OmniFocus Workflows with Michael Kirkham Jones

Summary

在这段视频中，Michael Kirkman Jones分享了他如何使用OmniFocus以及其他生产力工具来优化个人工作流程。Mike是一名经验丰富的项目经理和前IBM Java开发者，他介绍了自己独特的系统，包括如何利用iPad和自动化工具（如Shortcuts）来管理任务和项目。他详细讨论了如何创建项目文件夹、使用独特标识符以及如何将项目与目标相结合。此外，Mike还展示了他如何通过自动化脚本来创建新项目，包括在OmniFocus、iCloud、Apple Notes和Airtable中同步信息。他的方法强调了组织、时间管理和个人生产力的优化，为观众提供了丰富的信息和实用的建议。

Takeaways

• 📅 **OmniFocus 学习社区**：社区即将迎来六周年，致力于通过 OmniFocus 支持人们过上充实和高效的生活。
• 🚀 **多样化服务**：Learn OmniFocus 提供包括主题会议、工作流嘉宾访谈、办公时间以及私人咨询等多种形式的服务。
• 🌟 **个性化工作流**：Mike 使用 OmniFocus 结合其他生产力应用，如 Shortcuts 和 Devonthink，创建了独特的个人任务管理系统。
• 📂 **项目和文件夹管理**：Mike 采用 Tiago Forte 的第二大脑方法来组织 OmniFocus 中的项目和文件夹，确保每个项目都与目标相关联。
• 🔍 **搜索和标签**：在 OmniFocus 中，Mike 强调了为每个任务添加标签和估计持续时间的重要性，以提高任务的可执行性。
• 🛫 **航空式工作流**：Mike 将航空术语应用于他的 OmniFocus 工作流中，如“滑行道”、“跑道”和“在飞”，以帮助更好地理解和记忆 GTD 流程。
• ⏱️ **时间管理**：通过使用 Shortcuts 自动化工具，Mike 能够跟踪和规划他的每日任务时间，确保任务安排与他的日程相匹配。
• 🔗 **集成其他应用**：Mike 的工作流不仅限于 OmniFocus，他还利用 iCloud、Apple Notes、Data Jar 和 Airtable 等多种工具来管理项目信息。
• 📝 **文档和记录**：Mike 为每个项目创建了详细的文档和记录，包括项目笔记、OmniFocus 任务链接和项目状态更新。
• 🔄 **自动化和迭代**：Mike 展示了如何使用 Shortcuts 来自动化创建项目、更新笔记和 OmniFocus 任务以及在 Airtable 中创建条目的过程。
• 📈 **项目跟踪和报告**：通过 Airtable 数据库，Mike 能够跟踪项目的各个方面，并生成报告，这对于项目管理和客户沟通非常有用。

Q & A

Mike Kirkham Jones 是如何开始使用 OmniFocus 的？

Mike Kirkham Jones 在 2015 年参加了一个生产力课程时首次接触到 OmniFocus，并从那时起开始使用它。

在 OmniFocus 中，Mike 如何组织他的项目和文件夹？

Mike 使用了 Tiago Forte 在其第二大脑课程中介绍的 PARA 方式来组织 OmniFocus 中的项目和文件夹，为每个项目创建了一个唯一标识符，并确保每个项目都与一个目标相关联。

Mike 使用哪些工具来支持他的 OmniFocus 工作流程？

Mike 使用了包括 Shortcuts、iCloud、Apple Notes、OmniFocus 以及 Airtable 在内的工具来支持他的 OmniFocus 工作流程。

Mike 如何处理 OmniFocus 中的任务估算时间？

Mike 坚持为 OmniFocus 中的每个任务添加一个估算时间，这帮助他从项目管理的角度更好地管理任务。

Mike 是如何使用 Airtable 来管理项目信息的？

Mike 在 Airtable 中创建了一个项目表格，用于记录项目 ID、创建日期、描述、状态、项目类型、与目标和领域的关联以及 OmniFocus 任务链接等信息。

Mike 提到了哪些与 OmniFocus 结合使用的其他生产力应用？

Mike 提到了使用 Shortcuts、Apple Notes、iCloud 和 Airtable 等应用与 OmniFocus 结合，以创建一个全面的个人任务管理系统。

Mike 如何使用 Shortcuts 来自动化他的 OmniFocus 工作流程？

Mike 使用 Shortcuts 创建了自动化脚本，这些脚本可以自动生成项目的唯一标识符、在 iCloud 中创建文件夹、在 Apple Notes 中创建笔记、在 OmniFocus 中创建任务，以及在 Airtable 中更新项目信息。

Mike 在创建新项目时如何确保每个项目都有一个唯一标识符？

Mike 使用一个 Shortcuts 脚本，该脚本调用一个名为 Data Jar 的工具来生成一个递增的项目 ID，确保每个项目都有一个唯一的标识符。

Mike 如何使用时间估算来管理他的日常工作？

Mike 会为每天的工作安排一个时间限制，比如五个小时，并在 Shortcuts 中创建一个脚本来计算他已经计划的任务所需的总时间，以此来管理他的日常工作。

Mike 的 OmniFocus 工作流程中有哪些不同的阶段或视角？

Mike 的 OmniFocus 工作流程包括了诸如 'on-ramp'（进场）、'taxiway'（滑行道）、'runway'（跑道）、'in-flight'（飞行中）、'stopover'（中途停留）、'arrival'（到达）和 'emergency'（紧急情况）等不同的阶段或视角。

Mike 如何确保他的 OmniFocus 系统保持整洁有序？

Mike 遵循了从 Tiago Forte 的第二大脑课程中学到的原则，为每个项目创建了唯一标识符，并且确保所有项目都与一个目标相关联，以此来保持他的 OmniFocus 系统整洁有序。

