voicemail) and do a quick review of the remaining actions. That is perfectly supported by OmniFocuses perspectives.

For processing (that's in the planning view of OmniFocus), I follow the process described in GTD. I look at my inbox and decide, what the desired outcome is, if it's actionable, if it's a project and what's the next physical action. In OmniFocus, all that is supported. It's easy to change an item in the inbox to a project.

And concerning Email: An automatic collection doesn't work for me. I have to see the mail in the mail view (html or whatever) to decide, if it's something I can, should or want to do anything about. And what I then put into my (OF) inbox is the desired outcome and maybe some comment from the mail (via copy & paste), but nearly never the whole mail with all the blabla. OK, that's only my personal workflow, but it works pretty fine. And by the way: you can set up OmniFocus for collecting items from your mail application ... look in preferences -> mail.

I think, GTD is less about tools and automation and more about a change of mind on how to handle all the "open loops". As soon as someone learned how to implement it (individually), they don't need a tool that is guiding them through a standardized workflow. At least I needed a tool, that is flexible enough to support my personal workflow.

OmniFocus is not (yet) perfect, but it works pretty great for me.

But that's of course only my point of view.

For me, OmniFocus is the best (GTD) tool available on the market ... and not only for macs. Because of the coaching stuff, I do a continouus review of the tools available. If someone asks me for a tool recommendation for GTD, I always answer: If you've got a mac, get OmniFocus, and if not, get a mac first. OK, that is at least based on a little personal prerferences, but the people, I recommended OmniFocus to, are as well pretty happy with it.

But if you found a tool that suits your personal needs better than OmniFocus, I can only recommend to use it.

Kind regards
Boris

P.S.: If you want to have the "next item view", you can use OmniFidget, it's a free dashboard widget by the OmniGroup ... I don't use it, because I didn't see the need to do so, but you can give it a try.
P.P.S.: Whow, my first estimate of two minutes or less was a little optimistic. Anyway, now it's done.