[rdbot]

been enjoying this thread, thanks for all the discussion.

[wilsonng]

Originally Posted by Derek Zinger

While it's good that I'm checking in regularly with OF to see what there is to do, I don't want to spend *too* much time managing or tinkering.

I think the danger that a lot of people face in OmniFocus (or any other task manager) is that they keep looking at their projects and keep tweaking the next actions endlessly. I usually have to quit OmniFocus and keep it out of sight. It's too tempting to open OmniFocus and then get distracted by a project. Then I'll want to edit it endlessly thinking that I am busy but I'm just procrastinating.

I will fire up OmniFocus in the morning to get my morning daily review - check my due items, flag 3-5 tasks to work on today. Then I'll quit OmniFocus.

I just keep my iPod touch in my pocket when I want to add something to the inbox. Then I'll check off tasks in the iPod touch and sync it later to my Mac.

At the end of the day, I'll sync my ipod touch back to the cloud, start up OmniFocus on my Mac and sync it. Then I'll either start flagging the next few tasks for the next day, take a look ahead at new due items, check out the Forecast, and probably look at the review perspective to see what projects need reviewing.

Then I repeat the same morning daily review and end-of-day daily review.

Another danger of people spending too much time managing and tinkering in OmniFocus is that they're always looking for a better workflow. After finding a good workflow, we think that there is something even better (the-grass-is-always-greener-on-the-other-side syndrome)./

OmniFocus' setup allows you to create your own workflow but it becomes dangerous because we'll be checking out productivity blogs and ebooks looking for that perfect workflow.

[Cypher]

I unintentionally tend to do a similar thing.

I usually review my day ahead on my iMac at home in the evening. I work through my projects picking out the main tasks I want to achieve the following day and move projects between my folders to re-prioritise then. I close completed tasks and add any new ones before syncing to the iPad and iPhone.

When I get to work in the morning I use the iPad to work my way through my morning check lists, which include checking ticklers, emails, calendars, night shift logs etc and updating my plans accordingly before doing one last review for the day a head.

During the day I then carry an A5 hard backed book around with me and tend to scribble notes and my plans into that throughout the day. My final review in the morning tends to be adding my most important tasks and plans to the notebook I then leave the iPad on my desk as where I work is not the sort of environment for an expensive electronic device. When I return to my office I will occasionally update the iPad or refer back to it this, but I still haven't made this an automatic reaction and often neglect to look at it again during the day. I also work in a windows only environment so I don't have access to OF from my desk other than via the iPad. So I still tend to work via my notebook throughout the day or react to what comes up during the day.

In the evening back at home, I update OF from my notebook. I also start my plan for tomorrow back into the notebook. Due to using a paper based notebook I hardly ever tinker with my system during the day but its more through being too busy to look at the iPad than through any good intention on my part.

Recently I've added an iPhone to my gadget collection and I am now slowly starting to get this into my workflow during the day, as I do carry my phone around with me. At the moment I mainly use the iPhone as a way to add new actions to my system. I purposely avoid adding a project or context at this stage so it leaves new items in the inbox. This makes it easier to review them later as I can quickly see all the new tasks I've added in one place.