Outlines

00:00

🎉 OmniFocus工作流介绍

本段介绍了OmniFocus工作流课程的开始，由Michael Kirkham Jones主讲。提到了OmniFocus在个人任务管理中的核心作用，以及如何通过这个应用程序提高生产力。还提到了learn OmniFocus社区，它支持人们过上充实高效的生活，并且提到了即将举办的关于OmniFocus特定功能的学习会话和工作流嘉宾访谈。

05:02

📅 learn OmniFocus社区和资源

这段内容详细介绍了learn OmniFocus社区提供的资源和服务，包括主题会话、工作流嘉宾访谈、办公时间以及私人咨询服务。特别强调了办公时间的互动性和私人咨询的个性化。还提到了即将举办的关于管理某天可能列表的会话，以及learn OmniFocus社区网站的更新，包括新的主页设计、内容整合和课程库的改进。

10:04

👨‍💼 Michael Kirkham Jones的个人和职业背景

Michael Kirkham Jones介绍了自己的背景，包括作为程序员、数据库管理员、项目和投资组合经理的丰富经验。他谈到了自己对自动化的热爱，以及如何使用iPad和OmniFocus来管理个人和工作任务。此外，他还提到了自己的艺术爱好和作为身体语言及测谎训练师的资格。

15:05

📁 文件和项目管理方法

Michael解释了他如何使用Tiago Forte的第二大脑方法来组织文件和项目。他强调了为目标和项目创建唯一标识符的重要性，并且讨论了如何将任务与目标联系起来。他还介绍了自己的工作流程，包括如何使用不同的文件夹和区域来管理任务和项目。

20:06

🛫 工作流概览：从进场到起飞

本段描述了Michael的工作流程，包括他如何使用不同的OmniFocus视角来管理任务。他将任务从进场（相当于收件箱）移动到滑行道（准备进行中的任务），然后到跑道（即将执行的任务）。这个过程涉及到对任务进行时间估计，确保任务与项目相关联，并且有标签。

25:08

🛬 任务执行和紧急情况处理

Michael讨论了如何在日常工作中执行任务，包括如何使用'在飞行中'视角来管理当前正在进行的任务。他还介绍了如何处理紧急情况，以及如何使用不同的视角来标记、今天完成的任务和待处理的项目。

30:12

🔄 快捷指令在工作流中的应用

本段内容展示了Michael如何使用快捷指令（Shortcuts）来自动化日常任务和与OmniFocus的交互。他介绍了一个具体的快捷指令，用于检查一天中计划的任务是否符合他为当天安排的时间。此外，他还提到了使用Launch Center Pro来管理和快速访问他的快捷指令。

35:13

🔗 创建新项目的自动化流程

Michael详细介绍了他创建新项目的自动化流程，包括在iCloud、Apple Notes、OmniFocus和Airtable中创建相关的条目和文件夹。他解释了如何使用快捷指令来生成项目的唯一标识符，以及如何确保所有相关信息都被捕捉并适当地组织起来。

40:17

📋 项目和任务的详细管理

最后，Michael展示了如何在Airtable中管理项目和任务的详细信息。他讨论了如何使用状态、类型、目标和区域等字段来跟踪项目的进展，并如何利用Airtable的报告功能来更新利益相关者。他还提到了使用唯一标识符进行专业项目管理和发票开具的原因。

Keywords

💡OmniFocus

OmniFocus是一款个人任务管理软件，它帮助用户组织和管理个人生产力。在视频中，OmniFocus作为核心工具，被用来构建个人的生产力系统，并且围绕它展开了一系列的工作流程和讨论。

💡GTD (Getting Things Done)

GTD是一种流行的时间管理法，旨在通过记录所有的任务和想法来清空大脑，然后对这些任务进行组织和回顾，以提高个人效率。视频中提到了GTD，并且讨论了如何通过OmniFocus来实现GTD的工作流程。

💡Workflow

工作流是指完成特定任务或项目所需的步骤和过程。视频中，Mike介绍了他使用OmniFocus和其他工具如Shortcuts和Airtable来创建和优化个人的工作流，以提高生产力。

💡Shortcuts

Shortcuts是iOS系统中的一个自动化工具，允许用户创建自定义的快捷操作来简化任务。在视频中，Mike使用Shortcuts来自动化创建OmniFocus项目、管理笔记和更新Airtable数据库。

💡Airtable

Airtable是一个灵活的在线平台，结合了电子表格和数据库的功能，允许用户组织和管理复杂的数据。视频中，Mike使用Airtable来跟踪项目信息，如项目ID、创建日期、状态和描述。

💡Project Management

项目管理是指规划、启动、执行、监控和结束项目的过程。视频中，Mike结合了他在项目管理领域的经验，讨论了如何使用OmniFocus和Shortcuts来管理项目和任务。

💡Unique Identifier

唯一标识符是一个独特的代码或编号，用于标识和区分不同的项目或任务。在视频中，Mike为每个项目创建了一个唯一标识符，以便于跟踪和管理，尤其是在涉及多个项目和客户时。

💡Time Estimation

时间估计是对完成任务所需的时间进行预测的过程。视频中，Mike强调了为每个任务设置时间估计的重要性，这有助于他规划和管理每天的工作负载。

💡Review

回顾是指定期检查和评估任务、项目和目标的过程，以确保它们与个人的长期目标和计划保持一致。视频中，Mike讨论了他如何进行每日和每周的回顾，以优化他的工作流程。

💡On-Ramp

在视频中，Mike将OmniFocus中的一个特定区域称为'On-Ramp'，类似于机场的滑行道，用于存放那些尚未完全准备好成为可行动任务的条目。这个概念帮助他确保所有任务在进入活跃工作状态之前都经过了充分的准备和评估。

💡Launch Center Pro

Launch Center Pro是一款iOS应用程序，允许用户快速启动其他应用中的任务和操作。视频中，Mike提到使用Launch Center Pro来生成UUID，这是他工作流中的一个环节，用于提高效率。

