[bankomeister]

I have yet to figure out a way to implement a "doing today" list in OF. The night before, I like to review my projects and actions and adjust due dates so that there is a subset of my actions that I would like to do tomorrow. As I am creating actions, I also assign due dates. If I assign 10 actions that I want to do tomorrow, then when tomorrow comes, I want to have a clean, clutterfree, list of those 10 things and those 10 things only, to look at for me to work from throughout my day.

The problem I have is that there is no good way in OF or OF for iphone to have a view for the things you want to do today. I have tried the flagging/perspective method described in this youtube video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIu8JI4rKQM
but its an additional step beyond the dates I have already assigned and there is no way to duplicate that on the iphone. I would like to have this available on my mac and on my iphone.

I can make a perspective in OF that sorts by date, but then I also get overdue items listed as well as those due a month in the future, all in the same screen (still not want I had in mind). If I assign due dates to those 10 items of say Aug 1, then on Aug 1, when I look at my iphone, those items are already marked "overdue" (unless i went to the extra trouble and effort of assigning a due time to 6pm or some other time that is later than the current time). Then my "due today" items and my actually overdue (where the due date was yesterday or before) items are lumped in the same group (the 'overdue' section on my iphone). I spend my day working out of the "overdue" section on my iphone. It's a small nuance, but it's pretty defeating when your system already assumes you are "behind" at the beginning of your day! Having a "today" section seems like such an obvious feature. Is there a reason why Omnigroup doesn't want that to exist? I love the approach of using perspectives, but there doesn't seem to be a good way to utilize perspectives to do this for you and perspectives aren't currently syncable to iphone (new feature perhaps?). I was prompted to write this post when I discovered the iphone application for "Things" (another gtd app) and was struck by how elegant and simplistic the main interface was. "Today" is the first thing on the screen after "Inbox" and I think that's how it should be.
Omnigroup, will you please implement "Today" for mac and iphone?

[brianogilvie]

I don't have an iPhone, so my comments refer only to the desktop version (1.1 sneakypeek).

In the Data Preferences, you can set the default time for due dates. If your work day ends at 5 p.m., make that your default due date if you don't want things due today to be overdue.

More generally, the GTD method that underlies OmniFocus's design frowns on using due dates to indicate things you simply wish to get done on a certain date. Instead, due dates should be used only for actual deadlines. Many of us use start dates as a kind of tickler; by setting the start date on a project or action, you can tell OmniFocus not to bother you with that thing until the day arrives. I've set up a Tickler perspective that shows me actions whose start date is in the next week; I use that at the end of the day to take a gander at what will be on my plate soon.

If you're not using flags for something else, why not use them for things you want to do today? In the morning, scan your list of available actions and flag those you want to do today. I'm told that the iPhone version of OmniFocus can show only flagged items.

[bankomeister]

Thanks for the suggestion about the default due time. I changed mine. Does that go and change all of my due dates or just the new ones that I create?

I guess I realized that GTD frowns on using due dates in that way, but I struggle with making that realistic for the productive life I desire. If I have hundreds of actions in front of me to do, that can be overwhelming, where as if I have only a dozen, it's manageable and I can tackle those without feeling overwhelmed. How does GTD approach that and how can I make Omnifocus work for me that way?

[brianogilvie]

Changing the default due time doesn't change the due time on actions/projects that are already in your database.

And your 2nd paragraph raises one of the central questions of GTD. OmniFocus's tools for shortening that list of hundreds of actions include the following:

1. Contexts--select the contexts available to you, or where you want to be.

2. Focus--focus on the project(s) you want to move forward, so you're not distracted by others. If you organize your projects and single-action lists into folders corresponding to areas of responsibiity, you can cut out a lot of clutter by focusing on one or two folders. I find this immensely helpful in avoiding procrastination.

3. Available time--if you systematically enter estimated duration (and you're honest with your estimates), you can shorten the list by filtering on duration--short durations if you don't have much time or want to get a bunch of short actions checked off; >1 hour if you have a big block of time and want to make the most of it.

4. Start dates--use them to defer actions or projects that are, for the moment, lower priority. (You can always change them back during your daily or weekly review.)

5. Flags--I like to use flags for those projects or actions that are not due any time soon but that are important to keep working on regularly in order to make progress and not be caught by surprise. Others clear their flags daily and then use flags to mark the top things to do today. Others use flags to mark things they want to be reminded of on their iPhone.

Ken Case wrote a good post not too long ago about how to use OF to shorten that daunting list. Many of his ideas are similar (not surprising: he's running the show, and I've been using OmniFocus for 14 months and have watched many of its features develop).

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by bankomeister

Thanks for the suggestion about the default due time. I changed mine. Does that go and change all of my due dates or just the new ones that I create?

I guess I realized that GTD frowns on using due dates in that way, but I struggle with making that realistic for the productive life I desire. If I have hundreds of actions in front of me to do, that can be overwhelming, where as if I have only a dozen, it's manageable and I can tackle those without feeling overwhelmed. How does GTD approach that and how can I make Omnifocus work for me that way?

First, your change of the default due time only affects newly created actions, not the ones you've already created. If you think about this for a moment, you'll agree it would be a disaster any other way... By the way, if you select a whole bunch of actions, you can update the due dates simultaneously in the inspector (to the same thing, of course!) I would do context view, grouped by due date, to make it easier to grab the right stuff.

As for the hundreds of actions being too overwhelming, I agree that it can feel that way. But OmniFocus gives lots of ways to make that list look a little more approachable. Group by any of the grouping options in context view and close all but one of the groups. Only look at next actions. Make and save a perspective window that is only big enough to show a list of prospective actions that isn't too scary, and don't scroll it. Use the OmniFidget widget, which only shows one potential action at a time (you either do it, or pass and get another one). And definitely do read Ken's post!

[curt.clifton]

bankomeister,

Like Brian, I'm not using the iPhone app. yet, but here's another piece of the solution on the desktop.

It wasn't clear from your original post whether you are also using the Group By Due Date setting (second lozenge from the left) in the view bar:


If you group by due date, instead of just sorting by it, then you can collapse the sections for items due in the past or future. Save that view as a perspective and it will remember what sections you collapsed.