Forget what you need to do with confidence!
Rating: 10 out of 10
IncentivizedUse Cases and Deployment Scope
We use OmniFocus as one of the preferred task management applications. We are primarily a Mac organization and OmniFocus is one of the best task management tools for individuals. It helps me and the others who use it organize all their To-Dos in a way that allows them to see what they need to see and nothing else. Tasks that are distractions or lower priorities can be hidden away to avoid "Mind Clutter".
Pros
- Contexts! I use my own contexts to organize To-Dos. For example: Full Focus, Brain Dead, Short Dashes, Thinking, and Top 6. This allows me to easily find a short task I can do in the 15 minutes I have. Or if I'm mentally drained, I can find things that I can do at that time.
- Perspectives is another great feature. These are custom searches that are saved as common "views". Using projects, context, due dates, defer dates, and Status allows me to have much more control over what I see. For example, I have a context that only shows me work To-do's that are due today. I have another that shows my personal/home to-dos. Another option is to use location services that can notify you or list things you can do based on location. This is a great way to separate home and work tasks.
- Syncing across devices is important, particularly for productivity needs. OmniFocus sync works so well, you never think about it once it is set up.
- The user interface is very easy to work with and looks nice. It is the kind of tool that allows you to work with it and not get in the way.
Cons
- I would like to see more ways to set priority. Context can be used, but I find contexts better used for other things. You can only assign one context per item. There is a flag status, but I would like to see something more like red/yellow/green status indicators to visually scan a list and see the urgent vs the normal vs. the low priorities.
- It can be a bit pricey vs. some other options, but it is still a very good value.
Likelihood to Recommend
Who should use OmniFocus
That said, OmniFocus is not for everyone. It does require a strategy and sticking to the strategy. I've met some who struggled to use it or wasted time building the perfect workflow. For them, a basic checklist is probably better. However there are some GREAT resources from Merlin Mann and others that teach how to use it well.
- Anyone with multiple projects
- Anyone with multiple tasks that need to get done
- Anyone who does not like to forget what to do
- Anyone who prefers to stay organized
- Anyone who is not told what to do and when to do it
That said, OmniFocus is not for everyone. It does require a strategy and sticking to the strategy. I've met some who struggled to use it or wasted time building the perfect workflow. For them, a basic checklist is probably better. However there are some GREAT resources from Merlin Mann and others that teach how to use it well.
DE
Doug Eli
Director Of Technology in Information Technology at Frontier_Ventures (Religious Institutions, 51-200 employees)
Vetted Review
8 years of experience