Hello all, I have been using OF since beta and have been lurking on this board, and thought I would finally contribute as I noticed a thread was posted regarding OF in a law office.
First I want to thank Omni for a great product that, along with GTD, has literally saved my life. I was at the SF meetup, and was very impressed with Ken and Merlin.
Also, I *really* appreciate the thoughtful insights posted here by you in the community.
I am a registered patent attorney and practice solo (literally, no assistant) out of my house. I now use OF as my scheduling system. I have found myself using OF in a slightly different manner than others here and would like to share some of my experiences with the community.
As an aside, I try to adhere to GTD as much as possible, especially in the intake and processing stages. I have listened to The David’s AudioBible three times, the last time I actually outlined it as I listened, resulting in a 17 page OmniOutliner document. However, to most effectively use OF in my practice, I have veered in the use of contexts as implemented in OF, and that’s what I would like to share.
My setup is as follows: For each client, I have a project folder. For each case with that client (a new patent application, etc.) I nest a subfolder with the docket number as the name. If it has a docket number, it gets a folder. I like the granularity of being able to focus on a matter-by-matter basis for each client.
In my initial setup, I was using contexts in the usual GTD manner. However, I didn’t find much use for the contexts as time went on and wasn’t sure why. Then, something occurred to me: since I work alone at home, many of the contexts imploded on each other and really added nothing to the mix. After all, my @phone, @computer, and @work are all at @home!
So I got to thinking about my practice from a couple of levels above David’s “runway” and here’s what I noticed. In patent practice, a patent application goes through a cycle of steps from filing to granting (hopefully). There is a finite set of tasks I perform along the way, such as drafting the application, filling out certain paperwork, and responding to rejections sent from the patent office, etc. If I viewed these common tasks as contexts, could I map out my practice better?
So I went through and noticed that out of my 100s of next actions, about 80% comprise a common set of tasks to be performed at some point for all my cases. I then went through and created contexts with names to match the task and assigned accordingly. The result was that I uncovered an unintended benefit.
Each of the tasks I mentioned consumes a period of time that I instinctively know, some longer than others. So now by reviewing by context (read: task), I can use the powerful context filtering and sorting features to see what I can do today given my time available and energy level, which of course is what contexts are supposed to do. Essentially, I have turned the context field into a TurboTaskTag to leverage the context view and provide me with an uncluttered view of just the tasks I need to do that will result in billable work product. I do still maintain the @phone, @home, etc. contexts for their respective purposes. I guess I am one in the crowd that would benefit from either embedded tags or multiple contexts.
I should also mention that of my 100s of next actions, most also have “hard landscape” due dates by which I have file certain papers or bad things happen. Thus, by sorting on due date and task/context, I can see what types of tasks are coming due and plan accordingly, resulting in a very focused time management aspect that I was not getting with the traditional contexts.
I realize that my situation is somewhat unique, but I thought I’d share my experience. Hope this all makes sense and I look forward to your comments!
First I want to thank Omni for a great product that, along with GTD, has literally saved my life. I was at the SF meetup, and was very impressed with Ken and Merlin.
Also, I *really* appreciate the thoughtful insights posted here by you in the community.
I am a registered patent attorney and practice solo (literally, no assistant) out of my house. I now use OF as my scheduling system. I have found myself using OF in a slightly different manner than others here and would like to share some of my experiences with the community.
As an aside, I try to adhere to GTD as much as possible, especially in the intake and processing stages. I have listened to The David’s AudioBible three times, the last time I actually outlined it as I listened, resulting in a 17 page OmniOutliner document. However, to most effectively use OF in my practice, I have veered in the use of contexts as implemented in OF, and that’s what I would like to share.
My setup is as follows: For each client, I have a project folder. For each case with that client (a new patent application, etc.) I nest a subfolder with the docket number as the name. If it has a docket number, it gets a folder. I like the granularity of being able to focus on a matter-by-matter basis for each client.
In my initial setup, I was using contexts in the usual GTD manner. However, I didn’t find much use for the contexts as time went on and wasn’t sure why. Then, something occurred to me: since I work alone at home, many of the contexts imploded on each other and really added nothing to the mix. After all, my @phone, @computer, and @work are all at @home!
So I got to thinking about my practice from a couple of levels above David’s “runway” and here’s what I noticed. In patent practice, a patent application goes through a cycle of steps from filing to granting (hopefully). There is a finite set of tasks I perform along the way, such as drafting the application, filling out certain paperwork, and responding to rejections sent from the patent office, etc. If I viewed these common tasks as contexts, could I map out my practice better?
So I went through and noticed that out of my 100s of next actions, about 80% comprise a common set of tasks to be performed at some point for all my cases. I then went through and created contexts with names to match the task and assigned accordingly. The result was that I uncovered an unintended benefit.
Each of the tasks I mentioned consumes a period of time that I instinctively know, some longer than others. So now by reviewing by context (read: task), I can use the powerful context filtering and sorting features to see what I can do today given my time available and energy level, which of course is what contexts are supposed to do. Essentially, I have turned the context field into a TurboTaskTag to leverage the context view and provide me with an uncluttered view of just the tasks I need to do that will result in billable work product. I do still maintain the @phone, @home, etc. contexts for their respective purposes. I guess I am one in the crowd that would benefit from either embedded tags or multiple contexts.
I should also mention that of my 100s of next actions, most also have “hard landscape” due dates by which I have file certain papers or bad things happen. Thus, by sorting on due date and task/context, I can see what types of tasks are coming due and plan accordingly, resulting in a very focused time management aspect that I was not getting with the traditional contexts.
I realize that my situation is somewhat unique, but I thought I’d share my experience. Hope this all makes sense and I look forward to your comments!
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