Get Everything Done

Is anyone using Omnifocus for FV? If so, how did you set it up? It is GTD-based, so it is difficult to see one, single list not separated by contexts, and also to be able to move things.

Just curious...

Thanks,
-David

> Add a Perspective to view the FV shoebox in Project view sorted by ascending date-added and another Perspective to view the "FV Chain" in Context view by descending date-added.

At the moment I don't think OmniFocus allows reverse sorting, which is quite annoying - so you can only sort with most recently added at the top.

This relies on using flags, so as Bernie mentions, this may not work for you if you use flags for something else.

I haven't tried this in practice yet, but what might work is:
1. Set up a perspective showing all the actions on your list, sorted by date changed (not date added).
2. Scroll to the bottom of the list - the very bottom item is your starting item. Flag it. It will then pop up to the top of the list.
3. Then scroll up through the list looking for your items that you want to do before the item you are comparing against - flag the item that satisfies your "want to do first" test.
4. Carry on in this way until you reach the top of the list - as you flag each item, it will register as the most recently changed, and so move to the top of the list.
5. When you reach the top, work down through the flagged items list - if you complete an item check it off, if you have not finished then unflag it.
6. When all items are completed or unflagged, scroll down to the bottom of the list and start again.

Apologies if I am not using consistent FV lingo or there are mistakes in my logic...,

I hope you get the idea, and I'm sure someone will be able to improve on what I've written!

I use OmniFocus with FV and love it.

Having already spent time learning OmniFocus, I find it by far the fastest and easiest way to manage the details of projects. Some examples:

* It often helps me to plan a project a few steps ahead. OF lets me do that.
* I often have to defer a task for a few days. OF lets me do that.
* It helps to have specialized contexts, like errands. OF supports that.

In other words, I am using OF as a true GTD system. FV has not replaced that. Instead, FV has _dramatically_ improved my process for working through tasks. It makes it easier and more fun to work.

I use these steps:

1. Start in the Contexts perspective, sorted by date added (oldest tasks will be at the bottom of the list).
2. Select the available contexts to hide tasks you can't physically do.
3. Flag the oldest created task (bottom of list).
4. Proceed up the list, flagging tasks per the FV rule.
5. Switch to the Flagged perspective.
6. Work from the top of the list (newest task) downward.
7. Check tasks off as done; create a new unflagged task if undone.

There are some subtle problems with this. For instance, a recurring task keeps its flag when marked done. But on the whole, FV has made my existing OF system much more effective.

Thanks Mark!

Bernie,
>I've made the weird discovery that while you *can* reverse any column's sort by clicking it

Are you sure that's what's happening?

I too thought they had added sort reverse yesterday when I tried what you are saying, but then realised that it was actually toggling that column between sorted and unsorted if you're in Project mode, and in Context mode between sorting by that column and the default sort order, which is sorting by Project.

Of course depending on how you have structured your tasks/projects, this may happen to match the sort order you need.

I find it confusing, because toggling forward/reverse sort is what you'd expect for sorted columns, and when you click the column heading and look at the contents of the column in OF, the order of the items toggles consistently between two sort orders.

NB feature requests like adding reverse sort can be made to OmniGroup with Help menu > Send Feedback.

I still use Omnifocus after one week with FV and a GTD approach. I also red someone else has done the same on this fourmi but who ?

The system is fantastic. Not only it is terrible efficient collecting all my tasks in one single place but FV with the flags for the dots is great.

I feel indeed confortable with the system. And it works.

Ok Brett but first I have to give one precision. I needed a global system of organization. I have many projects to follow and it is very complex to do it with only MF systems. So I decided to use GTD as a basic step and finally use digital because it is to long and difficult to do it on paper.
I use Dropbox for files I need anywhere, I use Evernote as a data base for informations and contacts I use Omnifocus for projects and tasking

About OF the project part is cut in folders
Mine are

PROJETS PRIORITAIRES = List of very important projects i.e. my business
AC RESULTATS = The incoming money
AC ORGANISAT° = My project about organization. I am working permanently on it.
SINGLE ACTION LIST.
℗ Immeubles = My buidings I am working on permanently
Prospection = Future incoming buildings
℗ AC = All about my company account, taxes, communication
℗ Personnels = all about my personal life
℗ Références = notes about stuff
ARCHIVE = old projects no longer available

The context GTD fields are

Aucun contexte
@Wait = all I am waiting for
@Prop° Faites = proposal I made I need to recall
@prop° AF = Future proposal I may do
@Planifier = Project I must plan on my diary
@Rangements = Cleaning my stuff
@Low Z Adm. = low energy projects i.e. search on web
@Travail dossier = office project I must work on
@Call
@Mail
@Web
@people = all about people I may see
@Lire = book I must read
@Home
@Errands
GELE = frozen. it is a warehouse were I put future item today un actionable. Kind of tickler
SOMEDAY MAYBE =projects I don't know if I will do it or no.

