In today's episode of The Omni Show, Kourosh Dini returns to share his latest OmniFocus insights. He emphasizes the importance of guided play for work, and discusses how to shift from a force-based approach to a visit-based approach.

Kourosh also provides advice for individuals dealing with wandering minds or transitioning to new responsibilities, focusing on the need for daily visits to task management systems and optimizing them for better workflow.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

• OmniFocus 4
  
• Waves of Focus
  
• Kourosh Dini
  

In this special episode of The Omni Show, we celebrate the launch of OmniFocus 4 with Omni Group CEO, Ken Case, and Product Manager, Ainsley Bourque Olson. We delve into the exciting new features and improvements of OmniFocus 4, with its more approachable interface for new users while retaining the powerful capabilities our existing customers love.

This episode highlights the unique achievements of the OmniFocus 4 development cycle, including its innovative use of Apple's SwiftUI and the collaborative TestFlight experience. Key new features such as the customizable Fluid outline, interactive widgets, a standalone Apple Watch app, and enhanced VoiceOver compatibility are discussed.  We also explore the universality of OmniFocus 4 across different Apple platforms, offering a seamless and consistent experience for users.

We can’t wait for you to try OmniFocus 4, now available on our website or the App Store!

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

• OmniFocus 4
  

In this episode of The Omni Show, we chat with Carson Whitsett, a multifaceted software developer and the brain behind MacBrickout, the famous ball and paddle game. Carson, who runs Ditty Labs, shares from his vast experience in software and firmware programming plus hardware engineering, including work on medical devices, printers, machine vision technology and mobile app development. He recounts his journey from fixing electronics at a music store to becoming an expert in iOS app development, contributing to notable projects like the Dexcom ONE app and the GoPro subscription service.

Carson discusses how OmniGraffle has proved instrumental in his workflow, particularly in organizing app development processes, and shares his views on the changing landscape of software development in the age of AI.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

• Ditty Labs
  
• Carson's Social Media Page
  
• Carson's LinkedIn
  
• MacBrickout Facebook Page
  
• Carson's Spotify Page
  
• MacBrickout Web Site
  
• Breakout
  
• Super Breakout
  
• Arkanoid
  
• Unity
  
• Blender
  
• Dexcom
  
• OpenGL
  
• GoPro
  
• Neuroverse
  
• OmniGraffle
  

Discover the incredible world of automation with Gabriel, a productivity guru and automation developer. With his expertise in programming languages like Haskell, JavaScript, and Python, Gabriel has revolutionized the way he manages his life and work using OmniFocus. By custom programming and automating tasks, Gabriel has unlocked a new level of efficiency, precision, and time-saving.

Whether it's creating hierarchies in OmniOutliner or seamlessly integrating with other apps, Gabriel's automation techniques are a game-changer. And he's not just about automation; he also shares valuable tips for beginners emphasizing the importance of not overcomplicating things and tailoring the system to individual needs. Join Gabriel on his journey to simplicity and productivity with OmniFocus.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

• Gabriel's Website
  
• OmniFocus
  
• Python
  
• Haskell
  
• Javascript
  
• DEVONthink Pro
  
• Keyboard Maestro
  
• Bike
  
• Taskpaper
  
• LaunchBar
  
• Alfred
  
• Anki
  

Step into the world of productivity mastery as GTD Focus President, Meg Edwards, returns to talk all things OmniFocus.

This episode sheds light on optimizing your OmniFocus system setup, the art of tag management, and the critical steps after capturing your inbox items. Whether you're looking to streamline your tags or master "clarifying and organizing," Meg's expert advice will set you on the path to efficiency.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

• Meg Edward's First Appearance on The Omni Show (Episode 87)
  
• GTD Focus
  

Today we chat with Erik Hedin, a seasoned sound designer and composer from Sweden, now residing in Norway. We delve into Erik's fascinating journey from a curious child enchanted by sounds to a respected theater sound designer for over 100 shows. Erik elaborates on how the visual mapping features of OmniGraffle have become an indispensable part of his toolkit, allowing him to graphically orchestrate the auditory scenery of theatrical performances.

Erik also spotlights the importance of an iterative process, showcasing work-in-progress to collaborators for valuable feedback.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

• Erik Hedin's Website
  
• OmniGraffle
  
• Commodore 64
  
• Ableton
  
• Q-Lab
  

In this eye-opening episode of "The Omni Show,” we sit down with Zen, a multifaceted Pixel Artist and Designer from the gaming industry. Diving deep into Zen's fascinating journey, we explore OmniFocus and the art of digital productivity. Whether it's automating thousands of algorithmic art pieces or juggling numerous ambitious projects, Zen offers invaluable insights on staying organized in a chaotic world.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

• Zen's Social Media Account
  
• Zen's Website
  
• OmniFocus
  
• Figma
  
• FigJam
  
• Fantastical
  
• Obsidian
  
• Notion
  
• Photoshop
  
• Hazel
  
• A Better Finder Rename
  
• Glyphscapes
  

Today we chat with Mike Burke. Mike leads a software engineering group focused on customer privacy at Amazon with teams in Austin and Seattle, using all of Omni’s products in the process. He lives in Austin with his family but is originally from Sydney, Australia and has also lived and worked out of Seattle and Dublin, Ireland along the way.

Whether you're a beginner or a power user, this episode is packed with invaluable tips and tricks. Mike divulges his unique weekly review system, a clever Keyboard Maestro trick for easy note retrieval, and his simplified yet potent use of tags. Don't miss this deep dive into the suite of Omni Software!

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

• Mike's LinkedIn Page
  
• OmniFocus
  
• OmniOutliner
  
• OmniGraffle
  
• OmniPlan
  
• GTD (Getting Things Done)
  
• Keyboard Maestro
  
• Alfred
  

Looking to boost your productivity and broaden your horizons? Don't miss this enlightening episode with Bryan Roseveare, accomplished pilot, ATO Manager at SIMAERO, and host of the Bryan Air podcast. In a conversation filled with practical insights, Bryan shares how he's mastered OmniFocus to enhance his productivity and minimize anxiety. He translates his aviation experience into life lessons, providing a unique perspective that guides him toward personal and professional success.

Bryan reveals his passion for continuous learning, from staying on top of the aviation industry to his newfound interest in jiu-jitsu. His open-minded approach to embracing new challenges and venturing down exciting paths will inspire you to do the same.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

- SIMAERO
- Bryan Air Podcast (Audio)
- Bryan Air Podcast (Video)
- OmniFocus
- Spark Email
- The Checklist Manifesto

This time on The Omni Show, we converse with Mike Roberts, co-founder of Symphonia and co-author of Programming AWS Lambda. We chat about his transition from software engineer to consultant, and how this change influenced his adoption of OmniFocus to better manage his work and personal life.

The discussion explores Mike's journey into productivity tools and his advocacy for a system that helps offload the memory burden, inspired by the principles of Getting Things Done. Mike's approach stresses the importance of a reliable system, be it simple or complex, and highlights how OmniFocus has been instrumental in organizing tasks of every size.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

- Programming AWS Lambda
- OmniFocus
- Symphonia
- Getting Things Done
- Evernote
- Day One
- Mike Roberts Mastodon

In this fascinating episode of The Omni Show, we invite cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Matthew Kmiecik to discuss his career, his workflow, and how he uses OmniGraffle to make data more accessible and engaging. We dive into Dr. Kmiecik's background, his evolution from neuroscience to data science at 23andMe, and the impact of his published academic research.

Dr. Kmiecik highlights the importance of effective data visualization and shares his unique approach of combining data science using the R programming language with OmniGraffle. He reveals how he uses R to create initial visualizations, then imports them into OmniGraffle to add finishing touches. We also chat about saving data visualizations as SVG files, allowing for increased flexibility and control when editing in OmniGraffle.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

- R Programming Language
- GGPlot 2
- OmniGraffle
- Mattkmiecik.com
- Dr. Matthew's LinkedIn page

On today’s episode of The Omni Show, Andrew and Omni Group's CEO, Ken Case, dissect the key takeaways from Apple's WWDC and how visionOS is set to redefine the tech landscape. Ken envisions a future rich in augmented reality, drawing parallels with the revolutionary transformation seen with the iPhone.

They also dive into the App Store’s 15th anniversary and the eagerly anticipated debut of OmniFocus 4, highlighting their steadfast dedication to seamless design and staying ahead of tech progression.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

- OmniGraffle Test Builds
- Vision Pro
- OmniFocus
- Swift (programming language)

In this insightful episode of The Omni Show, Andrew interviews Juho Vepsäläinen, the accomplished author behind "SurviveJS" and a recognized figure in the JavaScript community. Diving deep into Juho's journey, they discuss his early challenges, the evolution of his writing style, and the critical role OmniFocus played in his personal and professional growth.

Offering a unique glimpse into his productivity methods, Juho shares how he uses OmniFocus as a tool for idea incubation, project management, and memory enhancement, demonstrating how it seamlessly integrates with his broader workflow.

Whether you're a developer, an aspiring writer, or simply someone looking to improve productivity, this episode is packed with valuable insights and advice from a seasoned expert.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

- SurviveJS
- Future Frontend
- OmniFocus
- Getting Things Done (Book)
- Overleaf
- GitHub

Today we chat with one of the Omni Groups' Support Humans, Marley Wissner. If you've ever wondered what happens after someone shares a question, comment, or feature request - Marley’s here to peel back the curtain.

In this enlightening discussion, Marley shares his journey at the Omni Group, his day-to-day roles, and the fascinating process that takes place behind the scenes in handling customer feedback (Hint: It involves the "Potato-Tron").

Marley explains how the Omni Group utilizes this valuable feedback to improve its suite of productivity tools. He gives us an inside look into how the team prioritizes user requests, the challenges faced, and how they strive to incorporate ideas into their software updates.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

- OmniGraffle Test Builds
- OmniFocus
- OmniGraffle Main Page
- OmniOutliner
- OmniPlan

Ryan Singer is one of the founding members of 37Signal’s Basecamp team. Today, Ryan's consulting company, Felt Presence, helps people solve problems between their product and engineering teams. He credits OmniGraffle for being his brainstorming partner each step along the way.

On this episode, we find out how Ryan's design, programming, and strategy experience led to an innovative approach (and book), called “Shape up,” to bridge the gap between product and technical teams. Tune in and learn how Ryan's OmniGraffle expertise contributed to his success and how "Shape Up" helps humanize the software development process and ensure team projects get successfully completed.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

- A shorthand for designing UI flows
- Breadboarding in Shape Up
- Small tools for shaping
- Shaping in a Nutshell
- Felt Pesence
- Shaping in Real Life course
- Bob Moesta
- OmniGraffle
- Miro
- OmniFocus
- Mailchimp
- Convertkit
- Hey
- Remix
- Netlify
- Whimsical
- Basecamp

Johnny Noble is possibly best known for his information cataloging / productivity system called the "Johnny Decimal System". Johnny’s methods have been mentioned by a few past guests (including Jimmy Little and Leah Ferguson) for helping them remove friction when managing personal data.

Today, Johnny joins Andrew to break down how he got the idea for the system, when he came across Omni software, and in what ways he uses the system himself to stay productive.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

- Johnny Decimal Website
- Jimmy Little Episode of the Omni Show
- Leah Ferguson Episode of the Omni Show
- Mikell Taylor Episode of the Omni Show
- Sinclair Spectrum

Today, we’re honored to have Charlie Brewer with us. Charlie is the co-author of "Designing Interfaces" from O’Reilly. He's also a director of user experience and product design with 25 years experience in designing and launching B2B and B2C digital products.

On this episode, Charlie shares how he used OmniGraffle to craft the diagrams in his book, what makes him passionate about great design, and his personal workflow for creating visuals that get everyone on the same page.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

- OmniGraffle
- Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (The Polar Bear Book)
- San Fransisco State University
- Inspiration
- Designing Interfaces, 3rd Edition by O'Reilly
- Charlie's Twitter Account
- CharlieBrewer.com

Today we’re joined by Jimmy Little, a senior digital product manager.  Jimmy returns to share the latest iteration of his productivity system and how various elements have changed since he last joined us in 2021.

