[wilsonng]

Originally Posted by jefferyn

at work, i don't need to write down steps for many activities because i've been doing them for more that 20 years and know how to do them without having to figure out how to do them... it's like riding a bike... i may put bike riding on my list of things to do, but i don't write down the steps for how to ride... even though some analyses can take 6 months work time and span more than a year to complete, i just need to keep that activity in my list of what i'm working on and make time for it, but i don't have to write down what to do when working on that activity...
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Yes i also follow the same thing. In OmniFocus, I just enter bike riding. I think OmniFocus has helped me develop my habits. It helps me keep a routine. Slowly, over time, when my habit becomes ingrained (oh, it's Sunday. Gotta hit the bike trail), then I can pretty much eliminate it from OmniFocus because it is on autopilot now.

Originally Posted by jefferyn

regarding using time/dates to keep track of activities and tasks, this is somewhat confusing and problematic for me... there are some activities and tasks seem very natural to work from a date and time perspective, like deadlines and meetings... however, there are other random tasks that can happen whenever convenient... that has been one of the difficulties i've had in using ical... it works for appointments, deadlines, and meetings, but hasn't worked well for me for anything else... the "to do" in ical doesn't work at all for me... i'm thinking now that i may be seeking something that compliments a calendar approach... but there will be overlap between the way i want to order things in OF and the "today" like approach by using a calendar... one thing that i really like about chandler that i haven't seen in any other calendar software is the ability to switch from a "calendar" view to a "to-do" view they call "triage" mode... osaf does state that use a GTD approach for their calendaring software... working things of in a list mode is much more efficient for me that to try to work the from a "calendar" view... i want to be able to get all the other information out of the way and just focus on the simple tasks at hand and not have the information overload of all the other things i don't need to see right now... i have seen that this is the essence of OF and other such tools, which is what attracts me to them... sometimes i need to work in the big picture and planning mode, and other times i need to work in a focused check list mode when i want to get things off my plate...

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Like you, sometimes I see things more clearly in calendar view. So I would put it in my calendar program. Yes, it's another inbox that I have to look at during my daily review but it works better for me.

I'll look at OmniFocus for tasks to do and then I'll look at my calendar program for any hard deadline events (something has to be done on this date because severe consequences may occur).

David Allen writes that if you have any fixed deadlines, put it in your calendar.

[ksrhee]

For me, both are good programs, but I settled with OF for a variety of reasons:

1. OF is a lot more powerful and flexible than Things. I can customize my views to suit my needs using perspectives. My observation of folks who prefer Things over OF citing the ease of use and simplicity probably haven't utilized the perspective capability to fullest in OF. There are certain limitations in things that are hugh constraints for me in my workflow such as not being able to assign task to a project and schedule it at the same time and a few others mentioned by others that I won't repeat.
2. Data entry and organization is much easier/faster in OF. Why spend time entering information when the key is getting things done, not writing/planning things? I've tried many other programs but there is nothing I found comparable when it comes to entering information into the program.
3. Iphone integration is much more smoother and versatile (multiple methods of synching). Now with the latest version, entering a new task is also fast.
4. Superb integration with Mail (MailTag) and other programs. Another reason why it's so much easier to manage information . . .

As far as using tags (yes I did create a beautiful system in Things when I was trying it out), but I realized that I wasn't using it as much. In fact, it got so complicated (with hierarchy and multiple tags) that I was spending more time entering/figure things out than doing the actual work. I'm not saying OF is perfect right now, but more complicated tagging system, less useful it got for me. Of course, YMMV.

I think there might be a few more, but these are my main reasons why I keep using OF even after trying many other task/life management programs.

[ext555]

I'm not sure why people keep comparing these programs .
Things just came out of beta yesterday, still has lots of bugs .
They just released an update to their iPhone app , it crashes every time you try to manipulate tags on the iPhone.
Agree with all the comments made below ..IMO lots of " things " no pun intended for them to fix/ implement before it's a mature product .

the " today" list and the tagging always look so promising at home ..but as soon as I'd actually try them in battle AKA " work " they didn't work for me .