Apple’s Productivity Shortcomings (And How to Get Around Them)

So by the title, you might think I’m not a fan of Macs. You’d be wrong. I converted from a PC over two years ago and have been glad every day that I did so. Macs do *almost* everything better, and without the headaches of PCs. And the fact that you can go into an Apple retail store and get all kinds of help, most of it free, just seems to make using a Mac a no-brainer. But notice I did say that Macs do almost everything better. The one thing that is harder using Mac-native tools is personal productivity. And being that this is my profession, that’s a bit of a big deal for me.

Your brain was not designed to manage the details of your life. So in order to be effective, you need a tool. And that tool needs to manage at least 5 things well: calendar, contacts, to-do’s (or tasks), email, and notes. I believe that everything in one place is best.  If it can’t be one place, the fewer the better, in my experience.  On a PC, this is handled quite effectively by Microsoft Outlook, and Outlook has the added advantage of syncing pretty seamlessly with most smartphones.

Mac’s answer to this challenge is 3 different programs, and those programs don’t work particularly well together (even though Apple claims they do): Apple Mail, iCal, and Address Book. It’s not easy enough to create a task from an email, so I had to install an add-on program called MailTags (and BTW, MailTags does lots of other things.  I’m a fan). The next problem is that Notes and Tasks don’t sync to iPhone. I am not alone in my shock that Apple would ignore such basic functionality, but there it is. I went outside the Mac native tools for my notes, and chose Evernote, and it enables me to see my notes on my iPhone.  My one complaint with Evernote is that my notes are not synced locally on my iPhone, so I need an internet connection to view/edit them.  So now instead of one program for my productivity system, I’m up to four.

Until recently there was no good solution to take your tasks from iCal and get them to your iPhone (see comments on OmniFocus, below).  There are plenty of simple to-do apps that are web-based, like Remember the Milk, Toodledo, and Jott.  But what I wanted was one that would sync with my tasks from iCal, so that I didn’t have to add yet another tool to my productivity system (4 already seems excessive).  Finally, Appigo has solved my problem.  They offer a free sync tool called Appigo sync, which you download on your Mac, and an iPhone app (although pricey for an app at $9.99) called ToDo.  Finally! This solution allows me to sync my tasks from iCal to my iPhone, and it has lots of functionality for managing views, such as viewing by calendar, priority,  due date, etc.  If you’re a Mac user and looking for a productivity solution, I suggest you give this formula a try.  There is another solution to task management that will also sync with your iPhone, called OmniFocus, but in my opinion, it’s unnecessarily complicated, it may not play as well with Mac OS as OS-native tools, and it’s pricey ($79.95).

If you’re a Mac user with another solution for managing the combination of tasks, calendar, contacts, email, and notes, that is also accessible from your iPhone or smartphone, I’d love to hear about it.  Thanks for reading!

More iPhone & Other Technology Conveniences

I was hired to give a keynote presentation in San Antonio this weekend, where I stayed overnight, and on the drive home I was marveling over the technology that made the trip so enjoyable and convenient for me.  Since it was a Friday, I suggested my husband take the day off and join me for a short getaway.

On the drive down (about 90 minutes from Austin), we used listening to an audiobook (or several) as fodder for conversation.  This was possible through our subscription to Audible, an iPhone (iPod would work too), and an auxiliary outlet in the car.  Oh, and we were also navigating to the hotel via Google Maps on the iPhone.  What’s even better than the text directions is that the iPhone 3G shows your current location as a dot on the map so you can tell if you’re heading in the right direction, how close the turn is, whether or not you missed it, etc.  Priceless for those, like me, who are directionally challenged.

We have not had a lot of down time lately, and we’ve visited San Antonio several times before, so we decided that after the talk, we were going to hole up in our room and indulge our “Lost” addiction.  This was possible thanks to free internet access at the hotel, a laptop, and an $8.99/month Netflix subscription, which allows unlimited streaming of shows or movies, directly to your TV or computer. Personalized, on-demand entertainment on the go.  I could not have imagined this 10 years ago.

