I'm just starting up with OmniFocus on the iPhone. Using a tool like OmniFocus requires habituation, and for now I've decided to start with the local db on the iPhone. The Mac version and syncing machine can be connected later, the iPhone is the primary touchpoint, OmniFocus-to-go.
So far, so good.
One small first impression/suggestion follows--has anyone else felt the same way? The direct manip date-time wheels are cute, but frustrating.
When I set goals, I almost always focus on the Due Date, not the Start Date. The current date & time are a reasonable guess for the Start Date, unless there is a serial task dependency. Why not just fill the Start Date in for me? I'll almost never change it.
The default choices, constrained by the wheels, are especially poor. I think I would much rather have five simple choices:
Today
Tomorrow
This Week
Next Week
<<or set custom date and time>>
(Now, there is the question of work context--is tomorrow the next day on the calendar, or the next work business day? Does the week end on Friday, or Saturday, or Sunday, or...? There are many clever things that could be done, with enough good info in the calendar. But I think even one "standard model"--tomorrow is the next calendar day, the week ends at midnight Saturday--would be easy to learn, work most of the time, and be simple enough to remember, allowing me to customize the date when necessary. I appreciate the issue of cultural perspectives, though, and other approaches might be better from a product management viewpoint.)
I really don't want to fuss with times related to the first four above. The time should just be midnight of the day in question. Having the wheels default to a time that is the current time, but on the next day or later, is especially bad, because it always turns out to be a meaningless time unless I adjust it. I'm trying to counter this right now by systematically setting the Due Date times to 11:59 PM on the date selected, but this just creates unnecessary work for me.
My habit (and I suspect for many others) is to review the pending actions first thing each morning. This almost always produces several derivative actions that are short-term, typically due the same day, but almost never more than a week in advance. More than a week in advance, I plan by date.
OK, to sum up -
I'd really like the Start Date to default to "now", or the Due Date of a prerequisite task, as appropriate.
As cute as the wheels are, my life would be easier without them. All I really need are the five buttons above. The wheels could still be used for the fifth button, of course.
I almost never want to set times (as opposed to dates), so a default Due Time set to "end of the day in question" would save me **time** to get actions done.
Which is, after all, the point, yes?
So far, so good.
One small first impression/suggestion follows--has anyone else felt the same way? The direct manip date-time wheels are cute, but frustrating.
When I set goals, I almost always focus on the Due Date, not the Start Date. The current date & time are a reasonable guess for the Start Date, unless there is a serial task dependency. Why not just fill the Start Date in for me? I'll almost never change it.
The default choices, constrained by the wheels, are especially poor. I think I would much rather have five simple choices:
Today
Tomorrow
This Week
Next Week
<<or set custom date and time>>
(Now, there is the question of work context--is tomorrow the next day on the calendar, or the next work business day? Does the week end on Friday, or Saturday, or Sunday, or...? There are many clever things that could be done, with enough good info in the calendar. But I think even one "standard model"--tomorrow is the next calendar day, the week ends at midnight Saturday--would be easy to learn, work most of the time, and be simple enough to remember, allowing me to customize the date when necessary. I appreciate the issue of cultural perspectives, though, and other approaches might be better from a product management viewpoint.)
I really don't want to fuss with times related to the first four above. The time should just be midnight of the day in question. Having the wheels default to a time that is the current time, but on the next day or later, is especially bad, because it always turns out to be a meaningless time unless I adjust it. I'm trying to counter this right now by systematically setting the Due Date times to 11:59 PM on the date selected, but this just creates unnecessary work for me.
My habit (and I suspect for many others) is to review the pending actions first thing each morning. This almost always produces several derivative actions that are short-term, typically due the same day, but almost never more than a week in advance. More than a week in advance, I plan by date.
OK, to sum up -
I'd really like the Start Date to default to "now", or the Due Date of a prerequisite task, as appropriate.
As cute as the wheels are, my life would be easier without them. All I really need are the five buttons above. The wheels could still be used for the fifth button, of course.
I almost never want to set times (as opposed to dates), so a default Due Time set to "end of the day in question" would save me **time** to get actions done.
Which is, after all, the point, yes?
Linear Mode