Highlights

Mike Kirkham Jones分享了他独特的OmniFocus工作流程，结合了GTD方法和个人生产力系统。

介绍了learn OmniFocus网站，一个致力于支持人们通过OmniFocus过上充实和高效生活的教学平台。

提到了OmniFocus在个人任务管理中的核心作用，以及与其他生产力应用的协同使用。

讨论了learn OmniFocus life的不同组成部分，包括主题会议、工作流程嘉宾和办公时间。

Mike介绍了他的背景，包括作为程序员、数据库管理员、项目经理和艺术家的经验。

展示了如何使用iPad和OmniFocus进行任务管理，以及如何通过自动化提高效率。

解释了项目文件夹和文件存储系统的设计，以及如何与OmniFocus集成。

讨论了项目编号系统和如何为每个项目创建唯一标识符。

强调了项目与目标之间的联系，以及如何确保每个项目都有助于实现具体目标。

介绍了Mike的工作流程视角，包括'ramp'、'taxiway'、'runway'等，以及它们在任务管理中的作用。

展示了如何使用捷径（Shortcuts）自动化日常任务和项目设置。

讨论了如何使用iCloud、Apple Notes、OmniFocus和Airtable等工具来组织和跟踪项目信息。

Mike演示了创建新项目的捷径流程，包括自动生成唯一标识符和跨应用的数据同步。

强调了使用独特标识符在项目管理和客户发票中的重要性。

分享了如何通过Airtable数据库跟踪项目进度、状态和相关目标。

讨论了如何使用OmniFocus的透视图来优化日常工作流程和任务的优先级设置。

Mike提供了关于如何将OmniFocus与其他生产力工具结合使用的见解，以及如何通过这种方式提高个人效率。

最后，Mike提供了联系方式，并邀请观众访问他的博客以获取更多关于他的工作流程和生产力技巧的信息。

Transcripts

warm welcome to OmniFocus workflows with

michael Kirkham jones and really excited

to have Mike here today I originally met

Mike back in 2015 when he did one of my

productivity courses and and that's a

great to have him here today showing off

a twitch app and what I think is very

unique system and I'll talk a little bit

more about what what's in store in just

a moment before we get to that I just

want to welcome those of you who are new

to learn OmniFocus this is a site that's

coming up on its sixth anniversary

I think it's June 2nd of 2014 that I

officially launched the site and it's

great to have it going strong years

later and the mission of learn OmniFocus

has always been to support people and

living a fulfilling and productive life

with OmniFocus helping to helping to

bring a productive aspect to it and as

you've noticed if you've seen some of

the other videos OmniFocus is one of the

product of the apps that's gonna form

your productivity system I often feature

other ones as well I think Mike's gonna

be talking a little bit about some of

the other productivity apps that he's

using and it's really having OmniFocus

be the focal point for your personal

task management and just the fact that

everyone in the community is using

OmniFocus makes it a lot easier to talk

about specific productivity practices

like getting things done my own holistic

productivity and so forth and what

you're watching now or maybe attending

live is one of the components of what's

called learn OmniFocus life so this is

one of the services of learn OmniFocus

and there's a few few different aspects

to this first of all we have themed

sessions very often that cover a certain

aspect of product to the some of them

take a a deep dive into some of the

features in OmniFocus and so an example

of a recent one is mastering reviews

with OmniFocus 3 and I'll be talking

about another one that's going to be

gonna be live soon we also have workflow

guests on very often just like they were

having Mike on today we've had many

workflow guests so you can get a

different taste of the many different

ways that Omni folk

can be used you can see how people are

using it in in different geographies and

cultures and professions and things like

that so there's a really rich library of

fabric phone episodes you can go and

check out

there's also office hours this is one of

my favorite parts of learn OmniFocus

personally and this is where we get

together in a small group that's a

maximum of 10 people and everyone's

asked to be on video so it's as much

like that and then person gathering as

possible and we discuss OmniFocus what's

working what's not working exchange

ideas it's a good place to get advice

even just to get some kind of moral

support and if you're finding your sort

of interest in nómine focus or

productivity is waning a little bit I

can pretty much guarantee you it'll get

a nice boost by coming to so one or more

of these sessions and then something

I've been doing and even before learn

OmniFocus existed is doing private

consulting around OmniFocus as well as

some other productivity ups and that's

something i i definitely continue to

enjoy doing and a little taste of what's

what's coming soon our first Father next

live session is gonna be on managing

some day maybe list with OmniFocus and

we'll talk about where to store this

information and the pros and cons to

keeping it in OmniFocus now you can use

OmniFocus to make sure that these lists

get the appropriate amount of attention

regardless of where you're storing it

and there'll be some interactive

exercises as we go through the live

session certainly it's always a good

opportunity to share your own feedback

and and get some questions in the mix

and so forth so that'll be on June 23rd

and that's from 10 to 11:30 Pacific

Daylight Time those of you have been

around how many focus for a while no

don't recognize crushed and he's based

in Chicago and definitely one of the top

experts in the world on not just

OmniFocus but productivity in general

and I consider Koresh to be one of my my

first teachers when I was getting into

OmniFocus I think it was in 2010 so

about 10 years ago I picked up this book

and really got a lot of value from from

he had to share not just on in terms of

understanding the features but also

understanding their the methodology that

has OmniFocus become a useful component

and just yesterday grush launched a

brand new book it's called taking smart

notes would Devin think and Devin think

I think is a really nice compliment to

OmniFocus it's a repository of

information it's a place where you can

capture research and ideas and things

like that and generally speaking you

wouldn't want to keep all that stuff and

only focus because it would load the

system but it how many focus can still

be very useful to make sure that you're

engaging with all of that stuff they've

got in Devin think appropriately so I

was talking to a grush recently and he

was telling me about the book and so

forth and I thought it would be great to

have you back on learn OmniFocus and

just get your own take on how you're

using these these two apps together so

I'm very happy that he said yes so on

July 15th from 10:00 to 11:00 Pacific

time he's going to be joining us and

learn OmniFocus and talking about tea

how he takes these these random ideas

and and finds all the connections and

devonthink and stores the information

there and then how we use as OmniFocus

to take all of that that stuff that he's

captured and turn it into something

something tangible something useful so I

hope you'll be able to join us for that

as well there's currently six learn

OmniFocus office hours open for

registration there's three in June then

three in July and I'll keep adding these

into August and can add more sessions as

the other one starts to fill up so

hopefully at least one of these times

will work for you and it'd be great to

see in one of these small group sessions

and as for we get to to Mike's intro I

just want to briefly mention that the

learn OmniFocus comm just under saw a

major facelift and this is something

that's been a long time and the works

and I'm really happy to have brought it

to fruition so just a few things to

point out to help you get the most of

the new sites first of all the the

homepage has been completely redone that

all

we give you direction in terms of where

to go on the sites and also will be

dynamically updated as we write new blog

posts and add new content and add new

things that learn OmniFocus five

calendars so you can get kind of a news

that kind of as a dashboard for them the

site's also all of the content has been

