Omnifocus 1.5 for the iPhone has just been released, packed with new features which make it an even more powerful and flexible task management app, so much so that it has completely replaced my previous favorite, Appigo Todo.
Put simply: Omnifocus from Omnigroup is the most impressive task and personal project management app I have ever used on a handheld.
Although it is designed specifically for the Getting Things Done (GTD) system, with a bit of creativity you can bend it to whatever time management or personal productivity model you can think of. My own use of it diverges quite a bit from GTD; since the beginning of the year I have been looking for the best way to implement a new time management system called Autofocus – a simple, but brilliant, idea from British author Mark Forster. Mark favors pen and paper over electronic systems, so his latest system is specifically designed to be paper-based. Omnifocus is the only app I have found which allows me to replicate the simplicity of his system digitally.
DESIGN
The app is beautifully designed, understated and businesslike in appearance, with discreet icons and restrained use of color. It’s clear the developers thought long and hard about how people would interact with this app: from the intelligent choice of fonts, to the way a task title field goes live the moment you touch the add task “button”; from the conveniently located “Home” button, which always brings you back to the program’s dashboard, to the auto-create function which makes entering new project and contexts a breeze.
The highest complement I can pay to Omnifocus is that it is almost Palm OS-like in operation, with the number of taps and keystrokes kept to the bare minimum to get the job done. Given the complexity of the database which lurks beneath the surface of the program, that’s no mean feat.
POWER AND FLEXIBILITY
What really makes Omnifocus special is the way it handles projects.
There are plenty of good task managers for the iPhone, and at least one great one (Appigo Todo), but none handles personal projects with quite the aplomb and intelligence of Omnifocus.
Omnifocus primarily distinguishes between two different types of projects, namely “Sequential” and “Parallel”.
- Sequential projects are those where each action step must be done in a particular order; crucially, only the very next action in the project will appear on your to do list, thereby preventing the list from becoming clogged up with a lot of tasks which can’t be done straight away.
- Parallel projects, on the other hand, are those where the sequence doesn’t matter, so all of the tasks can appear on your to do list at the same time.
(You can also create a special type of project for “single-actions” – think of this a dumping box for all the minor, unrelated chores that you have to complete.)
But, where other programs lock you into a rigid, mechanical structure, Omnifocus is flexible, allowing you to shift and adjust perspectives and priorities in a more fluid way.
You can have folders, projects, tasks, task groups and subtasks, with the ability to convert tasks to projects and back again as and when the need arises.
You can put projects on hold, set start and due dates for entire projects as well as on a per task basis.
Prioritization is as simple as drag and drop. There are no artificial labels such as “high”, “medium” and “low” when it comes to prioritizing, you simply drag and drop items around so that they reflect the order that suits you.
SPECIAL TOUCHES
Omnifocus also makes ingenious use of iPhone OS 3.0′s cut, copy and paste abilities. Touching and holding a checkbox now brings up options allowing you to cut and paste both tasks and task groups, including all their underlying data. That’s impressive.
Another useful feature is the ability to “flag” both projects and individual tasks, thereby adding another level of prioritization. “Flagging” automatically elevates a tasks importance so that it appears at the top of your task list. Overdue tasks are shown in red, and those due soon in orange. If necessary you can home in on those tasks by switching to the app dashboard, where these tasks are isolated into groups so that you can focus on them more easily. And the same applies to flagged tasks.
One of the app’s most notable bells and whistles is it’s ability to group your tasks by location using the iPhone’s GPS capabilities. Embedded maps then display your tasks using drop pins to show their location. That’s very cool, and certain to appeal to the hardcore GTDer. You can also add photos and voice notes to your task.
WIRELESS SYNCING
As you would expect, Omnifocus for iPhone boasts flawless syncing with the desktop application of the same name (Mac-only). There are three wireless syncing options: Via MobileMe, a WebDav server or locally using Bonjour. I use the MobileMe option because it isn’t dependent upon a wifi connection.
Having the desktop version makes batch operations a lot easier and makes getting an overview of your commitments more practical than on a screen the size of the iPhone’s. Blasting out a long list of items is also faster, of course. There’s also a built-in script which converts specially formatted emails into Omnifocus tasks.
Taken together, the iPhone app and its big brother on the desktop make for an incredibly powerful combination, but all that power comes at premium price: $19.99 for the iPhone app, and a whopping $79.95 for the desktop version if you want wireless syncing with your Mac. Fortunately, a demo version of the desktop program is available from the Omnigroup website at omnigroup.com, as well as video demos of both the desktop and iPhone apps, so you won’t be buying completely blind. Moreover, if you can’t stomach the $79.95 for the desktop version or you own a Windows PC, the good news is that Omnifocus for iPhone works very well as a standalone product.
BOTTOM LINE
The only real word of caution I have is that, with so much flexibility, there is a learning curve for anyone who is used to more traditional to do list applications. If you fall into this category or are unfamiliar with GTD. take the time to play around with all the options to find out what works for you and watch the video tutorials at the Omnigroup website. However, if you are a devotee of the GTD system, choosing Omnifocus for iPhone really is a no-brainer; and even if you aren’t (and I, for one, am not) this is still an app you should look at very closely indeed.
Highly recommended.
Trevor (aka Lazyboy)
(Written and edited entirely on an iPhone 3GS.)
Very interesting mixing AF and OF. I just wonder where do you put your pages. In context or in project of OF…
By the do yo still manage you projects on OF and then how do you treat duplicates items from pages and projects.
Thanks
Hi Jupiter,
When running AF I keep all active tasks and projects inside one big project called Autofocus.
If you look at the second screenshot above you can see how this works: tasks are grouped into “pages” at the top, and new tasks are added at the end. When there are enough of them, I create another new “page” (i.e.task group) and move all those tasks inside it.
Within each “page” there are other task groups which represent projects and contain potential next steps.
As I said, I don’t use Omnifocus in the traditional GTD way.
Hope this helps.
It helps me very much thanks. It’s amaing how Of can be adaptable.
I tried it’s great. There is one very usefull function the possibility to drag and drop an item from a project to a page and vice versa. This is great for knowing what i have done or to plan my day !!!! Thanks again. I never really thoaught about this.
You’re very welcome.
when i read that you wrote and edited this on the 3gs … i bowed down in awe … fantastic … besides being so helpful
thanks
wally
Hi Wally,
First, thanks.
I wrote and edited the text in the notes program and took screenshots using the iPhone’s built-in screenshot mechanism. (I touched up one of the shots in the iRetouch app to hide my MobileMe ID.) From there it was simple to copy and paste everything into an email and send it to Shaun. It appears here pretty much as it did in the email I sent.
If you have not noticed, Autofocus is now up to version 2. The newest version does not require “pages”. The system will allow you to work your tasks as one big list. This simplifies the problem in some electronic task managers of mimicking “pages.”