Andrew and Jimmy discuss how to stay on top of a demanding workload and personal life, powered by OmniFocus and a fresh slew of automations.  If you’re looking for a novel perspective on getting things done, you’re in luck!


Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

- OmniFocus
- Jimmy Little on Episode 84
- Leah Ferguson on Episode 99 (First mention of Johnny Decimal)
- Johnny Decimal
- Obsidian
- Cocktails and Coffee
- Joe Buhlig on the Bookworm Podcast
- Jira
- Confluence
- Trello
- Omni Automation
- Shortcuts
- Applescript
- Jimmy on Mastodon

Get ready to meet Brian Wright, the fractional chief communications officer who's making a significant impact for late-startup and early growth companies. With over twenty different roles and a myriad of tasks to juggle, Brian has found a valuable advantage with OmniFocus. This powerful tool has helped him accomplish impressive achievements, from supporting his autistic son in publishing a best-selling poetry book to empowering his clients’ communications strategies.

Join us in this episode where Brian shares his insider tips for maintaining a clear and healthy workload, how to slice through data overwhelm with perspective views, and when to build custom solutions using the genius of other creators and their automations. Don't miss this enlightening conversation and learn how OmniFocus can improve your productivity today!


Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:
- OmniFocus
- Fantastical
- Brian's son Brady's Blog
- Hostage to Silence Book
- Wright Communication Strategies
- Getting Things Done
- Rosemary Orchard
- David Sparks
- Learn OmniFocus
- Devonthink
- Pushcut
- Drafts
- Devonthink
- Notion
- Inoreader
- Zapier
- Omni Automation

Today, we hear from Dr. Christian Calma, an OBGYN currently residing in Iowa. Christian shares how he uses OmniFocus to manage the various aspects of his busy life, from daily tasks to long-term goals.

In the episode, Christian touches on the importance of taking control of one's daily life. With help from a custom plugin created by Kaitlin Salzke, he also discusses the importance of staying productive on day-to-day tasks, even in the midst of a major life transition. If you're looking to streamline your own workload and bring order to your life, Christian's insights on using OmniFocus are a must-listen.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:
- Keyboard Maestro
- Kaitlin Salzke's Website
- Anki
- Appigo's Todo
- OmniFocus
- Getting Things Done
- Hookmark

Today, we chat with Chad Dickerson, the former CEO of Etsy and the current head of Strong Back Open Heart (his own executive coaching practice). In this episode, we learn how he uses OmniFocus to help manage his workload and bring order to his life.

Chad shares personal insights he's gained as a CEO, including the importance of living an authentic life and staying true to oneself. We talk through the belief that personal improvement doesn’t happen by accident, and how the right productivity habits can keep anyone optimally engaged.


Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:
- Etsy
- Chad Dickerson
- Strong Back Open Heart
- Randy Hunt
- NASDAQ
- Peter Drucker
- OmniFocus
- Showtime
- Clip-o-Tron
- DEVONthink
- ScanSnap
- Getting Things Done

Welcome to the annual roadmap episode of The Omni Show! Ken Case, CEO of the Omni Group, is here to share the our exciting plans for 2023 and give us an inside look at the actual development process.

Today, we talk about how Omni Group has been building powerful tools for 30 years and continues to push the envelope forward in 2023. Whether it’s new features such as Voice Control, redesigning apps using Apple's new SwiftUI technologies, or the upcoming version 4 of OmniFocus, we’re hard at work!

some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:
- Omni Group's 2023 Roadmap Blog Post
- OmniFocus
- OmniGraffle

In this episode, we're joined by Zsolt Benke, a developer from Pécs, Hungary. More than a decade ago, Zsolt started his coding life on the Web, designing and building WordPress sites. Now, he works in both web and iOS development. In his spare time, Zsolt enjoys blogging about productivity and technology, and co-hosting the podcast Agyvihar.

Join us as Zsolt reveals his secret weapon for tackling tasks and projects - OmniFocus. Learn how Zsolt uses OmniFocus to keep track of his work and to boost efficiency with the "measure twice, cut once” mentality applied to software. Plus, get a sneak peek into Zsolt's workflow as he shares how he uses the Tags and Projects perspectives to stay organized  Whether you're a developer or just looking for ways to improve your productivity, you won't want to miss this episode.

some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:
- Decoding.io
- OmniFocus
- OmniOutliner
- YNAB
- Mac Power Users
- GTD
- 43Folders
- LifeHacker
- Merlin Mann
- Gina Trapani
- Ethan Schooner - Solarized Dark and Light
- Hookmark
- Reminders
- DevonThink
- Craft
- Fantastical
- AppleScript
- Timey
- OmniJS
- Terminal

Today, Andy Bliss joins us to share his insights on using OmniFocus to supercharge work as a performing artist and musician's coach. With a background in both the arts and technology, Andy knows a thing or two about the intersection between creativity and efficiency.

Join Andy and Andrew as they navigate the challenges of "infinite" capture using software (and how to batch your days to prevent decision fatigue). They'll also delve into the distinction between Projects and Maintenance, and how a system like OmniFocus can help when your schedule is jam-packed. It’s a fantastic discussion on maximizing productivity and efficiency.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• OmniFocus
• AndyBliss website
• AndyBliss on instagram
• AndyBliss on Twitter
• Nief-Norf
• Blissbrickstudios YouTube
• Blissbrickstudios Instagram
• University of Tennessee
• Getting Things Done
• Learn OmniFocus
• MacSparky
• Macstock
• Fantastical
• TextExpander
• Mindnode
• Slack
• SetApp
• Day One
• Ulysses
• Logic
• Sibelius
• Roam Research
• Notion
• Streamdeck XL
• Airtable

Today, Mikell Taylor joins us to talk about OmniPlan. She is a long-time robotics geek focused on making robots that are useful and practical.

Mikell’s honed her specialized expertise working with companies like BlueFin Robotics and Rethink Robotics. Today, she’s the Principal Technical Program Manager at Amazon Robotics, where OmniPlan helps her bring order to chaos and ensure positive outcomes for her team.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

- MikellTaylor.com
- Mikell's Twitter Account - OmniPlan
- BlueFin Robotics
- Amazon Robotics
- Rethink Robotics
- Ohio State University
- STEM
- PMP
- Agile / SCRUM
- GANTT
- Waterfall Methodology
- Jira

Today, we chat with Robby Burns.  Robby’s a music educator, freelance percussionist, and technology specialist residing Ellicot City, Maryland.  He’s the author of "Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers," published by Oxford University Press. He speaks about music, education, and technology on his podcast Music Ed Tech Talk.

Andrew and Robby chat about his routine use of OmniFocus, OmniGraffle, and OmniOutliner to make the most of every day.  Robby’s workflow helps him achieve more in less time: whether it’s designing seating charts in OmniGraffle, implementing OmniOutliner’s flexible styles to view lesson plans while teaching, or focusing on the “photocopier” tag in OmniFocus to batch-related tasks.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Robby's Website
• Robby's Twitter Account
• Robby's Instagram Account
• Robby's Twitch Account
• Digital Organization Tips for Music Teachers
• Music Ed Tech Talk Podcast
• Craft
• Evernote
• Building a Second Brain
• Work Clean
• OmniFocus
• OmniOutliner
• OmniGraffle
• Robby Burn's Website
• Dropbox
• MindNode
• Taskpaper
• Drafts
• Hook
• Fantastical
• Devonthink
• Obsidian
• Atomic Habits

Today, we’re joined by Randy J. Hunt. Randy’s served as head of Design at Grab, Head of Design at Artsy, VP of Design for Etsy, and the author of Product Design for the Web.  He’s currently the Chief Product Officer at Morning, a Coffee Tech Company.

Randy shares his refreshing, thoughtfully disciplined approach to productivity.  Using restraint as an superpower, Randy attributes the accumulated benefit of his second-brain to “sticking with it" in OmniFocus for over a decade.  Randy and Andrew talk about “daisy-chaining” workflows, the power of complete capture in OmniFocus, and the benefit of restraint to avoid over-building your system.

You can find Randy at RandyJHunt.com.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• RandyJHunt.com
• Product Design for the Web: Principles of Designing & Releasing Web Products
• Drink Morning
• Etsy
• Artsy
• OmniFocus
• Getting Things Done
• Obsidian
• Fantastical
• Zapier
• Agenda
• Wordpress
• PHP
• Basecamp

Today, we talk with Frank Denneman.  Frank works for VMWare as the Chief Technologist in the CTO’s office of their Cloud Infrastructure Business Group. He's the author of multiple books, including “vSphere 6.5 Host Technical Deep Dive” and the “vSphere Clustering Technical Deep Dive” series.

Andrew and Frank chat about using OmniGraffle to communicate visual ideas in their simplest forms.  Frank shares a few tools from his belt: Fibonacci sequences for layouts, how to wrangle visual clutter, the role of consistent color palettes in communicating ideas with clarity, and more.

You can find @FrankDenneman on Twitter.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Frank's Website
• Unexplored Territory Podcast
• vSphere 6.5 Host Resources Technical Deep Dive
• vSphere Clustering Deep Dive series
• OmniGraffle
• Fibonacci sequence
• Coolors Website

Today, we’re spending time with Alec Johnson.  Alec is a public speaker, engineer, and online presenter living in Thailand for the last 14 years.  His passion for productivity and daily live-streaming can be viewed via his TakeOneTech YouTube channel.  From content creation to inspirational lists, OmniFocus helps him to manage it all.

In this episode, Andrew and Alec deconstruct his productivity workflow.  Using OmniFocus, Streamdecks, nvALT, and more - Alec has been consistently creating one helpful YouTube video each day.

You can find Alec @takeonetech_ on Twitter.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Merlin Mann
• Alec’s OmniFocus YouTube Video
• Getting Things Done
• Alec’s YouTube Channel
• Alec’s Website
• nvALT from Brett Terpstra
• Keyboard Maestro
• Hazel
• Streamdeck
• Streamdeck Pedal
• ECam Live

Thirty (yes, 30!!) years of OmniGroup.com, 100 Episodes of the Omni Show, AND the 5th anniversary of this podcast? We try to contain our excitement as we reminisce with Ken Case. Various guests from past Omni Show episodes also send their greetings.

In this episode, Ken and Andrew time-travel to 1992...when it took all morning (and 35 floppy disks) to install an OS, Steve Jobs was at NeXT, and the internet was limited only by our imagination (and corresponding modem speeds).

While many things have changed over the last 30 years, at least one thing's been constant: our love of creating great tools that make people more productive.

Here's to you — our community — and here's to another 30 amazing years.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Ken Case on Twitter
• NeXT "10 Real Breakthroughs" print ad
• Episode 61 with William Gallagher
• Episode 65 with Kourosh Dini
• Episode 77 with Thomas Vander Wal
• Episode 78 with Tim Stringer
• Episode 81 with Colter Reed
• Episode 84 with Jimmy Little

Today, we’re talking with Leah Ferguson.  Leah’s a Canadian designer who creates experiences in the digital and built environment through way-finding and information architecture. In her spare time, she loves helping people navigate the world of personal knowledge management.

In this episode, Leah and Andrew talk about the power of environmental cues, context, and forward-thinking in reaching peak productivity.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Leahferguson.com
• OmniFocus
• David Sparks
• Obsidian Discord
• Johnny Decimal
• Zettelkasten
• Harvey Milk terminal at San Francisco International Airport
• Calgary International Airport
• Jewel at Changi Airport
• X-Callback
• Mandalorian
• @Leahthedesigner twitter
• Atomic Note

Today, we’re joined by Professor Inger Mewborn (Director of Researcher Development at Australian National University) and Jason Downs (Deputy Director, Quality and Standards at La Trobe University). Collectively, they host a great productivity podcast called “On the Reg.”

