Nov 12

point of diminishing returns

By Chris Eben Technology Add comments

A few weeks ago, I realized I had reached a point of diminishing returns in terms of my usage of productivity tools.  Finally my quest to find the perfect mix of tools to simplify my life and increase overall productivity had failed.  Or at least taken a significant step backwards. I’m a gadget geek and feel compelled to use gadgets such as my iPhone and iPad to run my life. So of course I’m continually searching for all the right apps to organize, remind, list, communicate, etc. Here’s a list some (there are more!) of the various tools I use…

The basics

  • gmail for personal email (I have 3 different accounts – 2 domain specific and 1 gmail)
  • Outlook at work – I have no choice so am constantly trying new ways to sync my work with the rest of my life. I use all the features, including email, calendar (prescribed by work), tasks, contacts and notes
  • xobni – to organize things in Outlook and make it all searchable
  • google desktop – same as above – sometimes just works better

Note: I used to put all my emails into folders but now everything goes into one and I use search to find things.  I never delete anything except stuff I know there is no way I’ll reference again – a digital pack rat of sorts.

  • google calendar sync – to keep things in sync between my google apps calendar and Outlook at work (xobni and google sync don’t play nicely together so I’m trying to decide which one I need more)

Other stuff

  • reQall – I love the voice conversion technology, allowing me to speak into my phone and (almost) perfectly convert what I say to text, including creating appointments, tasks and shopping lists using keywords. I hate almost everything else about this app but feel I need the core functionality… This also generates a lot of my other problems with syncing items so that everything exists in one place (Outlook)
  • Evernote (I’m actually typing this out right now on the iPad Evernote app). No complaints about the service but always have an issue where I take notes and never refer to them again. I’d like the same concept as reQall where keywords could be used to generate tasks/appointments that are sync’d through the cloud to my Outlook exchange server (or at least Google calendar). I also find myself saving certain things to read in Evernote which conflicts with my use of instapaper and google reader (that’s a whole other problem and maybe worthy of separate post).
  • Note Taker HD – I’ve tried about 10 different note taking apps for the iPad since I got it a few months ago. It was my goal to remove the one remaining thing that I felt was inefficient – a notebook and pen which meant I would have to transcribe any necessary actions or info coming out of meetings onto the computer (somewhere). I’ve been successful in getting rid of the notepad and pen and now do it all on one of three devices: laptop, iPad, or iPhone.  Still, the new problem, much like Evernote, is getting everything into one place for review.  Once I take notes in this app, I can only email them to myself as a PDF and will ultimately have to type out certain things.
  • tungle.me – this is what causes me to use google calendar sync as the sync between tungle and google is much better than the outlook plugin they provide.  I hate almost all Outlook plugins – they invariably create problems with Outlook or conflict with other plugins.

Note: as I type this out I realize that the majority of my problems are caused by Microsoft Outlook which always requires these clunky plugins to play with other services.  Microsoft, can you please start using some web services and APIs! Still, this is the one tool I really have no choice but to use.

  • Dropbox – I love this service and it tends to integrate quite well with everything else although you can’t really call it a productivity app. It’s on the list because of how I use it on the iPad/iPhone along with the other apps mentioned so far.

Aside from determining that I’m crazy and really just using technology for the sake of playing with all the latest toys and apps, can anyone help me please! I’m determined that there is a good mix of stuff to use to be fully organized and productive. Not the perfect mix but a pretty good one. Clearly I’ve reached a point of diminishing returns.

Share
  • http://twitter.com/zvisus Zvi Zemel

    Whatever you do, stay away from 43folders.com. You might think there’s a ton of useful info there about being more productive, but you never overcome the time debt you’ll accrue by going back through the archives, which is unfortunately, impossible to not do.

  • http://twitter.com/maxcameron max cameron

    Hey Chris,nnSo, here’s my thoughts. I don’t think it’s a bad thing to have multiple homes for your to-dos. Having Pivotal Tracker, your calendar, and a personal task management system can nicely silo tasks from different contexts.nnWhat I’m curious about is how you decide what to do on any given day?

