OmniFocus App

Omnifocus

Why didn’t I think of this solution sooner? Good writers purposefully generate and organize ideas during writing processes. Pre-planning and pre-organizing (initial) ideas limits writing. The same principles apply to task management. As unforeseen complications surface, task and time management systems need to be easy to adapt. I thought lack of time was my problem, but inefficient collection, undefined task-steps and unclear overview were my real problems.

Task-steps I had to remember were swirling around in my head. A constant awareness of to-do-lists was distracting and disturbing a healthy work-life balance. Not anymore!

The OmniFocus iOS app has changed how I work. OmniFocus supports flexible bottom-up task-management of complex projects. I now clarify steps when they first surface. On my iPad, I record, collect, cross-reference and prioritize task-steps from phone calls, social media and email messages, meetings and conversations. I make front-end decisions about deadlines and cross-reference steps as part of projects (e.g. grants) and context (e.g. admin office). OmniFocus clearly shows the long-term big-picture and smallest of open details. With a simple click, I can see everything I need to address with specific people and technology, everything that needs to be done to complete a project, and what needs to be prioritized today, tomorrow and later this week. When I meet a person, I now address all issues across all projects during one conversation. The cross-referencing of task-steps is essential to deal with a huge volume and variable workload. OmniFocus goes beyond what calendar and lists can achieve.

As issues surface, I dismiss/delete, delegate, do or defer. We live in an age of over-information. An essential 21 Century skill is filtering information. If it isn’t relevant, I dismiss and delete. If I can delegate, I do so. If it takes less than two minutes, I do it. If it takes more time, I enter it in OmniFocus and defer completion of the task-step to a later time. I can either immediately allocate the item to a project, context and deadline, or later review and add information, including photos and correspondence. OmniFocus creates alerts to review tasks. Red and orange bullet-points show the urgency of task-steps within projects and contents. Entering new dates is easy with +day, +week, +month options. At time of writing, I have 137 tasks organized in OmniFocus. I’m not worried about the workload. I have an overview and can easily reprioritize tasks and adapt planning. I sleep well.

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