[SpiralOcean]

How do you use your inbox? An inbox in a software application can be very different from a physical inbox. Do you always want it visible?

I have a couple inboxes.
1. My physical inbox.
2. Email Inbox.
3. Voicemail Inbox.
4. Stickies on the computer (software stickies mac application)
5. Memo Pad on my palm (for thoughts on the go)
6. Voice Recorder on my Palm (for thoughts on the go)

For all of these, I go through each one, listen, then write down in my task list if something needs to happen.

If you mark an item in your inbox as complete and it has no project assigned, should it get filed away in a group of completed items with no project assigned? Is this something you would see yourself doing a lot?

Yes. Currently, I just delete it. But is should be moved out of the inbox.

Once you assign a project to an inbox item, should it immediately move out of the inbox or should it stay there until you move it manually? Maybe something like a process inbox command?

moving out automatically would be dreamy.

When entering items using QuickSilver or our Quick Entry dialog, do you expect all items to go into the inbox or should items with a project assigned bypass the inbox and go straight into the project?

If a project is assigned, it should go to the project. This would also be dreamy. But if it goes to the project, I should be able to either:
1. Assign a context to it
2. or be able to see all tasks in the project that need to have contexts assigned.


Thank you for asking for the feedback! It's extremely encouraging to see that OmniFocus is designing an inbox! It tells me that OmniFocus will have a GTD bent to the software.

So many task management software don't do this. If you make the best GTD software, it will sell. People are so tired of doing workarounds to make their current software behave in a GTD manner.

¢¢

[keone]

An inbox in a software application can be very different from a physical inbox. Do you always want it visible?

Yes, preferably in the toolbar, perhaps as an icon of an ordinary desk inbox tray. And like the Apple trash icon, if it contains an item it would have some "papers" on the top of it; no papers = empty. Additionally, I would want to know how many items are in there, so perhaps either an item count in a small circle right on the front of the tray, or revealed via a mouse rollover. Double-clicking it (or using a command key combination) would open it for me.

If you mark an item in your inbox as complete and it has no project assigned, should it get filed away in a group of completed items with no project assigned? Is this something you would see yourself doing a lot?

Absolutely! Since these are single tasks.

Once you assign a project to an inbox item, should it immediately move out of the inbox or should it stay there until you move it manually? Maybe something like a process inbox command?

Move it out as soon as it is assigned. Why? Because I've touched it already, done something with it. I've added it to my list of action steps in a particular project. I don't want to have to deal with it again via any sort of inbox process command.

When entering items using QuickSilver or our Quick Entry dialog, do you expect all items to go into the inbox or should items with a project assigned bypass the inbox and go straight into the project?

If it relates to a project, it should bypass the inbox and go straight to that project.


Some other inbox thoughts:

1. 43-Folders. I don't know to what extent you will be using the 43-Folders concept, but keep in mind this GTD idea from David Allen's book (pg 174): "The next daily file is emptied into your in-basket every day, and then the folder is refiled at the back of the dailies." If this could be done automatically in OF--perhaps when you first open the app or at a user-specified time of the day--it would be an enormous benefit. That way, as soon as I open the app the next day, my inbox would contain most of the items that I need to deal with that day.

2. An inbox widget. I may keep OF open all day, but if not I would like a quick and easy way to get a new item into my inbox without having to open the app. So, if an inbox tray icon, similar to the one in the toolbar, could be accessed as a widget, then I would click on it--a pull-down list would slide down (presumably with all of my other inbox items for that day already there)--and enter the new item. Perhaps I could also assign it to a project here or later when I open the app. (On the backside of the widget would be my project list, where I could add a new project if needed.) I would then click DONE, and the list would slide back up into the tray. Since this widget would be synced with the app, the next time I open OF, that new item would be in my toolbar inbox (if not project assigned), or listed in the appropriate project.

3. An inbox nag. This would, of course, be controlled by user preferences: some would love it, others not so much. But if I checked the appropriate preference, then whenever I quit the app, if I still have items in my inbox, a window would pop up advising me of this. I could then choose to ignore it and quit anyway, or click on an inbox button in that window which would immediately open up my inbox for me.

Thanks, Michelle.

Regards,
John

[dude]

Originally Posted by michelle

We aren't quite ready to show you OmniFocus,

That is a shame. ;) We are ready to beta test already. Although I love kGTD.

Originally Posted by michelle

How do you use your inbox? An inbox in a software application can be very different from a physical inbox. Do you always want it visible?

If you mark an item in your inbox as complete and it has no project assigned, should it get filed away in a group of completed items with no project assigned? Is this something you would see yourself doing a lot?

... snip ...

When entering items using QuickSilver or our Quick Entry dialog, do you expect all items to go into the inbox or should items with a project assigned bypass the inbox and go straight into the project?

