The 2023 Omni Roadmap with Ken Case Jan 23, 2023

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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

How Zsolt Benke Uses OmniFocus Jan 09, 2023

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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

How Andy Bliss Uses OmniFocus Dec 26, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Mikell Taylor Uses OmniPlan Dec 12, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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

How Robby Burns Uses Omni Software Nov 28, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Randy J. Hunt Uses OmniFocus Nov 14, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Frank Denneman Uses OmniGraffle Oct 31, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Alec Johnson Uses OmniFocus Oct 17, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

100th Episode Celebration with Ken Case Oct 03, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Leah Ferguson Uses OmniFocus Sep 06, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Professor Inger Mewborn and Jason Downs Use OmniFocus Jul 25, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Omni Roadmap, July 2022 Jul 05, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

The Return of Dave Lonning, Documentation Wrangler Jun 06, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Sam Newman Uses OmniGraffle May 23, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.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:

How Kaitlin Salzke Uses OmniFocus May 09, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Stephen Dolan Uses OmniFocus Apr 04, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Professor Mark Hutchinson Uses OmniFocus Feb 28, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Dr. Amy J. Ko Uses OmniFocus Feb 14, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

The 2022 Omni Roadmap with Ken Case Jan 31, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Joe Buhlig Uses OmniFocus Jan 17, 2022

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Naomi Pearce Uses Omni Software Dec 27, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How GTD Focus President Meg Edwards Uses OmniFocus Nov 08, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

OmniFocus

GTD Focus

The Omni Show: Shortcuts, Automation, and macOS Monterey Oct 25, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

OmniFocus 4 Testflight

macOS Monterey

How Jaunt Motors CEO Dave Budge Uses OmniGraffle Oct 11, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Solidworks Electrical

JauntMotors - Website

JauntMotors - Youtube Channel

JauntMotors - Instagram

JauntMotors - LinkedIn Page

How Jimmy Little Uses OmniFocus Sep 27, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Getting Things Done Book

David Sparks Contextual Computing

JimmyLittle on twitter

JimmyLittle Instagram

cocktailsandcoffee.com

OmniFocus

Slack

How Parham Doustdar Uses OmniFocus Sep 13, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Booking.com

Getting Things Done Book

How Morten Røvik Uses OmniFocus Aug 30, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Morten's LinkedIn Page

Morten's Youtube Page

How Colter Reed Uses OmniFocus Aug 09, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Van Halen Brown M&M's.

Gabrielle Collard's OmniFocus Episode

Colterreed.com

Strides App

How Wilson Ng Uses OmniFocus Jul 27, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Omni Group's Slack Channel

Omni Group's Discourse Forum

The Checklist Manifesto

Zenhabits

Learn OmniFocus

MacSparky's OF Video Field Guide

Creating Flow with OmniFocus

OmniFocus Plugins

Effective Remote Work

How Tim Stringer Uses OmniFocus Jun 14, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Thomas Vander Wal Uses Omni Software Jun 01, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Privacy Special - Part 2 with Cindy Cohn and Ken Case May 03, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Privacy Special - Part 1 with Ken Case Apr 26, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Designing OmniPlan 4 with Andrew Abernathy & Ainsley Bourque Olson Apr 19, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Gabrielle Collard Uses OmniFocus Apr 05, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Jake Bernstein Uses Omni Software Mar 15, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Browserwrap

Clickwrap

DevonThink

Federal Trade Commission Act

Focal Law

iThoughts

Jake's Twitter Account

The Cyber Risk Management Podcast

VMWare

Roadmap 2021 Special with Ken Case Feb 15, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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

How Jason Atwood Uses OmniFocus - Part 2 Jan 11, 2021

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Arkus Blog - 8 tips after 800 weekly reviews

Arkus Blog - Weekly Review Tuneup for the new year

Arkus Cloud Focus Weekly Podcast

Change Your Game with GTD® Podcast by Next Action Associates

GTD For Teens

GTDNordic Podcast

It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work

JasonMAtwood on Twitter

The Dip by Seth Godin

The Omni Show - Episode 54 (Jason's Part 1)

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

How Oogie McGuire Uses OmniFocus Dec 21, 2020

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Android

Apple Pencil

Desert Weyr (Oogie's Farm)