consolidated into one place and you can

actually filter the the items by the

content type the user level and there's

more filters button if you want to get

even more granular than that's just make

it much easier to hone in on what's

useful and one of the most exciting new

additions is some of the longer form

content is now available in the course

from it so you can mark sections

complete and then you can keep track of

how far into the course you are so maybe

it's not practical to sit down for two

hours and go through a whole course but

this way you can actually go through it

at your own pace and kind of absorb the

material try out some of the techniques

and then you can also jump back to those

sections that you want to review so

there's currently 11 courses available

in the library and I'll be adding more

in the coming weeks and months there's a

knowledge base as well and it's got

mainly support articles at the moment

but I'm really looking forward to

growing this out over time so can become

a really useful repository of OmniFocus

related information okay and without

further ado I'm really happy to

introduce Michael or Mike Kirkman Jones

who is joining us from Wales and he has

a lot of really interesting work

experience from the past he's a seasoned

portfolio and project manager he has 20

years of experience as a programmer as

in one of his claims to fame he is one

of the first Java developers of IBM also

worked as a database administrator in

Oracle and not surprisingly he's very

much into to automation he's gonna be

talking about his use of shortcuts today

and this is a session that's going to be

focusing entirely on the iPad so if

you're not maybe giving your iPad is my

air time is a deserves or maybe or even

iPad only with OmniFocus I think this

session will really give you lots of

great inspiration to really put this

device to to good use like you're

encouraged you to check out Mike's

websites and blog so it's Kirkham -

Jones CO and I'll include that link in

then the notes that go with the

recording as well and in particular he

recently published a part one of his

workflow that includes OmniFocus GTD and

flying and if you're curious about what

those three things that have in common

stay tuned Mike's gonna be talking about

his I think very creative approach to to

organizing OmniFocus okay about this

points I'd like to hand it over to Mike

so I'd give you a quick introduction to

Who I am from I am um as you could see

earlier I'm living in Wales and this

sunny beach of the tropics I wish but

it's nice it's nice here at the moment

um I'm a husband in married 32 years

father got three daughters all grown up

now all left the house I'm a grandfather

got a two year old and a six month year

old they both call me well no the older

one calls me bear primarily because I

don't be called grandad okay up with

something else and for some reason he

decided to call me bear anyway um I've

as Tim said I've been a programmer I've

been a DBA person I've I've done loads

of things a programmed in Java was the

the primary language then moved to PHP

database languages sequel so a whole

host of technical side of things and

then finally decided to move along and

go into project management so project

management they've done for or coming up

to 15 years now 15 20 years somewhere

between so I moved from project manager

all technical or within the software and

in IT infrastructure environments and

then move to portfolio manager so

managing a portfolio of project managers

currently studying my Master's for

project management I'm also a a trained

body language and lie detection trainer

so I took this song because I thought

it'd be quite useful for project

management when I sat down with my

sponsors and my stakeholders other I can

tell all you do so yeah very useful so I

was quite so eager to train my staff at

the same time but never got around to it

unfortunately I'm semi-professional

artist I have I do painting I used to

paint in watercolor then move to oils

and sold quite a few oil paintings and

now I currently do pastels and pencil

drawings that's in my spare time to get

my mind off the IT side of things I've

used the iPad since birth basically the

day it came out I ran down and bought

the iPad and ever since then I've been

using the iPad you can say instead of my

laptop machine because I haven't had

like top machine we haven't been able to

afford it at the time so I've used the

laptops and PCs in where I've been

working but certainly for home I've

concentrated on the the iPad and

continue to buy them as they came

through and currently have the iPad pro

2018 11 inch model at the moment with

its brand-new keyboard which is

unbelievably brilliant makes a huge

change from the the old keyboard and

OmniFocus I've been using well just

before I met Tim ministry so around

about 2014 I got into OmniFocus before

then I tried every other task management

system going

and well at it now looking too

they never came to much I was hunting

and hunting for the the ideal system the

one that I probably would not get

tweaked to to work for myself and well I

finally moved into OmniFocus I want to

go through today's it's three I want to

go through three areas I want to look at

my my projects area projects and folders

area and just run you through that then

I want to run through the perspectives

that I've drawn up and and those drive

my workflow and then I want to look at

what's driving the workflow from behind

as Tim said I use a couple of different

tools

I don't tie myself down to tools by the

way if there is a tool that does the job

and does the job better I will bring

that tool in and therefore I have to

think about that when I build my

shortcuts on the back end and I'll show

you that as we go through so I want to

start off with the projects and folders

I spent years using OmniFocus and

finding that it was great to have a

workflow but the workflow didn't teach

me how to store my files and put

everything - in in a tidy fashion and

I've never been a good person that being

able to keep things tidy I mean you can

ask my wife she'll tell you all they

yeah all the terrible things that I do I

was getting desperate because there were

files everywhere but I can't afford to

do that in the in the jobs that I do I I

mean I work for the MOT part of the time

the Ministry of Defense so I've got to

be able to know where my project files

are her and how I'm storing them and so

I read up and came across something

buying a Tiago Forte in his second brain

course and that was the the para way of

storing files and structuring things on

the the database and back inside and so

I've said that as my file system

as far as folders and projects go so on

the top of all of this I have a projects

folder and within that projects folder

obviously I'm going to store all my

projects a whole list of projects I'll

go into in a bit more detail about the

project numbering and then but basically

to say that I try to create a unique

identifier for each of my projects and

that stems from my work I I use the iPad

as a work tool and at home as well as as

a tool to to manage my tasks so to home

so within work I've got to be able to

quickly identify what tasks are Wotton

and how they're relating to the project

management side of things and so I

create a unique identifier for that so

within the project's folder it does what

it says on the wrapper it holds all my

projects so every project in here is