But before the Lost marathon, we decided to head out for lunch.  The Yelp app on the iPhone came in handy here, and thanks to that, we found a GREAT place to eat (which I highly recommend if you’re ever in San Antonio) called Texas Farm to Table. Using the app we got some options, read reviews, found out the details, and got directions to the restaurant.  Yelp never lets me down when I’m in a new city.  It’s like having an “insider” everywhere I go, and thanks to the iPhone app, I don’t need to make lists before I leave: I can check what I need on the fly.

I know that some people find it scary to embrace all of this new technology, but honestly I am amazed almost every day at how much easier and more convenient it makes my life.

If you have a story about how technology has made your life easier or more convenient lately, I’d love to hear it.  Thanks for reading!

Confessions of a (Highly Productive) iPhone Addict: UPDATE

Since I wrote this post, I’ve gotten an overwhelming response from people who said they found it helpful.  And now that I’ve had my iPhone for even longer, and upgraded to the 3G, I use it even more than I did before.  And if you read that post, you know it was a lot then.  I thought I’d share some of the new things I’ve learned.

First, let me just mention how handy the camera is, especially combined with email, and now text (AT&T finally supports images & video in text messages).  My husband and I have been doing a lot of decorating lately, and it’s come in so handy for shopping.  We were looking for some furniture & accessories, but it’s hard to visualize how things will look inside the house.  I’ve snapped pictures of furniture in different stores, so not only could I compare pieces, but I could bring them home, hold up the picture in the spot, and visualize how the piece will fit in.  I took a picture of the wall color so that I could get curtains & a pillow that would complement it.  While shopping at the store I hold up the picture to check the colors together.  I snap a shot of something & email it to my husband to make sure he likes it before I buy it.  SO handy.

I’ve also discovered several apps that facilitate meditation & deep sleep which are great to help me relax and I use them at various times, like after a difficult phone call, before an afternoon powernap, and often while drifting off to sleep at night.

If you travel at all, you’ll want to check out Tripit and Packing.  Each has proven to be invaluable to me both getting ready for trips and to access useful information while I’m on my trip, so now I use my iPhone even more when I travel.

I could go on and on here, so I’ll just briefly mention a few more of my favorites:

Yelp & Around Me help me find great local businesses (& my favorite chain stores) when I’m out of my neighborhood.

Snooth (or Beer Brands) helps me pick a good wine (or beer) at dinner or to bring to a party.

Stanza is my favorite eBook & PDF reader for my iPhone – I find a Kindle unnecessary thanks to Stanza (incidentally, Stanza by Lexcycle is the brainchild of former Austinite Neelan Choksi, and was acquired this year by Amazon).

FaceBook & LinkedIn have iPhone versions that let me quickly check in with my social media connections.

Pandora & Slacker let me listen to commercial free music in my choice of genre at any time.

Pret-a-Yoga allows me to get a yoga workout even when I can’t attend a class. I’m also considering buying my yoga teacher’s DVD and loading that on my iPhone.

Bump helps me easily share contact information & files with other iPhone users.

What’s YOUR favorite, use-it-every-day, can’t-live-without-it iPhone app?  I’d love to hear it!  Thanks for reading!

Social Media Efficiency for Newbies, Part 2 of 2

Yesterday I gave some information about differences in social media platforms Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, and MySpace, and gave a couple of analogies to help you to keep your use of them in perspective.

Something else to consider when evaluating social media is WHY are you thinking about it?  Business? Pleasure? Some combination?  Your goals will help dictate how much time you may want to devote to it.  Also, what tools do you have available to access it?  Are you at a desk with a computer all the time?  (Convenient, but very easy to waste time.)  If you’re away from a computer much of the time throughout the day, do you have a handheld device where your interface is easily accessible, or will you have to spend evenings and weekends trying to stay active?  Evaluate whether this is an effective, and welcome, use of your “down” time.

Whether you’re using a computer or a handheld device to access your social media, I suggest that you use “clients” and “aggregators.”  A “client” is a 3rd party application that simplifies the data you receive so that you can review it more quickly, and an “aggregator” lets you send and receive information from several services at once (Ping.fm which I mentioned yesterday is an aggregator for sending information.  Tweetie is a client that I like for Twitter.)

