OmniFocus

by Diane Petersen, Kachemacs

Distributor: The Omni Group
Distributor URL: www.omnigroup.com
Distributor Phone: 1-800-315-OMNI
Price: $79.95

Pros: Intuitive organizational based on acclaimed GTD system, integration with Mail and iCal, available (for additional charge) for iPhone for mobile access.
Cons: Only alpha releases compatible with iPhone mobile app (purchased separately for $19.99), some strange behaviors in certain fields, challenging learning curve.

I have a brand new iPhone 3G. I had to justify this purchase to myself. I told myself that the iPhone would help me get more organized as well as be an electronic leash. It would make me a efficient role model for everyone. It would help me get 200% of the things done as I have previously. But I needed help formulating all this efficiency. I wanted a solution that I could use on the go with my phone and on my computer.

OmniFocus is that solution. This review covers the desktop version, although I should mention that they have an iPhone version (sold separately) that interfaces with Omnifocus desktop.

OmniFocus is structured to reflect David Allen’s GTD (getting things done) program. I haven’t become part of his following or read his book, but the Omnifocus interface is easy for me to understand. The organization is intuitive. Capture, Organize, Do. These are the crucial steps.

OmniFocus makes it very easy to quickly capture thoughts into an Inbox. They can be entered directly into the interface, typed into a
pop-up that can be brought up from anywhere with a hotkey, brought in from other applications through the Services menu, entered into the iPhone interface, or e-mailed in through Mail. To organize, a number of tools are available. The basic premise of the organizational system used is the ability to structure tasks by project, and then again by context. The context would be the environment in which a group of tasks are done (like “on my Mac at home” or “in Anchorage”) Either menu can be used to view the workflow, one to organize projects and one to streamline completion. To do, one can schedule action items through iCal, or Omnifocus itself. The Inspector allows for priority, timeframe, and sequence to be set. Once finished with my tasks and the boxes are checked off the list, with one gratifying click of the broom I can clear them all away. Now if only it would make my Mac go get the groceries I listed so I can stay home and relax…

I tend to get overwhelmed easily. With the Perspectives feature in OmniFocus, I can record any number of views with filters I define so I can look at my tasks at a glance without fooling around with filtering on the spot. I can view personal and professional perspectives separately. I can see what’s due when, or I can see what I can do while I’m at home. With the number of filtering options one can select and utilize in OmniFocus, this snapshot ability is a timesaver.

I always worry when I put so much faith into electronics to handle my personal activities that something BAD might happen. OmniFocus has built in backup/syncing capability. It happens in the background, much like Time Machine, and there are a number of built in mechanisms for backup and sync, such as local disk, WebDAV, Bonjour, and dot mac/Me.

The biggest issue I have is the learning curve. This is not for the wishy washy or the unmotivated! It took watching the video tutorial, reading the documentation, and visiting the forums a bit before I could just jump in and depend on the system to work for me. The time spent learning is a fair trade for the features and time saved in the end. For the new user, a pitfall is “getting stuck.” A couple of opportunities arise in the Inspector or when setting Context that one can get stuck in a screen or leave a selection with something unexpected selected. Another minor issue is that in order to use the companion iPhone app ($19.99, iTunes store) one must run an alpha version of the desktop software. These “Sneaky Peeks” are updated daily or twice daily, and every once in a while something gets broken. However, it is easy to roll back to a former version as a workaround and things get fixed rather quickly. I would like to see the iPhone application supported by a stable version of the desktop application.

OmniFocus is a little black book on steroids. Coupled with the iPhone application and the Mail and iCal interface, a feature packed system is available to catch any loose ends you may come across, without a lot of loose screws in the process. Even third party web based GTD systems like Sandy (virtual secretary) or Jott (transcriptionist) can be used with Omnifocus with a bit of creative scripting. In fact, I use Jott to call in my action items from work when I think of them and they go through my Mail to end up as an action item in my OmniFocus Inbox. If any questions or issues come up, there is a forum with a significant user base and a Twitter account with active support in case of trouble. The documentation provided by Omni is excellent also.

I have taken on a lot this fall in my personal life. I have been relying on OmniFocus heavily to direct me in my efforts to stay focused. Granted, I’m not always on top of it but I have human error to blame for that. If you’ve got the time to mess around with it and get the interface down, I’ve found that this software is the most versatile and configurable available for getting things done.

Concept: 5
Ease of installation: 5
Utility: 5
Ease of use: 3 (this takes into account the learning curve)
Documentation: 5
Features: 5
Stability: 4 (I’m dealing with alpha releases)
Price: 4 (a bit spendy, but a lot of software for the price.)

I’m really happy with OmniFocus and the way I have it configured to suit me. It was a long process to get to this point, but it’s quickly making up for all the time spent learning the software. If you are serious about getting things done, this is the software that help you do it.