I downloaded the Vitamin-R trial out of curiosity when I read this thread, and ended up buying it through mupromo shortly afterwards.
Integration with OmniFocus is probably what swung it for me. I bought OmniFocus pre-release, but my only current use of it is to identify, structure and organise the reading and coursework related to my current uni course – a static list, from which I just check off tasks/items as I complete them.
As always, I am behind schedule with my studying so, to try out Vitamin-R, I decided to catch up, using Vitamin-R to focus my efforts. Setting up a Vitamin-R “time slice” simply involved dragging a task from OmniFocus into the Define Objective box, and estimating how long it would take me to do that piece of reading. Then I sat on the sofa with my laptop on the coffee table in front of me, and cracked on with it.
Every few minutes, a ticking noise reminded me to stop navel-gazing. At the end of the estimated time, a submarine ping sounded, and a screen appeared asking me about my focus levels, whether the session was successful, and whether I had completed my task. I hadn’t completed my first one, because I had found myself thinking about the mechanics of what I was doing rather than actually doing it (for example, focusing on the ticking noise, or telling myself that I had only 14 pages left in this chapter). You get the option of continuing the unfinished task later, or extending the current time slice by an additional x minutes and doing it now. If a task is completed, you get the option of taking a break (timed or open-ended) or going straight on with the next task – and Omnifocus is automatically updated to show that you have completed the one you have just finished. A summary of the session is written to a log file.
By using Vitamin-R to keep me focused (extending sessions as required, starting new ones, and taking timed breaks) I managed to catch up on all of last week’s studying, which was beyond my wildest expectations when I started, and which I do attribute largely to the software. And that is worth £5.28 any day (the mupromo price after conversion), so I bought it.
The plus points for me were:
~ the Omnifocus integration (drag and drop of task description, and then auto-update of completion status) – so I might even start using OmniFocus more
~ the ability to add extra time indefinitely if a task isn’t completed (as long as I am actually concentrating on the task and not wasting time, then I’m happy to revise my estimate as work progresses)
~ the degree of customisation, allowing all sorts of twiddles to sound output, including turning it off
~ the ticking noise, reminding me to get back on track when my mind wandered (but see below)
And the minus points:
~ the ticking noise, distracting me when I was focused on what I was doing (but see above)
~ the time it took me to get comfortable with setting up Vitamin-R (can’t imagine why, as it seems simple now)
~ the fact that you have to be motivated enough to actually start up the software (my biggest problem is actually starting)
Not sure yet how it will work with writing activities, but I can imagine it proving useful.
I’ll finish the manual later and try it out tomorrow. It was recommended to me by another Scriv user, and this point I’ll try anything that might just prevent me from procrastinating.