If you know me at all, you know I’m a big-time follower of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” method of managing work and life. I’m not the only one, GTD – as it’s called – has garnered a cult-like following over the last decade. In my opinion, and that’s all I have, GTD is the ultimate system for productivity. It’s a system where the tools really don’t matter, it’s all about the process.

My biggest hangup with the GTD system is that I’m a digital kinda guy. Last year, I found OmniGroup’s OmniFocus for Mac and instantly fell in love with it. One problem, though OmniFocus for Mac syncs with multiple systems, it required me to always be at one of those sync’d systems to see what I’m supposed to be doing at any moment in time. I want to be able to access my to-do lists wherever I am and with ease. With OmniFocus for Mac, I was printing out my to do lists with hundreds of items and carrying them around in a big GTD Coordinator (a big planner system made by At-A-Glance). It was cumbersome and I always had an extra 5 pounds on my shoulders.

Then OmniGroup released OmniFocus for iPhone. This made my GTD system so easy. I could easily enter notes into OmniFocus whether I’m at my desk or on the road and they’d all sync back to a central database stored on my MobileMe. Though it fit its purpose, OmniFocus for iPhone is a scaled down version of the Desktop version with a few needed features missing; I can’t fault OmniGroup for that, it’s just the nature of the small screen and interface.

When the iPad was announced earlier this year, all of us OmniFocus users just knew that OmniGroup would create something for the iPad. The OmniGroup forums were a buzz. Well, sure enough, OmniGroup announced that they would be releasing an OmniFocus for iPad. Though they set their sights on a June 30th release date, it was actually released on July 30th. OmniFocus for iPad has quickly run up the Top Charts. Only 3 days after its release, it was already #14 on the Top Paid Apps Chart and #1 on the Top Grossing Apps Chart. The momentum isn’t dying down, at points I’ve seen it above Apple’s own products, “Pages” & “Numbers” and for good reason — it just ROCKS! It’s not the cheapest App in the store, but this is the app that I got my iPad for – OmniFocus IS the Killer App for iPad!

Before I get into OmniFocus for iPad and why I believe it’s the best app for Getting Things Done. Here’s a little promo video from the OmniGroup.

So what is GTD and how does OmniFocus for iPad make it so easy?

From David Allen’s Website: WHAT IS GETTING THINGS DONE, or GTD?

Moleskin Reporters Notebook, Pocket Size, for Capture Anywhere.

CAPTURE – The first and probably most important part of GTD is to capture everything. I mean everything. If you think about something you need to do, put it in a trusted place and out of your mind until you have time to process it. If someone gives you their phone number, put it in a trusted place until you can add it to your address book. If you see a billboard for something you want to check out later while riding the subway, put it in a trusted place until you can look it up later. Since this is a blog about photography, if you hear someone talking about an awesome new lighting technique that you never heard about, put it in a trusted place until you can research it.

For me, the trusted place has become my suite of OmniFocus products – OmniFocus for Mac, OmniFocus for iPhone and OmniFocus for iPad. Of course, I still carry around a Moleskin reporters notebook in my back left pocket, just in case my iPhone runs out of juice or I happen to be without one of my OmniFocus products.

Whenever I think of something it goes right into one of my OmniFocus Inboxes for Processing later. I don’t need to think about it, just type it in and leave it for later. The great thing about the OmniFocus suite is that it syncs to all my other OmniFocus products.

OmniFocus for iPad allows you to capture Pictures, Sound Recordings, notes and text. Though I’m just starting to use this, I can see the true power of keeping nearly everything in one place. (As I continue to use the new features of OmniFocus for iPad, I’m exploring the idea of scanning in physical documents from my inbox and storing them within OmniFocus.)

There’s another part of the Capture phase that’s important – I said to “Capture Everything”. So the next question is what about documents, pamphlets, magazines, mail, and all the other paper documents that we just have to deal with. At home and at the office, I have an “INBOX”. Yes, a physical Inbox. Everything that I collect goes into the INBOX; Not on the desk, not on the floor, not on someone else’s desk, in the INBOX. When I’m on the run or traveling, I have a folder in my bag called “INBOX” – everything I collect while I’m on the run goes in my mobile INBOX and then when I get back to the office it goes into the INBOX on my desk.

