[pgauntlett]

I created a Perspective using "Due" (I also have one for Due and Flagged together). I then closed "tomorrow" within the view and saved that perspective. Now when I open the Due perspective all I see are todays tasks (and any I've procrastinated on from earlier!)

Here is a shot of my "Due/Flagged" perspective.

[pvonk]

Yes, Things has both due and start dates. To set a start date you make the task "scheduled". The task doesn't show up until that date. And you can specify a due date and how many days before that it should be moved int the "today" bin. Using the word "scheduled" is a bit confusing, they should call it "start".

[wildginger]

Originally Posted by artdecorations

The longer I use omnifocus, the more I miss a do today option.

Something which is standard in the program "Things". Not GTD but a very user friendly program.

The drag and drop function works also better in "things", because one can only change the title after double clicking.

Not so in Omnifocus. Dragging an action, or project is more difficult in omnifocus because the titlefield opens if one clicks the bar.


I think omnifocus could really be more userfriendly if they look closely at the userfriendly aspects of "Things"

My loyalty is still very much with OF, not only because of the OF application, but especially because of the Omni Group style in being very open in their dealings with the public - their humour is welcome too.
But I must admit that Things is quite appealing because of its simplicity and ease of use: particularly the Today and Next features. I do fear that I will end up there unless OF incorporates the best features of its competition, rather than sticking doggedly to a rigid GTD workflow.

[wilsonng]

The beauty of OmniFocus is the capability of adjusting to your workflow. I've found that I gain tips from these forums and slightly tweak my OF setup to improve my workflow.

It's a bit hard to be a newbie to OF but it grows up with you.

Like wildginger, my loyalty lies with OF because the support system in place. Great tech support and a responsive forum keeps me here. I noticed that Cultured Code has dropped their user forums after getting bashed repeatedly about why feature X, feature Y, and feature Z hasn't been released yet.

Things will have its advantages (simplicity, today list) but OF still outclasses it. OF is the benchmark for me. The biggest feature that drew me to OF over Things was the Review features.

I can set review date cycles in OF. My weekly review gets cut down in half because I can review only the projects/tasks that I need to review in the next 4 weeks. That's a great time saver for me. Certain projects/tasks need to be reviewed weekly. Others can be reviewed on a monthly or quarterly basis.

IMHO the review feature is one of the most subtle and most powerful features that I've found in OF that can't be found in most other GTD programs.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by wilsonng

IMHO the review feature is one of the most subtle and most powerful features that I've found in OF that can't be found in most other GTD programs.

Agreed! A bit astonishing, too, as the review is a very important part of GTD. Maybe none of the other developers could find a way to make the review be suitable eye candy...

[wilsonng]

Originally Posted by wilsonng

Like wildginger, my loyalty lies with OF because the support system in place. Great tech support and a responsive forum keeps me here. I noticed that Cultured Code has dropped their user forums after getting bashed repeatedly about why feature X, feature Y, and feature Z hasn't been released yet.

Oops.... Lemme take my foot out of my mouth. Just to verify, I went back to the Cultured Code web site. In their blog, they announced that they had restarted their user forums once again.

It appears that they really weren't maintaining and monitoring the forums and it got out of hand. They underestimated the time and resources needed to maintain the user forums. So they canned it. They finally revamped it after realizing how important a user forum is. A lot of companies have to spend an extraordinary amount of time on the forums answering questions or monitoring for spam.

I'm just amazed at how active the OmniFolks are in the forums. The user forum monitoring is done as well as receiving e-mail for bug reports and feature requests.

Just had to clarify that while I eat my left foot with a bit of salt and pepper.


Things is great for beginners and some folks may not need to go to something as powerful as OmniFocus. All their basic needs have been met. But for the rest of us, OmniFocus is the tool of choice.

I peek at Things about every 6 months to see what they have but I remain unimpressed. Thing's "Today" is probably the only thing that would make user feel that they can "trust" Things.

Perhaps some OF users don't feel comfortable with hand-rolling their own perspectives. In particular, they're not sure how to create their own "Today" perspective. Things places it automatically in their user interface. It's up to the OF user to create their own "Today" perspective.

I know that my "Today" perspective goes something like this:

Group by Context
Sort by Flagged
Status is Available
Duration is Any
Flag Status is Any

This is my "Today" perspective. I know I can "trust" this perspective. But perhaps OF newbies aren't sure how to create their own variation of "Today" so they don't trust it. It's only after experimenting with OF, they'll feel comfortable with their "Today" perspective.


