Productivity with Purpose
Technology
Top Picks for Blackberry Apps to Increase Productivity
Sep 2nd
In part 2 in my series highlighting technology tools for productivity I have chosen some highly recommended Blackberry apps. Not a Blackberry user? Check out the related posts for information on tools for other devices. Tools are an indispensible part of your productivity strategy. Choosing the right tool for your needs can be a confusing and somewhat daunting task. The decision must be based on your needs, working style, and level of comfort with technology.
Is there is some particular device or tool you’d like to learn about? Please let me know and I’ll try to report on it.
My picks:
BeReader – Google Reader client that allows you to read your Google Reader feeds on your BlackBerry everywhere you go, even when you do not have network coverage. Easily access, update and manage all of your subscriptions in one place.
BillableGoal – automatically tracks the time and details of your phone calls and emails. It also allows you to create timers and enter time to capture events. All time entries can be exported for input into your traditional billing system. Great for tracking client time! Supported export formats: plain text, sort able HTML, QuickBooks
Evernote – Free, open source note program, but way more than just notes. Evernote allows you to capture thoughts using text notes, voice recordings, photos and web clippings. You can tag notes or separate them into different notebooks. All notes are fully searchable and sync with a companion desktop application is desired.
HootSuite – Coming soon to Blackberry! Hands down my favorite app for every day social media management. Monitor Twitter and Facebook accounts, send and schedule updates, view statistics, watch lists and track keyword searches.
mProductive – is the ultimate ToDo List app that brings your Calendar, Tasks and Memos all together in one place at last. This app makes it really easy to organize everything that’s important to you. Personal priorities, work commitments and follow-ups (Task lists, meetings, appointments, events, notes, memos and reference information) can all be quickly created, conveniently grouped and effectively managed. A must for GTD users.
My Caption Speech to Text – With its Voice-to-Text capability, you get higher productivity and convenience. It synchronizes your e-mails, calendar, SMS text, note, memo and task entries exactly as if you typed them yourself — to your Outlook, Google Apps or to Lotus Notes or BES BlackBerry® Enterprise Server.
Shopper – Shopper is ideal for groceries and just about anything else you need to buy. Organize your lists for multiple stores, track pricing, input coupons, and go!
Vaayoo SocialBox – Interactive suite of social networking, sharing and sync services including Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Picassa etc. Easily share photos, videos and audibles from your mobile with your friends on multiple destinations that you can select: Web Communities on www.vaayoo.com, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Picasa emails and phones. You can also receive photo and video updates from them instantly.
Top Iphone Apps to Increase Productivity
Aug 24th
Tools are an indispensible part of your productivity strategy. Choosing the right tool for your needs can be a confusing and somewhat daunting task. The decision must be based on your needs, working style, and level of comfort with technology. With that in mind I have decided to do a series on productivity tools that I have found to be the most useful for improving efficiency, organization and focus. Each week in the series I will feature a different type of tool. Is there is some particular device or tool you’d like to learn about? Please let me know and I’ll try to report on it.
Since I have been absolutely enthralled by my iPhone lately, I’ll start with that device. *Note most of these apps have a version for the iPad as well so I am lumping them in together. I unfortunately don’t have the iPad yet, but one can dream. ..
These are the most useful iPhone apps that I have found to be effective, easy to use and as glitch-free as possible. This list is by no means exhaustive as there are literally thousands of apps available, but they are what currently work best for me.
Evernote – Free, open source note program, but way more than just notes. Evernote allows you to capture thoughts using text notes, voice recordings, photos and web clippings. You can tag notes or separate them into different notebooks. All notes are fully searchable and sync with a companion desktop application is desired.
Home Routines – This is my favorite home management app. It helps me to keep my home neat and organized, but keep those household tasks and maintenance off my business calendar. You can make as many routines as you want, and choose which days you want to see them. Routines can reset their stars overnight, or wait for you to clear them. Plan your most important one-off tasks for today, this week and the future with the handy built-in To Do list, and use the daily message feature to give yourself a short reminder for each day of the week. Home Routines is customizable to suit your home and priorities – get things done without cluttering up your calendar, email or to-do list.