OmniFocus Inbox: use it to capture everything.

David Allen talks about a “Mind Like Water” feeling, it’s a term from his training in the martial arts. The whole idea behind getting everything down on paper, or in a trusted system, is that you only have to think about it when you need to; you only have to react to input with the amount of energy that you need to – just like water. If you keep things in your head, you will constantly think about them and will use up vital brain power to remember… though you’ll probably forget.

Now that I’ve collected everything, what do I do with it? Well, that’s the next step: Process It.

PROCESS – The next step is to process your INBOX(es). I process mine once in the morning and once before I leave for the day. One at a time, I go through my INBOX(es). First my OmniFocus INBOX. Remember, they’re all sync’d so I can do this on my Mac, iPhone or iPad – since the release of OmniFocus for iPad, most of my OmniFocus Inbox processing happens on the iPad. One at a time, I go through the list of items in my inbox. Many times it’s not even a complete thought, something like, “Need a vacation” or “Call Johnny to see if he wants to collaborate on XYZ project” or “What’s at MoMA?” or “Blog Idea: Write about Getting Things Done.”

When I’m processing there are three key questions, “What Is This?”, “Is This Item Actionable?” and “What Is The Next Action?” David Allen has put together a great little road map for processing.

GTD Workflow

DO IT – If the task is something that you can do in less than 2 minutes, just do it while you’re processing. Let’s say my inbox item was, “Fire off an email to Greg to say Thanks for Dinner”. That would take less than two minutes, so when I get to that item in my inbox, I just Do it!

DEFER IT. These are items that you need to do, but will take more than two minutes. One of my inbox items last week was “Write About Getting Things Done.” Here’s what goes on in my head:

“What Is This?”, I ask.

“Oh, It’s a blog post that might be worthwhile exploring”, I respond to myself in my head (wow, if I said this out loud, I’d sound like a crazy person).

“Is It Actionable?”, I ask.

“Yes,” I say to myself, “I think it could be a great post for my blog readers.”

“What’s The Next Action?”, I Ask.

“Well, OmniFocus just released a new version for iPad, maybe I should write about my workflow and how I use OmniGroup’s products in my workflow,” I continue to sound crazy talking to myself, “Great. So I think the next action would be to contact OmniGroup and get a kit for review.”

Now in David Allen’s GTD system, if it’s a one off task that will take more than 2 minutes, such as, “Call Joe just to catch up”. This item will take more than 2 minutes, because you haven’t talked to Joe in about six months, so you would just add that to your list.

David considers any outcome that takes multiple steps to complete to be a “Project”.

So my next step is to create a new project in my OmniFocus that’s called, “Blog Idea: Write About Getting Things Done”. Then I add Tasks to it:
- “Email OmniGroup to get a review kit”
- “Go over Review Kit”
- “Find my copy of Getting Things Done book”
- “Review key areas of Getting Things Done”
- “Write Outline of blog post”
- “Write First Draft of blog post”

Now there’s another step to processing and laying out my next actions, I categorize them by Context. In the days of paper, I would have several lists each with different settings or contexts that I can do these tasks in, with OmniFocus I can just keep one list and view different contexts when I’m in those settings. So my list will now look like:

- “Email OmniGroup to get a review kit”, @Computer, Online
- “Go over Review Kit” @Computer, Online
- “Find my copy of Getting Things Done book & put it in my bag”, @Studio
- “Review key areas of Getting Things Done”, @Anywhere
- “Write Outline of blog post”, @Anywhere
- “Write First Draft of blog post”, @Computer, Online

Contexts Screen in OmniFocus for Mac

When I’m at a computer and online and looking for something to do, I just go to that Context in OmniFocus and I have my list of things that I can do at that moment. I also have other contexts, for example:

@Calls
@Home
@Errands, B&H Photo
@Errands, Calumet
@Errands, Grocery Store
@Computer
@Computer, Retouching System
@Computer, Accounting System
@Computer, Online
@Studio
and a bunch of others.