DevonThink

FoxBASE

Getting Things Done book

GoodNotes

Animal Tracker (Previously Lamb Tracker)

Sal Soghoian, Automation Advocate Dec 07, 2020

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

1writer

Apple Provisioning Utility

Automator

Bear

jamf Conference

Sal's Talk - An Insider’s Look at Mobile Device Automation | JNUC 2019

MDM

Omni's Discourse Forum

How David Sparks uses OmniFocus Nov 23, 2020

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

OmniFocus

OmniOutliner

Mac Sparky

OmniFocus Field Guide ("HoorayOmniGroup" for 5$ off)

Relay.fm Podcast Network

Mac Power Users

Automators

Focused

How Luc Beaudoin uses OmniOutliner Nov 10, 2020

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Cognitive Productivity with MacOS (40% Off Coupon Link)

Cognitive Productivity (40% Off Coupon Link)

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Discontinuities, Love, Art, Mind

The Hyperlink Manifesto

How Kourosh Dini uses OmniFocus Oct 27, 2020

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Getting Things Done by David Allen

kGTD with Kourosh Dini on Inside OmniFocus

Kourosh Dini on Learn OmniFocus

How Allen Pike uses OmniFocus to run Steamclock Oct 13, 2020

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

High Output Management

Getting Things done

Allen's Inside OmniFocus Article

Super Mario Bros 3

Super Soaker Water Guns

How Aaron Hockley Uses OmniFocus To Run His Photography Business Sep 29, 2020

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

TechPhotoGuy OmniFocus Blog Post

How Harvard Professor Alyssa Goodman uses OmniGraffle Sep 15, 2020

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

The Prediction Project

Writer William Gallagher On How OmniFocus Streamlines His Workflow Aug 25, 2020

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Dr. Who Radio Dramas

The Beiderbecke Affair (BFI TV Classics)

Omni Roadmap, July 2020 Aug 11, 2020

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

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

How Thorsten Grantner Uses OmniFocus in His Business Apr 01, 2020

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Dr. Lyle Skains Uses OmniOutliner Mar 18, 2020

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Scotty Jackson Uses OmniFocus Mar 04, 2020

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Alex Lindsay Uses OmniGraffle in His Business Feb 19, 2020

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Roadmap 2020 Special with Ken Case Feb 05, 2020

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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

How Jason Atwood Uses OmniFocus in His Business Jan 22, 2020

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How Eric Bowers, Mortgage Loan Officer and Novelist, Uses OmniFocus Jan 08, 2020

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

How John Gruber, Raconteur, Uses OmniOutliner Dec 11, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Jim Correia, OmniFocus Engineer Nov 20, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Turquoise stone ornately wrapped with silver-colored wire. — **April Ramm, Support Human** Nov 06, 2019
Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com
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

Blue stone ornately wrapped with copper wire. — **April Ramm, Support Human** Nov 06, 2019
Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com
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, OmniGraffle User and Otter Enthusiast Oct 23, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Aaron Kwong, Software Test Pilot Oct 09, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Daniel Jalkut, MarsEdit Developer and OmniFocus User Sep 25, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Reid Callan, OmniFocus Engineer Sep 11, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Anne Johnson, Support Human Aug 28, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

OmniGraffle Performance Enhancements Jul 31, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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, Software Test Pilot Jun 26, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

WWDC 2019 Jun 12, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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, Software Test Pilot May 29, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.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, OmniFocus Engineer May 15, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Tom Bunch, OmniPlan Engineer May 01, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Evan McNulty, Software Test Pilot Apr 17, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Annette Fuller, Support Human Apr 03, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

The Story of OmniPlan Mar 20, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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 omniplan@omnigroup.com 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:

Greg Titus, OmniPlan Engineer Mar 06, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Brent Simmons, Marketing Human Feb 20, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Roadmap 2019 Special with Ken Case Feb 06, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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, Author and Podcaster Jan 23, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Derek Reiff, Front-end Web Developer Jan 09, 2019

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Tim Wood, Chief Technology Officer Dec 12, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Molly Reed, Chief Operating Officer Nov 28, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Live from Swift by Northwest Nov 14, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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!

