[curt.clifton]

Here's how I handle the case where a Next Action is a scheduled meeting. I add the meeting to iCal. In OF I create an action like "In time: meet with editor" and assign that to a Waiting For context. In my review of the project I either see that a next action exists, or I realize that I had the meeting and can check off the "In time" action.

I don't create hard links between the OF action and the iCal meeting. You might be able to do that by dragging the iCal event onto the OF action, or using Copy as Link to get a URL for linking from iCal back to the OF action. I haven't had much success with links to OF actions though.

[chinarut]

thanks for all chiming in on this front! i really get the community-driven development of OmniFocus with the support of Omni and it makes my evaluation that much smoother and more pleasant :)

Originally Posted by Ken Case

You've just pointed out one of the technical hurdles with respect to sync'ing items as iCal events: unlike iCal tasks, iCal events have no notion of whether they've been completed or not.

I can accept if I cannot mark a next action as complete while I am in the iCal app.

what I envision is an interface in OF that brings up the existing iCal form (no dual maintenance, no need to jump to iCal) and it has the same requirements and integrity checks.

OF takes care of the meta-data (associated project and completion) and during a weekly review, just like curt mentions, i can check off the item as complete.

the desired functionality being, completing the event allows the next item to turn purple (ie. "process meeting notes") (assuming you are in sequential mode)

Originally Posted by curt.clifton

In OF I create an action like "In time: meet with editor" and assign that to a Waiting For context. In my review of the project I either see that a next action exists, or I realize that I had the meeting and can check off the "In time" action.

curt, it sounds like you have a similar workaround. In my case - I create an next action in my "Calendar" context right now.

Originally Posted by curt.clifton

You might be able to do that by dragging the iCal event onto the OF action

I just tried to drag the event to OF and it did a good job at creating an inbox item but the link it created was like this:

/Users/.../Library/Application Support/OmniFocus/OmniFocus.ofocus

dragging it to a project didn't seem to do anything.

I prefer not to drag if at all possible.

I assume it is not possible to extend the iCal event form and add a project picklist/browser like one can with the Event form in Outlook like the GTD Add-in folks have?

[pjb]

Originally Posted by Ken Case

You've just pointed out one of the technical hurdles with respect to sync'ing items as iCal events: unlike iCal tasks, iCal events have no notion of whether they've been completed or not.

but could OF keep more information in the task than iCal? What if OF could add and delete events from iCal, but editing events in iCal would not impact OF? The task would still appear in OF as the next action when appropriate but then be checked off after the meeting or during review. An OF task which can sync as an event would only be one which 1. has a start time and 2. a duration and 3. be in a context which is approved for iCal syncing (preference pane). Maybe some new mark (with an iCal logo) would also be required at the task level so placing the task in iCal would not be automatic given these conditions.

This way, OF is just using iCal as a graphical display for the hardscape items (some have asked for a calendar to be part of OF) but the task management is still all done in OF.

[chinarut]

Originally Posted by pjb

This way, OF is just using iCal as a graphical display for the hardscape items. (some have asked for a calendar to be part of OF) but the task management is still all done in OF.

excellently said! having a unified view is exactly what we are looking for.

now, I don't want to reinvent the wheel around the calendar, iCal works great for what it is and let's leverage its foundation what it is and what it's not.

while I have day-specific next actions spread across multiple calendar, I like the idea of implementing a first phase that syncs all items on the "hardscape" calendar.

long-term, i'd expect integration across calendars with the ability to distinguish what linked to OF and what is not.

[chinarut]

happy independence day :)

ok - I haven't heard any responses to my last post so I want to step away from being attached to links to iCal. figure we can shake things up a bit and create more context:

1) do you consider your calendar or OmniFocus the center of your universe?

2) for those of you who frequently have events associated with projects (whether it is iCal or paper - it doesn't matter) - how do you avoid dual maintenance?

What I am looking to create by monday morning is having scheduled all my next actions on my calendar.