Sometimes I will add deadlines to my tasks, sometimes I won’t. Though deadlines really make some of the features of the OmniFocus suite really shine.

Have I confused you yet? Well, I’m going to give you another step to processing that’s just as important as making lists of tasks. While I was having that conversation in my head, maybe I decided that it wasn’t actionable at the moment and I wanted to put off this blog post until a later time, I have a “Project” that has all my on-hold blog posts called, “Blog Ideas”. When I’m looking for something to write about, I usually review that list. What if the idea in my inbox was “Make a Motion Picture”? Well, I’m just too busy right now to do that, I’ll put it off until later – I have a “Project” in my OmniFocus called, “Someday/Maybe” where I put all these random thoughts that I can’t do right now, but someday, maybe I’ll get to them.

TRASH IT – Another option would be that I decided that this just isn’t something I wanted to write about. If that’s the case, I’ll throw the idea in the trash, or delete it.

DELEGATE IT – maybe, I didn’t think I was the right person to write about “Getting Things Done”, so I’ll ask my resident Getting Things Done expert at the studio to write it – in other words, “Delegate It”. If I delegate it, I’ll still make a task in my system that says, “Follow Up with Johnny about Getting Things Done blog article” to remind myself that I gave that task to Johnny and that I should follow up with him later.

I do this for ALL of my inboxes. I go through my OmniFocus Inbox, My Physical Inboxes and my email inboxes, every day – Twice a day. Usually this is done while sitting at my computer with OmniFocus for Mac open, but I’m finding that more and more I’m using OmniFocus for iPad, as I become more familiar with the application.

There’s another goal to processing and this is what makes the whole system work – Bring your Inboxes to ZERO every day. Meaning you should process your entire inbox (digital, physical and email) every day until there is nothing in it. Now processing doesn’t always mean doing, it just means figuring out what you need to do with that item – Do It, Delegate It, Defer It, or Trash It.

You will be amazed how good it feels every day to get your INBOX to Zero. You will feel like you’ve completed a huge task, and you have.

DO IT – We’ve taken great care to get everything out of our head and put it in our system, the OmniFocus Inbox in my case, and then process those items to define the outcomes and next actions for each of them, The next step would be to actually DO your action items.

The DOing is where those contexts come into play and OmniFocus makes using those contexts very easy. When I’m in DOing mode, I generally have my iPad open to OmniFocus for iPad and go through all of the next actions that are available to me in the context that I’m in. When I’m at the studio and sitting at one of our retouching systems, I’ll open my OmniFocus and Focus on those items that I can do @Computer, Retouching System. Those are all the items that I need to do when I’m there and one at a time, I knock off the items on that list. When I’m on a train with no access to the internet, I’ll open up my @Calls context and start knocking off the telephone calls that I need to make; or maybe I’ll open up the @Anywhere context and do those items.

What makes OmniFocus for iPhone and OmniFocus for iPad so powerful is that you can assign physical locations to Contexts. So if I’m walking around town doing errands, or leaving a client meeting, I can pull up other things that I need to do in that area.

Here’s how OmniGroup puts it:

OmniFocus lets you selectively view tasks that are relevant to your work mode, so if you want to see all “Phone” related tasks in order to sit down and make some calls, just tap the Phone context in your OmniFocus document. With OmniFocus for iPad’s new simplified Map, it’s easy to see the available actions that are closest to you. When you’re ready to buy groceries, OmniFocus for iPad can show you the closest grocery store and its associated shopping list.

Another great feature of OmniFocus for iPad is its Forecast screen. Quickly and easily you can view all the tasks that you need to do today, if you set a deadline for them. You will also see all the tasks that are past due and those that are coming up. David Allen’s method doesn’t really call for adding deadlines to tasks, but I’ve begun using deadlines to help plan my weeks and workload because this feature of the iPad software is just too good to pass up.

REVIEW IT – As your collecting, processing and doing, things may get lost – in your system and in your head – and that’s why it’s important to do a weekly review. I do a mini-review every day at the end of the day, I look at the tasks I’ve done throughout the day and add the next action that needs to be done, but one of the most powerful features of the GTD Method is reviewing your entire system and everything in it on a regular basis; This is called the Weekly Review.

