Whining: Things user is sorry that it didn't work out with Omnifocus

Software
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Same job. Same concerns. I’ve bounced back and forth between both apps more times than I’m willing to admit publicly. The last move was from Things back to OF when I had a lot of priority tasks for work that Felt scattered and I wanted to get into the same easy view.

Probably could be done with things.

And honestly I wish I didn’t see your post because now my brain is swirling about it again.

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23

Thank you all for your replies!
I find it always fascinating how hearing that others have the same problem makes me feel better.

@KevinR: I am sorry! My idea of this thread was not to get you thinking about switching again. Seeing all those people with the same thoughts you can now try to think: Well, I feel the need to switch my task manager, but hey, so do a lot of people. I just observe the feeling for what it is and then let go of it…
We’re the anonymous (well, not anymore) task manager switchers!

That being said, I also love discussions about what are the strengths of the two task managers and like to give some of the points I feel Things is ahead (for my situation). I think we all agree that, in general, Omnifocus is much more flexible and powerful. So please don’t read this as “Omnifocus” is bad. More like a wish list (which I did send to the Omnigroup, in case you were wondering).

  • Feature parity on iOS and macOS. Especially, as @fairlydoughnut noted, keyboard shortcuts! It seems like nobody at the Omnigroup is using Omnifocus on an iPad with a keyboard attached (rant).
  • With that comes the ability to filter any list by tags (with keyboard shortcuts). In Omnifocus you have to change the settings of the perspective for that. In general, I feel it is quite strange that the namesake (I’m guessing here) focus mode is missing on iOS.
  • Visible notes: In Things, project notes are always visible. That works better for me (subjective). I can write a sentence or two to clarify the outcome of a project and stick some key dates there. The same for tasks: The notes are directly visible when I tap on a task (and are not buried on page two of the inspector). Either I keep there information I should see when I think about (read: open) the task, or I put there links to either trigger automation or open views in Things.
  • Things is rather defer date based, where Omnifocus is due date based. I prefer defer dates, and so I didn’t find good use of the Forecast perspective in Omnifocus (and love Things’s Upcoming. Sidenote: what a great idea to use a “logarithmic scale”).
  • Add projects to your Today view: You can just have a project in Things’s Today view. Very handy if you just want to make some progress on a project (similar to what @Kourosh proposes) . Also, if the project is due, then not every single task of the project pops up as a due tasks, just the project. Much clearer and cleaner for my taste.
  • Defer dates of a task can be earlier than the defer date of a project (and will show up earlier). This again is highly subjective, but makes so much sense for me.
  • The datepicker! Entering dates in Omnifocus with a keyboard on macOS is perfect, but scrolling the wheels on iOS feels tedious to me. In Things, you have a nice datepicker and you can also type dates on iOS! You can also type and filter in nearly any dialog where you can choose something in Things. Again, this could be easily fixed in Omnifocus (famous words of someone who does not have to do it), however Omnifocus on iOS often feels a bit neglected/unmotivated (to me!).
  • Card view. Also highly subjective. The inspector on iOS takes me away from the current list. I cannot see details of one task and still see the surrounding tasks. The card view in Things feels like less context switches (at least visually).
  • Detached instances of repeating tasks: Repeating tasks have a lot of quirks in Things. But the current instance is detached from the repetion template. That means that you can set a task to start every Monday, but then change it just this once to start on Tuesday, or change the title or whatever, without altering the template. I personally prefer it this way.

Most of those points are more important or only important when you use the app on iOS. So I totally get @OogieM, as Omnifocus is very good on the mac, but switching over to Omnifocus on iOS feels like a step back (to me!).
That may change when OmniJS finally makes it to Omnifocus (and then I will definitely play some Omnifocus like other people play computer games). However, the still quite quirky keyboard support on iOS might be an indicator that those automations might not be so easy to trigger on iOS (which would then defeat an important aspect of cross-plattform-automation).

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24

Great summary of our discussion and your concerns.

By no means is it the most important, but even if you don’t quite like the aesthetics in Things 3, it is hard to argue OmniFocus is beautiful. Sure it doesn’t have to be, but when your psychology is primed with this kind of fruit for the eyes, I find it easier to work in. Obviously features that aren’t there for you in Things is a deal breaker, but when both can basically do what you need it to do - its hard not to go with what is easy on the eyes.

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25

Yes and no, sadly.
While saving searches for tags/projects is great, especially combined with an app like LaunchCenter Pro, it still lacks the ability to join search criteria with operators.

It would be a blessing to have the ability to create views by simply combining what is already available as meta data.
Example: “(due date < mm/dd/yyy) AND (tag = waiting) AND NOT(list = private)”

This is the my biggest gripe with Things 3, to be honest.

They could even implement this in the app without creating a new list or section in the main menu just by displaying your saved searches underneath the search box text field in the pop up, if nothing has been typed.
The problem with Cultured Code is that they try to be too minimalist and it is actually harming their product sometimes.

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Similar situation with multiple roles. At my main job I am an employee (“knowledge-worker” in engineering), I have a side-business that involves programming and entrepreneurial tasks, I also am a coach, who is actively training athletes on a 1:1 basis and I engage in various clubs/groups. On top I am a designer myself and have a good sense for UX design and Things hits home and is one of the least clunky and OS-native apps out there.

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Yes, we urgently need better handling for search and tags natively.

Another problem is that CulturedCode is horrible in communicating anything. They are secret about every little step they want to take with their app and as a costumer that really annoys me. It was especially bad during Things 2 times. Most of the times they take the right steps nowadays but I really wish they’d be a bit more open, to give me more confidence in the app

The OmniGroup, on the other hand, communicates actively with its users and even has a forum running for people to come and discuss.

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28

There is a way to add items to the Forecast/Today view in Omnifocus:
https://inside.omnifocus.com/blog/the-forecast-tag

I do like the Things idea that the Forecast view only shows the project due on a given date, because to can be overwhelming and stressful. However, if you have multiple tasks due today, it will interweave the items between calendar events. Likely if you have that many things to do on the last day, it’s probably not a good thing!. As an alternative, I create a task to “Work on XX” project with a due date or a Today tag as described above and no deadlines for the subtasks.

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