In this episode, they talk about using tags to stay sane, teaching others how to stay productive, and implementing a magical combination of both OmniFocus and the Bullet Journal. Professor Inger, also known around the interwebs as “Thesiswhisperer," may even school Andrew on a few Australianisms along the way (Milk Bar?  Who knew?).

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• OmniFocus
• Bullet Journal
• Australian National University
• Thesis Whisperer
• On the Reg Podcast
• Mac Power Users Podcasts
• Latrobe University
• David Sparks
• Things
• Omni Automation
• Microsoft Teams
• Getting Things Done
• @JasonDowns
• @ThesisWhisperer
• Notion

Ken Case, CEO, joins the show to break down his post-WWDC 2022 Roadmap.

What’s the latest? What’s amazingly cool? And — the annual question — just how much work will we be doing this summer?

With continual OmniFocus 4 progress, OmniFocus for the Web updates, single sign-on (SSO) authentication for enterprise customers, and more - there’s plenty of exciting stuff to talk about. (And thankfully, nothing announced at WWDC 2022 derails the current OmniFocus 4 milestones already accomplished.)

Andrew & Ken also speculate on what just-announced features might be useful in Omni software down the road.  Listen in for all the latest details.

You can find Ken Case on Twitter @kcase.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Test Version of OmniFocus for the Web
• OmniFocus
• OmniGraffle
• WWDC Site

It's probably no surprise that writing software is a somewhat difficult task. There's an unfathomable amount of iteration and detective work that goes into creating a product that feels intuitive for the new user, yet familiar to the ardent fan.

Surprisingly, the art of crafting effective software documentation demands some of the exact same iteration and detective skills. Inserting helpful guidance at just the right point in the user conversation (without over-explaining) can be a tricky dance.

Luckily, Dave Lonning, documentation wrangler, is up to the challenge. He returns to the Omni show (Episode 10, for you longtime listeners!) to talk about how his role has shifted over the last few years. Andrew and Dave discuss how he's approached the fresh challenges emerging in the software documentation process.

You can find Dave @davelonning on Twitter.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Apple Help format
• Apple Help Viewer
• WebView
• EPUB
• iBooks
• PDF
• OmniGraffle
• OmniFocus
• OmniOutliner
• OmniPlan
• Omni Slack Channel
• Omni-Automation.com
• Documentation at support.omnigroup.com

Today, we’re spending time with Sam Newman.

He’s a London-based technologist, independent consultant, speaker, and author of "Building Microservices" and "Monolith To Microservices."

In this episode, Sam shares how his passion for visual communication led to the creation of hundreds of OmniGraffle designs, many of which powered the illustrations in his popular "Building Microservices” book from O’Reilly.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

• Microservices
• AWS
• Azure
• OmniGraffle
• Information Dashboard Design
• O’Reilly - Building Microservices Book
• Thoughtworks
• Continuous Delivery
• Martin Fowler
• Sam Newman’s website
• UML
• Grady Booch
• Simon Brown
• C4 Model

On today’s show, we talk with Kaitlin Salzke. Kaitlin’s a tax accountant, mother, plus a computer science student, who just happens to be moving two hours away (all while coding OmniFocus plug-ins in her spare time!)

In this episode, Kaitlin details the mindset and practice behind her ability to keep multiple complex projects moving at once. She’s given her OmniFocus setup superpowers by taking maximum advantage of Omni Automation & plug-ins. You’ll love how easily she balances the theory of automation and plug-in coding with honest, real-world task execution.
Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

• OmniFocus
• Remember the Milk
• Omni Automation
• Kaitlin’s plug-ins
• Kaitlin’s Session at Learn OmniFocus
• Getting Things Done
• Creating Flow
• OmniFocus Slack
• Discourse Channel
• Curt Clifton’s Template Plugin
• The organized Mom

Today, we’re hanging out with Stephen Dolan. Stephen is the chief of staff at Tuple, a company that makes remote pair screen-sharing software for programmers / developers.

In this episode, Stephen shares how he uses OmniFocus to manage operations at Tuple, plan his daily tasks, and keep others accountable. You’re sure to enjoy Stephen's perspective on OmniFocus and his ability to articulate it with clarity.
Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

• Tuple
• Stephen's Home Page
• Stephen's Twitter Page
• Ben Orenstein's Twitter (CEO of Tuple)
• OmniFocus

We’re honored to have Dr. Mark Hutchinson with us today. He’s the Director of the Arc Center for Excellence for Nano-Scale Biophotonics and the current president of Science and Technology Australia.  He also happens to be an avid OmniFocus user!

In this episode, Dr. Hutchinson and Andrew talk about the latest exciting advances in biophotonics. Mark also shares about how he uses OmniFocus to manage himself and his team.
Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

• Arc Center for Excellence for Nano-Scale BioPhotonics
• Science and Technology Australia
• Textexpander
• OmniFocus
• Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg
• Bunnings

Dr. Amy J. Ko's a respected professor at the University of Washington Information School and an adjunct professor at the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering.

Dr. Amy directs the Code and Cognition Lab, where she and her students study computer science education, human-computer interaction, and humanity's individual and collective struggle to understand computing and harness it for equity and justice.
In this episode, Dr. Ko and Andrew talk about how OmniFocus helps her manage her faculty life, students' projects, personal projects, and more.
Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

• University of Washington Information School
• Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering
• Dr. Amy's Twitter
• Dr. Amy's LinkedIn
• The "Total Time" OmniFocus Script on GitHub
• OmniFocus
• Palm Pilot
• OmniOutliner
• Gidget (Gamified Compute Language Learning)

Today, we hang out with the CEO of the Omni Group, Ken Case.  He talks us through all of the exciting details of the Omni 2022 Roadmap Blog Post.  Discussion covers the OmniFocus 4 TestFlight, Omni Automation, application support for Shortcuts, and more.  At some point, Ken may or may not also divulge a few additional upcoming OmniGraffle spoilers.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

• Omni 2022 Roadmap Blog Post
• OmniPlan
• OmniOutliner
• OmniFocus
• OmniGraffle
• Ken's Twitter Page
• Omni Slack Channel
• OmniFocus 4 TestFlight
• Joe Buhlig's Episode
• Omni Automation

Today we talk to Joe Buhlig. As an "analog mind in a digital world", Joe's unique method of using both digital and paper tools resonates with his listeners in a refreshing way.

In this episode, we talk through Joe's journey all the way from the world of agriculture to IT.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

• Joebuhlig.com
• Joe Buhlig's Twitter Account
• Joe Buhlig Script Download Page
• Bookworm Podcast
• GTD
• OmniFocus
• The Omni Show: Allen Pike Episode
• The Omni Show: Naomi Pearce Episode
• The Evernote Secret Weapon

Today we talk to Naomi Pearce, media relations representative for the Omni Group. This show - and the timing of the show itself - dives into what sort of stress-free goodness can show up for everyday folks who use powerful software.

As we approach New Years’ resolutions, many of which involve getting organized, we talk about getting off your own back and letting the tool work for you — not you for it. We discuss the value of choosing tools that exceed what you need, and distinguish between being a "power tool user" and a "power user."

Naomi asserts you don’t have to become a GTD expert to get value from the same app the GTD experts use. Industry stories and gossip also ensue.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

• Naomi's LinkedIn
• Naomi's Twitter
• Pearce Communications
• Macworld
• Mac OS X Server
• XServe
• Eric Zelenka
• Alex Grossman
• OmniWeb
• Sal Soghoian
• Alex Lindsey
• MacHTTP / WebStar
• WordStar
• BBEdit / Bare Bones Software / Yojimbo
• MacSpeech Dictate
• Developer Interview with Naomi for iPad
• Pixelcorps
• Office Hours
• USDZ File format
• Clarity.io Node-S
• Keynote
• iPod Video
• Star Wars Episode One
• Apple's Motion
• Jimmy Little's Episode
• Jason Snell
• PDFPen
• Morten Roevik Episode
• GTD
• OmniPlan
• OmniGraffle
• OmniOutliner
• OmniFocus
• Stephen Covey (Urgent vs. Important)
• William Gallagher's Episode
• SEBO Vacuum
• MacSparky Course
• Tim Stringer
• Kourosh Dini
• Omni Automation

Today, we talk to Meg Edwards, President of GTD focus. GTD Focus is the only officially licensed, one-to-one GTD coaching company in the US and Canada.

Andrew & Meg talk about how she became a coach and the challenges she comes across while helping others.  Meg also reveals 4 questions designed to help clarify undefined projects in your OmniFocus system.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

On today’s show, CEO Ken Case and Automation Advocate Sal Soghoian tackle the question: "Are Omni Apps Ready for macOS Monterey?"

Spoiler Alert: Yes, they are!

At the Omni Group, we make powerful productivity apps which help you accomplish more every day. And with macOS Monterey, our apps are ready to take advantage of new features from day one.

Andrew, Ken, and Sal talk about the endless automation possibilities with Shortcuts for the Mac. They also do an OmniFocus 4 Testflight progress check-in.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

Today, we hear from the CEO of Australian-owned Jaunt Motors, Dave Budge.  Dave uses OmniGraffle to create design schematics that are beautiful and customer-friendly.

Dave walks us through Jaunt’s mission of completely restoring dilapidated Land Rovers into 100% electric vehicles, so anyone can enjoy off-roading in nature without polluting it. He shares why taking extra time to create beautiful schematics in OmniGraffle was important to their overall design process.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

Today, we chat with digital media product manager, Jimmy Little.  Using OmniFocus and contextual computing, Jimmy’s able to navigate to the exact information he needs as quickly as possible.

Jimmy talks through his system that uses automation to bind multiple products together via deep linking.  Shortcuts and automation combine a central “dashboard” in Obsidian with OmniFocus, Toggl, DEVONthink, and more.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

In this episode of The Omni Show, Parham Doustdar shares how he's using OmniFocus as the Engineering Manager for product accessibility at Booking.com. As a completely blind user, his system setup allows for a customized implementation and navigation that is uniquely his.

Parham and Andrew chat through the current challenges of accessible software design, using OmniFocus for networking, and alternate methods for computer navigation.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

In this episode of The Omni Show, we’re excited to chat with Morten Røvik, the GTD Certified Coach and Master trainer for the Nordic region.  Different coaches have different approaches, and Morten’s is definitely by the book — David Allen’s "Getting Things Done" book.

Morten and Andrew explore how to avoid common system pitfalls. Morten shares his recommendations for how to pair GTD well with OmniFocus. They also chat about a unique use for tags to simplify client communication.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

In this episode of The Omni Show, Andrew welcomes Colter Reed, a productivity enthusiast who’s day job is turning brilliant ideas into beautiful software.

Colter and Andrew communicate the importance of clarity in our commitments, using automation to template tasks, how to use our time wisely, and the early warning signs of faulty system health.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

In this episode of The Omni Show, Wilson Ng shares about putting OmniFocus to work on the island of Guam -- so he still has time to enjoy the view!

Wilson uses the power of OmniFocus to manage his many daily tasks related to running his business, helping his family, and maintaining rental properties on the Island.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode:

Jeremy Wheeler is a Staff Consulting Architect at VMware who regularly uses OmniGraffle in his work.

With OmniGraffle in his corner, Jeremy can visualize complex virtualization scenarios and easily convey data dense concepts.

Click to Enlarge

• Jeremy's Blog - Virtually caffinieted
• Jeremy's LinkedIn Profile
• Citrix
• Lynda.com's OmniGraffle course
• Microsoft Hyper-V
• OmniGraffle
• Lynda.com's OmniGraffle course
• The Omni Show's Thomas Vander Wal Episode
• Virtual Iron
• Visio
• VMWare

Tim Stringer has been providing OmniFocus coaching, consulting and training to people all over the world since 2010 via LearnOmniFocus.com.