captured one thing that I did get from

Tiago's course was that mentioning about

goals he was talking about how goals and

projects should be related together now

I had never really tied my projects up

with a goal until I listened to one of

Thiago's tools and he came up with the

saying that a project without a goal is

basically a hobby and he said a goal

without a project is a dream and

reason that really struck home sorry I

thought yeah I understand that I know

how that works and I took that and now I

make sure that all my projects there is

a goal and all my projects work towards

that goal and it's very clear what that

goal is so I just wanted to jump in

there with that one because later on

you'll see you in air table that I do

hold all this information as well

areas this is areas of focus so with

concentrating on things like health

family finance so again in here I have

tasks that are related to for example

health we got other things examples with

family finance etc and the things like

yeah so we basically catching up the the

tasks are very related to areas that of

responsibility that I have and I capture

those here if there is a for example

with apartment if there is a piece of

work that I need to that I think is too

big to hold in here it's not small

enough to hold as a in the area of

responsibility that's then moved into

the projects area and managed as a

project for example I'm refitting the

bathroom at the moment that's not

something that I could fit in here these

these are small tasks that I'm able to

do quite quickly they're they're they're

very small in size jumbo to here

resources resources is an area where I

hold everything that I am interested in

so if for example my wife and I are

watching sailing programs at the moment

I'm a quite interested in thinking about

buying a yacht and so I might do is pull

the information that I have oh I'm

picking up and store it in the resources

section

I'm also as I said I'm doing a master's

degree so I will pull all the

information into the man from the

master's degree and any resources and I

will fit in this section and finally I

got the archive if as soon as the

project's finished it'll get dropped

into the archive as soon as I finished

with anything from the resources section

that gets dropped into the archive as

well so that's that's how I'm storing

information and this is replicated I

have a shortcut script that goes away

and it creates the same file structure

in iCloud there's the same file

structure when I was using it in

Evernote I got the same file structure

in drafts so I keep the structure

exactly the same across the board and

the same information the dog type of

information is stored in each of those

at file

areas so if someone does ask me where is

there this document I can tell them very

quickly it's in this area okay I'm just

going to jump in to my main workflow

area now and these are the perspectives

I've I have no Tim was alluding earlier

on that about this aviation form of

approach the reason behind this is that

I've tried to to be of an evangelist of

omni focus for a long time not just

OmniFocus but GTD and trying to bring

people along and quite often it's been

very hard to to get them to understand

the actual flow of information certainly

from a GT DS perspective and to get them

to remember and at one point I sat down

with a couple of people are and I've got

an interesting in aviation anyway

but I was sat down with a couple of

people and we would we were just talking

and we started to discuss GCD and I said

how about the difficulties I was having

of of getting people to understand it

and then we came up with an idea why not

cover it over put a layer on top of GTD

so that it it's easier X to explain it

and so I thought like we alpha let's go

with that

let's and let's have a thing and I came

up with this structure that I have at

the moment the run on the ramp

you can think of being on the ramp is

the same as the regular inbox now the

reason I don't use the regular inbox is

that I have three things the half that

you have to have to get off the ramp

first of all it's a project so a task

has to be associated with a project a

task has to have a tag associated with

it so oK we've already got those on on

the the regular ring box the third thing

that I pushed for and this is primarily

from my professional project management

side is that I insist on having an

estimate added to everything so all my

tasks every single task will have an

estimate that I will put two things and

this again as I said it stems from my

project management time and I cannot

work without having a time restraint on

a task I mean I can't see a task as

being it anything but a title unless

it's given a time period when she live

in and so I make sure that all my tasks

have a an estimate put on top of them so

here we are with the ramp the ramp area

think of it as your inboxed except that

in here we've got those three the rules

that they have to have those three

things in place so yes you can see how

I've got that got his test area tasks

any here at the moment the first ones

got no no s that no estimate on it the

second one's got no project

no tagged so those even though they may

have the other two will stay in the on

the ramp side of things those are things

that I don't like being on the ramp and

the the reason I've called it the ramp

or you could call it the apron which is

now called nowadays is that if you park

your plane on the ramp every minute

every second that that plane is parked

on that ramp you're losing money are you

losing money in the fact that you've got

the rent that's based on the ramp you've

got the rental or the pay back on the

plane you've got maintenance costs so

the longer you leave the plane the more

you've got to maintain it etc so if the

longer you've got a planer sat on that

ramp the more cost is going to be and

that's another thing that I was able to

to tell the people I was trying to teach

Oh to bring up to speed with GTT it's

the longer I have a task on here the

more it's costing me in probably time

but it's also costing me in the fact I'm

I'm not going to be remembering it or it

it'll get pushed to one side so that

that was the importance of calling it

the ramp anything sat on the ramp it's

it's being charged out it's costing me

money basically the setup is anything

that's available I don't want any

projects or groups er listed in it it's

good to be untagged it's got to come

from any of these folders and it's got

to have an estimated duration on it

basically exactly the same as what you'd

see in a in an Indian box setup except

that in this circumstance I've got this

chap here which is the estimated

duration and I insist that that's got to

be in place so in this way of doing it

saying if there is no no estimation in

place then it's going to say that it's

going to come up in the perspective not

be listed and as far as presentation

goes I've got to individual actions but

I made that sir and recently flexible I

don't I

wasn't too concerned about the

presentation site at the time on that

just one question while we're while

we're on the ramp is the do you actually

use the inbox anymore or is it as it

essentially been replaced by on-ramp if

the inbox has been replaced so the inbox

now is it's down in the in all the

perspectives that that a height hidden

so I've actually taken it off my view

because I find no no use for it because

whatever's in the inbox is duplicated on

the ramp anyway okay so I might be