I know it took a while for me to hand-roll my own "Big Rocks" perspective. My "Big Rocks" perspective is the same as my "Today" perspective but the only difference is that I have:


Sort by Due
Flag Status is Flagged



During my weekly review, I unflag everything and go through my projects and tasks to see what I want to flag as Big Rocks for this week. The "Big Rocks" are any project(s)/tasks(s) that I want to complete this week. This week, I went through my weekly review and flagged "Send Christmas gifts to my friends & family" project. I also flagged a "Decorate office for Christmas party" project and "Prepare kids for the Christmas program" project. So that's my three Big Rocks of the week. I know I can click on my "Big Rocks" perspective and see all three flagged projects that I want to focus on this week.



I think a web page or PDF dedicated to tips or tricks on how some users use OF would be very helpful. Or perhaps a set of pre-canned perspectives ideas and suggestions for newbies to try out.

The mystery is in unlocking the vast possibilities and powers of OF. This is probably what confounds newbies who just want to hit the ground running.

[Toadling]

Originally Posted by artdecorations

The drag and drop function works also better in "things", because one can only change the title after double clicking.

Not so in Omnifocus. Dragging an action, or project is more difficult in omnifocus because the titlefield opens if one clicks the bar.

In OmniFocus, the title field only enters edit mode if you *release* your single mouse click. If you continue to hold the mouse button down, you can grab the item from anywhere on the title field and drag. Of course, you could just drag by the item's "handle" on the left as well (i.e. the bullet that appears when you mouse over the item).

For me, editing in OmniFocus feels quicker and lighter than in competing apps. You can immediately select text in a title without a lot of unnecessary clicking. Once you've entered edit mode, you can move the text cursor from row to row with the arrow keys, just like you're editing multiple lines of text in a simple word processor or text editor. Things, on the other hand, requires a tedious double-click of every single action you want to edit -- very frustrating when working with a lot of items.

It's stuff like this that really makes OmniFocus the "pro app" in this category, the kind of app that can handle large amounts of data and that grows with you. Things has a nice "shine" to it, but it lacks the depth and sophistication of OmniFocus.

-Dennis

[ksrhee]

I've tried Things several times, but never used it full time due to

1. Things' inability to put scheduled items (ones with future start date) with projects. I can't manage any projects with Things given this limitation.
2. OF's flexibility in entering and managing items. It just takes less time and hassle to enter or manipulate a variety of information in OF. Why spend more time doing this? I would rather spend time working on my tasks.
3. Things' limitation in sort or categorize (show/hide) projects (or life areas for that matter). OF has more flexibility and power.
4. OF's review function. This is really a helpful feature that ensures not only I get stuff done but also nothing falls through the cracks. I haven't seen any other program that offer the ease/simplicity of this feature than OF. Perhaps Omni should really market this feature.

I know Cultured Code promised some of these features for a long time, but they have not delivered this, and I wonder if they ever will . . .

Given its flexibility, power, and support, I am sticking with OF.

[wilsonng]

That's the firestorm that brought Cultured Code's user forums in the first place. Frustrated users would be flaming away asking why this feature and that feature wasn't put in yet. They had to finally take down the site because they couldn't keep up with the pace of answering the flames.

It seems like they are a smaller outfit than OmniGroup. They just recently recruited the programmer that created iGTD. So they do bear watching.

However, I am quite pleased with OF and the frequency of updates have slowly evolved OF into a powerful tool.

OF desktop and OF for the iPhone just blows Things desktop and Things for iPhone out of the water.

I'm sure Things is great for beginners and folks who don't really follow the GTD bible. I'm guessing that Things got the MacWorld Best of Show 2009 because it was simple enough for newbies or for people looking for a quickie review. A very simplified interface for light GTD users or task management folks but not much else for the rest of us.

We're getting close to that magical version 2.0 for OF. I personally can't wait to see what happens in 2010.

[pvonk]

Originally Posted by wilsonng

T
OF desktop and OF for the iPhone just blows Things desktop and Things for iPhone out of the water.

Actually, the unacceptably slow speed of OF/iPhone is what got me to look at Things. When I waited 15-30 sec. for the iPhone OF to update, I began not using it at all. BTW the Things forums are alive and active. I go there most every day.