On today's show, Tim shares nuggets of wisdom he's garnered along his journey with GTD and OmniFocus.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• LearnOmnifocus.com
• Holistic Productivity
• Getting Things Done
• CulturedCode Things
• David Sparks
• Kourosh Dini
• Merlin Mann
• Sven Fechner
• Jason Snell
• Lee Garrett
• Mindnode

On today’s Omni Show, we welcome information architect, Thomas Vander Wal. He's currently in charge of DevSecOps strategy and planning at a large aerospace company, and utilizes OmniGraffle & OmniOutliner to easily wrangle and visualize complex data quickly.

In this episode, Thomas and Andrew chat about how tools like OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle interact to build a more accurate, coherent picture of your data- regardless of the situation.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• DEVONThink
• Folksonomy
• iThoughts
• MindNode
• Obsidian
• OmniGraffle
• OmniOutliner

In today’s Omni Show episode, we conclude our two-part privacy special by welcoming the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Executive Director, Cindy Cohn, into the conversation.  Ken, Cindy, and Andrew chat about why you care about your privacy and user agency as it relates to iOS’s recent update (Click here to catch up on part one).

We then broaden the conversation to include techniques and tips you can use to better protect your privacy as you surf online.

You can find out more about Omni’s ongoing commitment to your privacy in our brand new privacy page.

Find out more about the EFF’s amazing efforts at protecting your digital rights here.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Cindy Cohn
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• OmniFocus
• OmniPlan
• OmniOutliner

Today, we welcome our CEO, Ken Case, back on The Omni Show for the first in a two-part special, focused on privacy.  With Apple’s recent changes in iOS privacy handling, Ken and Andrew talk about how it affects Omni apps and what it means for you.

In this episode, Ken & Andrew break down what changes are happening in iOS, what extra measures Omni took in programming our apps to protect you, and just how we go about keeping your data…..your data.

You can find out more about Omni’s ongoing commitment to your privacy in our brand new privacy page.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Cindy Cohn
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• OmniFocus
• OmniPlan
• OmniOutliner

How do you improve on a Gantt chart?  What’s the Outline View all about?  Is there a delta between customers' wants and needs?  How about universal purchases? Today on the Omni Show, we answer these questions and more with an exclusive peek behind the curtain of OmniPlan 4’s development process.

Ainsley Bourque Olson (Product Manager) & Andrew Abernathy (User Experience Designer) share details of the dance that is developing product experiences along with our customers.

Join Andrew, Ainsley, and Andrew as they chat about the design process, which results in the perfect UX fit for even the pickiest project managers.

You can find Ainsley @ainslaw on Twitter.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Product Management
• Apple
• Project Management
• OmniGraffle
• OmniFocus
• Getting Things Done (GTD)
• Gantt Chart
• Network diagram
• Project Levelling
• WebDAV

Gabrielle is an expat who’s moved from the UK to Madrid and utilizes OmniFocus to handle her daily tasks.

In this episode, Gabrielle and Andrew talk about how OmniFocus assists Gabrielle in managing all the details of her busy life.  Whether she’s renovating an apartment, learning Spanish, working with coaches, writing, or just wrangling her priorities - OmniFocus helps ground and solidify her perspective.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Remarkable Tablet
• OmniGraffle
• OmniFocus
• OmniPlan
• OmniOutliner
• The Coach Space - Priority Exercise

On today's Omni Show, we welcome cybersecurity lawyer, Jake Bernstein. Jake is the former regulator for the Washington state attorney general, and currently practices with Focal Law. His work includes advice & counsel on everything from data breach and GDPR to the California Consumer Privacy Act.

In this episode, we chat through Jake's journey to discovering Apple and The Omni Group. We also talk about his use of OmniOutliner and OmniFocus to keep his practice and caseload running smoothly. Jake also shares some tips that have helped him along the way.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

On January 21 we published the Omni Roadmap 2021, where we looked back at 2020 and look forward to all the items planned for this year. Ken Case, CEO of the Omni Group — and author of the roadmap — joins the show to go into further detail.

2020 - What a year! From migrating our entire suite to run natively on Apple's new M1-powered Macs to integrating a streamlined way to handle licensing and subscriptions - Omni Group accomplished a lot.

We recap all the progress from 2020, and Andrew tries his hardest to get Ken to spill the beans on upcoming application features.

And, like every year, we expect that Apple will announce new features at WWDC, and we will have surprise work to do. Which we don’t mind — it’s part of the fun of making apps! (We love those new features as much as you do.)

You can find Ken on Twitter @kcase and on our Slack group. You can also find @omnigroup on Twitter and on Micro.blog.

Previous roadmap blog posts:

2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015

Jason Atwood is COO and one of the founders of Arkus, Inc., a Salesforce consulting partner. He returns on this episode to provide some tips and tricks for the new year...direct from his OmniFocus system.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

Oogie McGuire is a shepherdess to a flock of Black Welsh Mountain sheep at her farm in Colorado. When she's not farming, she can be found digitally archiving community photos, curating her Animal Tracker database, or thoughtfully planning and processing her business's next steps.

Oogie leverages OmniFocus to handle the details, rhythm, and unpredictability level that raising sheep on her family farm provides. Whether it's pulling up her "calls list" during a quiet moment or elegantly addressing the multiple needs that a new season brings - Oogie and OmniFocus pull it off together.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

Sal Soghoian knows a thing or two about automation. He's a user automation expert, software developer, author and musician. He joined Apple Inc. in January 1997 to serve as the Product Manager of Automation Technologies. Those technologies included AppleScript, Services, the Terminal, Apple Configurator and Automator, among others. He then joined forces with The Omni Group to work on their ambitious Omni Automation Framework that shows up throughout their product suite.

Sal's passion is to help communities take steps toward automating various aspects of their workflow. He utilizes omni software and scripting to allow users to accomplish things that weren't possible previously.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

David Sparks is an Orange County, California business attorney and a geek. David is also a podcaster, blogger, and author who writes about finding the best tools, hardware, and workflows for using Apple products to get work done. David also writes for Macworld magazine and speaks about technology.

OmniFocus is how David successfully runs his law practice, blogging, podcasts, and personal life. His system expresses both structure and fluidity as he utilizes URL linking to maximize his focus.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

Luc Beaudoin is the Head of CogZest, Author of Cognitive Productivity books, and creator of the Hook App for MacOS. He's an adjunct professor of Cognitive Science & of Education at Simon Fraser University. He's generously offered listeners of The Omni Show 30% off the Hook App with Coupon "OMNI-SHOW" on checkout.

Luc utilizes OmniOutliner templates as mental scaffolding for his deep reading, note taking, and cognitive research.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

Kourosh Dini, MD is a psychiatrist, productivity expert, author, and musician. He's the author of Creating Flow with OmniFocus. On weekends, he can be heard streaming music from his website.

Kourosh crafts his days using OmniFocus. His value of productivity as play is expressed within the routine structure that OmniFocus provides him.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

Allen Pike runs Steamclock, where he helps design and develop polished apps in beautiful Vancouver, Canada. His work ranges from strategy and product management to coordinating design and development. Previously, he was a Software Engineer at Apple. On weekends, he hosts a podcast about silly facts.

Allen leverages OmniFocus to capture and prioritize the best ideas when working at SteamClock. His unique blend of perspectives and workflow afford him the feedback he needs to make mission-critical decisions quickly.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

Aaron Hockley of TechPhotoGuy.com is a Master Photographer and Photographic Craftsman (M.Photog.Cr.), as recognized by the Professional Photographers of America. In 2014, he was recognized for third place in the Commercial/Illustrative category at PPA’s Grand Imaging Awards, and went on to represent the United States as a finalist at the World Photographic Cup. He was also the 2017 & 2020 President of the Oregon Professional Photographers Association.

Aaron employs [OmniFocus] (https://www.omnigroup.com/omnifocus/) as an essential component of his business workflow. From templating reminders for his gear setup and prep, to automating his pre-and-post blogging checklists, Aaron has integrated Omni’s software to successfully manage attention even as commitments grow.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

Alyssa Goodman is the Robert Wheeler Willson Professor of Applied Astronomy at Harvard, co-Director for Science at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and Research Associate of the Smithsonian Institution.

Alyssa utilized OmniGraffle to create the brilliantly informative and aesthetically beautiful Path-to Newton project which visualizes the prevailing thought patterns and discoveries leading up to Sir Isaac Newton's discovery.

You can find Alyssa on the web at her Harvard page.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

William Gallagher is the deputy chair of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain. From his Youtube channel, 58keys to writing Doctor Who radio dramas and feature articles for AppleInsider - William shares his experiences appropriating OMNI's software to get it all done.

Having authored over 19 non-fiction books, William's passion for writing a well-turned phrase utilizing the best software is self-evident. This conversation ranges from information organization to utilizing OMNI's apps in unorthodox ways.

You can find William on the web at williamgallagher.com.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

Our world is constantly changing, and each year we have to be prepared to adjust our plans based on what we encounter along the way. On July 8 we published an update to our 2020 Omni Roadmap, and in this episode of the Omni Show we talk with Ken Case about some of this year's twists and turns and how we've adapted.

We've shipped Omni Automation in all our apps. A great resource for learning more about Omni Automation is omni-automation.com.

Here are links to some of the referenced news from Apple, announced during WWDC:

• Apple announces Mac transition to Apple silicon
• Apple introduces macOS Big Sur with a beautiful new design

You can find Ken on Twitter @kcase and on our Slack group. You can also find @omnigroup on Twitter.

Thorsten Grantner is a founder of OmniCert, a German company which is a certification body for sustainability management systems. He joins the show to talk about how he and his employees use OmniFocus to keep up with their many processes and clients.

That business may sound dry, but don’t be fooled by how it sounds: it’s a critical part of helping turn our world safer and greener. And, as vitally important detail-oriented work, it’s exactly the kind of thing OmniFocus excels at helping with.

You can find Thorsten on the web at omnicert.de.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

Dr. Lyle Skains is a researcher and practitioner in the field of digital and interactive fiction. She writes and creates interactive stories and then writes up her research. How did it go? How is creativity and process affected? How do audiences react? And — she uses OmniOutliner to organize this research.

We met Lyle via Twitter, when she posted some screenshots of her use of OmniOutliner: here’s a Twitter thread with some of them. She keeps notes, projects, and bibliographies in OmniOutliner.

Annette Fuller, Support Human at the Omni Group and fiction writer, joins this episode as co-host. This episode runs a bit longer than most because both Annette and your host were absolutely enthralled by Lyle and the subject matter.

You can find Lyle @lskains on Twitter and on the web at lyleskains.com.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• University of Bangor in Wales
• Manchester Metropolitan University
• Digital fiction
• The Stanley Parable
• Zork
• Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Game
• Tom Wolfe
• Noelle Stevenson
• Nimona
• Lumberjanes
• Homestuck
• William S. Burroughs
• Language Is a Virus from Outer Space song
• Nine Inch Nails
• Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
• Pemberley
• You
• Game of Thrones
• Twine
• New Mexico

Scotty Jackson — Manager, Information Services at Large Telecommunications Company and co-host of the Nested Folders productivity podcast with Rose Orchard — joins the show to talk about how he uses OmniFocus.

We talk about Scotty’s shortcuts, his custom Next perspective, how he integrates OmniFocus with other apps, and hamburgers.

Our special co-host this week is Aaron Cherof, Support Human, who wrote the theme music for The Omni Show, and who we welcome back to the airwaves.

You can find Scotty on Twitter @heyscottyj and on the web at heyscottyj.com.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Scotty’s project structure for 2020
• Daily Agenda Journal Shortcut
• OmniFocus actions to email for meeting prep
• John Wick dog meme
• Hipster PDA
• Ryan Dotson
• Tim Hortons
• Eric Bowers
• Forecast tag
• Rose Orchard
• Taylor Swift
• Matthew Lee
• Marquess of Queensberry Rules

Alex Lindsay’s company Pixel Corps does livestreaming for companies, organizations, and governments — and they use OmniGraffle to design and document their (necessarily) complex setups and to communicate with clients. Alex tells us how.

