OmniFocus, GTD, and You!

The Blog

by Linda Sharps on October 12, 2009

While OmniFocus definitely does not require you to be a Getting Things Done® devotee in order to make good use of the software, it's true that Omni developed OmniFocus with the GTD system in mind. If you're new to the work-life management system of GTD and wondering just exactly how you can implement the methodology in OmniFocus, we now have an awesome new resource for you: the OmniFocus, GTD, and You white paper.

But Omni, you're saying. White papers are so boooooring. They use words like “extensible” and “data-driven” and most of them are just cheesy marketing materials in disguise. WAHHH.

Listen, I can't hear you when you use that tone of voice. And stop worrying, because this is a totally useful document written by our stellar documentation folks, and the marketing weasels didn't even touch it. (I wanted more cowbell, but would they listen? NO.)

The white paper gives a thorough explanation of how the GTD concepts of Capture, Process, Organize, Do, and Review are handled by OmniFocus, and you don't need to have any previous understanding of the Getting Things Done system to read it. As a sometimes-committed, sometimes-not OmniFocus user myself, I found this white paper really helpful and inspiring.

The good folks at DavidCo not only helped us make sure the white paper was accurate, but are also promoting OmniFocus as the recommended Mac GTD solution from their online store. We want to thank them for working with us and making OmniFocus available to a wider GTD audience.

So what are you waiting for? Go forth and download, and get some best-practice ideas for making the most of your OmniFocus document.

Comments

Good PDF, bad reading font :) Thanks!

Daniel

10.12.09 5:37 AM

I am looking forward to reading your white paper. OmniFocus is one of my favorite aps on my mac AND my iphone.

jodi

10.12.09 5:57 AM

Looks excellent :-)

Kourosh

10.12.09 6:12 AM

[...] [...]

OmniFocus, GTD, and You! | Productivity Hacks

10.12.09 6:38 AM

I wish you'd do versions for other platforms. I don't own an iPhone, and I'm only around my Mac once the working day is over (forced to use a Windows PC). Maybe an online service that would sync with the Mac & iPhone clients?

Matt Moran

10.12.09 8:24 AM

I'm with Matt. Being able to use at work (PC and no Wi-Fi access for iPod Touch) would be FTW!!!

Jorge Campos

10.12.09 9:06 AM

[...] so, have a look at the jointly authored whitepaper by David Allen’s cronies and the folk at [...]

OmniFocus and GTD – Confusing? | bathgatesdo

10.12.09 12:16 PM

Excellent news about the partnership! I've just read GTD and Omnifocus and I'm very happy and inspired to see direct examples of use correlated to the GTD principals. Keep up the wonderful work!

S Riggs

10.12.09 2:37 PM

Great paper for core GTD. How about V2 with a guide for using OF to take advantage of Making It All Work?

Lee

10.12.09 3:25 PM

OmniFocus.. I could kiss you on the mouth! Thanks for the great GTD guide!!!!!! You guys rock.

Paul Richards

10.12.09 9:45 PM

Other system please… I have used omni for iPhone. It's excelent, but without a pc solution (web or software) I had to drop it. Using toodledo now and really happy with that. I really wonder why omni just stick to mac???

brigten

10.12.09 9:57 PM

nice white paper. quick read.

Robert

10.13.09 2:59 AM

[...] [...]

Grad School, Structure and Software | Ja

10.13.09 1:31 PM

I agree that a Web service for OF would be ideal. The main reason I don't use OF is that I can't access it via the Web. I don't use a Mac at work, and I'd rather do the bulk of my entry & organization at a computer with a full keyboard rather than on my iPhone.

I'm using Toodledo right now, but it really doesn't work the way I want it to… it's just the closest I can get in an iPhone/webapp pair.

augmentedfourth

10.15.09 2:22 AM

I know that everyone cannot afford my solution for the Windows at work user, but I bought the entry model MacBook just so I can have OmniFocus and OmniOutliner at work. It has worked out great, and I have the added benefit of my mail and other Mac applicatons with me even though I work in an all Windows environment. I've written about my experiences and OmniFocus workflows at http://johnkendrickonline.com if you want to see how I make it work. John

John B. Kendrick

10.17.09 3:11 AM

OmniFocus wasn't the reason I bought my first Mac - but it has become the main reason I'll keep a Mac in the household from now on.

My GTD setup at work is somewhat similar to Johns. Only instead of springing for an entry level MacBook I scavenged an old 400 Mhz PowerMac G3 with a whopping 386 megs of RAM. It's not much by todays standards, but its enough to run OS X 10.4.11 and OmniFocus.

Jan

10.19.09 6:34 PM

Why OMNI just stick to the Mac? Well I imagine that it's probably because:

a) They have years and years of solid experience of using NextStep and Cocoa

b) They love the elegant, intelligent and carefully crafted frameworks provided by Apple

c) They appreciate the great development, debugging and performance analysis tools provided by Apple

d) They don't want to have to work out how to recode OF using a different language and different Frameworks/Libraries. That takes more time, more people and more money.

As an ex-Windows programmer and now a Mac/iPhone programmer I can totally understand what a lot of sense that makes. Unless you're only wish in life is to try and make the biggest amount of money from your products and everything else takes second place then why expand into a market that doesn't float your boat when you're happy with how things are going on the Mac platform right now?

But then, they may have completely different reasons for staying Mac only. You'll need to get it from the OMNI Mouth ;-)

KiltedGreen

10.27.09 11:18 AM

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