A few days back, I lamented the need for an API for OmniFocus. One of the main reasons I’ve wanted this is so that other applications will be able to make better use out of all of the tasks I’ve entered, especially for planning my day. Essentially, my fantasy has been a Mac version of something like Binary Hammer’s 30/30, but it would integrate with OmniFocus. Not a day after I posted that, someone suggested that things might be further along than I thought and suggested that I check out newcomer Pomodorable.
Pomodorable is an application that allows you to setup tasks and then use the built-in timer to complete and track your work. What sets it apart from other timers or Pomodoro apps is the ability to seamlessly pull tasks in from the Reminders app, Things and my beloved OmniFocus. They’ve yet to post the details on how to best take advantage of the OmniFocus integration (you can find videos on how to use it with Reminders and Things here), but I’ve already found that just by flagging a task in OmniFocus, it will automatically show up in Pomodorable. And when completed in Pomodorable, they show up as completed in OmniFocus. It’s pretty darn sweet!
While the interaction between these apps is impressive, Pomodorable is not quite ready for prime time. I’m very glad I spent the money and believe in the potential, but the app is very early on in its development and there are a few things that keep me from using this as part of my everyday workflow:
- Reordering – This is apparently coming soon, but at the moment you can’t place things into the order you’d like to work through them. Once this becomes available, I imagine this will become part of my morning routine: identifying and ordering my tasks.
- Completed Items – This is also in the works, but the apps tendency to show all of your unarchived completed items in OmniFocus can make your task list seem overwrought.
- Flow from task to task – I believe this will come as the app gets refined, but the process from moving from one task to the next isn’t quite as fluid as I’d like. The current version of the app will ask if you want to jump into a task upon returning to your computer after a period of inactivity, I’m hoping the app will bring similar functionality upon completing a Pomodoro.
- Pomodoro/GTD Inconsistencies – This is the big one. I’m new to the Pomodoro Technique, but it seems to center on working on one project for a set period of time (25 minutes of work with a five minute break), but even though much of my work is organized into projects, the individual units are stored within OmniFocus as single actions. In the app, a single Pomodoro represents a single task. There’s no way to string several actions into a single 25-minute session, which is exactly what I would need to really focus in on a project for 25 straight minutes. Everything else would certainly be livable, but for the moment this keeps me from making this application a part of my everyday workflow.
My short-term concerns aside, the developer has been very responsive and receptive to suggestions and seems dedicated into making this app the best that it can possibly be. I’m really glad I’ve purchased it and I am impressed by what it can do, but I really hope that it gets enough support (from both the developer and customers) to grow into its potential. If it does, I know it will become an essential part of my workflow and the missing app I’ve been lamenting for so long now. If, like me, you’ve been looking for a good way to take all of the tasks in OmniFocus, Things or Reminders and schedule them into a day’s worth of work, take a chance on Pomodorable. While it isn’t quite there yet, I have high hopes that it will be soon.