The more I try to organize what I need to do to get things done the less I actually get done. Cram-packing every possible second with useful activities gives me a headache anyway. As the wise folks at Despair. Inc said - "Life is a journey not a destination - so stop running."
AmberV,Thanks for your OmniFocus posts! Very helpful for me as I've been trying to wrap my brain around how to use this program. The Contexts still baffle me though. I understand the location based but what about state of mind based like "writing"? Just curious how contexts worked with your system since a few of my contexts are sub-projects in your system. Robert
I use the word "context" very loosely. The way I see it. GTD was designed for an entirely different kind of animal than you and I. Where someone in middle management might parcel up their day into physical contexts like "phone," and "computer," and so on there are just too many things that creatives do that are mood based and so on. I think the key is to look at how contexts can be used in the framework of the application and then design it around how you work. For example when I'm editing I'm in an entirely different frame of mind than when I'm doing creative writing and that is different than when writing non-fiction. But that doesn't mean these make good contexts. They might for some people---again it all depends on how you work. I do have some traditional physical contexts. Things that need to be done around the house for instance. Things that require running to the store. I also have some "state based" context such as "Expand" and "Maybe." This lets me focus the interface on things that need to be done inside the list as well or to just see things that I'd like to do but have deemed not worth it at the moment. Just look at Contexts for what they are in OmniFocus. They are a way of applying a topical filter to tasks that transcends the "project" hierarchy. A way to single out things regardless of what area of responsibility and get them done according to present state and frame of mind. This is kind of the idea behind GTD that sets it apart from other productivity philosophies. The notion that tasks should be approached from a different angle than projects and completed almost regardless of the project. If you are at home you might touch five different projects by completing five tasks but in doing that you've moved five projects forward where if you had just focused on one project in a linear fashion the chances of getting hung up and not actually getting as much done are higher. It is a good way to go if you have a lot of things going on at once and find it hard to keep them all moving forward. The key thing that trips a lot of people up is that this way of doing things by context will utterly fail if tasks are too complicated. One of the first things the book covers is how to recognise a complicated task and break it up into a "project," what you can use nested outlined tasks for in OF. The rule of thumb is: A task should be something you can do in one sitting without a lot of "getting in to it." If preparation is required to start a task then that preparation should be broken up into different tasks with the final task being setting up the prepared material in such a way that the next action can naturally flow right off of it without any preparation. That is the theory anyway. How well it works for you is up to you and OF is flexible enough that it doesn't dictate this philosophy it merely allows it in a way that I find more fluid than other GTD programs I've tried. The outliner method is great for taking a complex task and chopping it up.
Thanks Amber. I had never really thought of using the outliner part of OmniFocus but based on your post I'm going to give it a try. For awhile I was using too many contexts and my task manager became somewhat of a task to maintain. I'm not into GTD in any kind of pure sense. I've never read the book but have found some posts on 43Folders interesting and ganked the concepts for my own use. Anyway thanks for the insights... Back to Things discussion and sorry for the threadrot.
Tagging isn't for everyone; for many people the necessity of coming up with a cohesive tagging system is more of a time-waster than if they just relied on the tools they're used to. If it helps the key isn't remembering specific words you've used (the auto-completion should take care of that). The key is to remember what kinds of words you've used and to use the same kind of tag consistently. People usually get completely lost with tagging when they just tag willy-nilly and end up with a huge collection of largely useless tags. Pick a few basic guidelines for yourself that make sense to you and stick to them.
The lack of a really stand-out tagging implementation is a major problem with current software offerings. Simple cumulative AND searches are pretty common (Things is an example of a program with AND searching) but OR searching is much less common (particularly in conjunction with AND searches). You can often use Smart Views to get boolean searches but this isn't very useful on the fly. The possibilities of complex tag relationships (including both dynamic selection clustering and effective hierarchical relationships) have not yet been realized. I think most developers use tags as a fluff feature ("And we have tags! Tags are hot!") rather than taking the time to craft a unique and useful interface.
There's an interesting tension with GTD apps. On the one hand you want it flexible enough to mold itself into your life. On the other you want it rigid enough to force your lazy ass to get your work done. The magic of GTD is that it's supposed to take the "what should I do next?" step out of well getting things done. The whole point of contexts is that once you're in a place (in front of the computer in a car wherever) the set of to-do's is automatically generated. I just recently weaseled my way into the Things alpha and while it's a GORGEOUS program interface-wise. I still prefer OmniFocus. My (only) complaint is epitomized by the Today category. From a GTD-perspective that step should not exist. I mean yeah. I recognize that it's a convenience a way of flagging items as "must be done now," but it seems.. extraneous to me. At least it's alien to my implementation. I am very. VERY far from a strict GTD'er -- I'm in it more for the philosophy than the structure -- but I have had exactly the opposite experience with OmniFocus as the above poster. OmniFocus is built not upon a to-do list framework but upon a GTD framework. Things is built around a sort of enhanced to-do list framework. Neither is per se better than the other it's all about how it fits into your life. If you've got a zillion small tasks or a very structured set of context in which you work then OF is GREAT. No worrying about tags no worrying about "today" or "someday," it forces a certain level of discipline upon the user. And I need this and need it bad. Hell it's the reason GTD is so successful in the first place -- People need structure and GTD gives it to them. So things is a great program. But comparing OmniFocus to Word isn't quite fair -- it's faulting the program for its basic philosophy rather than for the implementation.
Quickpost:I've been using Things for the past several days (Alpha version). And I love it!There are a few things still missing mostly convenience issues as far as I can tell,but it's smart and fast and slick and easy. Most of all for my working style at least,it works. I don't care whether it's strict GTD or lax GTD or no GTD at all. Things iskeeping me organized and on track and that's all I care about. Best to you all,TimPS. The Alpha hasn't crashed once yet.
In theory there's no differencebetween theory and practice. In practice there is. Yogi Berra
I'm currently using the OmniFocus Alpha but I must admit 'Things' looks v nice. However the website is not very informative on system requirements but it looks Leopard only. Is this correct? Since I'm still on Tiger this would rule it out certainly for the time being.
Tacitus,I am running Leopard so I can't tell if Things is Tiger compatible but I can tell you that IMHO,it runs circles around OmniFocus which I find far too structured and restrictive and it's farmore robust than TaskPaper which is little more than a basic list manager. Like George the Flea. I am knocked out by Things' use of tags and its elegant interface.(It feels almost as if Keith had designed it
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