Once you have a client, you can program it so that you see exactly what you want to see immediately, and let’s discuss what you’re likely to be looking for.  First, are there people you are following whose updates you don’t want to miss, such as prospects, competitors, experts in your industry, or good friends?  If so, dedicate a window or a column to each of those people.  Also, reading your “current” stream is helpful, which is the most recent page of updates from all the people you are connected with.  In addition to Tweetie, Tweetdeck is another client that makes it easy to do both of these simultaneously and there are several others.

What else should you care about?  Well, you definitely want to keep an eye on what’s called your “vanity stream.”  This means tracking anytime your name or your company or product name is mentioned anywhere on a social media platform.  Tweetie, for example, makes it easy to search for “at-replies” (@replies), meaning anytime someone addresses something to you or otherwise mentions you in a “Tweet” (update, or post).  The FaceBook app for iPhone also alerts you to “notifications,” which is essentially the same thing, but on FaceBook instead of Twitter.

The next thing that you want to check is private messages to you.  In Twitter these are called “DMs” (direct messages).  In most of the other platforms, these messages appear in your inbox in your account, such as in FaceBook and LinkedIn.

One last thing you might be interested in, is what new people are now “following” you or “friending” or otherwise connecting with you (getting your updates or wanting your updates)?  And which of those do you want to reciprocate/allow/accept?

I know this seems like a lot, but honestly if you have the right tools, you can do it all in just a few minutes at a time.

One warning I will give you about FaceBook if you are concerned about wasting time is to stay away from the games and the quizzes.  They just eat up too much time with nothing good received in return.  The one exception is the RippleTag FaceBook app created by my friend Steve Harper.  This is a great way to find connection points with people in your network.

Like all of the communication tools before them, these social media applications take some time to learn and to incorporate into your life, so that you can evaluate them for yourself.  It’s my belief that ignoring them for as long as you can is not the most efficient way of dealing with them.  You might as well jump in, especially now that you have some advance knowledge, and see what you think, because they are not going away anytime soon.  They will either be enjoyable and useful, or not.  And if they are not, that’s probably ok.

If you have other ideas, I’d love for you to share them in the comments.  Thanks for reading!

Social Media Efficiency for Newbies, Part 1 of 2

Everyone is giving advice about social media, and it’s a topic I get asked about a lot.  I’ve shared some information before, in this post and this post.  Certainly you can ask 10 different people questions about social media, and get 10 different answers.  I don’t think the rules have become entirely apparent yet.  But here are some thoughts on participating in social media without it becoming a complete time sink.

For purposes of this post, when I talk about  social media, I am referring mainly to Twitter and FaceBook, but certainly the principles apply to the others as well, such as LinkedIn and MySpace.  My take on these four is that LinkedIn is basically an online résumé, and MySpace is more relevant for creatives like artists and musicians.  FaceBook seems to be a social tool for most people, but increasingly a mix of both business and personal for entrepreneurs and business owners.  Twitter and FaceBook are growing more similar, although Twitter (thankfully) doesn’t have all the games and other distractions.  It’s just people communicating with each other.  A lot of people ask me about Twitter versus FaceBook.  My opinion is that there is much more useful information being shared on Twitter than on FaceBook.  On FaceBook, there are still too many people sharing what they had for breakfast, and giving me their score in Mafia Wars, and telling me which Desperate Housewife they are most like.  All of these FaceBook games and applications make for many distractions.  I’ve connected with more old friends from my past on FaceBook than on Twitter, which has been fun.  But I’ve made more new friends and gained more exposure for my business on Twitter, so there are pros and cons to both.  I have a presence on FaceBook and I check it periodically, but my Twitter stream seems much more relevant to my life and my business.  FaceBook is nice for keeping up with friends and family.  When I send an update, I often use Ping.fm so it posts to both Twitter and FaceBook, but that’s because I’m connected with mostly different people on each.

I have two analogies that help me relate social media to newbies.  Both of these were created out of conversation with my friend CJ Romberger.  The first is that you can think of these social media platforms as a crystal-clear, flowing stream on a hot day.  The water is fantastic but you have to accept that you will never touch every drop.  You’ll jump in, swim around a bit, and then get out and the water will continue to flow by without you.  And that’s ok.