jumping in a little bit but it sounds

like before anything gets onto the

taxiway it needs to be cleared from the

on ramp area you can think of it as an

airport before the the airplane can get

off the ramp it's got to know where it's

going it's got to know where it's headed

it's got to have all this information so

exactly the same with this we've got to

know that it's a project we've got to

know roughly how long it's going to take

and we've got to have some sort of

tagging to say where it's heading to or

what so essentially you want to have

enough information added to it to the

point it actually becomes useful and

actionable and yeah yeah so on the

taxing side of things this is an area

that I use on my review side of things

so I will review this usually on a daily

basis primarily it's it's there to look

at on a weekly basis it's part of my

weekly review but I do perform daily

reviews and they will take about an hour

I'll go into that shortly about my

reviews but they I spend about an hour

every morning reviewing what's happened

previously what I'm planning to do and

any other bits and pieces they're

causing me trouble in between so on the

taxiway we've got there will be a

mixture of a mixture a project work so

here I'm looking at starting a thing on

Skillshare so I'm trying to create a

class title I'm looking to see what the

class title is going to be

and how to set it up down here in health

I've got my repeat medic medication

that's coming up because it's it's due

for the 12th of June and also I got this

flu jab reminder to make sure I remind

myself that I've got to have that flu

jab the same will go for all the other

areas they will just hold what is

currently available or first available

actions I need to be looking at as a

built my daily plan

so first of all I want to make sure it

contains everything from these this

these areas so I've got the projects

areas and I've got miscellaneous I

checked to make sure again it's got the

estimated duration in place its first

available it has tags that are active or

on hold it's not a bits not a project or

group and finally it's with the flags as

well so it's not flagged it isn't tagged

with the today tag and also it's not due

soon and and that's because later on

I've got areas that I need to to pick up

areas in the workflow that pick up the

flagged items the today items and the do

items again under the the groupings our

group and of individual actions I want

group into projects at the moment and

group those actions by projects and then

I've got the sorted by the due date so

if they do happen to have a due date I

will that will be prioritized in that

list

so that's a tack seeing the Sutekh

seeing is just basically a waiting area

I've got things off the ramp I I've made

sure that I understand exactly what the

each of the tasks is all about it's not

costing me any time or effort anymore in

the long term I got rid of that it's now

on the taxiway it's in my line of sight

I'm set up in the control tower I can

see they're all moving around and

inter-gender it need to take off the

next thing I moved to is the runway

itself no I used to have a workflow that

had a jus perspective in it the runway

is it's basically a do perspective so

it's everything that's that's coming up

that's do to be to be done so in here

I'll have I got to visit my father I

visit my father every other day during

lockdown make sure he's okay and he's

getting all the food that he requires

and again on this project I'm currently

doing with one of my clients in work

I've got to oversee an assessment

workshop tomorrow so we have a video

conferencing in place and that's I will

pick up as well so that's coming through

on the on the runway now that runway I

will the runway item I will have it

again I will be looking at during my

daily review I'm pulling putting that

together to form my list of tasks I want

to undertake why we'll do is that during

the review if I feel that today's the

day that I'm going to visit my father

it's due I will add a today tag on to it

and the today tag will move me into an

in flight status and again with the

projects with the SAP example there the

oversee assessment if on the oversee I

will add the today tag onto it this will

then be taken and added

to be in flight so this is built the

runway is by looking at what's remaining

has it got an estimate again this is the

the main one is is it juice soon I've

got the juice soon set in my settings to

two days I didn't like it longer

I don't like it longer than that but I

don't like it and I definitely don't

like it down to short so I don't need to

give myself some room for doing some

work to set up if it was a meeting that

I was due to go to which I often do I

need some time to actually read up

documentation that I've been given or it

may be that I've got to send

documentation at because it's one of my

meetings okay yeah none of the following

not tanked with today not flagged and

not on hold and those are just making

sure that they're not picked up in the

other perspectives this has already

picked up in the in flight perspective

and flag is is in an emergency

perspective and again we'll see the same

in flight is everything that I'm

currently working on so this will be

what I be working on today and that will

see I've got the daily review I've got

some test tasks in there I got blue

normally focus in that just been bought

the the Apple Mac so I've got to be

setting that up as well oh my god the

accounts to to look at and I do a daily

journal to complete as well so those

that's the pieces of work thigh I have

currently running and these needs our

pieces of work that I into working on

today actually so as you can see that

they're all sets of the today flag so as

far as stadium reviews concerned I I've

already done that and I've done my

journal as well oh is this set up again

its seats looking at what is available

it's not a project or group so I'm

making sure I'm just picking up a task

it can be flagged I'll already can have

the today tag on it so I'm picking up

the flagged which are emergencies and

I'm picking up the today tag which

I set in my morning review what I'll do

is I'll just quickly whisk over these

the stop stop over when is basically on

hold so quite often with a project

Sooni projects in work I may have a task

that actually pauses this could be

because I'm waiting for another task to

finish it has a relationship with other

other tasks so I will put it on hold so

this is where I have all the hold items

and then at any time I can start it up

again arrival is everything that's

finished

I have emergencies now this could be

anything that comes up during the day

quite often I'll have it's always an

emergency during the daytime so I will

pick that emergency up here I will put a

flag on it and anything that's flag will

will be highlighted put in the in flight

perspective and identify dessert there's

an emergency itself I don't tend to use

due dates unless they're true due dates

and as far as milestones are concerned

with in a project and this is more on

the professional side of things anything

that has a affixed do a date on it will

form probably a milestone within my

project plan itself and so i I've just

created a perspective for that in here

so that's said that's it as far as the

workflow is concerned I do want to make

sure that we are covering some of the

shortcuts that I've created so let's set

let's just run one of the shortcuts that

