If you use start dates to manage tasks in OmniFocus, you are going to like the most recent iPhone app update. You now can view tasks by start date in the forecast view. This matches the feature currently available on the iPad version and explains why I do most of my OmniFocus planning these days on iOS devices.

A lot of people ask me how I get by using OmniFocus when I spend time every day on a Windows machine. I’ve never clamored for a Web-based or Windows version of OmniFocus. I’ve always viewed the Windows computer as a device to accomplish very specific tasks, none of which involve managing my task list. This became even more pronounced with the iPhone and iPad versions letting me view my OmniFocus data while sitting at the Windows machine. Indeed, the iPad has become my primary window to my OmniFocus data. I use it more than the Mac. Anyway, there is no need for me to write a long post about Windows and OmniFocus anymore because this morning, Eddie Smith nailed it.

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These aren’t mine but they are very good. Check them out at AsianEfficiency.com.

I heard this update was coming last week and have to admit I’ve been checking the iPad App Store several times a day lately. iPad OmniFocus version 1.3 warms the cockles of my heart. It was just a few days ago that I wrote about the Omni Group and iteration. Well let me just say that The Omni Group just iterated the hell out of iPad OmniFocus and now it is available for download.

The new version takes the already useful Forecast view and turns the dial up to 11. The new Forecast mode adds a calendar bar to the bottom of the screen so you can see calendar items in the forecast view. Also, you can toggle it to also include tasks with start dates on the forecast days. If you lasted through my 2 hour screencast deathmarch of OmniFocus ninja tricks, you already know I use start dates extensively to manage my tasks. Now I can see what is up tomorrow, or three days from now, along with the calendar items for that day. I’ve been asking for this feature for years and the implementation is great. With this update, iPad OmniFocus becomes even more prominent in my task management workflows. Good times.

There is a lot more to 1.3 including full screen note editing, better badge counts, gestures showing up when mirroring, and other improvements. The Review sidebar is also now sorted in Library order, which is an improvement.

Since publishing the first screencast on capture, I’ve received several e-mails asking for a way to automate task creation based on a text list. The idea is making a task list in a text file and having your Mac convert it to tasks. While I haven’t looked into this, Josh Betz did and came up with this nifty AppleScript.

Despite Josh’s scripting prowess, I’m still adding tasks from a text list manually. I do this because quite often something that seems like a good idea when I peck it into a text file, like perhaps running with scissors, doesn’t pass the sniff test when it comes time to add the tasks to OmniFocus. Moreover, it really isn’t that hard to add new tasks to OmniFocus directly on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad.

Thanks everyone for the comments and questions about the second OmniFocus Screencast.

There were a few questions in the feedback here and at MPU. I’m responding to them with this post.

What no single action lists?

I didn’t cover it but I do occasionally use single action lists. I generally think in terms of projects.

I wonder how many tasks you manage in OF, and how many NA’s you have on your plate on a regular day?

Currently: 197 Projects, 1470 Actions

A lot of the projects are sequential. It takes me about 20 minutes to clear the inbox in the morning and it ranges between 30 and 80 actions. The actual daily list is usually about 30. These numbers are skewed however. I’m an attorney. I run a nerdy blog and podcast. I write books. I’m a dad. I’ve got tasks telling me to pick expert witnesses in nine months and reviewing corporate strategies with clients in two years.

And do you really abandon the use of contexts (given your Day Start perspective, which is grouped by project? And what makes this in your opinion different from a Project View?)

I don’t abandon context view. That comes in Episode 3 but I use context mode all the time during the day (usually on the iPhone and iPad) to knock tasks down.

How do you manage tasks you keep putting off? (When do you kick them out/alter them/etc.).

It’s all about the review. Be brutally honest. If it is not going to happen, kill it. Stay tuned for episode 3.

Do you create start dates for both projects and action items?

Action items: Usually.

Projects: Not usually but on occasion. When I do set them, they are normally with repeating projects.

Do you use the same methodology for “due dates” [use only if 100% necessary] for your calendar too? Picking tasks every morning seems reactionary and less intentional then scheduling out important projects. How do you schedule a meeting in OF / sync up your calendar?

I don’t schedule a meeting in OF. I set meetings in my calendar. I may have some tasks for an important meeting that requires preparation. Those tasks normally have a due date the day before. I think I talked too much about the peril of due dates. I use them all the time. I just don’t over use them so I don’t ignore them when they show up. Before I figured this out, I’d have 20 due items and OmniFocus felt like the boy who cried wolf.

If there is an item in your inbox that is less than 2 minutes to complete (for example: write quick email to David), do you simply punch it out and check it off as you are processing inbox?

Small items like that don’t even land in OmniFocus. I just do them.

The idea of Someday/Maybe lists is to have a place to park things that are grabbing your attention…but that you don’t have a specific commitment around. It sounds like you’re already doing this in a sense and are creating a reminder for yourself to revisit these items within a finite amount of time (e.g. 3 months). An alternative would be to revisit these items as part of a weekly review…or even once a month in some cases.

Touché

Do you use OF to keep lists of books to read, videos to watch or is OF not really ideal (ironically) for lists of potential items?

I don’t use OmniFocus for this. I used to do it in Zenbe Lists. About a year ago I moved the lists to Simplenote.

I am using Projects for my clients and am curious why you use Folders instead. Thanks again.

Often I’ll have multiple projects for a single client. (i.e. Apple Corporate General, Apple v. Samsung, MultiMillion $$ MacSparky Acquisition)

The Next Episode

The next episode should publish on the weekend of May 14. That episode will focus on getting tasks done and review. I’ll also do some follow up if there is time so get your questions in.

I’m getting lots of e-mails on the promised screencasts. The first one is nearly done and should go live next weekend. Two more will follow up in two week increments after that. They will be in the Mac Power Users feed, among other places. I’m having a lot of fun making them and they are looking great. I can’t wait to share these.

The above is one of my favorite slides from my OmniFocus presentation at Macworld. A little known secret about me is that in addition to being a computer nerd, I also enjoy woodworking.

Several years ago a friend gave me an amazing Japanese pull saw. I love this saw. I could spend hours polishing and sharpening it. But at the end of the day, I need to cut wood. The same can be said about a task management application (or any fiddley productivity software). You can spend all day adjusting settings, prioritizing tasks, and setting estimates or you can get stuff done.

When I first started using OmniFocus, I often caught myself using it as a procrastination tool. Rather than actually checking off items, I would spend hours on end organizing and prioritizing my data. Although I can be dense, when I realized that at the end of the day I still had most of the same uncompleted tasks I had at the beginning of the day, I knew there was a problem.

The trick to using OmniFocus (or any productivity application) is to not let it govern you. Use it as a tool. For me, this means I open OmniFocus in the morning for about a half-hour and I set priorities and plan my day. In the late afternoon I go back in OmniFocus and audit what happened and make plans for the future. That’s it. I spend the rest of the day checking off items and doing stuff. The iPhone and iPad OmniFocus apps are great for this. They make it easy to see your tasks and check them off as you go along.

So the next time you catch yourself in the middle of the day wasting hours “planning,” or setting iTunes metadata, or cleaning out your address book, shut the lid and get back to sawing wood.

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And curates a nice list of OmniFocus links including a few by yours truly.