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Hi !
I'm new here and I'm trying to approaching to GTD.
I have OF for iPhone and I like it.
Anyway, I'm trying to understand if OF isn't too much for me.
And that's the question.

I'm an university student and I'll use it for:
- everyday tasks (like clean the house, feed the dog, something like this)
- university tasks (like read that book)
- projects for university
- "general" projects (like prepare s.valentine's day)
- exams
- projects for politics (I'm in "politics", so something like prepare the debate)

So, What do you say?
Should I stay with OF or go with something "lighter" like Apple's Reminders or I don't know What?

(P.S.: Sorry for my english, I'm italian)
 
(Your English is actually quite good, don't worry about it.)

This question is actually quite common. Here's another thread where it was also discussed, with some links that might be helpful: http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=23281

Is OmniFocus too much for you? Would Reminders be enough? From your list, I would guess you want something more than Reminders. You could try it for a few weeks, though, and see.

Anyone else have thoughts?
 
IMO the problem with Reminders at present is it's a really challenge to use on the desktop side. The iCal interface is... just not great. Once Mountain Lion ships, it will be a lot more compelling... if you're not using repeating tasks.

OmniFocus will be a good use for college. I wish I'd had something similar at the time. There are other products in the category (won't name them in this specific thread ;-) which would probably do just as well but don't need to drag this thread into one of _those_ threads.
 
Thank you for your answers.
Now, I should probably explain why I'm here. :)

My "research" for finding the perfect GTD app for me started 1 - 2 months ago.
I started with Reminders: simple, clean and perfectly integrated in iOS, I used it for a while. Anyway the lack of projects and a proper desktop app (I have a MacBook Pro), make me switch. (Anyway, these are not such a big problems: I can name a list with the name of the project and Mountain Lion will bring the Mac App)

Then I tried 2Do. Nice UI, good animations and Full-featured.
But (because there's a "but") I found it too colorful (even for a 20 years old student) and a little bit.. Confused.

So, I switched to Appigo ToDo. I felt immediately that it wasn't for me. I don't know why, but I didn't like it.

What was left, Then?
The two GTD giant: Things and OF.

Things was quite perfect: polished UI, everything in the right place. But There's one big big big problem. I can't set (at an hour) for every single task.
That, and the lack of support, made me switch to OF.

The first thing I said using OF for iPhone was: "why everybody keep saying that it's a complex app?".
I found it quite simple: I understood immediately What contexts are (I haven't yet read the David Allen's book) and I can make a task quite everywhere. Moreover, the forecast view was something that shocked me: Simply beautiful.
I understood also why it was so expensive: quality and amazing support. (even if I have seen an educational discount that I hope to use it for the Mac app)

So, if everything is perfect, why I'm here?
Because I started reading this forum and here there are people that have something like 100 active projects and 500 tasks.
Wow. I realized that, maybe, OF wasn't made for me.
I don't have All those projects and tasks.

That's the reason of the question!

(Sorry if I said something that I should have not said! :) )

Last edited by Niko09; 2012-02-23 at 01:30 AM..
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Niko09 View Post
So, if everything is perfect, why I'm here?
Because I started reading this forum and here there are people that have something like 100 active projects and 500 tasks.
Wow. I realized that, maybe, OF wasn't made for me.
I don't have All those projects and tasks.

That's the reason of the question!
Someday soon you will have more than your fair share of projects and tasks to handle. You will then be glad that you learned how to use OF in a comfortable and efficient way on a small set of projects and tasks, because it will not be frustrating to use when you have to do those big jobs.

--
JJW
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by DrJJWMac View Post
Someday soon you will have more than your fair share of projects and tasks to handle. You will then be glad that you learned how to use OF in a comfortable and efficient way on a small set of projects and tasks, because it will not be frustrating to use when you have to do those big jobs.

--
JJW
I never thought of OF in that way.
You're absolutely right. :D
 
I'm back and, after few days, I've decided to settle with OmniFocus.

Here how I've structured everything (I think I need some advices):
Contexts:

@University
@Personal
@Girlfriend:
- @Home
@Computer
@iPhone
@Dante (that's my pet)
@Home:
- @Modena
- @Venice
@GD (=politics)

Under Projects, I have subjects (I don't know if this is good), a list that has only single tasks that aren't part of a project ("others" is ok?) and a couple of other projects.

Is this workflow good?

Thank you for help!
 
I wholeheartedly approve of your home contexts :-) (my mother's family is from Bologna and Modena, and I always enjoy wandering through Venezia)

I'm not sure about the @Personal and @GD contexts. I would make them be folders or single action lists so that you still have the context field to specify where or with whom you need to be to act on that task. You can use the Focus feature to look at only the projects and tasks in a folder even when in context mode. So, maybe folders named University (containing all projects relating to your studies), Personal (all projects having to do with your personal life), Politics (all projects relating to your political interests), and when you start working, a folder for Work projects. With this structure, you can see all of your actions together, or just those relating to a given area. Probably you'll want an "others" project in each folder.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by whpalmer4 View Post
I wholeheartedly approve of your home contexts :-) (my mother's family is from Bologna and Modena, and I always enjoy wandering through Venezia)

I'm not sure about the @Personal and @GD contexts. I would make them be folders or single action lists so that you still have the context field to specify where or with whom you need to be to act on that task. You can use the Focus feature to look at only the projects and tasks in a folder even when in context mode. So, maybe folders named University (containing all projects relating to your studies), Personal (all projects having to do with your personal life), Politics (all projects relating to your political interests), and when you start working, a folder for Work projects. With this structure, you can see all of your actions together, or just those relating to a given area. Probably you'll want an "others" project in each folder.
Really? Are they from Bologna and Modena? :D

Thank you, anyway.
I think I've undestood, but can you sum up everything?

Do you mean like this?

@University (?)
@Girlfriend:
- @Home
@Dante
@Home
- @Modena
- @Venice
@iPhone
@Computer

Then, under "Projects":
- Personal (folder)
- GD (folder)
- subjects (projects)

Am I right?
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Niko09 View Post
Really? Are they from Bologna and Modena? :D
I've got an entire prosciutto in my refrigerator, and 4 different bottles of aceto balsamico tradizionale di Modena in the pantry. Is there any other explanation? :-)

Quote:
Do you mean like this?

@University (?)
@Girlfriend:
- @Home
@Dante
@Home
- @Modena
- @Venice
@iPhone
@Computer

Then, under "Projects":
- Personal (folder)
- GD (folder)
- subjects (projects)

Am I right?
I would put your subjects in a folder, too. I meant to comment on the fact that you might have both a folder and a context named University. The context would be used for actions which had to be done at the university, and the folder would contain projects for the subjects. Not every task in the University folder would necessarily have to happen at the university. Does that make sense?
 
 


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