OmniFocus for lawyers
Thursday, April 7, 2011 at 9:03AM In my recent(ish) post about InboxZero I mentioned OmniFocus.
I have flirted with a lot of task management systems over the years from Outlook tasks to iPhone apps and even paper index cards.
OmniFocus is the best solution I have found. It is perfectly suited to implementing GTD methodology and syncs seamlessly across the various devices I use (other than my Windows laptop of course, but nothing new there!).
What is OmniFocus?
According to The Omni Group:-
"OmniFocus is designed to quickly capture your thoughts and allow you to store, manage, and process them into actionable to-do items."
In practical terms, the look and feel of OmniFocus is dependent upon whether you are using the version for Mac, iPad or iPhone.
These three versions are quite different and follow a (roughly) descending order of complexity. The iPhone app will look familiar to anyone who has used an iPhone to-do list or task management app, whilst the Mac version is complicated enough to be pretty daunting for the first-time user, but has a huge amount of flexibility built in.
Whichever version(s) you use, OmniFocus is much more than a to-do list.
The Mac version is the most powerful and complex, but I actually find myself using the excellent iPad app for most of my day-to-day task management (in no small part because my Mac sits on my desk at home whilst I always have the iPad on hand) and saving the iPhone app for dropping in new actions when I am out and about, checking shopping lists etc.
OmniFocus actually syncs your data across all these devices using a variety of services such at MobileMe, OmniGroup's own server or a WebDav server of your choice, which means that the latest version is accessible from any device.
What's the big deal?
I assume that most lawyers already use some kind of task management system... whether this is Outlook tasks, a Case Management System or even just a paper and ink "to do list". So why spend your time and money on this one?
For me, the most important factor is the fact that it is totally in tune with the GTD methodology, and in particular the emphasis on the split between project view (for capturing tasks and planning your individual matters) and context view (for actually executing them).
The simplest way to explain these is with an example. Let's say you have three client matters you are working on. At the beginning of each of these you will probably sit down and scope out each task which needs to be completed in order to progress the matter (which will be a mixture of things like phone calls, emails, research and drafting documents). This is where project view comes is useful.
You can define your own contexts, but generally if you are using GTD these will be based around locations or resources which are needed to action a particular kind of task. Let's say your firm's library is 3 floors up from your office so you have defined "Library" as a context.
Each of the research tasks on all your three matters will be in the "Library" context so if you are heading up to the library to do some research you would use the context view and select "Library", which will show you all the tasks across your three matters which need to be done in the library. Whilst you are in the library you aren't in a position to make phone calls so OmniFocus won't show you tasks which are in the Phone view (after all, what is the point in having them on your radar if you can't action them?).
This sounds basic, but actually it really helps with your productivity for a couple of reasons:-
Quite often it will make sense to schedule a block of your day for (say) phone calls or emails - using the relevant context gives you all the calls or emails you need to make in one view regardless of the matter they relate to
Stripping out the "clutter" of tasks which need to be done, but you can't do right now because you are in the wrong place or don't have the right resources cuts out distractions and helps you to focus.
It's important to bear in mind that these tasks which are "out of context" aren't forgotten about. They are just stored in your trusted system (another GTD concept) ready to be dealt with in the appropriate context or at the appropriate time. This is another area where GTD goes beyond task management and into psychology:- the fact that your brain knows the actions are in your trusted system actually does free you up from thinking and worrying about them.
In fact, the power of OmniFocus is really in hiding the stuff that you don't need to be doing as much as it is in showing you your "to do" list.
Further Reading
OmniFocus is a workflow geek's dream and the web is bursting with resources to help you get the most out of it.
A good starting point is Using OmniFocus or the official OmniFocus site, but I also follow the series of occasional posts on macsparky.com which deal with fine-tuning OmniFocus.
OmniFocus isn't cheap (I think I paid about £24 for the iPad version and £60 for the Mac version), but in terms of value for money it is one of the best Apps I have bought... and I am happy to pay for software like this if it means the developer will be around for a long time to come!
Reader Comments (3)
I agree with the iPad version; I use it the most too. The forecast feature is awesome that is not available yet on the desktop version at the time of this writing.
It look like you have many projects and I assume you separate your major areas of responsibilities in different folders. If that's the case, you definitely want to figuring out your own custom perspectives and use the "Focus/Show all" feature of Omnifocus. My roommate just made some screencasts how you can use those advanced omnifocus features.
One of the most useful contexts I have is called "Low Energy". I've created a perspective around this context so whenever I look at this perspective, all I see are the low energy tasks. Whenever I feel tired or I don't want to get much done, I look at this perspective that has tasks that won't require much thoughts or energy from me. Usually these tasks are 5-10m in duration. That way, I still get something useful done even when I don't feel like doing anything. I highly recommend this setup. In your case, I'm sure there will be things that need to get done but require low energy. This context is perfect for that.
Jon
I've heard many good things about OmniFocus but have been put off by (1) the price, and (2) the fact that all my daily work is done on my work PC, rather than a Mac.
Assuming you use a PC for regular work, have you found any way of integrating that into OmniFocus, or is it just a question of running OmniFocus as a task app on your iPad independent of any integration with a work PC?
Many of the tricks I've heard of (e.g. emails being exported as tasks to OmniFocus) seem to only work on the basis that you are running OmniFocus and your work on the same machine.
Laurie
Laurie - I mainly just use OmniFocus on the iPad as a standalone package. I don't think there is a workaround for using it on a PC other than using something like LogMeIn to access it via the browser on your Mac.
I would love to be able to do things like turn emails into OF tasks, but until we get Macs in the office I don't think it will happen!
I use the Mac version mainly for "heavy lifting" like setting up templates for projects, creating perspectives etc which are either tedious or impossible to do on the iPad.
Hope this helps!