If you listen to podcasts, you probably know Alex Lindsay from MacBreak Weekly. You may not have known that Alex worked for Industrial Light and Magic back in the day — and, yes, he worked on a Star Wars movie. :)

This episode is kind of a party. Brent is joined by two co-hosts: Ken Case, CEO of the Omni Group, and Mark Boszko, the intrepid producer of this very podcast.

You can find Alex on Twitter @alexlindsay.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• OmniGraffle
• Eric Bowers
• Alex’s wiring diagram
• Dungeons and Dragons
• Lucasfilm Ltd.
• Skywalker Ranch
• John Knoll
• Animatics
• Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI)
• Comic Sans
• Papyrus
• National Geographic
• AutoCAD
• Blackmagic Switcher
• The Orphanage
• Leo Laporte
• TWiT
• Xserve

On January 29 we published the Omni Roadmap 2020, where we look back at 2019 and look forward to all the good things planned for this year. Ken Case, CEO of the Omni Group — and author of the roadmap — joins the show to go into further detail.

We got a lot done in 2019! We introduced OmniFocus for the Web, improved performance in OmniGraffle, added support for Omni Automation to OmniPlan, and adopted the big new features that Apple announced at least year’s WWDC: Dark Mode, context menus, multiple windows on iPad, and more.

Our plans for 2020 are ambitious, too: we’ll have Omni Automation support in all our apps, including OmniFocus. We’ll add a new, simpler sign-in licensing option. We’ll publish OmniPlan 4, with great new features such as interval tracking, so you can track your costs over time.

We’re also going to continue to review our user interfaces to make navigation easier. The roadmap says “We want easy navigation, so everything in the app feels like it’s right at your fingertips — whether your fingertips are using the mouse, touch screen, or a hardware keyboard.” So, yes, that includes better keyboard support on iPads. :)

And, like every year, we expect that Apple will announce new features at WWDC, and we will have surprise work to do. Which we don’t mind — it’s part of the fun of making apps! (We love those new features as much as you do.)

You can find Ken on Twitter @kcase and on our Slack group. You can also find @omnigroup on Twitter and on Micro.blog.

Previous roadmap blog posts:

2019 2018 2017 2016 2015

Jason Atwood is COO and one of the founders of Arkus, Inc., a Salesforce consulting partner. He’s a long-time OmniFocus user — and everybody at his company uses OmniFocus. Jason’s view is that standardizing on a premium productivity platform is as important as standardizing on an email system.

Jason says, “This is the best-of-breed productivity tool. Because I want people at Arkus to be able to satisfy our clients, to be on top of it, to be extremely good at what they do, I want to give them the best tool.”

The Arkus Boot Camp for new employees includes OmniFocus training — but it doesn’t stop there: education continues, with new tips, ideas, and even podcast episodes about using OmniFocus.

This is a key part of the system that leads to his clients asking, “How is it you guys are so good?”

You can find Jason on Twitter @jasonmatwood and at arkusinc.com.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• OmniFocus
• Salesforce
• Kinkless GTD
• John Gruber
• Palm Pilot
• GTD
• Merlin Mann
• Slack
• Arkus podcast: CloudFocus Weekly
• Kenya

Eric Bowers — mortgage loan officer by day, novelist by night — talks about using OmniFocus to help people buy homes and to keep up with writing his novel. As a recent Florida transplant, he also uses OmniFocus to keep up with pool maintenance — a perfect case for recurring tasks.

OmniFocus is Eric’s centralized brain. He uses it everywhere, and he’s customized it a bit — he has his own Next perspective, for instance. But he’s also mindful of his favorite advice: keep it as simple as possible so that you can get your work done.

Eventually we start talking about music, because of course we do. Eric plays bass and sings, and he loves grunge. :)

You can find Eric on his website: bowersvoice.com.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Florida
• WWDC
• Learn OmniFocus
• Tim Stringer
• OmniGraffle
• OmniOutliner
• MindNode
• OmniPlan
• Philadelphia
• Saloon Dogs
• Tampa, Florida
• Discovery Park
• Rose Orchard
• Josh Hughes
• Alice in Chains
• The Police
• Cream
• Screaming Trees
• Nearly Lost You
• Dirt
• Would?
• Singles
• University District

John Gruber, professional blogger and podcaster, has been using OmniOutliner for just about as long as it’s existed. His main use is for planning projects — for instance, he recently moved servers, which is something he’s rarely done, and he used OmniOutliner to keep track of the many details and things to check.

He also uses OmniOutliner to collect certain kinds of information. An example is his long-running “Hacks” outline, where he collects and organizes bits of scripts and command-line incantations.

You can find John at his website Daring Fireball, his podcast The Talk Show, and on Twitter @gruber.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Definition of raconteur
• Goodnight, Gracie
• Field Notes
• Perl
• AppleScript
• Joyent
• Movable Type
• MySQL
• PHP
• OPML
• GTD®
• OmniFocus
• Kinkless GTD
• BBEdit
• GitHub
• Flickr
• NeXTSTEP
• UserLand Software
• Frontier
• WebSTAR
• FileMaker
• HyperCard
• Smalltalk
• MORE
• Commodore 64
• Apple ][e
• Atari 2600
• Houston, Texas
• Apple //gs
• Lemonade Stand
• Drexel University
• Symantec
• Think C
• Silo
• StyleWriter
• Rose Orchard
• Omni Automation
• Alex Nonnemacher
• Michelle Knee
• Hair Force One
• Guy English
• Jim Correia
• NetNewsWire

Jim Correia — OmniFocus engineer, man-about-town — joins the show to talk about some of the things he and the team have been working on since WWDC: Dark Mode, multiple windows, and Shortcuts.

We also talk about his humble beginnings with his trusty TI-99/4A by his side, his search for exotic mesons, and his work at Bare Bones on BBEdit and Yojimbo.

Jim’s also a runner and dog-partner to Rosie (who’s widely recognized as the best dog). You can find Jim on Twitter @jimcorreia.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Evan McNulty
• OmniFocus
• BBEdit
• Automator
• Tim Wood
• Yojimbo
• Mailsmith
• Rich Siegel
• Akira Kurosawa
• Steve Kalkwarf
• Nova
• Texas Instruments TI-99/4A
• Brookhaven National Laboratory
• Exotic mesons
• Superconducting Super Collider
• Luke Adamson
• National Science Foundation
• HyperCard
• Sears, Roebuck, and Company
• UserLand Software
• Team in Training
• Curt Clifton
• Rosie the Good, Busy Dog

April Ramm is Email Support Lead and the longest-running Support Human — now with nine years at Omni! We talk about how she triages and categorizes support email, making sure that people who need urgent help go to the top of the list.

We also talk about doing phone support, about working remotely several days a week — and about her art: she makes beautiful wire-wrapped jewelry with semi-precious stones.

Here are a couple of photos:

You can see more on her Etsy store Niamh Gone Wired. You can also find her on Twitter @aprilramm and on Instagram.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• OmniPlan
• Brian Covey
• Ken Case
• MacTech Conference
• QS/1 pharmacy software
• Mississippi River
• Lexmark
• Minot, North Dakota
• Minneapolis
• YMCA
• Village People Song
• Sounders S2
• Copper
• Nickel
• Labradorite
• Niamh Gone Wired
• Kent Third Thursday Art Walk
• Urban Unglued
• Tacoma
• Maker’s Mercantile
• Lapidary

Christopher Harrington, Director of Creative Strategy at Gartner, joins the show to talk about how he’s used OmniGraffle since the early days of the app. That OmniGraffle is an open-ended, general-purpose tool has been a big part of its appeal to Christopher: he can do the many different things he needs to do with it.

We also talk about user experience, otters, and Prince. Christopher is a joyful member of the Purple Family.

Content warning: In the course of talking about user experience, Christopher discusses the user experience of his partner Bill as he undergoes treatment for cancer. The user experience is presented as exemplary, as the kind of thing designers can set up when they care about users. Nevertheless, we realize this may be a topic that some people would rather not hear about. If that’s you, please skip this episode, or stop listening when we switch to that topic.

You can find Christopher on Twitter @octothorpe. You can also follow his bot The Shaboogie Bot on Twitter and listen to past episodes of his podcast with Maggie McFee: Ruining it for Everyone.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Gartner
• OmniGraffle
• Dave Chappelle
• Prince
• OmniOutliner
• OmniFocus
• GTD
• Manhattan
• Greenwich, CT
• Stamford, CT
• Tweetbot
• Sketch
• OmniWeb
• NeXT
• Deutsche Bank
• Verizon
• NYNEX
• Disney theme parks
• Nielsen Norman Group
• BBEdit
• Inverse-square law
• Enya
• Olof Hellman
• Japanese River Otters
• Seattle Aquarium
• Maggie McFee

Aaron Kwong — jet-setter, Vegas enthusiast, Corgi catcher — joins the show to talk about testing OmniPlan and about the differences between verifying bug fixes and doing exploratory testing.

Aaron started in support and was the OmniPlan PM before moving over to testing OmniPlan. He’s lived in Connecticut and Alaska, and he went to school at the now-defunct (totally not his fault!) Art Institute of Seattle.

Aaron also stars in the show’s host’s favorite Omni video: Monte Carlo Simulation.

You can find Aaron on Twitter @kwongkwong.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• OmniPlan
• Little Snitch
• Ainsley Bourque Olson
• Monte Carlo Video
• Liz Marley
• Art Institute of Seattle
• Apple Store at Alderwood Mall
• Avid
• Final Cut Pro
• Media 100
• MiniDV
• Mac LC III
• Mac Performa 6400
• Starcraft
• Maelstrom
• Power Computing Macs
• Tim Ekl
• Monaco
• Juneau, Alaska
• Connecticut
• Hong Kong
• Vietnam
• U2 iPod
• Johnny Cash
• Buddy Cash the cover band
• Corgi

Indie developer Daniel Jalkut writes some apps you might use: MarsEdit, FastScripts, Black Ink, and others. He also does contract work — and he and his wife have a couple kids. He’s a busy man! Naturally he uses OmniFocus to keep on track.

Daniel talks about how he uses OmniFocus, including his possibly unique way of working with Siri. We also talk about how Daniel worked at Apple in the ’90s before returning to school to study music.

You can find Daniel pretty much all over the web: at his blog Bitsplitting, at his company Red Sweater, on Twitter @danielpunkass and on Micro.blog.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• MarsEdit
• Core Intuition
• Manton Reece
• Black Ink
• FastScripts
• Rhapsody
• AppleScript
• MacOS 9
• Gus Mueller
• OmniFocus
• Daniel’s Reminders-to-OmniFocus Script - Reminder Plumbing
• Living in the Forecast view
• Omni Automation
• Sal Soghoian
• Shortcuts
• What Apple events can do
• Cabrillo Community College
• Gil Amelio
• Steve Jobs
• City College of San Francisco
• San Francisco State

Reid Callan — Scout’s and Keiko’s human, basketball player, yeller-at-friends — joins the show to talk about OmniFocus, particularly the work this summer which is all about supporting new features in iOS 13.

Reid started at Omni in 2015 as an intern, then left to finish his last year of school, and then returned to Omni as an employee — where he landed on the OmniGraffle team, before recently moving over to OmniFocus. When Reid’s not working on OmniFocus, he’s playing basketball. Or Destiny.

You can find Reid — well, not Reid, but his dog Scout, a good and helpful boi — on Instagram at scout_tails.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• iOS 13
• WWDC 2019
• Jim Correia
• OmniFocus
• Siri Shortcuts
• Tim Ekl
• Git
• Subversion
• OmniGraffle
• Harvey Mudd College
• Kristina Sontag
• Liz Marley
• Curt Clifton
• Pomona College
• Claremont Consortium
• Robert Ludlum
• Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
• Basketball
• Harlem Globetrotters
• Scout
• Keiko
• Portland
• Destiny
• Asteroids

Anne Johnson talks about doing support, including phone support and social media, at The Omni Group. Anne is particularly adept at OmniPlan, but, like all our humans, she helps support all our apps.

