January 29, 2010

Majoring in procrastination, and really studying it -

I have been putting more and more conscious interest in procrastination as a context of productivity. Consciously I say to make it clear that I am not procrastinating (at least not admitting it), but actually examining why I procrastinate to enable me to know how to cure the problem. I decided to listen to the recently updates podcast from this Canadian professor in the farm “iProcrastinate” and I am liking what I hear - a deeply academic and psychological review of procrastination, why we do it, and what we can do to prevent it from handicapping us.

12:27  |   URL: http://cmsproducer.com/post/359873863/majoring-in-procrastination-and-really-studying-it
FILED UNDER: procrastination GTD ZTD Productivity 
January 6, 2010

Omnifocus GTD - Have I exhausted features, or am I missing the point?

I have been using Omnifocus Mac OS and iPhone for some time now… besides the neat feature of being able to determine the next best thing to do (based on GPS coordinates), I am beginning to feel that the development pace is kind of slow. I have reported some workflow hiccups that would make the application even better, but it seems to take them quite some time to release new versions/features.

Maybe I have just missed the point about what the application should do…. if I had not paid some good money for both applications, I am sure that I would have started looking elsewhere by now

13:52  |   URL: http://cmsproducer.com/post/320127293/omnifocus-gtd-have-i-exhausted-features-or-am-i
FILED UNDER: Omnifocus GTD 
August 21, 2009

Omnifocus: Making the GTD application complete, simple, without making losses-

I have been using Omnifocus for Mac, and iPhone for some time and needless to say (if you have read any of my previous online posts) I am progressively becoming dependent on the application and getting efficient and happy with it. I have previously stated that it is necessary to add some reporting features (beyond recording the completion date).

I know that OmniGroup makes other applications that benefit from the limited features of Omnifocus - For one, they may be holding back from implementing Prespectives on the iPhone application to avoid eliminating the justification for buying the desktop version. Also, adding more robust features to Omnifocus (project planning etc) would start eating into the feature-set and market for Omniplan.

Generally, people who use these applications do not mind having to buy them all, only if they would click together to create a very feature-rich and unified suite that can seamlessly make the user extremely productive - imaging being able to extend your to-dos into projects, then extend the projects (listing of tasks) into an Omniplan project (all with gantt charts and resource planning), and then brainstorm by mind-mapping in outliner… all providing effortless and built-in linking between these resources. This would not-only provide limitless opportunities for OmniGroup to cross-sell and up-sell to us, but it would also provide a very rich and efficient way to use all their applications.

I currently use Xmid for mind-mapping, but I wish I could use Omni-outliner and have it nicely link to Omnifocus, and then to Omnifocus. I am put off by having to manually create and maintain linkage between items in the many applications I use. Is Ken Case from OmniGroup aware of this disconnect and is his team working on building a suite in which all their products work together?

11:47  |   URL: http://cmsproducer.com/post/168222873/omnifocus-making-the-gtd-application-complete-simple
FILED UNDER: omnifocus GTD Mindmapping iphone 
August 3, 2009

Omnifocus: Time dimension is crucial for context and perspective to work -

I have been intensely working on Omnifocus Mac and iPhone and I recently setup a DAV server to enable online sync without paying apple $99 for MobileMe (I cannot bring myself to use @mac.com address for business - another story and rant).

I often find myself sifting through Next-Tasks to determine which ones are possible at a given moment. I now start my day quite early and when I am out runnign errands, it’s frustrating to have to look through and see if the store (context) for my next is available (store opening time, availability of spouse, etc).

If Omnifocus for iPhone/Mac had a time dimension to the perspective feature (promised for the iPhone), it would solve this problem by e.g If Lowes Hardware opens at 6am and closes at 10pm, by setting this time window in my Context definition (much like GPS location), whenever I press the Location button on the iPhone, it can grey-out or hide actions whose context is not available at a given time.

I have previously been told that GTD is all about simplicity (when I tried to ask for something intricate), but I believe that this is an important feature that will make the business of cranking next items be smooth and fluid, kinda auto-pilot.

I will make this request to Omnifocus and I am sure that they will at least reply, and even add it to the feature-log if thiey find it smart

11:40  |   URL: http://cmsproducer.com/post/154951538/omnifocus-time-dimension-is-crucial-for-context-and
FILED UNDER: omnifocs GTD iPhone Context Perspective 
June 24, 2009

Once organized, it is necessary to learn to be calm about being calm and relaxed

In the days of putting-out fires and attending to the loudest and hottest project and task (as defined by the most powerful client), there was a false comfort that I would get from being busy all day and all week. However, with some planning, effective project management, and GTD for my personal tasks I now have extra time and down-time that I should logically enjoy. The ‘problem’ is that I have to learn to be comfortable and not worry about being idle and inactive. It is strangely unbelievable that being busy (even without much to show for it) can bring so much comfort, while being effective and organized can threaten to bring worry!

1:14  |   URL: http://cmsproducer.com/post/129174180/once-organized-it-is-necessary-to-learn-to-be-calm
FILED UNDER: GTD Project Management 
June 23, 2009

Omnifocus 'things done' reports could create a feel-good effect

No one can deny the satisfaction and good feeling that we all get as we crank away and get things done from day to day. Personally, when I am not in the work-mode (money making work), I pull of a list of things to do around the house or office and get a few of them done. This gives me a sense of accomplishment.

I am proposing that Omnifocus should create reports features within its iPhone and Mac OS application to enable users to see reports of how much time has been spent doing things, how many new actions have been created in the last X days, what percentage has been completed etc.

This may seem like a call to complicate the application, but it is necessary to help us all see if we are making progress, if we have some old items that though not urgent, need to be done with, etc. Stats and metrics are run and used everywhere, either to vainly feel accomplished, or to actually get some information that can be used to streamline workflows and change habits.

11:43  |   URL: http://cmsproducer.com/post/128783908/omnifocus-things-done-reports-could-create-a
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FILED UNDER: gtd Omnifocus 
June 10, 2009

Dream of nicely shared calendars

For some time now, I have been trying to find a smooth solution for letting others access certain parts of my desktop/iPhone calendar. I have considered one of the enterprise solutions (Outlook, Notes etc) but neither has made sense for me since I would like to use a cheap and open system that will not force everyone I collaborate with to use that system. I have tried buying single licenses from the many Outlook Exchange vendors out there, but some like 1and1 have not been smooth to setup and share. Mosso has a solution that they claim allows users to share calendars using a desktop client that syncs the repositories a la Lotus Notes but I have not had a chance to exhaustively to test that setup.

Since I have to vet items before they appear on my calendar, I think that a solution will lie in the implementation of and open, distributed but secure system that will enable us to share just what we want across different platforms (Windows, Mac OS, Linux, PDA) without the high cost of implementing something like a Domino server

1:00  |   URL: http://cmsproducer.com/post/120982530/dream-of-nicely-shared-calendars
FILED UNDER: GTD Tools