Hi all,
I noticed in Omni Group’s 2025 roadmap that a Kanban-style view is on the horizon for OmniFocus 4, which I’m really excited about.
Has anyone heard anything more specific about when this feature might arrive? I’ve checked the latest release notes, and it doesn’t seem to be part of the recent updates yet.
Would love to hear if anyone from Omni or the beta community has insight on how it’s shaping up?
Thanks!
My guess is it is related to the feature where some tags could be mutually exclusive as part of a category. They gave examples like Priority: High vs Priority: Low in the roadmap. If you had tags that fit as “Kanban”, a view could show all tasks in each of those tags.
My hunch is they need some underlying organizational elements in place first before an Kanban view would be available. You can imagine, there is complexity to supporting it. Which group of mutually exclusive tags are used for the Kanban board? How is the order of tasks within each group determined? How do you integrate Kanban concepts such as no due date with the built in due date? What about a defer date? They mention scheduled dates in the roadmap, so there could be a third date that would impact tasks, making a Kanban view a bit more complex.
Replying to see where this stands now that mutually exclusive tags have launched with the recent 4.7 release
According to Ken it‘s scheduled for the last release towards end of this year.
Thanks for the update! I was just looking at Kanban solutions for a solo developer(me), particularly at Trello since I have used that in the past.
I do need something to use today, but I won’t invest too much into another app until the end of the year of when the feature is added to OmniFocus. Whichever comes first.
Definitely looking forward to this as I use another Kanban app (Kanbanier) alongside OF at the moment, and being able to have a kanban view in OF will be a gamechanger for me to keep everything in one place…
Here’s hoping the build drops soon, anyone have an idea when it’s due?
The promise was for last OF version of the year
Well yes, I know that much, I was just wondering if anyone knew more than just ‘towards the end of the year’ 🤣
This year or next year? :-)
Certainly hope this year, waiting long enough now :) Still some days left :)
We’re still working on Kanban, but at this point it’s safe to say it won’t make 2025 and will have to roll into 2026. That’s the thing about discussing our development plans: it’s easy to forget that they’re just plans, and plans do change! We had a busier-than-expected summer and fall. That said, Kanban is still our next high priority for OmniFocus.
We’ll be sure to let you all know when it’s ready for public testing!
Thanks for the update Ken.
Looking forward to this, but as a former SW dev myself I appreciate how timescales are fluid.
Hey, I guess patience is a virtue, right? :-)
Just here to get the thread updates / messages and to voice my enthusiastic excitement for this kanban view / feature whenever it’s released! Can’t wait!
Any news on when the feature will be available for public testing? Thx
Give Flowcus a try (author here) - it’s a standalone app that syncs tasks to/from OmniFocus so that you can visualise them on a configurable Kanban board. See additional info on features too. Happy to help if you’ve got any questions. Cheers
I’m curious whether there are any thoughts on the compatibility between GTD and Kanban as approaches to managing work? Having a Kanban view is one thing, but how do you see the hybrid methodology working in practice?
I’ve really only seen Kanban when it’s used by teams for planning work and I can definitely see the value there. OmniFocus, on the other hand, is a solo tool. Is solo Kanban actually a common practice?
Yes, absolutely. I’ve been using a kanban tool to visualise progress in my own projects for years now and I’m really looking forward to this in Omnifocus.
I’ve been trialling Flowcus recently and whilst I do need to spend a bit more time around organising my existing data with it, I’m pretty convinced that there’s a lot of scope for a kanban mode in OF.
Definitely. I see Kanban as simply a different way to visualise my tasks and commitments as managed within OmniFocus.
Especially with mutually exclusive tags now in OF. It’s perfect.
Take a look at this primer on Personal Kanban to see how you can use it to help you manage your own work.
I lean GTD but have gotten into good flows with kanban, especially with Trello.
Two high level benefits of kanban for me:
I’m keen to see Omni’s design. It’d be nice to be able to have swim lanes and columns, either with two groups of tags or with a tag group + groups of project subtasks, or maybe folder-level kanban. Columns-only would also be fine.