We discuss the challenges of arriving at common names for things when talking to customers — and of using words to describe a visual user interface. And along the way we talk about the Potatotron, The Big Lebotski, and OmniWarble.

Anne, when she’s not at work, is a singer with the Puget Soundworks chorus, and she was formerly with Seattle Women’s Chorus. Does that mean we end the show with a song? We do!

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• OmniFocus
• OmniPlan
• Aaron Kwong
• Interbay
• Capitol Hill, Seattle
• St. Louis
• Fayetteville, NC
• Fort Bragg
• South Lake Union
• Ballard
• Seattle Women’s Chorus
• Puget Soundworks Chorus
• Eric Lane Barnes
• Joey by Concrete Blonde

OmniGraffle 7.11 for Mac is a very important update — it includes significant performance improvements. There’s no silver bullet for making an app faster: there is only figuring out which things are slow, figuring out how to speed those things up, figuring out how to measure progress — and then making sure no new bugs were added. It’s a lot of work!

In this special episode we have two separate interviews. The first is with OmniGraffle engineers Rey Worthington and Shannon Hughes. The second is with Ken Case, CEO; Tim Wood, CTO; and Dan Walker, OmniGraffle PM. These interviews were recorded while the work was in progress but pretty far along.

We talk about how we found the slowdowns, how we fixed them, and how we wrote tests to make sure we know we’re making OmniGraffle faster.

Jim Rowland — whose career has included driving frigates, placing things in Earth orbit, and graduating from both the Naval Academy and law school — is, to the best of everyone’s knowledge, not related to Kevin Rowland of Dexys Midnight Runners, and he won’t suggest, but should, that it’s time we stopped asking him.

Jim talks about testing OmniPlan and OmniFocus — and then we talk about his time catching satellites and, later, attending law school, taking the bar exam, and finding a home at Omni.

You can find Jim on Twitter @usna92.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Come On Eileen
• OmniFocus
• OmniGraffle
• OmniOutliner
• OmniDiskSweeper
• OmniWeb
• OmniPlan
• Greg Titus
• Tom Bunch
• OmniFocus for the Web
• Naval Academy
• Medal of Honor
• Wyoming
• Dick Cheney
• Malcolm Wallop
• Alan Simpson
• Top Gun
• Empire State Building
• Faraday Cage
• G.I. Bill
• Denver, CO
• Dungeons and Dragons
• Tacoma, WA
• Foghorn Leghorn
• Barney Fife
• Cleocatra
• Fergus (formerly Declan)
• Tiki drinkers
• Eve Online

Ken Case, CEO; Tim Wood, CTO; and Tim Ekl, OmniFocus Engineer join the show to talk about what we learned at WWDC. What’s cool? What’s amazingly cool? What’s useful? And — the annual question — just how much work do we have to do this summer?

Among the amazingly cool things are SwiftUI and other improvements to Swift and to Foundation. Work this summer will include things like supporting Dark Mode on iOS 13. And there’s plenty more to talk about — listen in for all the details.

You can find Ken Case on Twitter @kcase. You can find Tim Wood (Tim the elder) on Twitter @tjw. And you can find Tim Ekl @timothyekl on Twitter or at timekl.com.

Lanette Creamer — tester, speaker, cat enjoyer — joins the show to talk about testing OmniGraffle. Her previous experience includes testing Adobe InDesign, where she first met Liz Marley, then a tester at The Omni Group, when Liz presented an elaborate prototype iPad made from a cardboard box.

Lanette gives talks and workshops at various conferences, and you may well have seen her speaking already. If not, you still have a couple chances later this year. One of her upcoming talks uses the metaphor of applying makeup: how much time do you have, and what can you do given that amount of time? What should you prioritize?

You can find Lanette on the web on her Linkedin profile. You can also find her cat Navani on the web. And here too.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• OmniGraffle
• OmniFocus
• Bellevue, Washington
• Sumner High
• Bellingham
• Pagemaker
• Adobe InDesign
• Chris Parrish
• Liz Marley
• Kristina Sontag
• Renton, Washington
• Game of Thrones
• MTV
• Billy Idol
• Billy Joel
• Agile Conference
• Tesla Model S
• The Final Countdown
• Bon Jovi
• New Seattle Tunnel
• Navani, the kitten
• Navani, the character from The Stormlight Archive

Tim Ekl — who is unburdened by a lengthy signature — is part of the team that makes OmniFocus. He’s been at Omni for seven years, and came here straight from college — where his professor was Curt Clifton, formerly of Omni and now at Apple.

Tim helps organize Seattle Xcoders, and his hobbies include running servers and cheering for the Seattle Sounders. He is apparently on a quest to have a taste of every single beer in the world. We hope that this will keep him busy.

You can find Tim on the web: @timothyekl on Twitter and on his website timekl.com.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Jim Correia
• Evan McNulty
• OmniFocus
• WebDAV
• SQLite
• XML
• WWDC
• Tim Stringer
• Terre Haute, Indiana
• Linked list
• Omni open source
• Tim Wood
• Ken Case
• OmniBase
• Chicago
• Gus Mueller
• Mukilteo
• Shoreline
• Mac LC III
• Hal Mueller
• Liz Marley
• Shannon Hughes
• UIKonf
• David Hoang
• GitLab
• Docker
• Untappd
• Dirty Couch Brewing

Tom Bunch has been working on OmniPlan for 13 years, and he’s been at Omni for 24 years — and in this episode he reminisces (dryly, because that’s Tom for ya) about the old days as employee #9.

We also talk some tech stuff — like what happens to your brain after you’ve switched to automatic reference counting? — and then we get into counting virtual salmon, rock climbing, and woodworking.

You can find Tom on the web @tbunch on Twitter.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Greg Titus
• Rey Worthington
• Omni Roadmap 2019
• Ken Case
• Tim Wood
• Automatic Reference Counting (ARC)
• Abraham Lincoln
• Molly Reed
• Capitol Hill
• University Village
• Interbay
• South Lake Union
• NeXTstation
• NeXTcube
• NeXT OS
• Wil Shipley
• WebObjects
• Objective-C
• Java
• Cocoa Java
• Düsseldorf
• Mark-and-sweep
• University of Washington
• Center for Quantitative Sciences
• Columbia River
• Normandy Park
• Burien
• Kennedy Catholic High School
• Gantt Chart
• Rock climbing
• Squamish
• Woodworking
• Yosemite
• Scuba diving
• Cook Islands
• Fiji

Evan McNulty, a tester on the OmniFocus team, answers some listener questions, talks about testing OmniFocus for the Web (including API testing), and recounts his history from the Bay Area to here.

He also talks about losing weight — now 235 pounds lost — and how that’s helped him. Hint: it’s not all about losing weight, and it never was. And finally we talk about his Safari Extension that helps people use smile.amazon.com.

You can find Evan on the web @theevanshow on Twitter and at evanm.net.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Rose Orchard
• Josh Hughes
• OmniGraffle
• Pacman
• Ryan Dotson
• Jim Correia
• OmniFocus
• Omni Sync Server
• OmniFocus for the Web
• VMWare
• Ubuntu
• Paw
• Stenciltown
• Macintosh SE/30
• PowerMac 6100
• Stanford
• OmniOutliner
• Comic Life
• Seattle Pacific University
• Ballard Technology
• Black Pixel
• Ubermind
• PGP Corporation
• Macworld Expo
• Fairmont Hotel
• Taco Bell
• Taco Time
• Tacos Chukis
• Loseit!
• Rumba
• Hotel Albatross
• Devil’s Reef
• Tiki episode
• SmileAllDay Safari Extension
• Acorn

Anette Fuller joins the show to talk about storytelling, writing, and helping people — her passions. Her dog Conan does not join the show, but we’ve met him, and he’s awesome.

Annette’s previous experience includes police dispatcher, suicide hotline volunteer, jewelry captain at a World Market, and a Masters of Fine Arts degree.

She moved to Seattle from California — and she loves the rain! Take that, rain-nay-sayers.

You can find Annette @rainyday_writer on Twitter.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Rainbow Dash
• Ravenclaw
• My Little Pony
• Harry Potter
• Slytherin
• Gryffindor
• Hufflepuff
• World Market
• iFixIt
• SupportDriven
• Masters of Fine Arts Degree
• His Dark Materials
• Island of Misfit Toys
• Philip Pullman
• Jacqueline Carey
• Garth Nix
• Celtic Wicca
• Norse gods
• Neal Gaiman
• American Gods
• Good Omens
• Borders Books
• Jamba Juice
• Where to Park Your Broomstick
• Marvel Universe
• Scarlet Witch
• Thor
• Chris Hemsworth
• DC Universe
• Wonder Woman
• Captain Marvel
• Iron Man
• Iron Man 2
• Robert Downey, Jr.
• Johnny Depp
• Joss Whedon
• The Cabin in the Woods
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Conan (the best dog)
• Bernese Mountain Dog

In the studio are Ken Case, CEO of The Omni Group; Ainsley Bourque Olson, OmniPlan Prime Minster; and Greg Titus, OmniPlan Engineer — and we talk about how OmniPlan came to be and where it’s going.

The Story of OmniPlan

In the studio are Ken Case, CEO of The Omni Group; Ainsley Bourque Olson, OmniPlan Prime Minster; and Greg Titus, OmniPlan Engineer — and we talk about how OmniPlan came to be and where it’s going.

OmniPlan, originally a side project by Greg, found its way into Omni’s circle of productivity apps — before OmniFocus, but after OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle.

If you’re interested in helping test OmniPlan — or any Omni app — go to omnigroup.com/test to get started. We appreciate it!

And if you’re interested in collaboration between OmniPlan and OmniFocus, please email [email protected] and we’ll add you to our list and get back to you when we’re ready for help.

But first, check out this fun video for OmniPlan’s Monte Carlo Simulation. (We link to this because it’s the host-of-the-show’s favorite.) The video is by our intrepid producer Mark Boszko, and it stars the amazing Aaron Kwong.

You can find Ken on Twitter @kcase, Ainsley @ainslaw on Twitter, and Greg @gregtitus on Twitter. We have also done a previous interview show with Ainsley and one with Greg.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Resource leveling
• OmniWeb
• OmniOutliner
• OmniGraffle
• OmniDiskSweeper
• OmniDazzle
• Lotus Improv
• NeXT
• Quantrix
• Lighthouse Design
• Sun
• OmniFocus
• Kinkless GTD
• Apple events
• Objective-C garbage collection
• Automatic Reference Counting (ARC)
• Microsoft Project
• WebDAV
• Dropbox
• iCloud
• MobileMe
• iDisk
• Tenon
• Boeing
• Gantt charts
• “iPad or Bust!”
• Omni Roadmap 2019

Greg Titus has been at Omni for 25 years — for almost the entire time that there’s been an Omni. Greg’s superpower is creating new things. Sure, everybody likes to think they’re good at creating new things, but Greg’s different: he’s actually good at creating new things.

Greg talks about the early days as one of the first people hired. He talks about the days when the money came from contracts, when the apps started out side projects.

Those side projects included OmniPlan, which he started working on because a resource scheduling algorithm sounded like a fun thing to write. Which tells you the important thing to know about Greg.

That, and this little bit of trivia: the city of Kent, Washington, just outside Seattle, originally known as Titusville, was named for one of Greg’s ancestors. In a boomtown where it seems like everybody came from somewhere else, Greg is one of the rare ones — Northwest by birth.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Snowzilla
• Craig Hockenberry
• Jason Snell
• 2008 podcast with Greg, Craig, Jason, and Brent
• Ten year challenge showing OmniFocus
• Eugene, Oregon
• OmniPlan
• OmniFocus for the Web
• Tim Wood
• Boeing
• NeXT
• Microsoft Cairo
• Taligent
• WebObjects
• William Morris Talent Agency
• McCaw Cellular
• Dot-com crash
• WebScript: Objective-C without the C
• OmniWeb
• OmniOutliner
• OmniGraffle
• OmniFocus

Brent hosts The Omni Show and writes blog posts, articles, App Store descriptions, newsletters, and other things for The Omni Group. That is, he normally hosts The Omni Show, but this week we have a guest host, Rose Orchard, who graciously agreed to interview Brent.