HootSuite – Hands down my favorite iPhone app for every day social media management. Monitor Twitter and Facebook accounts, send and schedule updates, view statistics, watch lists and track keyword searches.
Paymo – I use Paymo to track my client and project time for billing and time management purposes. The Paymo iPhone app allows you to easily track your time while on the go. You can use it during client meetings or while working on tasks when you’re away from the office. Use timer or manually enter your time and it syncs with your online account to keep accurate time logs.
Pomodoro Pro – Really neat timer that helps you to focus for short periods of time and reminds you to take breaks. You can set the length of time and breaks if you don’t want to use the default 25 minute periods.
Quickoffice Connect Mobile Suite – Create, open & edit Microsoft® Office Files (DOC, DOCX, XLS and XLSX.) Email, view & access attachments with popular file formats (PPT, PDF, iWork, HTML, PNG, JPG, GIF, SVG, TIF, MP3, etc.) Remotely access files via cloud storage services (Box.net, Dropbox, Google Docs and Mobileme.) Share files via email or cloud service providers. Manage and transfer files via WiFi. *Note – if you don’t need the “Cloud” features look at Quickoffice Mobile Suite.
Shopper – This is the most useful shopping list app I have come across: Barcode scanning, customizable lists and stores, aisle layouts, local store sale flyers, multiple lists, recurring list templates, list sharing and more. This little app has cut my shopping headache down to practically nothing.
Please come back and let me know what you like or dislike about the various apps or if you have any to add to the list.
Smart Time 4 Adaptive Organizer – I have just recently started trying this app, but it has serious potential, especially for those who use Google calendar and tasks. This is a really neat logic-based organizer and calendar for busy people. It looks at your appointments, then finds time for your tasks – and integrates both into one simple view. Keep track of lists, tasks, to-dos, appointments, events, and recurring anniversaries all from one integrated view. Categorize your tasks and events and share with family or team members. Don’t need the calendar views, look try Smart Tasks 4.
Todo – I tried many task management apps, but this is the only one that synced well with Outlook for me. Todo is able to sync with Outlook tasks using an interface that runs in the background on your desktop (though you can get a paid subscription to sync over the air. This app will sync categories which are crucial to me. It also has tags, different types of tasks (checklists, projects, calls, etc.) allows notes, recurring tasks and has the ability to share via email.
Traxitall – This is a very effective goal-setting tool. Track sales calls, social media followers, weight, spending budget, hours works, sleep, client load any anything else you can think of. It has recurring tasks, reminders, notes and best of all graphing of data and goal progress.
Tame Your Voicemail
Apr 28th
Do you suffer from voicemail dread? I know, voicemail is an integral part of your communication system, but it can often be very frustrating. Phone tag, cut-off messages, long-winded messages and my personal favorite – the guy who talks like an auctioneer and even after listening to his message 5 times, you can’t decipher his phone number!
Here are some tips to make using voicemail easier:
- Use integrated voicemail – your voicemail is sent to your email account as an audio file, so you don’t have to dial in every time.
- Check your voicemail at scheduled times – just like you should be doing with your email. It can be anything from once per day to once an hour – whatever works for you.
- Make sure you listen to all of the messages before responding because often there is a follow-up message.
- Have your calendar and your action or task list available so that you can write down names, numbers and actions to be taken immediately – or at least a piece of paper to write them on if you are going to transfer them to your phone or computer.
- Consider responding via email rather than a call back to avoid phone tag or getting stuck on the phone.
- If the conversation is not going to be a quick one, try writing down the topics you want to cover or questions to be asked.
- Delete all the old voicemails after you have listened to them so that your mailbox does not get full.
You can save so much time to use for more productive activities if you can trim some voicemail time from your busy schedule!
