OmniFocus

Wow! OmniFocus… this is possibly the best piece of ‘Get Things Done’ (GTD – (GTD at Amazon)) software I have tried.

I am not an expert on the idea of ‘GTD’ and would not claim to fully understand it. However, my ‘take’ on the ‘GTD’ approach is that you perform a ‘brain dump’ to remove all the things (taks/jobs) from your mind that have to be done so you free up ‘mind-space’, therefore allowing you to get the tasks done. In other words, by removing the task of remembering all the things that have to be done you can actually get on and do them! It sort of allows you to see ‘the wood for the trees’.

A central idea behind ‘GTD’ is you perform a ‘brain dump’ and produce lists of things that need to be done. These lists are ‘location dependent’ in that some things can only be done at work, whilst other can only be done at home. They are also time dependent, and tasks can be linked, i.e. A has to be done before B.

In the last year or so I have tried a number of programs that are supposed to help with ‘GTD’, but it has only been OmniFocus (to date) that has really met my needs and expectations.

OmniFocus is essentially very simple in that it is just a glorified ‘To Do List’ program. However, the real power is ‘under the hood’ as it has a number of ‘refinements’ that give greater control. Tasks can be arranged in projects and completed one-at-a-time, or in parallel. Tasks can be dated in the future. Tasks can be assigned to locations. Nothing surprising there… The real power, in my opinion, comes in with the ‘quick entry’, ‘snag-it’, ‘repeat’, and ‘email’ tools:

Quick Entry: Say you are in the middle of a writing a report and you remember you need to book an appointment to take the cat to the vet. Instead of interrupting your work to fire up a program to make a note you can use ‘quick entry’ which is two key-strokes to bring up a window to allow the entry of the information. The task is then stored in the OmniFocus ‘In Box’ until you have the time to assign a project and a date (if you didn’t do so in the ‘quick entry’).

Snag it: Found something on the web, or a email that you need to actions? Well, highlight it, press two keys and create a ‘quick task’. What is great is the task will contain a link back to the email (if it was an email task).

Repeat: Some times there are tasks/projects that repeat again in the future. With OmniFocus it is possible to set ‘future repeats’ for tasks.

Email: This I really like. I usually remember something important I need to do when walking around town, or on a train. Using a mobile phone I can send myself an email which if the subject line is set to a predefined ‘code’ will automatically generate a ‘task’ in OmniFocus the next time I download mail to my computer. Fantastic….

There is also synchronization with iCal available, a ‘task to do today’ counter for the toolbar, and ‘task notes’ available.

OmniFocus is from the OmniGroup and costs $79.95. If you order before 8th January, 2008 you will get 50% off.