How We Built OmniFocus for the Web Oct 31, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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, OmniGraffle Engineer Oct 17, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Michelle Knee, Software Test Pilot Oct 03, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

OmniFocus 3 for Mac: Launch Day, New Design Sep 24, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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, Design Manager Sep 05, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

OmniFocus 3 for Mac: New Features Aug 22, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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.

The Tikinauts: Two Cherries In Aug 08, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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, Operations Assistant Jul 25, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Terry Stearns, Executive Chef Jul 11, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

Aaron Cherof, Support Human Jun 27, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

WWDC Announcements: Live at NextDoor Jun 06, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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

OmniFocus 3 for iOS Launch Day May 30, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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.

OmniFocus Pro 3 and Custom Perspectives May 23, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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, OmniGraffle Engineer May 09, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

OmniFocus 3 Potpourri with Dave Messent, Tim Ekl, and Jim Correia Apr 25, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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 Apr 11, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

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:

OmniFocus 3 and Tags, with Dave Messent and Tim Ekl Mar 28, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

Dave Messent, OmniFocus product manager, and Tim Ekl, OmniFocus engineer, join the show for a special episode to talk about OmniFocus 3 (for Mac and iOS) and tags.

In the new OmniFocus, tags replace contexts. Tags can do everything contexts can do, and more — you can apply multiple tags to tasks and projects, where with contexts you could apply just one.

Dave and Tim go into detail on how this all works, and they discuss some of the organization and workflows that tags enable.

You can find Dave @dmessent on Twitter, and you can find Tim on Twitter @timothyekl and on the web

For more about tags, you 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.

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

Dave Lonning, Documentation Wrangler Mar 14, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

Dave Lonning — world-traveler, world-builder — joins the show to talk about writing documentation for Omni apps — and about how the tools and formats have changed over the years.

He also talks about moving, after college, to Japan — where he taught English and later worked on video game localization. He was there in 2011 when a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit.

Dave’s hobbies include role-playing games — running and creating — and painting miniatures. And, most importantly, he’s a cat person who’s learned to love the office canids.

You can find Dave @zroundbls on Twitter.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

Ainsley Bourque Olson, OmniPlan PM Feb 28, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

Ainsley Bourque Olson — knitter, cat person, OmniPlan planner — joins the show to talk about being the product manager of a project management app.

And about how to go from Apple retail to world domination. And about how to get by in Norwegian Ballard.

You can find Ainsley @ainslaw on Twitter and on Instagram.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

Orion Protonentis, Software Test Pilot Feb 14, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

Orion Protonentis — swashbuckler, bug-hunter, pastry-enjoyer — joins the show to talk about testing Omni apps. And about his life on the stage with swords.

After studying acting and stage combat in Hawaii, Tennessee, and Las Vegas, and after tending bar and running nightclubs, Orion — whose first computers were Commodore 64, TRS-80, and Apple II — answered the call to come do support at The Omni Group.

He later made his way to the test department, where he’s been finding bugs — so you don’t have to.

You can find Orion @orionp on Twitter and on Micro.blog.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

Ken Case on Omni’s 2018 Roadmap Jan 31, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

Ken Case, CEO and one of the founders of The Omni Group, talks about what we accomplished in 2017 and what we plan to do in 2018. It’s a big year, especially for OmniFocus 3 for Mac and iOS.

You can read all about it: see Omni Roadmap 2018 on our blog. And go back in time, if you like, to the 2017 roadmap. And 2016 and 2015.

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

Liz Marley, OmniGraffle Engineer Jan 17, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

Liz Marley, unlike your host, is not afraid of math — and she brings that fearlessness to work every day on OmniGraffle, which is chock-full of math-y goodness.

After getting a computer science degree from Harvey Mudd, then joining The Omni Group in 2005 and working as a tester, OmniBugZapper PM, tester, OmniFocus PM, and tester, two years ago she walked down the hall and switched to engineering. She also volunteers for App Camp for Girls, does innovative technical talks (using Swift playgrounds), and keeps up on her knitting.

You can find Liz @emarley on Twitter.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

Mark Boszko, Video Producer Jan 03, 2018

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

Mark got hooked on video and special effects at the age of five when he saw a TV show about the effects behind The Empire Strikes Back.

After creating videos for vast government bureaucracies and The History Channel, Mark moved to Seattle to come work at Omni — which, from his point of view, is a video production company that happens to create some companion software to go along with the movies.

