He has been Rands much longer than he has been an Apple employee. If I understand correctly, he was at Slack until not long ago. Don’t know about before that. He’s in the Siracusa club of super smart people.
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that is good context because I was not aware of this background. I only discovered the podcast on this thread.
I also am not going to make further mail related comments on this thread to avoid further derailment from the main topic.
I don’t see a problem. A Tesla engineer should be able to ride a Harley and have Subaru at home for the wife and kids. If I worked on Apple Mail it’s almost certain that I’d work on a test network, trying new things, stomping on bugs, etc.
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I’ve been specifically assigned to using competitors’ products and documenting the good and the bad from a usecase pov. Sometimes, you have to eat your dogfood, and the other company’s brand too.
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That’s an important job. I think Alan Mulally, former President and CEO of Ford Motor Co, used to drive cars built by his competition. As I recall someone from Ford would bring them to his home and drop off the keys from time to time. They were his “company car”.
But I see that as different than someone who is actually making the changes. In this case would you want someone who is developing the next version of Apple Mail to use a pre-beta email client for his daily driver? Or would having reliable communications be more important?
I can identify with that - Hee Hee! 
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Resurrecting this now-dead thread to share a story.
A few weeks ago, I migrated from the OF4 beta (OF3 on my Mac) to Things. As we all know, Things’ design is amazing. I’ve had the app for years, and every year or so I do this exercise to see if I can manage. Once again, I’ve ended up back on OF.
Here’s the thing: I desperately want to use Things. I think it’s gorgeous, and easy to use. I love using it on my phone. It’s friction-free. That lack of friction, though, can be problematic.
Here’s the story: I run a freelance business. I’ve got 10 active client projects right now, and 5 in the wings, each with a project in Things/OF. I’ve also got 5 active projects for the business. That’s aside from my personal life, my finances, or working on my house.
I switched to Things wholesale probably around a month ago, and as of yesterday, was nearly having panic attacks. Things’ beautiful, friction-free design is so beautiful and friction-free that I don’t bother keeping up with it as closely. Projects slip through the cracks without flags. I miss phone calls when I don’t have perspectives to dial in my admin tasks.
There is just too much I have to do, and Things’ beautiful UI temporarily calms me down by tucking it all away. But then I miss important things.
My father-in-law is wired a little like me. He and my MIL live in their cottage now, and because cottages are gathering places, there’s frequently 6 or 7 people there at a time. He really wants a smaller water tank for the place, because he thinks the big one in his utility room is an eye sore. If he could get rid of that tank, he’d have more space for storage! So he wanted a half-size. But if 6 or 7 people might need to shower in a given day, you need a big tank of hot water. So I talked him off that ledge, and all is well in Cottage Country.
Similarly, I really want to use Things. I think Omnifocus is an eye sore. If I could just get rid of Omnifocus, that would free up space in my brain for other things! Until it doesn’t, and my brain doesn’t know what’s where and keeps missing things, my job becomes stressful, and one of my colleagues has to calm me down over a Slack huddle before a client meeting.
I really want to be one of the cool Things kids. But I just can’t do it.
I saw somebody say recently (not here) that Omnifocus feels like ancient, crusty, decade-old software. But if you want a calendar view, or custom perspectives, or Review mode, the ability to start a deferred repeated task before its actual start date, etc, etc, it’s still the only game in town.
Like the giant water heater, I hate it, but I need it.
Et voila.
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I smiled as I read this. The aphorism, “damned by faint praise” came to mind. 
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One of my frequent sayings is “it doesn’t suck,” and it’s very humorous watching my wife explain to people that what I mean when I say that is that “it’s really excellent.” It doesn’t suck!
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This thread is basically just stuck in my tabs forever now. In 5 years time I’ll still be coming back here to see what new software might be better.
I decided this week to go back to Todoist (like you with OF, I seem to be a reluctant user of Todoist 
). I like Reminders a lot, and the ability to link my notes directly to tasks is great, but I missed the ability to postpone things and I like having a “board view” of tasks so I can move things in columns instead of just having a list. I found a YouTube video showing how to link Apple Notes to Todoist tasks, so I switched back. I imagine in another month I’ll have switched again…
It’s probably a good thing I’ve never tried OF.
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OF is amazing and can truly solve any task problem. But first, it will break your brain and you’ll feel sad when you look at it.
I like Todoist well enough. Another app that I wish I could get by with.
Sigh! I hate this thread…
(… opens OF!)
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the problem with OF is each time I open it, my eyes hurt and I go back to Things. Having said that, Things is more suited for me. I have relatively simple task management needs with no project management. So Things is more suited to me than OF.
I struggled with this a LOT but for the last 4-5 years have stayed true with THings 3. My recommendation is use whichever app/service that helps you get the “tasks” done with the least friction.
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It’s so interesting how we can’t settle. Your post makes me want to revisit OmniFocus lol. But, I realize right now that nothing is broke, therefore I have no reason to switch.
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That last part was for me to revisit in 2 months
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This is ultimately what keeps me with Things 3 too. It has least amount of friction to how my brain works and I feel much more satisfied with the level of work I can accomplish with it. I want to use OmniFocus and in fact I like a lot of what it does but in the end I spend too much time trying to make it work like Things 3. 
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Haha. I guess those of use who both have a lot to do, and like how OF works, are blessed.
Sounds like a candidate for a conversion to gas tankless, maybe. But yes, just leave it until the current one needs to be replaced (or a really good tax credit comes along.)
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Why?
Seriously, It’s a functional piece of software, what does pretty have to do with function for such a critical piece of navigating modern society and tasks?
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We moved to an electric water tank this year when we had to replace our old one. It’s better for the environment (although obviously not carbon neutral). Sadly more expensive each month, but we are fortunate and blessed enough that we could let our moral compasses guide us before our wallets. It’s nice so far. Actually a little smaller too.
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