Talks Page

July 23, 2022

It occurred to me that several of my conference talks are kicking around on the internet, but that I didn’t have a collection of links to them in one place.

Now I do.


Complete and Await Reply Script, Version 2.0

August 27, 2018

Based on the latest OmniShow, OmniFocus 3 for Mac should be available Real Soon Now. The good folks at Omni have made sure existing scripts continue to work, my Complete and Awaiting Reply script among them.

The original version of my script completes the selected item, then creates a new follow up item like the original but with any existing context replaced with a waiting for context.

OmniFocus 3 lets you add multiple tags to an action. I wanted to take advantage of that in my script.

The new version of Complete and Awaiting Reply leaves all the existing tags in place on the follow up item and adds an additional waiting-for tag. Suppose you have an item like Ask about the Tate account, tagged with Darren and Email. After you send the email, just select the item and run the script. The original will be checked off. A new follow-up item will be created titled “Reply on: ask about the Tate account” and tagged with Darren, Email, and Waiting. The script will even add a note with the date and time the original email was sent.

If you’re lucky enough to be using the beta already, you can grab the updated script here.

Share and enjoy!


Something Old, Something New

March 17, 2018

Over an excellent machiatto at Chromatic Coffee this morning, I put together a couple of OmniFocus scripts to share.

Something Old

The latest release of OmniFocus, version 2.12 for Mac, changes how task completion works under the hood. This change is likely in support of improvements to repeating tasks coming in OmniFocus 3.

Version 1.3 of my Complete and Await Reply script handles this change. Follow the link to download it.

Something New

Fix Pending Project’s Review Dates is a script I’ve been using personally for a long time. I thought others might find it useful, so it’s time for the script’s public debut.

This script makes sure that any Pending Projects — ones whose Defer Date is in the future — come up for review on their Defer Date. The script finds all your Pending Projects. Then it updates those projects to have a Next Review Date equal to the Defer Date. This is helpful in two ways:

I hope you find these useful. Share and enjoy.


Incomplete and Awaiting Updates

March 16, 2018

The latest release of OmniFocus, version 2.12 for Mac, changes how task completion works under the hood. This change is likely in support of improvements to repeating tasks coming in OmniFocus 3.

Unfortunately, this changes means my Complete and Await Reply script is currently broken. I hope to post an updated script this weekend.

I’m sorry for the inconvenience.


Twitter Quitter

January 6, 2018

I’ve decided to close my Twitter account. William Van Hecke makes a convincing case for its diminishing utility, and it’s clear that Jack is more concerned with eyeballs than standards.

I stopped regularly reading my timeline months ago. The few times I have dipped in, I’ve ended up angry or depressed. Despite occasional bright spots, there is always someone sharing the angst of the day. I read the news. I don’t need Twitter to make me more anxious. As such, I’ve only been using Twitter for cross posting from my micro.blog account and responding to mentions. Slack meets my social chat needs without the screaming-into-the-void that Twitter has become.

After some reflection, I’ve concluded that even posting to Twitter is just providing content to a platform for hate and anger. I can’t fix that problem, but I can stop contributing to the platform. And so I will.

I’m taking my Twitter account private. I’ll stop reading and (after this) posting to it. If you want to get in touch, please email, iMessage, or drop a mention @curt on micro.blog. I’d also be happy for an invite to your Slack group or a friend request on Facebook. (While Facebook is also an addiction-exploiting attention hole, it provides much more control to users. The positives there outweigh the negatives.)

Be well. Find the good in the world. Peace.