It’s tempting to say that if words and sentences are involved, then Brent probably works on it. But that seriously underestimates the sheer amount of writing that a software company produces.

Brent doesn’t write the manuals: Dave Lonning does. He doesn’t answer all the support email or write support articles: people on Brian Covey’s support team write those. He doesn’t write all the blog posts: Ken Case and others write blog posts too. He doesn’t write all of Inside OmniFocus either: a whole bunch of different authors write for that site. He doesn’t write release notes: the various Prime Ministers write release notes for their respective apps.

Even though he doesn’t do all these things, he does, somehow, manage to look busy. Well, somewhat busy. Busy-ish. :)

You can find Brent on the web at his long-time blog at inessential.com. And you can find him on the Omni Blog and the Omni Microblog.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Garfield
• BBEdit
• Grayson West
• Derek Reiff
• OmniFocus
• @omnigroup on Twitter
• Omni’s Facebook page
• Ken Case’s tweets
• Inside OmniFocus
• Markdown
• MultiMarkdown
• OmniOutliner
• MarsEdit
• Omni’s microblog
• Omni’s Slack
• Versions
• Git
• Google Chrome
• NetNewsWire
• Olof Hellman
• Daniel Jalkut
• Maurice Parker
• Rainier
• UserLand Frontier
• Dave Winer
• Bernard’s Watch
• Plectrum banjo
• James Dempsey and the Breakpoints
• Swift by Northwest
• Mississippi hill country blues
• Bottleneck guitar

In late January we published our annual roadmap where we look back at the previous year and look forward to the new. Ken Case, roadmap author and CEO of The Omni Group, joins the show to go into more detail and answer listener questions.

Last year was a big year and a busy one, with OmniOutliner 3 for iOS, OmniFocus 3 for Mac and iOS, development of OmniFocus for the Web, and lots of important releases for OmniPlan and OmniGraffle.

We have a lot planned for 2019, too: we’ve already shipped a few important updates. OmniFocus for the Web is coming soon, and we have some important new features en route: automation for OmniFocus and OmniPlan, shared linked tasks for OmniFocus, and more.

This new year will also give us a chance to take some time to review user interface navigation and keyboard control. We’ll take time to fix bugs, including those rare crashing bugs, and increase performance.

And we’ll also, surely, have new technology from Apple to work with over the summer, like every year — which is part of the fun of what we do. :)

You can find Ken on Twitter @kcase and on our Slack group. You can also find @omnigroup on Twitter and on Micro.blog.

Previous roadmaps:

2018 2017 2016 2015

This is our second roadmap special — you can go back and listen to last year’s and see how far we’ve come!

Rose Orchard hosts the Automators podcast along with David Sparks. With Ryan Dotson she’s written a new book about OmniFocus 3 called Build Your OmniFocus Workflow.

Rose, our first interview guest who doesn’t work for Omni, is a big part of the community, and she’s helped many OmniFocus users get more out of the app. You’ll find her on the Omni forum and in our Slack group — she really likes helping people, and she’s great at it.

You can also find Rose on her website, on Twitter @rosemaryorchard, and on Micro.blog.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• PodCon
• David Sparks
• Vienna, Austria
• Mac Power Users
• Focused
• Jean MacDonald
• James Dempsey
• The Weekly Review
• Ryan Dotson
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• Yugoslavia
• Douglas Adams
• False friends
• Disneyland Paris
• Merlin Mann
• 43 Folders
• OmniFocus
• Getting Things Done®
• OmniPlan
• OmniGraffle
• Microsoft Visio
• Dr. Drang
• Keyboard Maestro
• Sal Soghoian
• UserLand Frontier
• OmniOutliner

Derek Reiff, Front-end Web Developer — and ultra-marathoner! — joins the show to talk about building The Omni Group’s various websites: omnigroup.com, product pages, Inside OmniFocus, and so on.

He also talks about JQuery, his favorite text editor, the beauty of Seattle, his dream of the many German Shepherds, and his current love: making pizza.

You can find Derek on Twitter @dareiff.

PS Happy New Year from The Omni Show!

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Michelle Knee
• Safari responsive design mode
• Emacs
• TextMate
• Atom
• Sublime Text
• React
• BBEdit
• Inside OmniFocus
• Inside OmniGraffle
• support.omnigroup.com
• Stenciltown
• Sass
• JQuery
• Vue
• Expression Engine
• Django
• WordPress
• OmniFocus for the Web
• Indiana
• Columbus, Ohio
• Ballard
• Fremont
• Vashon Island
• German Shepherds
• Ultramarathon
• Boston Marathon
• Breaking the four-minute mile video
• Gus Mueller’s Pizza Blog
• Ballard Farmer’s Market
• Fremont Sunday Market

For our holiday episode we’re joined by Tim Wood, founder and CTO of The Omni Group. Tim talks about serving as a resource, educator, and toolmaker for our dozen-ish engineers.

Tim also talks about Omni’s frameworks, saving the Mac world from Y2K, soccer fandom, and pottery.

You can find Tim on Twitter @tjw.

Note: we’re taking a little break after this episode. The next one is scheduled for January 9.

Happy holidays!

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• OmniOutliner
• OmniPlan
• OmniGraffle
• OmniFocus
• Ken Case
• Tim Ekl
• Jim Correia
• WebDAV
• Apache
• NSCountedSet
• Subversion
• CVS
• Y2K
• NeXTSTEP
• Git
• Jenkins
• ARC
• Daniel Jalkut
• Swift-Evolution
• The Record episode with Tim Wood
• Go
• Kotlin
• Rust
• Rose Orchard
• Chris Parrish
• Seattle Sounders
• Emerald City Supporters
• Craig Hockenberry
• Seward Park Clay Studio
• Lake Washington
• Gus Mueller

Molly Reed, COO — who is, in an alternate universe, your favorite coloratura soprano — joins the show to talk about starting at The Omni Group in her early 20s and helping it thrive in the years since.

She also talks about socks and sandals (don’t do it), solving problems, opera training, being a woman in tech — and about the beguiling Cleopatra the cat. Molly provides this video of Cleo totally trolling Mara the dog.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Brian Covey
• University District
• Manny’s
• Impostor Syndrome
• Meritocracy
• Classical voice
• Valkyrie
• Wagner
• Mozart
• Verdi
• Puccini
• The Marriage of Figaro
• University of Puget Sound
• Mary Curtis Verna
• University of Washington
• The Metropolitan Opera
• La Scala
• Capitol Hill
• Ship Canal
• Aida
• Bengal cat
• Anaerobic

This episode was recorded at the Swift by Northwest conference in Portland, on October 19, 2018. It’s a panel discussion with people from outside Omni, and we’re stretching a bit from our usual content — but we think you’ll enjoy it anyway!

Before the panel, your host Brent Simmons emailed the panelists to ask them about things that provoked strong feelings — positive or negative or both — to use as topics. These did not have to be strictly technical topics, and they weren’t.

The panelists:

Kaya Thomas is a writer, iOS developer at Slack, and the creator of We Read Too app, a directory of children’s books written by authors of color and featuring characters of color.

Daniel Jalkut is a blogger, podcaster, and the developer of MarsEdit, a blogging app.

Jaimee Newberry is a writer, speaker, and the CEO of Picture This Clothing, which makes dresses based on hand-drawn and -colored designs — in other words, kids can wear their imaginations.

Note: be prepared — the audio is a bit weird in some spots, since it comes from a live recording and Brent is walking around the room. We apologize for that.

Also: thanks so much to the conference organizers — the Klein family — for inviting us!

For this special episode we’re joined by Ken Case, CEO; Grayson West, Design Manager; Chris Pruitt, Web Developer; and Mike Davies, Devops Engineer and Guru. We talk about the nine-year-long history of OmniFocus for the Web and how we’re building it.

Issues include front-end design, encryption and security, running Objective-C and Swift code on our servers, and writing portions in Python and in React.

This show will answer the question, “Is The Omni Group running user-interface-less versions of OmniFocus on some Mac servers?”

You can sign up to help test OmniFocus for the Web, if you haven’t already. And you can read more about it in our 2018 roadmap.

Rey Worthington — software developer, rock climber, cat enjoyer — talks about bringing Mojave Dark Mode support to OmniGraffle and OmniPlan.

She also talks about how to make NSPredicateEditor look right on a sheet. And about growing up in the “Texas of California,” going to school at University of Pacific, and making her way to The Omni Group via meeting the folks at their Macworld Expo booth.

Then we talk about climbing, and about (most importantly, of course!) her cats, Spark and Blaze.

You can find Rey on Twitter @nothe.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Dark Mode
• Radar
• Visual Effect Views
• Zombies
• NSPredicateEditor
• Ken Case
• Mojave
• Layers
• Tracy, CA
• In-N-Out Burgers
• Stockton, CA
• University of the Pacific
• Abraham Lincoln
• Macworld Expo
• Civilization
• University Village
• World of Warcraft

Michelle Knee — tester, game player, wrangler of ragdoll cats — talks about testing all of Omni’s many websites, including OmniFocus for the Web.

Michelle also talks about the special challenges in testing websites: defeating browser caching, the problem children (iPhone SE and iPhone 8 Plus), responsive design mode bugs, and testing on multiple operating systems.

Then we talk about games. And Hawaii. And mystery knit-alongs. And — most critically — her cats Calvin and Hobbes.

You can find Michelle on Twitter @mec2973 and on Micro.blog.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Gen Con
• Scrabble
• Purdue University
• Steven Covey
• objc.io: Inside Omni
• Maui
• Kentucky
• Space Needle
• Ragdoll cat
• Calvin and Hobbes comic
• Statler and Waldorf
• Waldorf Salad
• Waldorf Hotel
• Watergate Salad

Ken Case, CEO of The Omni Group, Dave Messent, OmniFocus Product Manager, and Joel Page, User Experience Designer, join the show for a special episode to celebrate the launch of OmniFocus 3 for Mac and to talk about its new design.

The early OmniFocus 3 for Mac designs are kind of like a concept car — futuristic, interesting, beautiful, but not necessarily something you could actually drive.

We talk about going from those early designs to the app that actually ships, and we talk about the various parts of the app, how they changed and why.

You can find Ken Case at The Omni Group and @kcase on Twitter. You can find Dave Messent @dmessent on Twitter.

To hear more about new features in the app, listen to the previous episode OmniFocus 3 for Mac: New Features.

Grayson West — who just might be a superhero (you can tell by the name) — manages design, the website, and marketing at Omni from his headquarters on the fourth floor, high above Lake Union.

Grayson started as a graphic designer at Omni 15 years ago and moved into management four years ago. In his youth he was an international bicycle racer, and lately he’s become a CrossFit trainer and kiteboarder.

And — most importantly! — he’s a cat person.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Cherokee Nation
• Mad Men
• Apple Design Awards
• OmniFocus 3 for iOS
• Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)
• Northern Arizona University
• Color theory
• Flagstaff, Arizona
• Gannett
• Sphinx
• Vulcans
• Macworld Expo
• OmniGraphSketcher
• OmniOutliner
• OmniGraffle
• Macworld magazine
• Ken Case
• iPad or Bust!
• Kettlebells
• Tour de France
• Grenoble, France
• La Ventana
• Baja California Sur
• Lake Washington
• Puget Sound
• Norwegian Forest Cat
• Omni cat pictures
• Calvin the cat

Ken Case, CEO of The Omni Group, and Dave Messent, OmniFocus product manager, join the show for a special episode to talk about OmniFocus 3 for Mac and how it’s gaining new features that first appeared in OmniFocus 3 for iOS.