Now about perspectives
Context are grouped by projects. So I can take one and work project /project
Next action idem except only next action
Do ! Flag is the most important one it show all what is flag and remaining it is my window for acting

How I do ?
Each night I review each project. I don't ask what do I want to do before but What do I need to really do ? o stand at main some elements which are flags. I don't care about the numbers.
I also decide what project is the most impotent for me tomorrow and note it on a paper note book.
Each morning I read all flags and eliminate with the question
What is not absolutely necessary ?
Then stay some elements
I take the DO ! perspective and work project by projects from up to done. I don't care about the order. I must work a little on it. I also use the next action perspective. When I have finished I read the current project on the project perspective. I add items and cross other and I plan the new action. Then I go to the next project.

I am very embarrassed with MF lists because I need to work on projects one by one.
Working on a task the passing on another encourage me to do multitasking and kill my efficiency. If I don't want to work on a project I put a start date later on it and then it will be a structured procratrination.

Hope this is clear if it is not just ask.

To be complete, there is also a mixte paper way which was really efficient with me. Ie forgiving context and my perspective Do and use only in OF the project and the end dates. THEN at night just report in an AF way all the tasks I really want and which are incoming tomorrow or are late. It could be better to report only the next action from the projects to a sheet of paper but this is GTD.

My current use of FV is very similar to what Jupiter describes as his "mixture" alternative. I have my tasks grouped by projects and life areas (sequences, sub-projects, future tasks, maybe tasks...) in one txt file (using TaskPaper now, but the same could be done in Omnifocus) and I copy to paper Final Version list only what is current (=what I want to do approximately in a week or two). I have two FV lists - one for home tasks, one for work tasks. Apart, I have also several context lists for outside tasks - People, Places, Errands/Out, Groceries etc, for which I am using Things application with sync to iPhone but it can be also implemented in OF easily (the reason is I do not carry my Final Version paper lists with me outside).

By the way - I am long time user of electronic time management systems, both online and offline, but with FV I came back to paper for the first time after 5 years. I consider paper implementation of FV clearly superior. And...I consider FV clearly superior :-)

One problem I see with keeping the FV list in OmniFocus is that, at least in context mode, it doesn't readily support crossing off and re-entering a task that has been worked on but not completed.

My process keeps evolving, but what seems to be working well for me at the moment is using OmniFocus and something fairly close to canonical GTD at the medium planning horizons, say from quarterly/seasonal down to weekly. Then once I've completed a weekly review in OF and compiled a list of tasks I want to work on over the coming week, I can copy that to TaskPaper as the basis of the Final Version list that I work from on a day-to-day basis.

TaskPaper supports the FV process beautifully, far better than paper IMHO. Once I've preselected my chain of tasks using the tagging function, I can hide all the tasks that were not preselected with the filter function. And of course crossing off a worked-on task and re-entering it at the bottom is perfectly straightforward.

One minor weakness to this approach is that there's a certain amount of double-entry. If I add tasks to my FV list during the course of the week but don't complete them, I have to make it part of my weekly review to determine whether any of them should also be entered in OmniFocus and carried over to the next week. And I have to check off or strike through completed tasks in both TP and OF. But so far I've found that capturing the benefits from the most useful aspects of GTD, FV, OF and TP is well worth the small amount of extra work.

I found a way of doing Fv with omnifocus ie making a perspective sorted by creation date and then flag in it like you do for dot. My system was almost perfect but i soon get bored with it + it squeezd my intuition so I went back to paper ! I kept of for projects and due dated items

Jupiter, how did you deal with re-entering tasks that you had worked on but not completed when you were doing FV in OF?

@eurobada

I simply copy and past new items or reformulate. So it is added in my perspective