I am loving using the iOS 14 widgets to keep a clear eye on my day, and with Charty and its (beta) widgets and data views, I have been able to craft iOS Shortcuts that display really useful data on my homescreen.
Author Archives: Scotty Jackson
Easier Integration of Shortcuts and Slack with Data Jar
Back on episode 25 of Nested Folders, Rosemary Orchard and I discussed agreements and the many kinds of these that are important for effective collaboration.
For me, a lot of these agreements end up getting supported by Slack, which is great.
I talked about my love for Data Jar on episode 49 of the Automators podcast, and how it allows complex data to be easily reused by multiple different Shortcuts.
This gave me an idea: what if I had a dictionary containing all the channel identifiers of my Slack workspaces? Then I could easily interact with them by web API.
Solved: Making Checklists in OmniFocus via Reminders
One of the features I wish OmniFocus had was the ability to add checklists. As an example, I need to go through a morning routine of four items every morning, but having four discrete actions in OmniFocus feels a little clutterful, and having a badge that reads 4 seems inappropriate.
There are other use cases, of course, where a number of steps represented by a single task makes sense to me:
- Do my weekly review
- Complete post-production on Nested Folders episode
- Make bread in the bread maker
Automating Next Action Creation in OmniFocus
One of the things I wanted to make easier was how to build a new action in OmniFocus based on an existing action. If I’m in Forecast, for example, and am completing an action, maybe I want to make a new action in that project quickly and easily.
My Guided Weekly Review
I really really benefit from the review of my projects and actions weekly, but I find it so hard to do. With constant ideas about things I could chase, or looking at that next project or back to one I was at already, I find myself wanting to bounce around the review more than follow it, and this doesn’t have the best effects.
The Coronavirus and ADHD are Terrible Roommates
I generally prefer to write shorter form, but I’ve failed at that here. Maybe fix a sandwich or grab something to drink for this one.
Preparing for a 1:1 Meeting
I’ve written before about a Boss Review Shortcut, a way to make it easier for me to prepare for meetings with my boss at work, but I have since expanded this to work with members of my team as well. I also had a great time discussing this with David Sparks and Rosemary Orchard on Automators episode 49.
Automating Emails With Data Jar
I don’t write code, and I don’t know how to script, but I really love the value of automation. This is why iOS Shortcuts is absolutely my jam. And I love that there is such an awesome growing ecosystem around it!
With Toolbox Pro, Launchcuts, Pushcut, and Shortcutify, one can really expand what iOS Shortcuts can do and how they are executed. I’m super cognizant, though, about what functions of this are “for me”, though, as an under-qualified nerd.
When I first heard about Data Jar, I didn’t really get it. It felt sort of like a Programmer’s Thing. Updating a Shortcut of mine that had a dictionary in it, though, it totally came to me, and I had an awesome time talking about it with David Sparks and Rosemary Orchard on Automators episode 49.
Continue readingCreating Better Structure: My Digital Bullet Journaling
Last year, I spent the time reading The Bullet Journal Method, by Ryder Carroll, and also wrote about digital bankruptcy with analog saving me.
While the principles of this are often a saving grace of augmented focus, I love the advantages of a digital system:
- I can search and refer back
- The right metadata surfaces the right things at the right time
- It is easily re-organized based on changing needs
Of course, aspects like metadata, information architectures, and infinite choice make digital systems complex and nuanced. I need something sustainable through simplicity, particularly to make sure I’m ready for change, like how Rosemary Orchard and I talked about on our Nested Folders podcast (and, more recently, on Automators episode 49).
Thinking of this, I embarked on a journey to digitally bullet journal. After a few iterations, I came up with a list of interoperating tools, which I think will prove a very effective stack.
Three Next Actions
On the Breaking Perfectionist Blocks episode of Nested Folders, Rosemary Orchard and I spitballed an idea to quickly generate a random list of three OmniFocus actions meeting a specific criteria (in our case, a tag).
Here is an iOS Shortcut that accomplishes exactly that. Enjoy!