[Brian]

Originally Posted by pvonk

When I waited 15-30 sec. for the iPhone OF to update, I began not using it at all.

Do you have auto-sync turned on? If so, that time is likely being spent syncing with your server, but that feature is something you can control in settings. How fast is startup time with auto-sync turned off?

[pvonk]

Unfortunately I've removed OF from my iPod, so I no longer have a way to check the settings, although I do recall this being something that was suggested in the past that I had tried.

I'll sign off now.

[wilsonng]

When you have a lot of completed tasks and zip files, it will slow down OF on your iPhone during startup and syncing.

Check your OF iPhone about screen to see how many zip files are there.

It would be wise to archive your completed tasks (something like anything older than 6 months or whatever).

You should check this thread for more info:

http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=12071


I remember reading about doing more frequent syncing and archiving older data. I've found that I don't really need to have info about tasks that are older than 3 to 4 months for my work style. I can always check the archives on my desktop in any case.

Another possible solution:

http://www.the-iblog.com/2008/08/05/...-possible-fix/


Read the comments section in this web page:

http://www.creativityist.com/2009/01...cus-or-things/

1) on the Mac, select “Archive Old Data…” under the file menu. This creates a second database on your machine to store older completed actions. You can still review them on the Mac, but doing this may reduce the amount of data synced to the phone considerably.

2) Make sure all your devices sync fairly frequently (at least once a week). This reduces the number of transaction files we store in the sync database. You can check which devices have synced when by pressing the “Show Clients” button in sync preferences.

This one is about someone who was an OF user. He switched to Things but switched back to OF.

http://www.productivityhacks.com/archives/128

[richlin71]

Originally Posted by pvonk

Actually, the unacceptably slow speed of OF/iPhone is what got me to look at Things. When I waited 15-30 sec. for the iPhone OF to update, I began not using it at all. BTW the Things forums are alive and active. I go there most every day.

I've been a user of OF & Things since the early days. I've started and stopped using each tool several times over the past year or two. Recently, I had a realization that's helped me a lot: OF fits my work workflow, and Things fits my personal workflow.

OF never quite worked for personal stuff, mostly b/c the iPhone sync was so slow. And the solution is not to turn off auto-sync - that just means my data is stale. I spent far too much of my life examining the # of zip files in my library and making sure all my clients had sync'd recently.

That said, now that I've ditched the iPhone app and erased my personal tasks from OF, I feel 'free' to load up OF with big attachments and all kinds of work minutae that make it a valuable information store and task manager.

Things works for my personal stuff, b/c my tasks are less complex, I have fewer Projects (and more Areas) and it's simple to peruse my Next list and mark things for Today that I want to work on. And the wifi sync is fast. And syncing the library across multiple macs works fine using Dropbox as long as you don't open Things on more than 1 mac at a time.

[BwanaZulia]

I just set up a Perspective, assigned it to a key command, made it pop up in its own window and it gives me everything I need, tasks, grouped by due date.

Click that in the morning and I am off to the races.

BZ

[mmurray]

Originally Posted by BwanaZulia

I just set up a Perspective, assigned it to a key command, made it pop up in its own window and it gives me everything I need, tasks, grouped by due date.

Click that in the morning and I am off to the races.

BZ

Thanks BZ

Do you have a way of assigning things to today or are you just picking up the stuff due today?

Regards -Michael

[wilsonng]

During my weekly review, I rarely assign due dates unless it's something that's gonna be due. Most of the time, I'd assign start times. When the date comes, the task becomes available to me. I also tend to flag tasks that i want to do this week.

In my perspective, I'd select "Show actions with status: due or flagged"

That way, anything I flagged during my weekly review or has a due date will pop up in my perspective.

[BwanaZulia]

Originally Posted by mmurray

Thanks BZ

Do you have a way of assigning things to today or are you just picking up the stuff due today?

Regards -Michael

A lot of what I have in OF is projects set to repeat so yes they have start and due dates. If my due today is empty, I head to project or context view.

That is the part I have to start to master, working from Context view more instead of diving back into Project mode which I feel the most comfortable.

BZ

[tobyw]

Originally Posted by pvonk

As a long-time Omnifocus user (from the beta period), I am sad to admit that I have moved over to Things. I've been less than enthusiastic with OF's interface from day one, but put up with it. I admit that OF has more features, powerful features. However over time, I've come to realize that I don't really need them. The only thing (important to me) that OF does that Things does not is sequential tasks in a project - but that rarely comes up for me, and I can fudge it in Things, more like doing it manually.

I'm a long-time OF user too, and have had/am having similar thoughts. The interface of OF is not bad, but if I'm using an app all day long it is nice to have an interface that makes me want to use it.

Originally Posted by pvonk

I've also read GTD several times, thinking it was brilliant, but eventually found the whole philosophy not applicable to my workflow. Contexts are not all that important for me.

Most of what I do is on the computer, a laptop that I carry to work, home, and vacation. Other things like phoning I can do most anywhere. I'm in academia, so my daily schedule is only constrained by classes, usually one per day - the rest of my activities, be they research, reading textbooks, going to the mall to run errands, fixing something at home, etc. can be scheduled as needed. In other words, I don't need to check an @errand context to see what to do if I happen to be near a mall. I check what I need to do and if an errand seems more important to me than other things right now, I'll just pack up and head for the mall. If I'm at work and have something to do at home - then I'll go home to do those tasks, unless I have a must-do task to do at work (although, as I said, most tasks I can to anywhere).

I'm in academia too, and I have similarly found that contexts - in the traditional GTD sense - are not of paramount importance. I do almost all of my work on the computer. For instance, I make calls very rarely and almost all the journal articles I want to read are now available online via our library's site. Having contexts for different areas of my work captures things better. For instance, I use my computer for admin, teaching prep and research. If I, for example, had an e-mail context I would not wish to crank though e-mail actions such as:

- e-mail administrator X to get a new copy of our progression rules
- e-mail publisher about desk copy of book for teaching
- e-mail students on course XYZ 101 about forthcoming assessment
- e-mail co-author about aspect X of our paper

I very much want to separate admin, teaching and research. The way I have been trying to do this is to have folders for research and for teaching/admin. Within the teaching folder I've been allocating a context based on the particular course the next action relates to. It is most efficient if I try and crank through a load of single-actions for XYZ 101 at once.

However, this approach is far from ideal. The power of OF somewhat gets in the way. Viewing things in context view with a perspective still displays contexts that have no actions; this has been discussed in other threads.[/QUOTE]

Originally Posted by pvonk

The bottom line is that I need a less powerful system, and Things just about covers it for me. Plus it has the kind of simplistic interface that engages me; look & feel is an important property for me when it comes to software.

At this point, I'm just into the third week of using Things - I may eventually find that some features are lacking and could return to OF, but right now, the honeymoon is still enjoyable!

I have tried Things and, for the same reasons as you, think it would be a better choice for me personally. However, the big obsticle that prevents me from switching in syncing. I would not always remember - or indeed want to have to - sync my iPhone before leaving the house. I also don't particularly want to sync (whether with something like Chronosync or Dropbox etc.) my MacBook with my Mac Pro every day. Therefore, for the time being I am sticking with OF. However, I am really not happy with my current workflow and the niggling feeling of using kludges imposes a significant drag on using the system. If anyone has tips on how I could improve things - without jumping ship from OF, which is in many ways an excellent app for a lot of people, then I would appreciate it!

[Lucas]

Originally Posted by tobyw

I'm in academia too, and I have similarly found that contexts - in the traditional GTD sense - are not of paramount importance. I do almost all of my work on the computer.

I also do nearly all of my work on the computer; those who also have majority computer-focused work may find it useful, as I have, to have a separate Computer Work context from a regular Computer context. I use the Computer Work context for all of the tasks that require actual focus, so that I can just set aside 90 mins in the morning and afternoon for this kind of actual work (which is about my limit on focusing on anything without a break) and the rest of the time I can fool around with the rest of my computer work while listening to the radio or watching football.

Originally Posted by tobyw

The way I have been trying to do this is to have folders for research and for teaching/admin. Within the teaching folder I've been allocating a context based on the particular course the next action relates to. It is most efficient if I try and crank through a load of single-actions for XYZ 101 at once.

I agree that it is often a lot easier to work through all of the actions for particular projects. I think grouping by project while in context view is under-appreciated, though.