[frankrei]

Hi,

I've been using OmniFocus since it first came out in beta form. My favorite feature is that I can synch it between multiple machines and on my iPhone as well (even though the iPhone application is unusably SLOW). These are some reflections on why it's not really working very well for me and how it could be made a whole lot better.

OmniFocus works really well as a quick entry database and this is my main use for it. I think of something that needs to be done and that shouldn't be forgotten and then I just quick fire put into OmniFocus for "later".

Unfortunately the one thing I really hate about OmniFocus is that it is absolutely no good at supporting actual work. The items are there and you can look at them, but as soon as you actually want to organize your work day it all becomes terribly useless.

There's no concept of "now" in the entire program. There's no concept of actual planning either.

In other words, it's only a database with categories.

In order to make it really useful, you somehow need to add a completely different interface for the actual work part of GTD.

There should be a "today", "soon", etc category that is orthogonal to normal organization and you should be able to drag & drop work items or projects into that view without moving them out of their place in the database view.

I should at a glance and always be able to see:

"In the morning I'm working on Project X and I need to get at least items A and B done. I need to drop the kids off at school at 2PM and when I'm back I need to call the insurance. This afternoon, I'll be working on Project B and need to phone X around 5PM, just before I go and pick up the kids. Just before the phone rang I was half-way through item A".

Unfortunately, OmniFocus at the moment feels more like DB2: it's a toolbox for creating your own organization but there's no productivity support built into it at all.

There should be an OmniPlan Light built into it. You should be able to schedule tasks informally (sometime today) or more formally (at 13:00 tomorrow) and then move them painlessly to some other time without having to edit 20 timestamps separately. "Move overdue items to soon", etc.

In other words there a workbench interface that let's the user focus on his tasks.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by frankrei

My favorite feature is that I can synch it between multiple machines and on my iPhone as well (even though the iPhone application is unusably SLOW).

What part of it are you finding to be so slow? What iPhone model are you using? What does the settings page report for stats about your database? With my hefty database, I usually find it to be FASTER than OmniFocus on my MacBook or iMac. I'm prepared to believe that an iPod touch 2G is appreciably faster than an original iPhone, however. If you've got 3 or more clients in the sync pool, as it sounds like you do, it can be easy to get a database that doesn't stay compacted, which will make startup and sync bog down.

I don't dispute the potential usefulness of your requests for someone who wants to plan out the day's activities, but it doesn't seem to be a canonical part of GTD. I'm not a GTD dogmatist, and I think you should do whatever you find makes you most productive, but building a "this is what I'm doing today, and when" list sounds suspiciously like a "daily to-do list" which is specifically rejected ("No more "Daily To-Do" Lists") on p. 40 of my copy of GTD, and thus maybe you shouldn't call it GTD :-)

Having said that, I occasionally find it useful to take a look at the day's work, select some projects I want to work on, and create a focused window on those projects (maybe even create a fresh perspective for it called Today) that I work out of instead of the full picture. True, it doesn't permit me to redline the exact extent of the tasks I want to complete, but it is quick and non-destructive to database state (unlike trying to multi-purpose the meaning of flags, for example). One could also have a "soon" or "this week" window constructed in similar fashion from which the "today" window could be restocked as projects are completed. Everything stays in place in the overall database view.

[RCL]

I'm a novice still relatively new to GTD, but I have these few thoughts. Some of what frankrei wants would seem instead to belong on a calendar as opposed to the project list (OF). David Allen talks about using a calendar to track those things that absolutely must get done on a particular day or at a specific time.

Something that can be done any time that day -- but still MUST happen -- goes on the calendar as an "All Day Event." Time specific items, like dropping off the kids at 2PM or phoning X around 5PM, would go on the calendar accordingly. Alarms can even be set in case you really "get into your zone" and lose all track of time.

Personally I use flags to mark the things I'd really like to focus on today. I've used the "All Day Event" idea and have also entered "appointments" for specific periods to block out dedicated time to work on something. Having done that, I still go back to OF to remember the next steps I need to accomplish in that dedicated time. And I've used Perspectives fairly effectively for date-related or specific project-related views.

For my experience, I haven't found the inadequacies in OF that are described here. If I've wanted to see things in OF in a particular way, I've usually been able to do it. OF has its place, but then so does the calendar.

[RCL]

Originally Posted by frankrei

Hi,

There should be an OmniPlan Light built into it.

One more thing... The OmniPlan idea sounds intriguing. OF is the only Omni software I've used thus far, so I don't know what that would be like. Perhaps the two would be a good fit. I'll check out OmniPlan.