Mike Burke, a software engineering group leader at Amazon, shares valuable tips and tricks for using Omni software. Topics include a unique weekly review system, Keyboard Maestro for note retrieval, simplified tag usage, and more. He also discusses his background and experiences using Omni software tools for organization and project planning. Additionally, he gives advice for getting started in productivity and shares his daily routine and rituals. The podcast also covers organizing windows and virtual desktops for better focus and productivity.
Follow the principles of GTD and establish rituals for a balanced work-life.
Utilize keyboard maestro shortcuts and tags in OmniFocus for enhanced productivity.
Deep dives
Mike Burke's Role at Amazon and Use of Omni's Products
Mike Burke leads a software engineering group focused on customer privacy at Amazon, with teams in Austin, Seattle, and New York. He uses Omni's products, including OmniFocus, OmniOutliner, OmniGraphl, and OmniFocus, in his work to ensure customer data is secure. He has been using OmniFocus since 2013, just before moving continents, and it has been an instrumental tool for him in managing tasks and staying organized. He discovered OmniOutliner a year later, using it to keep his notes in order. He also uses OmniGraphl for visualizations and quickly conveying information in video calls.
Productivity Tips from Mike Burke
Mike advises new productivity enthusiasts to follow the principles of Getting Things Done (GTD) and embrace the habit of capturing tasks as soon as they come to mind. He highlights the importance of rigorously managing one's calendar and treating it as a hard landscape. He suggests starting simple and not overwhelming oneself with using the entire toolkit at once. Mike also emphasizes the value of establishing rituals and structure in daily routines, such as a daily startup ritual and a daily shutdown ritual, to enhance peace of mind and maintain work-life balance.
Mike Burke's Productivity Hacks
Mike shares a couple of notable productivity hacks he employs. First, he created a keyboard maestro shortcut to quickly search for and access his OmniOutliner meeting notes for a specific week, making it easier to review and ensure nothing important is missed. Second, he utilizes tags in OmniFocus for people, places, and time. He uses tags extensively for ongoing touchpoints with people, locations to remind him of specific tasks when he reaches a particular place, and time-based tags to manage tasks in the short and long term. These hacks have greatly improved his productivity and peace of mind.
Today we chat with Mike Burke. Mike leads a software engineering group focused on customer privacy at Amazon with teams in Austin and Seattle, using all of Omni’s products in the process. He lives in Austin with his family but is originally from Sydney, Australia and has also lived and worked out of Seattle and Dublin, Ireland along the way.
Whether you're a beginner or a power user, this episode is packed with invaluable tips and tricks. Mike divulges his unique weekly review system, a clever Keyboard Maestro trick for easy note retrieval, and his simplified yet potent use of tags. Don't miss this deep dive into the suite of Omni Software!
Some other people, places, and things mentioned in this episode: