The Omni Group
These forums are now read-only. Please visit our new forums to participate in discussion. A new account will be required to post in the new forums. For more info on the switch, see this post. Thank you!

Go Back   The Omni Group Forums > OmniFocus > OmniFocus 1 for Mac
FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

 
Omnifocus avoidance syndrome Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
I frequently become dissatisfied with Omnifocus for Mac. Then I start changing its appearance and seeking out other products for testing. In terms of functionality there is little to complain about, however. OF works well enough and I know how to adjust it to my needs, I would probably qualify for the legendary black belt in OF-tuning. Yet I started hating it more and more and I think I know why. The thing is, I keep everything in it: errands, projects and tasks related to work, spouse, house maintenance, hobbies, ambitions and dreams. All neatly broken down into actionables, hundreds of them. As a result, just looking at OF makes me feel inadequate, depressed even. Yeah I know, I should use perspectives. In fact I always do. But I know all those things are still there, just below the surface.
So am moving a bit away from OF and GTD thinking. For simple errands and single actions that I used to push into my OF inbox, I started using the native Reminders app. Works well enough for that and instantly syncs between OS X and iOS. For work I now use an app that is a bit more business oriented than OF: Organize:Pro. And OF has become the great repository for all the rest. I look at it when I feel brave and have time to spare. Or sense that I missed something.
I feel better, my symptoms are alleviated. For now.
 
I had a similar problem but am dealing with it with an opposite strategy--I'm treating OmniFocus as my immediate, always-there tool, and whatever isn't compatible with that (including, whatever is making it too cluttered) lives elsewhere, as project support material. OmniFocus is handy on my computer and my iPad and my phone, so it gets the "immediate" role.

So those errands and single actions are absolutely in OmniFocus. Big projects--and the definition of "big" is getting smaller and smaller--live elsewhere, such as OmniOutliner, sometimes with thin little references in OmniFocus.

I'm going to ramble on, because I like thinking through this stuff, and who knows, it could be useful for discussion.

Let's say that I have a project "revamp wardrobe". I create it in OmniFocus but I realize fairly promptly that it's too big to be a project--this isn't about getting skirts with the new hemline, but about changing my whole way of dressing and thinking of myself visually.

So I perform the process of moving a too-big item out:

- If it seems to be area of focus sized, and I've decided that it does for now, I give it an area of focus folder. If it fits in another area of focus, I'll move it there and I may rename that area of focus. (Example later.)

- I give that folder the standard single action lists that I usually give to areas of focus: Thoughts, Single Actions, Support Material, and (for some areas of focus) Wanna Buy.

- I move all of the stuff that I've been entering for Wardrobe into an OmniOutliner outline file. That stuff no longer needs to be actionable, so I structure the file however I darn well please--or I might have many files, or I might use another tool entirely.

- I link that OmniOutliner file (or whatever I used) into the Suport Material Single Action List for the Area of Focus, so I can easily open it from OmniFocus. It would be less cluttery to put that in the note for the folder, but for some reason I always forget it's there.

Now I have a structure for this area of focus in OmniFocus, but the non-actionable stuff is elsewhere. As time rolls along, OmniFocus will feed the support material, and the support material will feed OmniFocus.

For example:

- I might create an OmniFocus project "Catalog existing wardrobe", which drives me to catalog my wardrobe into the OmniOutliner file, and might also produce a variety of ideas and thoughts about my wardrobe. I do the project, I put the thoughts into the OmniOutliner file, and then the OmniFocus project goes away.

- When brainstorming in the OmniOutliner file, I may conclude that, oh, I really do need that wide black dress belt that I've been wanting forever, and it's time to actually do something about it. So I create an OmniFocus project for finding and buying the belt.

- And I might be out and about and be inspired with some wardrobe-related idea. I enter it into "Wardrobe Thoughts" in OmniFocus on my phone and in my weekly review I transfer those thoughts to OmniOutliner--unless some of them are immediately actionable, in which case I move them where they belong in OmniFocus.

The idea is that OmniFocus is a temporary home for active items, but it shouldn't keep growing and growing--items should flow in, be worked, and flow back out. It's OK to use it for brainstorming but it should, again, be only a temporary home for the products of that brainstorming. It's the support material that grows and grows.

So, at some point I realize that my wardrobe area of focus is producing thoughts about hair, and whether I should explore that weird "makeup" thing they talk about, or at least do something so that my face no longer threatens to fall off in midwinter, and is it time to finally break down and get my ears pierced? That creates some OmniFocus clutter, it becomes apparent that it's time to move that clutter out, and I conclude that my "Wardrobe" area of focus is more appropriately a "Girliness" area of focus. So the existing area of focus changes its name, absorbing a potentially wider variety of actions without adding any more structural clutter.

Then I consider whether my new gym membership qualifies as "girliness", and decide that, no, I don't want my health to be about appearance and self-image, so I create a Health area of focus. And all my thoughts about diet and exercise go into a linked OmniOutliner file, and OmniFocus gets specific projects like, "Find an organic whole-grain bread that I don't hate." Things that I ought to ask my doctor go into the OmniOutliner file, while OmniFocus just has a tickler for "Have annual physical" with a note that reminds me to check that Ask the Doctor list. And so on. Everything that can possibly be removed from OmniFocus, is removed.
 
I used to rely on OF as my crutch whenever I got stuck. I would refer to it and scan for any next action that was available. But more often than not, I'd go for an easy next action instead of the best next action.

My problem was that I had too many next actions that were available for me to do. Sometimes too much of a good thing is not good at all! I would scan the Next Actions available perspective from top to bottom several times until I settled on one that i wanted to do (usually something really easy but not necessarily the more important one).

Now I've changed my workflow. I would use OF as my bucket list of actions. At the end of today, I will whip out an index card, review my available next actions and write down 5 next actions that I want to focus on tomorrow. I will rank them in order of importance.

Usually, I'll follow the "eat the frog" rule and do the least desirable next action first. Then I'll rank the rest accordingly. I tend to focus on completing the first three next actions. Those are my Big Rocks of the Day. My day is considered a success if I can get through those three. I have two extra next actions if I can complete the first three Big Rocks.



Then I'll sync OmniFocus to my iPad and quit OmniFocus on my Mac. I've found that if I kept OF for Mac open, it is just too tempting to go back and start scanning my OF list. Then I'll think I'm being productive by doing more planning and editing in OF. That was a complete illusion and left me no time to actually complete my next actions. Quitting OF for Mac was good enough for me. I don't see it on my dock and resist the temptation to click on the OF icon.

Then I'll put that index card with the five tasks directly in the middle of my desk and leave the office. When I return the next morning, I'll already know what to do. That index card shows what I need to focus on for that day. I don't have to open OF to hunt for the next task or project to work on. By focusing on those tasks, I'll make significant progress. I'm not burning up precious time peeking at OF and then get sidetracked with another interesting project.

I'll check off the tasks from my index card and my iPad. If I want to capture an idea or task, I'll resist the urge to go to OF for Mac and enter it on the iPad instead.

I'll never touch OF for Mac until the end of the day. About 60 minutes before I leave, I'll sync my iPad and Mac to get the new updated database. Then I'll repeat the review process again. I take out another index card and determine the five Big Rocks for tomorrow.

I think the only time I will really use OF for Mac is when I'm doing some intensive planning and review with projects and tasks. This is how I've learned to step away from OF but it is still a big part of my workflow.
 
@Diver T

I'm just the opposite - I absolutely LOVE having everything in one place. There are only a handful of lists that are outside of OF: movies are an IMDb watch list, physical items to buy "someday/maybe" are an Amazon wish list, favorite quotes are a Wordpress database that feeds a personal "quote of the day" rss...but everything else is in OF. That includes current projects, medium-term goals (3-5 years), long-term goals (10+ years), grocery list, packing checklist, periodic home/car maintenance tasks, and on and on and on.

I keep the data I see a manageable size by using perspectives (15+ at last count) and AppleScripts. Approximately half of the perspectives are only ever accessed during reviews (weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually). My Next Actions list I usually only review once per day to flag the priorities for today (or tomorrow) and those flagged items (along with any dues) are sent to a Reminders.app list (completely automated via launchd) simply because the integration with Notification Center is superior to OF's integration.

The stuff "below the surface" doesn't bother me because it's ALL in my review checklist; everything in OF gets reviewed at *some* specific interval. It took a little trial and error to figure out what that frequency was for each category of items but now I don't even think about it until it's time to think about it. If the "below the surface" items are making you feel uncomfortable I'd guess it's because you're not completely "Clear" and/or "Current" (using GTD terminology) on those projects.

All that being said, if you avoid using a system because it's not comfortable to use then, yeah, change it up. :-)
 
 


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes



All times are GMT -8. The time now is 04:49 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.