Tag Archive for: task management

OmniFocus vs Things

One of my favorite ways to procrastinate is to change my task manager. It’s fun and feels super productive, but it’s a trap. An equally fun and falsely productive pass time is debating with strangers on the internet about task management apps.

This post is not a salvo in that war, just the documentation of a decision I made for my specific circumstances. I am a huge fan of both OmniFocus and Things; they are both excellent apps. However, I recently switched over from OmniFocus to Things, and I wrote this post to organize my thoughts. Hopefully, it helps you too.

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Anatomy of an Action Item

I have written before about the hierarchy of tasks (i.e., action items) in OmniFocus. In this post, I will zoom in on the base unit of productivity, an action item, and identify the characteristics every action item should have.

I like using OmniFocus and calling tasks “action items.” Regardless of the program you use, and whatever you call the things you need to do, you should think about how they are composed. As of March 2021, I think these are the essential parts of an action item. When I clear to neutral every day, I make sure each action item that goes into my system has been reviewed for each of the following characteristics.

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How I Use Tasks in OmniFocus

For about 25 years, I got through life by procrastinating on my obligations until an emergency arose and then used my intellectual brute strength to avert disaster. About halfway through my first year of teaching, I realized this was not sustainable, and I started trying to strengthen my organizational game.

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Personal Trello Boards

Task organization cards transitioning from scattered chaos on the left to organized kanban columns on the right, labeled TO DO, DOING, and DONE

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