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Please combine OmniPlan & OmniFocus into a comprehensive time management app Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Sorry if I'm being a bit of a curmudgeon, but I really don't like to see (or be one of the) users being strung along by expectations not met; seeing everyone suffer, users and other developers (a la NOW/Nighthawk and Chronos). I also think w/ Omni prices being on the high end, they need to be held to a higher standard.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Case View Post
Integration between OmniFocus and OmniPlan is one of the big features we're working on for OmniFocus 2 and OmniPlan 2. It's not done yet (OmniPlan 2 is further along than OmniFocus 2 is), but here's the plan:

A project manager working in OmniPlan 2 will be able to assign tasks to individual team members, and those tasks will automatically show up in each member's OmniFocus 2 database. As people work on their tasks they should be able to update their completion status and estimates of time remaining, and OmniFocus 2 will automatically post progress updates back to OmniPlan 2, where the project manager can review and accept the updates and post an updated plan.
Will you be providing other means of Delegation and Collaboration for teams using OmniFocus who don't require apps like OmniPlan to be a part of their workflow?
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ken Case View Post
Integration between OmniFocus and OmniPlan is one of the big features we're working on for OmniFocus 2 and OmniPlan 2. It's not done yet (OmniPlan 2 is further along than OmniFocus 2 is), but here's the plan:

A project manager working in OmniPlan 2 will be able to assign tasks to individual team members, and those tasks will automatically show up in each member's OmniFocus 2 database. As people work on their tasks they should be able to update their completion status and estimates of time remaining, and OmniFocus 2 will automatically post progress updates back to OmniPlan 2, where the project manager can review and accept the updates and post an updated plan.
Whats the new roadmap? when omnifocus 2 will be available?
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by dancingbrook View Post
I wish I could feel so confident they could handle the sync; I anticipated this need before either OF, OP, OO or OG were released. Omni was in a position to do this (integrate) from the start. Perhaps it was the rush to get it out the door that resulted in the lack of integration? And now they have to spend more time sorting it all out?
I'm sure the Omni folks can handle any syncing issues better than most, but it seems to me that if they folded the OmniPlan features into OmniFocus for a combined project & task manager it would lessen syncing issues among 6 versions (3 hardware versions of the two apps) by only having 3 versions to sync, albeit at a higher price point for such a combined time/task manager that would create a new project management/GTD super category blowing away all traditional project management and simple GTD apps.

Bringing GTD methodology to project management would be an innovative development in the project management space, an ideal project management solution especially for software and web developers where GTD is popular and project management (without GTD) considered old-fashioned.
 
I'm actually surprised this isn't obvious enough in the fact that both are project management programs, developed at the same company. For me, OmniFocus is for doing quick entry and min-dump management of projects, tasks, and due date information. So for me, OmniFocus for the Big Picture.

OmniPlan is where I'd then like to assign resources, tack costs, see everything in a Gantt Chart and get into the nitty-gritty of a big project.

I think just focusing on how both use due date, and categories; it should be just determining the key values that people would need to display from each program that matters in the other.

The key values I care about are taking from OmniFocus are the Projects, the project due dates, their tasks, their due dates, the duration information, completed date, and whether it completed, and then from there I could sync that information from either program into either project file. Also looking at ignoring (not removing or not importing, just ignoring) items like Context and a few other items that don't need to be shown in OmniFocus, and vice-versa.

I've found you can manually work on this using Export to CVS and importing between the two programs.

If I could then export back a file that contained the
 
This would work if your entire team/department/company buys into the GTD methodology.

GTD may work for some but not for others. IT would almost make you look like a religious zealot trying to preach the GTD Bible to the masses. Some folks just aren't ready for it and some just don't care.

I'd love to spread the Word of GTD but if my team/department/company doesn't adopt the GTD methodology, then it would be pretty pointless.

By converting OmniPlan into a multi-user version of OmniFocus, it may limit the consumer market to folks who need a project management tool that also requires GTD.

OmniPlan looks like it will benefit by staying agnostic about its task management preference. Maybe it can adopt some of the other methodologies such as Your Workday Now discipline, the GTD discipline, or the DIT (Do It Tomorrow) discipline, or even that new-fangled AutoFocus/SuperFocus discipline.

I've seen Pocket Informant allow me to switch between GTD or the Franklin-Covey GTD methodology.

Quote:
Originally Posted by nailen View Post
I'm sure the Omni folks can handle any syncing issues better than most, but it seems to me that if they folded the OmniPlan features into OmniFocus for a combined project & task manager it would lessen syncing issues among 6 versions (3 hardware versions of the two apps) by only having 3 versions to sync, albeit at a higher price point for such a combined time/task manager that would create a new project management/GTD super category blowing away all traditional project management and simple GTD apps.

Bringing GTD methodology to project management would be an innovative development in the project management space, an ideal project management solution especially for software and web developers where GTD is popular and project management (without GTD) considered old-fashioned.

Last edited by wilsonng; 2011-03-31 at 03:45 AM..
 
The Omni Group applications need to talk to each other; I need OmniFocus to talk to OmniPlan and vice versa. That'd be perfect.

Though if OmniFocus allowed for 'team mates' then that would be *perfect*. I can't stress just how perfect that would be. You would need to be able to share task lists directly with them though so that you could see their progress.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by wilsonng View Post
This would work if your entire team/department/company buys into the GTD methodology.

GTD may work for some but not for others. IT would almost make you look like a religious zealot trying to preach the GTD Bible to the masses. Some folks just aren't ready for it and some just don't care.

I'd love to spread the Word of GTD but if my team/department/company doesn't adopt the GTD methodology, then it would be pretty pointless.

By converting OmniPlan into a multi-user version of OmniFocus, it may limit the consumer market to folks who need a project management tool that also requires GTD.

OmniPlan looks like it will benefit by staying agnostic about its task management preference. Maybe it can adopt some of the other methodologies such as Your Workday Now discipline, the GTD discipline, or the DIT (Do It Tomorrow) discipline, or even that new-fangled AutoFocus/SuperFocus discipline.

I've seen Pocket Informant allow me to switch between GTD or the Franklin-Covey GTD methodology.

Good points all. The ability to switch among methodologies would be awesome. My main point is not about a particular methodology but about not separating project management from task management since projects are composed of tasks and tasks usually exist within the context of projects.

It would be nice to have all project management and task management tools together in the same app; it doesn't make sense to separate interpenetrating levels of complexity within a time/activity management system into separate apps simply because they represent different levels of complexity within a coherent system.

This is a systems holism perspective.

Last edited by nailen; 2011-04-12 at 08:17 AM..
 
Hi Ken,

Woohoo! Just downloaded the OmniPlan 2.0 beta and it looks great!

I'm not seeing how it integrates with OmniFocus...where/how is that done?

Maybe I'm missing something...

Cheers,
Jeff
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by nailen View Post
...

It would be nice to have all project management and task management tools together in the same app; it doesn't make sense to separate interpenetrating levels of complexity within a time/activity management system into separate apps simply because they represent different levels of complexity within a coherent system.

This is a systems holism perspective.
Yes and no. It's intriguing to have everything in one place - that's more or less the MS approach ("the one size fits all"). But I think Omni has does a terrific job at keeping the user experience consistent. So I think whereas I would love to get everything together in one app, task management is a much more detailed job for a different approach than project management. For me, OF is perfect for "getting things done". OP on the other hand comes in handy when trying to think ahead, balancing workloads and assigning resources. Having some sort of interaction (rescheduling for example) would be quite enough for me.
Besides that: getting my friends and colleagues to do some sort of task management is enough work. Project management is a completely different story...
 
 


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