Ten years ago today, Learn OmniFocus opened its virtual doors.
Over the past ten years, people from over 90 countries have joined Learn OmniFocus, and our online community is stronger than ever. While our community spans a wide range of cultures and professions, we all have one thing in common: we all use OmniFocus.
A Brief History of Learn OmniFocus
A serendipitous path led to the founding of Learn OmniFocus in 2014.
I started leading workshops and offering productivity coaching and consulting in 2009 based on insights from a journey through cancer the previous year. That same year, David Allen interviewed me on the “In Conversation” series after I wrote a post for the GTD blog.
In 2012, a couple of people from the Omni Group travelled to Vancouver to film one of my first OmniFocus courses. While they were in town, they recorded the first-ever Customer Stories video. I also had the honour of speaking at the OmniFocus Setup event in San Francisco in 2013 alongside David Sparks, Kourosh Dini, Merlin Mann, Mike Vardy and others.
Before long, I started hearing from people worldwide who wanted help with their OmniFocus setups and workflows. I soon realized I couldn’t keep up with the demand and began to think about creating OmniFocus courses or a membership site.
In the autumn of 2013, I drove to Seattle to share my Learn OmniFocus vision with Omni. I received an enthusiastic response and proceeded with my plans to launch Learn OmniFocus. The rest, as they say, is history.
New Learn OmniFocus Website
Celebrating our tenth anniversary, the Learn OmniFocus website has a new, modern look. We completely rethought the design to make the site more visual and engaging. We’ll continue to build on this new design as we add new content and make it easier to find the content and services most relevant to you.
Kudos to our web developer, Alex Levan, and the team at Deer Designer for bringing their time, energy and talents to this major design update.
Leveraging the Power of OmniFocus 4
In December 2023, the Omni Group launched OmniFocus 4, a major update to OmniFocus built on Apple’s Swift UI technology. OmniFocus 4 was a big step forward in many respects, especially for the iPhone and iPad. In true Omni fashion, there’s already a native version of OmniFocus available for the Apple Vision Pro.
Omni continues to develop OmniFocus 4, adding new features that add convenience and efficiency. For example, OmniFocus 4.2 introduced new rules to custom perspectives (e.g. date ranges) and install links for OmniFocus plug-ins. We’ve updated our Custom Perspectives for OmniFocus and OmniFocus Plug-In Directory to help you make productive use of these innovations.
We continue to follow Omni’s progress closely and regularly share feedback on behalf of the Learn OmniFocus community. We look forward to continuing to help you make good use of current and future features.
New OmniFocus 4 Courses
We’ve launched over ten hours of new content since OmniFocus 4’s release, including four new courses: Start Smart with OmniFocus 4, OmniFocus 4: Beyond the Basics, Practical Focus with OmniFocus 4 and Getting Back on Track with OmniFocus 4.
A portion of each of our OmniFocus 4 courses is free. Join Learn OmniFocus to gain access to all of our content and services.
This is just the beginning. More courses are in the works featuring foundational productivity principles and complementary productivity apps. In the meantime, most of the principles we share in our OmniFocus 3 courses apply equally well to OmniFocus 4.
Introducing Workshops
Learn OmniFocus embraces a hybrid approach to learning. Our self-guided courses allow you to engage with our course material at your own pace. And our new workshops guide you through putting what you learn into practice.
The Getting Back on Track with OmniFocus 4 course provides practical ways to get OmniFocus (and your productivity system) back on the rails. The Get OmniFocus Back on Track workshop, which will be offered for the first time on Wednesday, June 26, guides you through revamping your OmniFocus setup and workflows.
Connecting with the Community
While personal task management may seem like a solitary pursuit, it’s greatly enhanced through the power of community. Connecting with fellow travellers facing similar challenges or who have overcome some of the same obstacles you’re currently facing is highly beneficial.
In addition to fostering community through workshops, we’re continuing to offer regular Office Hours and Virtual Coworking sessions to allow you to connect with the outstanding people in our international community.
Office Hours sessions are limited to ten participants and provide an excellent opportunity to connect with other OmniFocus users and ask questions about your OmniFocus-related setup and workflows. Virtual Coworking sessions are designed to help you enter into a highly focused state and, in the process, cultivate your ability to focus.
Workflow Guests
We continue our tradition of inviting OmniFocus aficionados to join us on Learn OmniFocus LIVE. Kourosh Dini joined us in April to share principles from his Waves of Focus approach (recording), and David Sparks (aka MacSparky) graced our virtual stage last week (recording coming soon).
We’re excited to welcome more guests soon. In the meantime, we have a rich and extensive library of workflow guest recordings.
Many Thanks
Thanks to everyone who has supported our efforts by joining Learn OmniFocus (we’re almost entirely funded by membership income) and to the many guests who have graced our virtual stage and generously shared their setup and workflows.
I’m also thankful to friends, family, and colleagues who have supported me behind the scenes, offering sage advice and encouragement. Building and sustaining a membership site isn’t always easy. Hearing stories of how Learn OmniFocus has positively transformed members’ lives makes it worthwhile.
Lastly, I’m grateful to the talented folks at The Omni Group and their commitment to providing top-quality productivity apps. As a former software engineer, I know that developing world-class apps takes time and patience. It’s also a very enriching experience.