Quote:
Originally Posted by pvonk
As a long-time Omnifocus user (from the beta period), I am sad to admit that I have moved over to Things. I've been less than enthusiastic with OF's interface from day one, but put up with it. I admit that OF has more features, powerful features. However over time, I've come to realize that I don't really need them. The only thing (important to me) that OF does that Things does not is sequential tasks in a project - but that rarely comes up for me, and I can fudge it in Things, more like doing it manually.
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I'm a long-time OF user too, and have had/am having similar thoughts. The interface of OF is not
bad, but if I'm using an app all day long it is nice to have an interface that makes me want to use it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pvonk
I've also read GTD several times, thinking it was brilliant, but eventually found the whole philosophy not applicable to my workflow. Contexts are not all that important for me.
Most of what I do is on the computer, a laptop that I carry to work, home, and vacation. Other things like phoning I can do most anywhere. I'm in academia, so my daily schedule is only constrained by classes, usually one per day - the rest of my activities, be they research, reading textbooks, going to the mall to run errands, fixing something at home, etc. can be scheduled as needed. In other words, I don't need to check an @errand context to see what to do if I happen to be near a mall. I check what I need to do and if an errand seems more important to me than other things right now, I'll just pack up and head for the mall. If I'm at work and have something to do at home - then I'll go home to do those tasks, unless I have a must-do task to do at work (although, as I said, most tasks I can to anywhere).
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I'm in academia too, and I have similarly found that contexts - in the traditional GTD sense - are not of paramount importance. I do almost all of my work on the computer. For instance, I make calls very rarely and almost all the journal articles I want to read are now available online via our library's site. Having contexts for different
areas of my work captures things better. For instance, I use my computer for admin, teaching prep and research. If I, for example, had an e-mail context I would not wish to crank though e-mail actions such as:
- e-mail administrator X to get a new copy of our progression rules
- e-mail publisher about desk copy of book for teaching
- e-mail students on course XYZ 101 about forthcoming assessment
- e-mail co-author about aspect X of our paper
I very much want to separate admin, teaching and research. The way I have been trying to do this is to have folders for research and for teaching/admin. Within the teaching folder I've been allocating a context based on the particular course the next action relates to. It is most efficient if I try and crank through a load of single-actions for XYZ 101 at once.
However, this approach is far from ideal. The power of OF somewhat gets in the way. Viewing things in context view with a perspective still displays contexts that have no actions; this has been discussed in other threads.[/QUOTE]
Quote:
Originally Posted by pvonk
The bottom line is that I need a less powerful system, and Things just about covers it for me. Plus it has the kind of simplistic interface that engages me; look & feel is an important property for me when it comes to software.
At this point, I'm just into the third week of using Things - I may eventually find that some features are lacking and could return to OF, but right now, the honeymoon is still enjoyable!
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I have tried Things and, for the same reasons as you, think it would be a better choice for me personally. However, the big obsticle that prevents me from switching in syncing. I would not always remember - or indeed want to have to - sync my iPhone before leaving the house. I also don't particularly want to sync (whether with something like Chronosync or Dropbox etc.) my MacBook with my Mac Pro every day. Therefore, for the time being I am sticking with OF. However, I am really not happy with my current workflow and the niggling feeling of using kludges imposes a significant drag on using the system. If anyone has tips on how I could improve things - without jumping ship from OF, which is in many ways an excellent app for a lot of people, then I would appreciate it!