Mark also hosts The Optical podcast, which you should listen to. And — most critically — Mark is this show’s intrepid producer.

You can find Mark @bobtiki on Twitter. You may, if you meet him in person, call him Bob. It’s fine.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

The Great British Baking Show
Omni customer story video (an example video, shot at Camp 1 Vineyard)
Omni Slack channel
Computer Science
BASIC
Unix
VAX
OmniPlan
OmniPlan videos
James Bond villains
Final Cut Pro
Adobe Premiere
Adobe After Effects
Adobe Audition
4K Resolution
Canon C Series Camera
Tweening
Special effects
SPFX: The Empire Strikes Back
Le Voyage Dans la Lun (A Trip to the Moon) by Georges Méliès
Darth Vader
Luke Skywalker
Mark Hamill
National Institutes of Health
Scrooged
Bill Murray
Media 100
Avid
PowerMac 9600
Gaithersburg, MD
Boston
Final Cut Server
History Channel
Ancient Aliens
That one guy with the hair
Digging for the Truth
North Carolina
Roanoke Colony
MacGyver
Richard Dean Anderson
NSCoderNight DC
Jose Vazquez
Seattle
Cinefex magazine
Douglas Trumbull
Harrison Ellenshaw
Howie Weed
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Tiki
Kilauea Cove
Tikibar.tv
Rum
DisneyLand
Florida
Fort Lauderdale
Florida Keys
Tampa Bay
Critiki
Raspberry Pi
Adafruit
Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar

Andrea McVittie, User Experience Designer Dec 06, 2017

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

Andrea studied fine art at Michigan State and human-computer interaction at the University of Michigan. One day, while working at the school library, it was discovered that she could make websites — which launched her career as a UX designer, and since 2012 she’s been designing apps at Omni.

Andrea, it must be told, is firmly against stealing money from puppies — or maybe she’s against treating puppies as a particularly cuddly form of currency and then stealing them.

Nobody knows which. Don’t do either!

You can find Andrea @amcvittie on Twitter. And you can find her work in every single Omni app.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

Brian Covey, Support Manager Nov 22, 2017

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

Brian Covey studied computer science at The Evergreen State College — which your host also attended, but back before computers were a thing. After some normal young-person-bouncing-around a little, Brian came to shore at Omni in 2001, where he became the leader, dear and fearless, of Omni’s Support Humans.

You can find Brian @hidvorak on Twitter. (You can contact Omni support at support.omnigroup.com.)

You can also find a video of Brian doing the worm in an Omni commercial from 2006. Absolutely not to be missed!

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

The Music of Aaron Cherof (Aaron works at Omni and does the music for this show)
Elevate Support conference
Ken Case
Chuck Toporek
OmniWeb
British Columbia
Ninjas
Droids
Curt Clifton
Pair programming
OmniPlan
Babylon 5
Seattle
NetZero
Mac OS X
Boomerangs
Nirvana
K Dorm
Experience Music Project (now MoPOP)
Dave Grohl
Nomeansno
Skinner Box
Mythical Man Month
Spokane
Antonín Dvořák
Dvorak keyboard
Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)

Curt Clifton, OmniFocus Engineer Nov 06, 2017

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

Curt Clifton came to Omni while on sabbatical from his computer science professorship at Rose-Hulman — and never went back. He’s spent much of his six years at Omni on the OmniFocus team, where he clicks checkboxes for a living.

Curt’s a fan of the local association football team. He also likes woodworking and distance-running, though he has yet to explore the synergistic possibilities of doing both at the same time.

You can find Curt @curtclifton on Twitter and at curtclifton.net.

Some other people, places, and things mentioned:

Kristina Sontag, Software Test Manager Nov 01, 2017

Full transcript and show notes at theomnishow.omnigroup.com

For our first episode we interview Kristina Sontag, who runs Omni’s test department — a group tireless, fearless, and strikingly effective in its hunt for bugs.

Kristina got her start playing games for a living at LucasArts. Between there and today she’s also worked on educational software, gotten a pilot’s license, volunteered for App Camp for Girls, and helped organize the Emerald City Supporters.

When she’s not doing everything else, she’s playing Destiny. She may even be thinking about Destiny at this very moment.

You can find Kristina on Twitter @knsontag.

Some other people and places mentioned: