Ethan J. A. Schoonover, author of
kGTD, has exhaled enthusiastically on his blog about the Omni Group's recently
announced teased
OmniFocus. Apparently, the Omni ninjas actually brought Schoonover out to their Seattle headquarters (along with Merlin Mann of the ever-productive
43folders) earlier this year for some good ol' fashioned brainstormin' and idea wranglin', and from the sounds of things, he's pretty excited about what's in store. Ethan had nothing but good things to say about his experience and the Omni folk, and explains that this natural and evolutionary collaboration with the Omni Group couldn't have happened at a better time, as his next logical step was to turn kGTD into a full-blown Cocoa app anyway (as opposed to the series of bolt-on, awkwardly installed AppleScripts it is now).
Ethan refrained from offering any salvation from the dark, torturous and detail-less dungeon the Omni Group has already enslaved us in, but check out his
Hold breath. Exhale. Focus blog post for some more bits and pieces about his experience, and some inspiring (though still incredibly vague) details of what's in store for OmniFocus.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tony said 11:19PM on 9-27-2006
I can't wait. I *live* in kGTD right now, so this will be a welcomed upgrade. Hopefully there will be an upgrade price from OmniOutliner Pro...
Reply
harry the hippo said 2:38AM on 9-28-2006
I couldn't care less. I'm sick to death of hearing about GTD in general and the Omni group in particular. They lost me when they asked for $30 for a browser. As for GTD, I hope I never lose control of my life to the extent that I need someone else to tell me how to organise it.
Reply
Steve said 10:10AM on 9-28-2006
Harry is one upbeat hipo. It's awesome that he doesn't need to write phone numbers down, balance his checkbooks, or put his keys on a keychain. You obviously don't need to follow anyone else's conventions in your daly life. Bravo for you.
Reply
master said 8:52AM on 9-28-2006
Don't be so critical... It is a good piece of software, though people like you and me prefer not to use it.
Reply
harry the hippo said 9:38AM on 9-28-2006
Someone explain to me how this GTD fad enables us to do something we couldn't already do, and I'll stop criticising it.
Reply
harry the hippo said 10:18AM on 9-28-2006
Wrong, Steve. I do all those things, and have been doing for many years - if you want to defend it then do so, no need to make snide remarks at someone else's expense. My question was, and is, what does GTD enable me and others to do that we couldn't already? Do you need help putting your keys on a keychain? - I'm sure you don't. So what does GTD give you that you didn't already have?
Reply
rp said 10:32AM on 9-28-2006
Well, each to his own, of course. I just started using this kGTD, and I do like it. It helps me be more efficient with doing the hundreds of things I got going on. I can do with out it, but I am doing better with it.
Reply
reefdog said 10:58AM on 9-28-2006
When did TUAW start linking product names to their associated TUAW tag pages? That's horrible UI. Awful. When I see a link around "kGTD" or "OmniFocus", I expect to be taken to either the home for that product, or an equally descriptive page. Hijacking user expectations to feed them more of your own content is pretty rude.
It's your site, you can do what you want. But it sort of flies in the face of usability and user expectations. Better would be a link like "kGTD [TUAW]" where the "kGTD" linked to kGTD's home page, and the "[TUAW]" linked to the assocated TUAW tags. It could even be a tiny favicon instead of text if you wanted to be really attention-grabbing. (Just please keep it within the text's natural line-height, please please.)
I'm just sayin'.
Reply
Tony said 11:23AM on 9-28-2006
Hippo,
Everybody has a system of some sort, even it it's just writing notes on a sugar packet and stuffing them into your George Constanza sized wallet.
All GTD does is present a very *simple* method of simplifying life. With it, when used properly, there's less stress about what should be done less, fewer piles on the desk (which also induce a type of stress), nothing falling through the cracks, etc. It's the opposite of overly rigid and time consuming "systems" like the Franklin/Covey system (and others.)
Nobody *needs* it, but I haven't met anyone yet who's committed to using it who hasn't found that everything just runs smoother in their life. It doesn't matter how much or how little people think they have on their plate...we all have more than we might think.
Reply