I run on that on a daily basis now you

saw that I on my in-flight perspective I

had a list of tasks I wanted to perform

now the trouble is that I work on are on

a time-based approach to managing my day

everything is blocked out and I have

five hours blocked out for tasks that I

need to be working on so anything from

projects to anything from my areas of

focus

we come up with all the lists of tasks

I've got planned for today it's also

picking up the how much I've estimated

duration wise for that task it knows

that I have 300 minutes prepared for

today that I want to to be able to

manage my tasks and down here it tells

me I've actually scheduled a total of

two hundred and ninety minutes so there

is still 10 minutes left in my plan or

in my backlog I tend to call it in in

work so that's got a very quick way of

identifying exactly what I've got

running why I've got planned today does

it fit in with what I I want to do if it

doesn't then I can go back and add or I

can take away some of the tasks in this

case I probably leave it as it is and

just be happy with the ten minutes and

have a cup of coffee in place of it

let's just quickly jump into the way

this is set up I use launch cuts which

is a another tool I'm sure that if you

know anything about shortcuts its

downfall it's the fact that if you've

got 200-300 shortcuts trying to find one

of them is a nightmare

what launch cuts does is give them that

gives us a tool that allows us to

actually tag the shortcuts and be able

to actually identify those tags and then

gets those tanks pretty quickly okay

well I do is I just do some

initialization at the front here so I

really know that for now and the next

thing I do is I go through Omni focus

and I bring back first of all I bring

back a list of items that have tags with

today in them so this is bringing back

all the items all the tasks but I have

items set aside for that and I store

that in a in a variable again I do

another search within OmniFocus and in

this one I do a search for things that

are flagged so everything that's flagged

I want to bring back all those items

then I go through and for every single

item on both of those lists I do a loop

I don't do a repeat loop and I do some

calculations based on those around all

of those items I add them together and

create a total for the total number of

minutes that I have planned so then I

then break it down this is where I just

set up a different output so this one is

if I've over planned it will come up

with that subtext if I have some time

left it comes up with this text and

finally if I have planned exactly on the

five hours they set aside then they're

either jumps up and down and claps its

hand and does everything else but so

that's basically that I'm happy to have

you to pass over to you at some point

Tim to put on your website yeah that

sounds great in this an example just

shows how deep you can go with shortcuts

if you don't fully understand the

mechanics of this you could still make

use of it and maybe make a few little

minor tweaks the next the next one I

want to go in and is this new project

one this is a whopper is a huge huge

beast of a thing again I'm using launch

cuts like this works with OmniFocus it

works with it's talking to notes it's

talking to iCloud and it's using

something called data jar and it also

talks to air table as well so what I do

is when I create a project one of the

first things I will want to do is create

a unique header for it

okay so I want to create that unique ID

that I mentioned earlier on so what this

will do is that it will ask you for your

title of the project and you give that

title and it will go away to this why

call the black box and this is where a

lot of my shortcut coding is focused on

nowadays is that where I'm using a lot

of areas within a shortcut repeatedly I

take that out and put it into a separate

shortcut which basically has a single

input and a single output and what

happens in the middle of it I really

don't care as long as they get out of it

what it's supposed to do you can't pull

it from anywhere else you can only call

it directly through that as a shortcut

run here so this one AIDS is creating

that unique ID and this goes away and it

goes into something called data jar and

it will take a value that I have for the

project ID and it will use that value as

the the next unique number in the list

for the project once I come back out I

then increment that value by one and I

output that value to data jar so data

jars in

remanded by one and I'm ready for thee

for the next

right the next thing I do is in iCloud I

create a folder remember I talked about

para now this is creating a folder

unique to the project so this is where

all my project items will go within this

projects folder so I've created a

projects folder and it creates the

project ID and that ID will then form

the fold of name within I claves so I

was running this on Dropbox but recently

decided to to go back to I clouds just

for simplicity sake really and I didn't

want to carry too many subscriptions

around with me okay I use Apple notes

that hold my notes at the moment one of

the things I have with Apple notes is

that the the linking between Apple notes

and shortcuts is is abysmal there is a

way of doing it but they say too much of

a manual process what I do is I take I

generate a uu ID a unique identifier

using tool box Pro which is another a

tool set that you can get for shortcuts

and within there I then create a unique

identifier that I slap onto the note the

Apple note and all that allows me to do

is very very quickly I can then search

for that ID and immediately it will take

me to the correct note within Apple

knows it's just a quicker way of doing

things instead of actually doing it

manually OmniFocus I create a task paper

text and in this task paper text all I'm

doing here is giving it the unique

identifier giving it a tag of project

because it helps me to identify them in

some of the other shortcuts if I put

this tag on it and also within the notes

section of OmniFocus and this project I

put that UUID so from here i can

actually quickly identify the notes

section and so that's fired off why also

- I grab the output from when I run the

task so as soon as I run the task and

create the entry

on me focus on me focus will then return

to me the URL for that project or that

task and I can then take that

information and actually save it or

update the the note that I've already

created so I'll update the note now and

I will put in there the direct link to

OmniFocus task using that the output

from from this chap as well

you

here we are at the end of the short cut

the last thing with we do here is that

we create a row in the a table database

within the projects table and this is

done via running another shortcut called

BB project table entry so that's going

to pay table and here is the projects

table I'll just go back and just show

you I've got a set of tables here one to

keep all my shortcuts documentation blog

material lessons and here's the projects

one that we are don't mean looking at so

I'll pop into there and in here you can

see that if I click on this we can see

that this table holds the project ID so

this is the ID that's created in the

shortcut and it's passed over here

automatically and placed into this field

in this field we I hold the date created

so that's the date the shortcut ran so

that's defined as the date created we