The second analogy is that Twitter and FaceBook, for instance, are kind of like great parties, where lots of interesting people are discussing lots of interesting things, all the time.  The party is fabulous but sometimes you have to be ok with leaving and doing other things for a while.

Tomorrow I’ll add information about things to consider when evaluating social media, and how to interact with it productively and efficiently.  Please check back and thanks for reading!

Keeping Up with Communication: Convenience vs. Control

How do you keep up with social media?  How do you find the time?  I get asked some version of this question every day, and in fact I deliver trainings on the topic.  The tools you choose to use have a huge impact on how well you can keep up with the flood of communication caused by engaging in social media.  I don’t think I’d be as active (or at all active) on social media if it weren’t for my iPhone.  My iPhone gives me the ability to check in on FaceBook & Twitter at random moments in the day, like waiting in the drive through for coffee, waiting in line at the supermarket, waiting for a meeting to start…any idle moment that comes along gives me the opportunity, if I so choose, to check my Tweet stream or my FaceBook news with just the click of a button.  (I use Tweetie on my iPhone for Twitter and FaceBook’s own app for FaceBook).  I haven’t looked lately to see if these apps are as user-friendly on a Blackberry or other devices, but I can tell you that an iPhone makes it super-easy.

This convenience can have a downside, however, if I don’t control it.  First, I don’t have any alarms set on my iPhone to alert me when I have new Tweets or FaceBook notifications.  That would be endlessly distracting.  But still, if I’m not careful, this “convenience” could rob me of any time for idle thought.  And we, as a society, already don’t take enough time for just thinking.  It’s nice to have those idle minutes to take a couple of deep breaths, look around, take in the scenery, and let my mind wander.  It’s important to allow time in your day for this, at least.  Even better if you can carve out some real thinking time in your day.  Ten minutes?  15?  How about 30 minutes to sit someplace quiet, without a phone or computer, and see where your mind takes you.

My iPhone adds a huge amount of convenience to my life, and allows me to keep up with things I find enjoyable.  No question.  But also be sure you’re in control of the technology, and that it’s not running your life.

I’ll leave you with a quote shared with me by my friend Connie Brubaker, which I love:

“A life of reaction is a life of slavery, intellectually and spiritually.
One must fight for a life of action, not reaction.”
– Rita Mae Brown

Thanks for reading!

Using Technology to Bring More Control into Your Life

In some ways, we are more connected than ever:  Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube…these tools give us unprecedented opportunity to connect with and attract the attention of people who in the past seemed much farther removed: celebrities, politicians, corporate executives.

I’m also beginning to realize that technology provides plenty of tools to keep others at arm’s length if we so choose.  First came Otherinbox.  This allows me to receive emails, or not, while still keeping my email address private.  Many benefits are exchanged for the implicit permission to be marketed to via email.   Now I can reap those benefits by providing an Otherinbox address, all the while still controlling whether or not I actually receive those marketing emails, and when.  Otherinbox has given me much more control over my email inbox…all the advantages of a “junk box” with none of the inconveniences.

Recently, I signed up for a Google Voice account.  It’s new and different and so understandably, I still have some reservations about it.  However, I’m realizing that Google Voice can be to my phone number what Otherinbox is to my email.  It gives me the control to take calls, block calls, let them roll into my voicemail, and even listen in while the message is being recorded.  I can also make calls with my Google Voice number, or give it out when I’m asked, thus protecting my “real” phone number, and preventing corporations and marketers from reaching me directly if I don’t want them to.

I had been thinking lately that privacy was dead.  Maybe it’s just getting a new beginning.

Is “Effective Meetings” an OxyMoron?

It doesn’t have to be, although that seems to be status quo in larger companies these days, and sometimes even in smaller ones.  Here are some things to consider to make meetings at your organization more effective.

As yourself if it’s appropriate to have a meeting, or if there are other means available to solve the problem.  A good question is “what’s the GOAL of the meeting?”  Fill in this blank:  At the end of the meeting we will have ___________.”  It’s true that although people try every day, email is NOT the place for a group discussion.  This just leads to bunches of emails for everyone involved to wade through, much of which is a waste of time.  There are many web applications that are useful for gathering input from a team.  If you’re trying to find a convenient time to do something, consider a site like TimeWizard or WhenIsGood.  If you are trying to collect input, take a look at Google Forms, which will drop the results into a spreadsheet in Google Docs for you, or Survey Monkey, which has a free option and a paid subscription.