I choose not to schedule any appointments on Fridays; I do not shoot, or schedule meetings, or plan company functions – the first half of my Friday is my Weekly Review and the second half I’m doing my weekly accounting tasks. Of course, there are situations where I’m just forced to shoot or have a meeting, but I still make time during the day at some point to do my Weekly Review.

GTD is much more than just Capturing, Processing, Doing and Reviewing – The system has many more levels (that are way too much for me to go into detail in this blog post) to keep your focus on what’s most important to you.

In short, there are six horizons of your commitments – Purpose, Vision, Goals, Areas of Focus, Projects and Actions. Every one of your actions should be a result of your Purpose, Vision, Goals and Areas of Focus, if they’re not they should be trashed during the processing phase (unless of course, maybe your goals or purpose are changing). During your weekly review, you should review your Goals, Areas of Focus, and Projects to make sure you are keeping current. As you review these horizons, you will find other tasks or things you should do to keep on the correct path.

For example, here’s a list of my personal areas of focus:
- Home
- Legal
- Finances
- Fun/Leisure
- Service/Community
- Personal Development
- Victoria (my wife)
- Family

Here’s a list of my areas of Focus for The KMR Group, one of my companies:
- IT
- Operations
- Jobs: Commercial
- Jobs: Editorial
- Jobs: Testing
- Systems
- Sales
- Professional Development
- Public Relations
- Resources
- Employees
- Marketing/Promotion
- Accounting/Financial

I have several other areas of focus for my other companies and ventures, but for the purpose of this post, I’ll leave it at that. OmniFocus doesn’t really support Areas of Focus, but you can fake it by using folders. I have a top level folder for Personal and each of my companies/ventures and then within those folders I have a folder for each of my areas of focus for those companies/ventures. Within each of these areas of focus, I create Projects (outcomes that require more than one action to complete) and Single Action Items.

My Companies

Areas of Focus within a company

During my weekly review, I go one by one through the folders and pull anything from my head that may need to be done (i.e. new projects, new ideas to explore, additional actions). By reviewing regularly, you maintain that trust in your system that everything you need to get done is being done and everything is where it needs to be.

Within OmniFocus for iPad there is also a great REVIEW option that lets you go project by project and review the items within each project. You can also easily add next actions, put projects on hold, mark projects as complete, or drop projects. This new option in the iPad software is genius and has really changed my weekly review process.

OmniFocus for iPad Weekly Review

CONCLUSION -
At any one time I may have 200 – 300 projects in motion (projects in David Allen’s terms; outcomes that have more than one step to complete) and even more next actions. I am managing multiple companies and my personal life with ease; Now I’m not saying that I’m not over extended at times, but at least I have a handle on things. Overall, Getting Things Done has allowed me to do more in my life without losing my mind, or letting key tasks slip through the cracks.

Before finding OmniFocus for Mac, Getting Things Done seemed like a chore, there was just so much paper. OmniFocus for Mac changed my life and my productivity, but with the addition of OmniFocus for iPhone and now OmniFocus for iPad, I’m reaching new levels of productivity and doing more than I thought I ever could. One of the OmniFocus products is always with me, whether I’m at my desk using OmniFocus for Mac, roaming around the studio or around town using OmniFocus for iPad, or out and about using OmniFocus for iPhone.

I highly recommend to anyone who feels like they are unproductive and unorganized to run out and grab David Allen’s “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” and when you’re finished get a copy of OmniFocus for Mac, OmniFocus for iPhone, and OmniFocus for iPad. It’s probably the best $150 I’ve ever spent, and, after you do so, you’ll probably come back to thank me.

Related articles on other sites:

• OmniFocus for iPad Reinvented My GTD Workflow (macstories.net)
• OmniFocus for iPad – Products – The Omni Group (omnigroup.com)
• OmniFocus for iPad: Sunny with a chance of productivity (reviews.cnet.com)
• The Omni Group releases OmniFocus for iPad (macworld.com)
• OmniFocus, GTD, and You! – Blog – The Omni Group (omnigroup.com)