There are tens, if not hundreds of task management software. Some are for personal task management, some collaborative. Some apps target project managers and offer Gantt charts while others are simple Todo lists.

How it all began

I run several projects in parallel and have always had a hard time to keep up with all the tasks, actions and requests coming my way. A few years ago, I was inspired by Bruno Vanryb, CEO of Avanquest. I noticed he was writing down any action for him in a small pocket book. I quickly started doing the same thing and it dramatically improved my ability to complete important tasks. After a few months though, I reached a few limitations with this technique: browsing through several pages to find incomplete tasks was inefficient. Having to recopy them in a fresh list was time consuming. It was also quite difficult to differentiate work tasks and home tasks. I decided to find an upgrade to this work habit.

Getting Things Done

On my quest to this new and improved system, I discovered the "Getting Things Done" work-life management system:


"GTD embodies an easy, step-by-step and highly efficient method for achieving this relaxed, productive state. It includes:

• Capturing anything and everything that has your attention
• Defining actionable things discretely into outcomes and concrete next steps
• Organizing reminders and information in the most streamlined way, in appropriate categories, based on how and when you need to access them
• Keeping current and "on your game" with appropriately frequent reviews of the six horizons of your commitments (purpose, vision, goals, areas of focus, projects, and actions)" (source: What is GTD)

OmniFocus and GTD

After spending a few weeks to: create a list of GTD style task managers - download - install - configure and actually - use - each software product, I've set my choice on OmniFocus.

Capture

OmniFocus allows one to capture - or collect - tasks very easily. The interface is clean and simple.

It is also possible to configure a keyboard shortcut that will open a Quick Entry window to save an action in the inbox, to be organized later. Very useful for OCD people like me ;)

Define & Organize

Every day, I spend some time to define & organize the tasks that made it to my inbox. The idea here is to transform them into actionable items, with a due date, a context (home, office, grocery...) and sort them in the appropriate project.

Focus

Organization is good, but at some point, I need to perform actual work: complete some tasks! This is were all the previous work really pays out. All you do is select the appropriate context and on which project you'd like to work. OmniFocus will show you the tasks in order of priority. It's the "Focus" mode and it allows you to unburden your mind of everything you need to remember and focus on your actual priorities.

Review

On a weekly basis, I review all my tasks. Is everything still at the right place, did I leave anything on the side lines while it should have been in the priorities? Can I drop the priority on anything?

Bottom line

The most important aspect, for me, in using a tool like OmniFocus is to free up my mind and allow me to focus on my priority tasks. Our brain plays tricks on us and reminds us of tasks in the wrong context: at night you think of work tasks and at work you think of all the painting left to get that baby bedroom ready on time!

While this is a very personal approach to task management, it works well for me in a team environment. I just have to synchronize (manually) my tasks with the tool used by the team.

In part 2, I will cover the OmniFocus iPhone app and how it seriously helps me keep track of almost anything!

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