When I throw an item into kGTD with QS it goes to the inbox. But I want a choice. If I know the project or if it is a single task (!Single Task) that can be done at anytime, why can't I throw it directly into the project, but if it does not have a project name or not a single task I want it to stop into the inbox.

Do the incredible and use some > and @ that Ethan has created for QuickSilver and then make it better by giving us a bypass option that we can use or not depending.

Once you assign a project to an inbox item, should it immediately move out of the inbox or should it stay there until you move it manually? Maybe something like a process inbox command?

Move it automatically right then. Screw manual stuff. ;)

[TommyW]

> We aren't quite ready to show you OmniFocus,

Well, I'm ready to beta test... :o)

> How do you use your inbox?

It's where stuff arrives, not where stuff lives. It's the list of stuff for processing.

> An inbox in a software application can be very different from a physical inbox. Do you always want it visible?

Always accessible. However that might be... keystroke, visible, quicksilver

> If you mark an item in your inbox as complete and it has no project assigned, should it get filed away in a group of completed items with no project assigned?

Yes. Call them single actions.

> Is this something you would see yourself doing a lot?

Yes.

> Once you assign a project to an inbox item, should it immediately move out of the inbox or should it stay there until you move it manually? Maybe something like a process inbox command?

Nice to be able to do both. Sounds like a preference toggle to me.

> When entering items using QuickSilver or our Quick Entry dialog, do you expect all items to go into the inbox or should items with a project assigned bypass the inbox and go straight into the project?

I'll use the Inbox and that should be the default.

Depending on what your QE dialog contains, if you don't fill in project and context then it should just go to Inbox.

As far as QS is concerned if you use Ethan's > and @ for project and context that would be handy...

[JasonI]

Originally Posted by michelle

We aren't quite ready to show you OmniFocus, but we love that there are so many people eager to give feedback. :) I've come up with a few questions on things we've been working on.

How do you use your inbox? An inbox in a software application can be very different from a physical inbox. Do you always want it visible?

For the inbox, what exactly do you mean? Are you talking about something that would always be viewable/ accessible while you are in another program, or are you talking about something like a stationary window within OF itself? Is there going to be a drop-box type of folder similar to Journler that sits on the desktop (or some other place) or a widget?

One "inbox" that I have always liked and is worth taking a look at is from ActionItems. What I like about ActionItems is the way they use hot-buttons (project name or context in columnar view) that once clicked on will take you to its respective window. This makes for a very fluid experience when moving from project to project and window to window.

One other thing that I would love the inbox to accomplish would be to collect ALL tasks from my computer- from Address Book, from email, etc. I have different tasks set up throughout my system and I would love to be able to collect and manage them from a central location.

Beyond that, I think the only other important thing would be to have different views for the inbox- similar to DevonThink (2-pane, 3-pane, etc.)

Something that I haven't seen in the forums is whether or not you will be able to add customized columns to items. The columns could be used for different things- there could be columns like in OO for text numbers, etc. ... and popup columns for tags- it could be another way of viewing and manipulating your tagged items. Or maybe it is not needed, we will have to wait and see what sort of goodness you Omnifolk have cooked up for us.

If you mark an item in your inbox as complete and it has no project assigned, should it get filed away in a group of completed items with no project assigned? Is this something you would see yourself doing a lot?

Yes, and yes. They would be marked as completed and archived with the rest of the completed items. Is there going to be an archive of all completed items? It would be nice to have since every once in awhile I need to go back and look up old information on past projects (similar to finding an obscure, old email). I would imagine that having an option (include/ exclude completed items) in the smart folders would be needed too.

Once you assign a project to an inbox item, should it immediately move out of the inbox or should it stay there until you move it manually? Maybe something like a process inbox command?

This to me is something that should be set in the preferences- Option 1- Move completed item immediately, 2. Move item when window is closed. I think having this type of preference is important because people process information in different ways. Some people are very visual and it helps them to see all tasks (even recently assigned ones) relative to one another. Others want to quickly run through a list and have the tasks go to their respective new homes immediately. Personally, I can see myself using it both ways in different circumstances.

When entering items using QuickSilver or our Quick Entry dialog, do you expect all items to go into the inbox or should items with a project assigned bypass the inbox and go straight into the project?

Since I am not a QuickSilver user, I will leave it to someone that give you a more knowledgeable/ informed answer.

One more thing, while I think that it is important that OF allows people that want to keep strictly to the GTD principles, it is equally import that OF allow as much flexibility as possible. A program that can accommodate many different users and their different processes (while still maintaining ease of use, etc.) would make for a hugely successful piece of software. While you will never be everything to all people, I do think that the general principles and needed features of the various organizing schemes are very similar.

Thanks for your feedback!!

Michelle
The Omni Group

Thanks for asking for our feedback Michelle. I have been waiting for something like OmniFocus for quite some time and can't wait to test-drive it.