use that as the date created description

field as a manual field in that I will

type in something some remark just so I

can have a little bit extra description

about what the project is all about the

next field is a status field and within

this field

I have a list of options like tags here

they are five of them currently this

project is in progress it could be put

on hold

complete dropped or not started at all

so that's that one

I can also hold the project type so I've

got a field allows me to select project

types this is more experimental at the

moment so I'm playing around with it but

so the projects I run a lot of them are

agile a lot of them or waterfall and

again a lot of them are a mixture of the

two so they may be a bit agile a bit

waterfall waterfall I mean very

sequential so one thing follows another

where agile is very iterative so things

keep repeating

[Music]

and you do small bits at a time I've

also gotten not known in there because a

lot of the stuff I do around the house

for myself whether it's phony up the

dentists or cleaning the floors or

things like that the project's not known

it's it's nice project methodology

really and the next thing I do and again

this is manual is that I have a goals

field and in here I linked to the I have

a goals table and you barely see it down

here the Mont but I have an aerial areas

table as well and so these to hold rows

in them relating to goals and relate

them to the areas so here I've gone in

and set this up as some viable income

for to help my income coming in in the

future so it's looking at ideas to help

finance things so thinking about

financing we go into the areas and again

manually I set it up and in this area

I've set it up and finances the next two

fields automatically filled in so

there's a whole the OmniFocus length I

used to link back to OmniFocus and here

we have a notes identify that I am

putting on the app or note so that I can

quickly and usually identify that it's

very rare that I put attachments into

the project in this say I put it in for

completeness but it's so far it's always

been empty so that's the table in a

table I use it quite often to do reports

I can do reports on this and pull the

information out especially one if

someone wants to an update there's a

form part of my project update as well

so that's it for that what I might do

now is if I go back into shortcuts

I suppose one of the best things to do

is actually show you it running it's not

a spectacular um shortcut

there's nothing wonderful gonna happen

it'll just drop through ask me what the

title of the project is and then it'll

go off and create the project a unique

ID and then update the iCloud notes

OmniFocus and finally a table so let's

run it let's put in new project for the

OmniFocus okay so i've entered the

project title so i click okay

that goes away it's created the unique

identifier it's put an entry in iCloud

it's created the note it's created the

entry in OmniFocus and also the entry in

a table so the best thing for us to do

is go and just check that that is the

case so it's going to air table and damn

the bottom hopefully there we have it we

have the sorry hey we have it that was

an old one we have the one that we just

entered new project for loon OmniFocus

and it's given a unique identifier pkj

two five five let's put that creation

date in so created today hasn't added

any goals description area at the moment

it has added the OmniFocus link and it

has added the unique identifier so

usually our going and just fill in these

fields once i've created this so let's

go and have a look at iCloud so we'll

pop into iCloud we're in the shortcuts

folder and under shortcuts there is also

a projects folder that we're currently

in and in here we have the project

already curse re the folder already

created so the shortcuts gone away going

to iCloud and in the area that I asked

it to so under power projects

remember that para setup I have so under

projects it's created another folder

specifically to hold any documentation

related to that project and there it is

there with the project name so the next

thing to do let's pop into notes and see

if we have that notes entry this is why

I did earlier just to check things are

working so here we go again pkk 255 it's

created the note and I build it up with

a template and in here it's got the

title of the project the date it was

created and time the identifier so this

is that unique identifier though I

mentioned that we put on this and also

it's added the OmniFocus tasks link as

well so down here what I normally do for

this note is that a user as a journal

every project I have a journal for and I

will update that journal on a daily

basis so for example today I will add in

their started project Afghan and I would

update that all this on the daily basis

and this goes for all projects and so

that's the reason for producing the note

section so if we just pop into OmniFocus

now last one just to see if we had that

sir you OmniFocus project created and

here it is it's crazy actually remember

this is an old one there but you can see

by the numbers this is this was 254 this

is 255 so that incremental number within

the data jar is working that's created

the project and title and within the

project and the note section it's but

the user identifier for the note so

there we go that is my workflow I hope

it is helpful I hope I gave you just one

little thing that will help you in the

following days whether it was something

I said did or whatever I was showing you

have had a question of what about the

unique identifiers why do I use them oh

it's it's mainly professionally I used

the unique identifier

for invoicing so when I invoice a client

I will put the unique identifier on

there so that I can relate it back to

the right project because I may be doing

several pieces of work for a client and

so I will be able to capture

individually and invoice the client

properly we also use it because a lot of

the projects will fall under what's

called the program so a program will

have a set of related projects so all

projects need to run and once they're

all complete the program is finished but

what often happens is that we can end up

with project names duplicated within

those projects under the program and so

to eliminate that we also get the reason

is using this is that we put that unique

identifier on it that's that's primarily

the reason I don't necessarily need the

unique identifier when I'm dealing with

my own projects and tasks but you will

have noticed that within the areas table

this pop over there just quickly I do

have unique identifiers on these and

this is just because I ran the same

routine as I do for all the other

projects it's easier because it creates

that notes entry it creates the table

entry for me as well it keeps everything

up to date so that's the only reason but

I don't really for the areas of focus I

don't really need the identifiers there

that's it thank you for your time thank

you for listening I hope this all makes

sense and please just mail me it Mike at

kokum - Jones CEO and I will get back to

you have a look at my site I've just got

a part two of the blog going up which

goes into detail about the ramp and

tells you also the the reasoning in

depth behind me using the time

estimation ok thanks for now bye

okay well thanks again and thanks

everyone who is here live thanks to

everyone who is watching recording in

this session and hope to see you again

soon