Some of these new features include tags, fancy repeating tasks, the Forecast tag, and enhanced custom perspectives.

We also talk about features that were not brought over to the Mac — since they were already there. But then some of those things were improved. :)

You can find Ken Case at The Omni Group and @kcase on Twitter. You can find Dave Messent @dmessent on Twitter.

For more about OmniFocus 3 for Mac, read the Omni Roadmap 2018 — particularly the second half, which concentrates on OmniFocus — and listen to a previous episode of the show where Ken Case talks about the roadmap.

Like any other workplace, Omni has a few subcultures — knitters, rock climbers, dog fanciers — but none of them involve quite as much rum, kitsch, and straight-up chillin’ as Tiki.

Mark Boszko, Aaron Cherof, and Evan McNulty — roughly half of Omni Team Tiki — talk about their zest for fruity drinks and for the whole surrounding show. We talk about the décor from a lost world that never existed anyway. We talk about the fancy and sometimes secret ingredients. And the vibe. And the volcanos.

You can find Mark’s Tiki bar on the web at Kilauea.co, and on Twitter and Instagram @KilaueaCove. You can find Evan on Twitter @theevanshow. You can find Aaron on Twitter @cherof, and you can find his music at cherof.com, cherof.bandcamp.com, Apple Music, Spotify, and Google Play.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Rumba
• Latchkey Kid
• About Tiki
• The Tropics in Beverly Hills, CA (a “bamboo bar”)
• Don the Beachcomber
• Trader Vic's
• Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room
• Dole Whip
• Disney's Polynesian Village Resort
• Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar
• Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto
• Smuggler's Cove
• Hale Pele
• Tiki Kon
• Volcano Bowl
• Jeff “Beachbum” Berry
• Devil's Reef
• North Shore Lagoon at McMenamins Arderson School
• Tacoma Cabana
• Navy Strength
• Rob Roy
• Karaage
• The Saturn
• Falernum
• Orgeat
• Shark Bite
• Mai-Kai
• Kilauea
• Black Magic
• Kahlúa
• Kōloa Kauaʻi Coffee
• Kona coffee
• Three Dots and a Dash
• Morse code
• World War II
• Martinique rums
• Demerara rum
• Pimento liqueur
• Dr. Funk
• Grenadine
• Pernod
• Absinthe
• Anise
• Mai Tai
• Il Fornaio
• Raspberry Pi
• Fez-o-rama
• Scorpion Bowl
• Kahiko Punch
• Cesar’s Rum Punch
• Hawaiian Punch
• Hammering Man
• Diller Room and Justin Wojslaw
• How to Make Flaming Drinks

Tami Snyder — Voice of Omni, helper of people in and out of the company, coffee expert — joins the show to talk about working as an Operations Assistant and the big, varied list of things this actually means.

Though it’s a few years old, Tami’s bio on our About Omni page is worth quoting:

Tami somehow entered the realms of Omni without ever having heard of Battlestar Galactica or playing World of Warcraft. She studied Psychology at Seattle Pacific University and worked with troubled adolescent boys. She later became a certified bra fitter at Nordstrom’s. She has a green Jeep Wrangler named Jewel and organizes “boutique-style” yard sales. She refuses to define what “boutique-style” means, so we assume cookies. Tami fiercely defends our gates, protecting us from scary folk like the delivery folks.

(Tip! To read a person’s bio on our About page, just click on their picture.)

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Omni Support
• The Record
• Tacoma, WA
• Seattle Pacific University
• Galaga
• Nordstrom’s
• Aaron Bendickson
• Three Musketeers
• Birth Doula
• Buzzed Bear Coffee Company
• White coffee

Terry Stearns — Vermontian, chef, musician — joins the show in the middle of the last afternoon of his last day, after 19 years of making us wonderful lunches and dinners.

We will miss him, and we wish him all the best in his next adventure. We’re so glad to get his voice on the record, and to bring a little bit of Terry to you.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• University District
• Wil Shipley
• OmniGraphSketcher
• Nisqually Earthquake
• Killington, Vermont
• Burke-Gilman Trail
• Liz Marley
• Paramount Theatre
• Flaming Lips
• Astoria, Oregon
• Columbia River
• Summit Lodge
• Grunge music
• Silver Stallion

Aaron Cherof — native Floridian, indoor cat, piano man — is one of the folks who answers your questions when you write — or call — in. We talk about how support works and about the support team’s important role in product decisions.

Aaron, a Berklee College of Music graduate, has also written music for a number of Omni videos — and he wrote the theme music for this show. Thanks to Aaron it’s not just awkward silence when the host calls for “Music!” at the beginning and end of every show. :)

He’s also branched out into sound design for apps: the recent OmniFocus 3 for iOS includes his sound effects.

You can find Aaron on Twitter @cherof, and you can find his music at cherof.com, cherof.bandcamp.com, Apple Music, Spotify, and Google Play. Check it out!

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Cher
• Do you believe in life after love?
• Auto-Tune
• T-Pain
• OmniFocus
• OmniGraffle
• Blackjack
• Omni’s support website and knowledge base
• Dave Lonning
• Dave Messent
• Liz Marley
• Sync
• Inside OmniFocus
• Stenciltown
• OmniPresence
• OmniPresence video with Aaron’s music and voice
• Mark Boszko
• OmniFocus 2 video
• Fort Lauderdale, FL
• Boston University
• Boston Globe
• Berklee College of Music
• Aaron Bendickson
• Ainsley Bourque Olson
• Tiki
• Tiki Drink
• Mai-Kai
• Ellis Island

This week, a full panel of guests joins us live at the NextDoor developer conference. We discuss the upcoming iOS and macOS features announced during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, and what it means for the future of apps.

On the panel are:

• Paul Kafasis, CEO of Rogue Amoeba
• Liz Marley, OmniGraffle Developer at The Omni Group
• Kristina Fox, iOS Developer at Intuit
• Ken Case, CEO of The Omni Group
• and an audience of dozens!

Special thanks to Solomon Klein of NextDoor for recording this episode on location.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• NextDoor Developer Conference
• Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC)
• WWDC 2018 Keynote
• WWDC 2018 Platforms State of the Union
• Rhapsody
• The Omni Group game ports
• Silicon Graphics and OpenGL
• Ken’s tweet about the new features
• Panic Transmit
• Bare Bones Software BBEdit
• UIKit
• Steven Troughton-Smith
• macOS Human Interface Guidelines (HIG)
• OmniGraffle
• NSBezierPath and UIBezierPath
• NSColor and UIColor
• OmniFocus
• Intuit TurboTax, Mint, and QuickBooks Self-Employed
• Developer ID and Gatekeeper
• Rosemary Orchard
• App Camp for Girls
• Carbon
• React Native
• Electron

Ken Case, CEO of The Omni Group; Dave Messent, OmniFocus product manager; and Tim Ekl, OmniFocus engineer, join the show for a special episode to talk about HEY IT’S LAUNCH DAY WOO-HOO!

We look back on the two years of work on this release — all the database and syncing groundwork, new user interface, and new features — and how all these different pieces didn’t come together until near the end. But then they did!

While the app looks familiar — which is entirely by design — this release is a much more dramatic improvement than it appears on the surface. And we’re very proud of the whole team.

And now our Support Humans, who’ve done so marvelously well during the beta program, get even busier as OmniFocus 3 is now available on the App Store. We’ve got WWDC next week, and our designers, engineers, and testers are back to working on OmniFocus for Mac, OmniFocus for the Web, and more new features for OmniFocus 3 for iOS.

It’s almost the company motto: “Work continues!”

You can find Ken @kcase on Twitter, Dave @dmessent, and Tim @timothyekl and on the web. You can also find @omnigroup on Twitter and on Micro.blog.

Ken Case, CEO of The Omni Group, and Dave Messent, OmniFocus product manager, join the show for a special episode to talk about the enhancements to custom perspectives, a feature in OmniFocus Pro 3.

Custom perspectives now work with tags (new in OmniFocus 3), which make for even more powerful ways to view your data.

The perspective editor has been enhanced to make perspectives easier to set up, by showing you just what you need to see at any given moment. And the editor now supports complex queries: you can combine and filter using all, any, and none.

And plus — bonus points — you can not only set a custom icon (any image) for each custom perspective, you can also set a tint color! Which is a small thing, sure, but is surprisingly nice. :)

You can find Ken @kcase and Dave @dmessent on Twitter. You can also find @omnigroup on Twitter and on Micro.blog.

Shannon Hughes — French toast enjoyer, math understander, frequent robot — joins the show to talk about working on OmniGraffle. Which, apparently, involves a whole bunch of different types of rectangles.

Shannon started at Omni a week before your host, and started out on the OmniGraffle team and has been there ever since. Your rectangles are in the best possible hands.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Andrea McVittie
• Robot
• OmniGraffle
• Adobe Illustrator
• Dave Messent
• Rectangle
• Undo
• Wil Shipley on Git as Document Format
• Omni and Customer Data
• Lotus 1-2-3
• Punch cards
• Dot matrix paper
• AltaVista
• Lycos
• Excite
• Yahoo
• Society for Creative Anachronism
• Mead
• Linguistics
• Barnes and Noble
• Impostor Syndrome
• NSCoders
• Table views
• Bog
• Butterflies
• Hummingbirds

Dave Messent, OmniFocus product manager; Tim Ekl, OmniFocus engineer; and Jim Correia, OmniFocus engineer join the show for a special episode to talk about OmniFocus 3 for iOS and several new features: flexible inspectors, enhanced repeating tasks, batch editing, and the interleaved Forecast view.

In OmniFocus 3 for iOS, inspectors are now customizable: you can make them work the way you want them to work.

We’ve given repeated tasks more real-world options — such as the last weekday of the month — and we’ve applied progressive disclosure to the interface so they’re easy to set up.

Batch editing — which makes making bulk changes easier — was brought over from the Mac to iOS.

And in the Forecast view we’ve interleaved tasks and calendar events, which makes it easy to plan and to see how your day fits together.

You can find Dave @dmessent on Twitter, Tim on Twitter @timothyekl and on the web, and Jim on Twitter @jimcorreia.

For more about OmniFocus 3, read the Omni Roadmap 2018 — particularly the second half, which concentrates on OmniFocus — and listen to a previous episode of the show where Ken Case talks about the roadmap, and listen to another previous special episode where we talk about OmniFocus 3 and tags.

Also see the OmniFocus 3 development blog, which is just starting up (at this writing) and will have more details as we post more.

Aaron Bendickson — system administrator, saint — talks about how he runs things at Omni and, especially, about how he fixes things.

Aaron’s just a small town boy from Missoula who went big: he studied at Berklee College of Music and eventually made his way to Seattle by way of Tacoma. When he’s not fixing Omni things, he’s bicycling, competing in pinball matches, and being a dad.

You can find Aaron @benaar on Twitter and on Instagram.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

• Office Space
• The spice must flow
• PowerMac
• Ainsley Bourque Olson
• OmniBugZapper
• Ken Case
• WebDAV
• Apache
• MySQL
• OmniFocus
• FreeBSD
• Linux
• Telepresence
• Jousting
• Craig’s List
• Tacoma
• Missoula, Montana
• Lake Missoula
• Berklee College of Music
• Boston
• Americana music
• Dad rock
• Pro Tools
• PCI cards
• VHS tape
• Internet
• GarageBand
• Commodore 64
• Turtle graphics
• Apple IIe
• DOS
• VisiCalc
• Lotus 1-2-3
• WordPerfect
• Tetris
• MechWarrior
• PowerMac 6100
• PowerPC
• Bee Gees
• Hanson
• University Place
• Doc Brown and Marty
• Biometrics
• CIA
• UNIX
• Pinball
• Shorty’s
• Seattle Center
• Tacoma Convention Center
• White Water pinball game
• Dennis Nordman
• Coindexter’s
• Contras
• Iran-Contra
• Admiral Poindexter
• Contra game