As the meeting planner, after answering the question about the goal of the meeting, the  next rule of an effective meeting is to have an agenda.  Consider putting time limits, or at least guidelines, on each topic, and assigning a timekeeper and minute-taker at the meeting.  Also, the minutes should be published, preferably in the body of an email, not as an attachment (it increases the likelihood that they will get read, or at least skimmed).  This gives an opportunity to take a discussion off-line if necessary, keeps everyone on-track, and collects all the ideas and comments that come out of the meeting.

If you are a leader in your organization, consider whether the company culture allows people to “opt-out” of a meeting, or if it’s just expected that everyone will attend who is invited.  Allowing for an option gives employees control over their workday, which is an essential factor in job satisfaction.  As an attendee, make sure you understand what part you will be expected to play in the meeting, and whether or not it is useful to your current objectives.  Invitations to meetings that have no agenda and haven’t addressed the goal should be considered carefully.  These have the potential to be a huge time sink.

The effectiveness of every meeting depends, lastly, on three critical questions posed at the end, and recorded in the minutes:
1. WHAT’S the next action?
2. WHO is responsible?
3. WHEN is the due date?

Having these questions and answers recorded in the minutes creates accountability through publicity.  It’s much easier to miss a deadline when no one knows you have it.  When it’s a public deadline, people are much more likely to meet it.

If you have anything to add about effective meetings, I hope you’ll post them in the comments.  Thanks for reading!

Follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mnthomas.

Productivity and Company Culture

Earlier in my career, and now again, I find myself working with either small companies (less than 50 employees) or divisions within larger companies, which often operate as small companies within a larger framework.  And I’ve discovered that individual productivity (workload management) has a significant impact on the culture in the company or department.

It goes without saying that in your company or department, most employees probably have a very full workload.  Have you ever considered how your staff or co-workers handle this workload?  The answers are probably varied.  There may be those who produce competent work and meet deadlines.  Are those employees happy?  Do they seem constantly stressed?  Do they work long hours to get their work done?

Do you have employees who seem to be busy, but you can’t quite identify exactly what they produce?  And what about those who tend to be the bottleneck in the organization?   Is this causing animosity? Individual rivalries?  Territorialism?  Many interpersonal issues within your organization may be a result of the self-management styles of the employees.

Some people are naturally better at managing full and hectic workloads.  Others aren’t, but this doesn’t mean they can’t learn.  Most people are ill-equipped to handle the demands on their attention caused by the Information Age.  Your employees could be losing hours in their day simply because they don’t manage information well, and usually people don’t manage information well because they have never been taught.  Consider these points from Coopers & Lybrand:

• Of all the pages that get handled each day in the average office, 90% of them are merely shuffled.
• Professionals spend 5-15% of their time reading information, but up to 50% of their time looking for it.

A survey conducted by America Online found that, on average, people check their email five times a day.  A study in Scotland, using optical monitors fitted to workers eyes, found workers glancing at or otherwise checking email as much as 40 times per hour!

When workers feel tied to their email, as if they MUST be immediate with their response, this reflects a culture problem in the organization.  It means no one can focus on any one thing for more than a few minutes or seconds, and this must be addressed at the levels of both personal workload management, and company communication culture. (For more on this, read this post and this post.)

In addition to communication, accountability has a big affect on culture.  When there are employees who don’t produce, or who consistently miss deadlines, but there are no consequences, this brings down the productivity of the whole organization.  But often people aren’t held accountable because of the workload-management skills of the individuals delegating the work.

If your staff has interpersonal challenges, stress issues, works more hours than you think they should, or any combination of these issues, personal productivity skills could be lacking.  Giving your staff the techniques and processes they need to keep up with the demands of the Information Age could have a huge impact on your bottom line, in employee satisfaction, teamwork, and productivity.