I can continue to use the "Calendar" context like I used this past week which was fine for 4 of 65 projects - this week - I'd like to schedule all 65 next actions and see what happens.

this a slight departure from GTD methodology and an experiment I'm looking for some support in. I am trying to replicate a feature in the Netcentrics GTD outlook add-in yet leverage OF's biggest strength which is the hiearchial Library which addresses the plug-in's biggest weakness (IMHO).

if I'm being too hardheaded, please do let me know - I'm looking to create a breakthrough in my GTD system that I intuitively think OF can provide!

[MJK]

Originally Posted by chinarut

happy independence day :)

ok - I haven't heard any responses to my last post so I want to step away from being attached to links to iCal. figure we can shake things up a bit and create more context:

1) do you consider your calendar or OmniFocus the center of your universe?

2) for those of you who frequently have events associated with projects (whether it is iCal or paper - it doesn't matter) - how do you avoid dual maintenance?

What I am looking to create by monday morning is having scheduled all my next actions on my calendar.

I can continue to use the "Calendar" context like I used this past week which was fine for 4 of 65 projects - this week - I'd like to schedule all 65 next actions and see what happens.

this a slight departure from GTD methodology and an experiment I'm looking for some support in. I am trying to replicate a feature in the Netcentrics GTD outlook add-in yet leverage OF's biggest strength which is the hiearchial Library which addresses the plug-in's biggest weakness (IMHO).

if I'm being too hardheaded, please do let me know - I'm looking to create a breakthrough in my GTD system that I intuitively think OF can provide!

1. My GTD "trusted system" is what I consider the center of the universe as you say, so specifically it's OmniFocus.
2. I only use OmniFocus, so no dual items.

Thanks to the way GTD works, I don't really need a calendar since GTD relies more on reviews than reminder dings and such and it's much more practical than calendars.

And I will never use anything that will require I create the same items in two different applications, it's ridiculously unpractical to maintain and I want to do things, not maintain the things I need to do.

You can of course have events in a calendar and use OmniFocus for the rest, there's really no problem with that, but just don't create the same things in both, you will end up not using either application if you do.

[Toadling]

I'm with MJK. OmniFocus is the center of my system, but I do keep scheduled appointments in iCal. Duplicating items between the two, however, seems like a lot of extra effort for very little benefit, so I keep each item in one or another, no duplication.

-Dennis

[Ken Case]

Great question!

I only use the calendar to track appointments that I have to schedule my work around, which David Allen refers to as "hard landscape" items. A quick google search for "hard landscape" and calendar turned up these two great blog posts on the subject at Tools for Thought:

• Hard Landscape
• Hard Landscape vs. Parkinson's Law

I do put due dates on items inside OmniFocus: for example, I have some work that needs to be done before July 11, but that date isn't on my calendar. (My trip to WWDC a few weeks ago, the holiday today, and various meetings and other appointments I have scheduled next week—those are the things on my calendar.)

Again, great question. I hope this is helpful!

[MJK]

Originally Posted by Ken Case

I do put due dates on items inside OmniFocus: for example, I have some work that needs to be done before July 11, but that date isn't on my calendar. (My trip to WWDC a few weeks ago, the holiday today, and various meetings and other appointments I have scheduled next week—those are the things on my calendar.)

This is actually part of why I want to be able to sync items to iCal as Events and All-Day-Events, sometimes it might be useful to see them in a calendar. But the way I understand GTD is that the point is to get absolutely every single thing you need to do into the "trusted system" and so splitting those things between iCal and OmniFocus seems to go against that.

And again, I refuse to make duplicates manually.

This is why I actually fired off an email to The Omni Group a while back saying I would like syncing like that and a few suggestions on how it might be practical to implement.

[Toadling]

Originally Posted by MJK

But the way I understand GTD is that the point is to get absolutely every single thing you need to do into the "trusted system" and so splitting those things between iCal and OmniFocus seems to go against that.

Actually, I think David Allen suggests that "hard landscape" items (appointments, meetings, and other items that must happen at a specific date/time) go into your calendar and everything else goes onto your action lists.

It seems some people see only OmniFocus as their "trusted system", but I think David Allen intended the "trusted system" to be a collection of these tools (i.e. action list, calendar, reference files, possibly a tickler file, etc.).

-Dennis