Omnifocus is a task management program that is based on the Getting Things Done system by David Allen. A good friend of mine swears by Omnifocus, and I had read GTD a while ago, and it seemed like it made a lot of sense but would be better for me as a digital program rather than a paper-based one. I bought the Omnifocus program and iPhone app a while ago, but it's the sort of system that is really only useful if you fully commit to putting your entire life into it. I bought this book with the intention of seeing if I was ready for that sort of commitment, and it sat unread on my phone for three or four years until now.
The book does a fairly good job of highlighting both the benefits and the drawbacks of the system. The main innovation of both GTD and Omnifocus is the idea that in addition to breaking down projects into specific individual tasks or actions, each task should be categorized and organized by a context, or what kind of task it is (and what it requires to be done). So you sort all of your phone calls, or everything that needs to be done in a specific place, or all emails, and that way you're making progress on small pieces of multiple projects, without having to switch gears task by task. Basically, it's intended to make easier to accomplish things, by minimizing distractions in moving from one task to the next.
This makes a ton of sense to me instinctively, and I love the idea of having everything written down and organized in one complete system. But I had stopped using the app and had hoped that the book would provide the sort of lightbulb moment that would make me trust it would be worth the initial effort of inputting everything in my life, essentially.
It didn't quite do that; most of the advice and insight on how to use it either seemed totally self-explanatory or was so advanced and complicated that I couldn't for a second imagine myself doing that. I came away still feeling like Omnifocus is probably a great system, but may not be worth it for me. I love lists, but maybe I don't actually need one centralized macro list of my lists. I tend to have a good grasp on what I need to be doing; my issue tends to be less that I forget what I have on my plate and more that I don't always do those things because something else seems more interesting.
Having said that, in the four days since I finished this book, I have been thinking a lot more about the system, and when I think of things I need to do (or want to do), my brain immediately slots them into place within the Omnifocus system. So maybe I'll give it another try after all. If nothing else, this book reminded me of exactly why I found Omnifocus intriguing when I first heard about it, so it did its job.
Grade: B
The book does a fairly good job of highlighting both the benefits and the drawbacks of the system. The main innovation of both GTD and Omnifocus is the idea that in addition to breaking down projects into specific individual tasks or actions, each task should be categorized and organized by a context, or what kind of task it is (and what it requires to be done). So you sort all of your phone calls, or everything that needs to be done in a specific place, or all emails, and that way you're making progress on small pieces of multiple projects, without having to switch gears task by task. Basically, it's intended to make easier to accomplish things, by minimizing distractions in moving from one task to the next.
This makes a ton of sense to me instinctively, and I love the idea of having everything written down and organized in one complete system. But I had stopped using the app and had hoped that the book would provide the sort of lightbulb moment that would make me trust it would be worth the initial effort of inputting everything in my life, essentially.
It didn't quite do that; most of the advice and insight on how to use it either seemed totally self-explanatory or was so advanced and complicated that I couldn't for a second imagine myself doing that. I came away still feeling like Omnifocus is probably a great system, but may not be worth it for me. I love lists, but maybe I don't actually need one centralized macro list of my lists. I tend to have a good grasp on what I need to be doing; my issue tends to be less that I forget what I have on my plate and more that I don't always do those things because something else seems more interesting.
Having said that, in the four days since I finished this book, I have been thinking a lot more about the system, and when I think of things I need to do (or want to do), my brain immediately slots them into place within the Omnifocus system. So maybe I'll give it another try after all. If nothing else, this book reminded me of exactly why I found Omnifocus intriguing when I first heard about it, so it did its job.
Grade: B
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