Guest Post: Breakfast Fairies by Steve Harper

My dear friend and fabulous “Ripple Guy” Steve Harper put up a post on his blog yesterday that was just so touching, I wanted to share it. I’ve had the honor of meeting Steve’s dad several times on his trips to Austin, and yes, he is as sweet and special as he sounds.  I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did. Thanks for visiting!

Breakfast Fairies Revisited, By Steve Harper

Dad spent the last ten years caring for my mom as she battled Alzheimer’s Disease. The last three or four Mom was unable to care for herself and Dad took on the role of serving all of her needs. Morning, noon and night he cared for her. He bathed her. He dressed her. He fed her. His entire life was consumed by the care he gave my Mom. Taking on both the physical and emotional stress and refusing to never once consider raising the white flag and agreeing to put her in a facility.

I can not imagine how he summoned the courage to do it day in and day out. His only breaks were quick jaunts to Austin while my sister Debbie cared for my mom so he could get a few days away. That was his life and I imagine for a lot of people they would have considered it a most miserable existence for both of my parents. Somehow I don’t think either of of them felt that way. In fact the lessons in love that were learned if you watched those two over these past few years would soften even the hardest of hearts.

I used to worry that my Dad was alone in his care for my mom. None of us kids live exactly close to Albuquerque where they live. I worried that Dad’s almost daily constant push to get mom out of the house was taking a toll on them both physically. After all it would take quite an effort to get mom in and out of a car and into a restaurant.

However I now know it was those quick trips to Starbucks or those lengthy trips to their favorite breakfast, lunch and dinner spots was exactly what was needed. Although it took mom forever to eat a meal (2 hours would not be unheard of), my dad would sit there patiently feeding her one fork or spoonful at time all the while chatting away about this and that – despite no return conversation.

It was during these many times that something incredible happened. Mom and Dad inspired people along the way. Countless people came up to them and offered stories of their own battles with an aging spouse, parent or grandparent. They would shake my dad’s hand and offer a gentle pat on Mom’s back. They would let him know he was not alone and how lucky my mom was to have such a caring and loving steward at her side.

Rarely a month went by without Dad calling excited to share a story of their meal magically being bought by some stranger. Sometimes the strangers would reveal themselves but more often than not they didn’t. Endless numbers of waiters, waitresses and even bus boys would buy my parents dessert with their tip money. Not to mention those restaurant owners and managers that would just end up tearing up their check and telling Dad “Your money is no good here!”

Dad eventually ended up calling these folks his Breakfast Fairies thanks in part to a note that he received after one meal. It read, “caregivers need care too!” signed the Breakfast Fairy.

Yes I was worried my dad was alone in his care for my mom but have since come to realize he never really was.

As I went home for my mom’s funeral we went to all of their old eating spots. One by one I watched dad share the news of my mom’s passing. Waiters, waitresses, regular customers at more places than I can count gave hugs, told stories of Dad’s care for Mom and just how inspired they were by him and mom. It was then I realized these people whom were strangers to most were more than that to my parents; they were family.

I have no idea how many meals along the way were purchased for my parents but it was a lot. I know Dad was at first unnerved by this outpouring of kindness, not exactly knowing how to respond, especially when the Breakfast Fairy preferred to remain anonymous. Eventually he grew comfortable with these gentle but ever so meaningful Ripples offered by others and he soon jumped in becoming a Breakfast Fairy for others himself.

As the days and weeks have passed since Mom’s funeral, I know dad has found comfort in going to his old haunts. The outpouring of love and care that people have showed him these past few weeks and ultimately these past few years has to warm and heal his heart. That makes the distance between us almost bearable in my mind.

It doesn’t take much to make a indelible impact on someone’s life. If you take nothing more from this post than this…know you have the power to make someone feel special and loved. It just may be exactly what they needed to know.

Be a Breakfast Fairy and pick up someone’s check next time you are at breakfast, lunch or dinner. The Ripples you create will undoubtedly come back to you!

Heck if we all do it, we may really start something here!

Ripple On!!!

Here are links to a few previous posts on the Breakfast Fairy topic.

Breakfast Fairy Challenge

Breakfast Fairy Challenge Part 2

Breakfast Fairy Strikes Again