  • http://www.eben.ca ceben

    I start by looking at my Outlook calendar which tells me what appointments I have that day and has been sync’d (hopefully) with my Google calendar as well. Then review my tasks in Outlook and reQall and decide which ones need to be completed and when. Sometimes I will schedule this work directly into my calendar, but not always. This all works fairly well. The part I don’t think works well is where I have notes from meetings that exist in multiple places and often require actions. I’m pretty good about inputting things that require more immediate actions into reQall or Tasks but I always have a feeling of dread that I haven’t done it recently enough and need to dig through Note Taker HD, Evernote or anything else to find new To-Dos.nnAll-in-all, my system is probably ok but I want it to be perfect. I know it never will be.

  • Andy

    HinnI use similar tools but there’s a few tweaks that might help you get more out of what you have:-nnEvernote & storing things I never look at – fixed by the Chrome extension – now a nomal google search digs out things in Evernote. Perfect! I use Evernote to store things for future reference so it’s like my own personal web archivennReqall – hate it all except voice too. So much that I’ve move to Toodledo plus Todo as an iPhone front end. Much much better all round and you can sync with outlook if you need to. I tried it but keep all tasks in todo now. If I need it on a pc I use th Toodledo web interface. If I want to create a task from a mail I mail it in to Toodledo. If I’m so desperate to use voice then I us dialtodo to add to Toodledo but it’s rare nowadays. nnI use google calendar (shared home cal with wife) and outlook (work) too but rather than syncing I just show my gcal in outlook as a published Internet calendar, and have added it to iPhone too. I can’t add a date in outlook but I can use my iPhone for that or gcals web interface. I can see it in outlook though which stops me scheduling late work meeting when we’re going out!nnFinally I also used to use xobni but it caused problems for me too. Since outlook 2007 I’ve found the search good enough. If you must bolt something on to outlook and use google sync too you could try meshin from Xerox which is similar to Xobni. nnFinally if you haven read ‘Getting Things Done’ then really would or read Zen to Done on the Zen Habits website. You won’t regret either!nnEnjoy being unproductively productive!nnAndy

  • http://www.GetDateIdeas.com Will

    Just out of curiosity, have you tried using the pomodoro technique? I’m assuming you use a mac..you can check out FocusBooster – great free app that stays in front of you and counts down from 25 minutes.nnAlso, MacFreedom is a great little tool that will turn off your internet or block out certain sites that are productivity wasters. :)

  • Xobni Support

    Hi Andy,nnIf you’re willing to give us another chance, we’d love to help you with the Xobni issue you were experiencing. Can you shoot me an email at support@xobni.com and refer to me?nnThanks,nEiriknnXobni Support

  • Anonymous

    Hey Chris,nnPeep “Things”…i have it for iPhone and iPad…they work wonders for me.nnPaul Jara (at every LeanCoffeeTO) was talkin’ about how he uses stuff from the OMNIgroup. OmniFocus apparently is his weapon of choice because of the syncing capabilities. He also uses another Omni product called OmniGraffle for iPad which looks ridiculously awesome. I haven’t gone forward with any of them because Things, Evernote, and GoogleApps work well for me…but also because OMNI products are pricy (OmniGraffle iPad $50.00, OmniFocus iPad $40.00, OmniFocus iPhone $20.00)nnUltimately, all of these apps are contingent on your own discipline which you clearly have. What seems to be a bigger problem is syncing. Maybe holler at Paul at the next LeanCoffeeTO for more details on Omni products…hey…if they boost productivity, definitely worth the price tag.nnWord.nn

  • http://www.eben.ca ceben

    Thanks for the advice. There are a number of things for me to checkout. Syncing is definitely the core problem because it limits which tools I can effectively use. I plan on talking to Paul at the next #LeanCoffeeTO.nnCheers

  • Natalia Lizon

    Check out teuxdeux.com – Its a sleek, simplistic web-based to-do list app. There’s also a version for the iPhone. I love it as a productivity tool.

blog comments powered by Disqus
preload preload preload