CoLab-O-Bot Decisions! Your #Productivity Assistant

Favorite Quote of the Day

"Joining a Facebook group about creative productivity is like buying a chair about jogging." 

Merlin Mann @hotdogsladies via Twitter

While you're on break (and not supposed to be working), go on over and visit Merlin Mann's web site: 43 Folders

Get Things Done Mashup

I've been reading "Getting Things Done" by David Allen and as a result been spending some time putting together a system to help get organized and more productive.  Previously, I had blogged a comparison between OneNote and Evernote and the latter has won for gathering memos, emails, etc. that need to be acted on (trash anything else).  Also found some good references on how to utilize Evernote (tags, notebooks), like The Secret Weapon.  It's a good start, but still looking for more of a system to put notes, tasks and projects together.

Turns out that there are lots of different GTD systems out there, but I only looked at ZenDone and Nozbe in depth.  Both integrate with Evernote, but in different ways.  The difference was why I choose Nozbe for my Task/Project manager.

So, two pieces of the puzzle ... then I added in If This Then That to funnel things to Evernote by doing one of these:

• Star an email in Gmail
• Label an email in Gmail
• Favorite a Tweet

Next step was to get actionable items from Evernote over into Nozbe.  That's where another part of the integration came into play.  One thing I could do was set a reminder on the note and that would get it over to the Nozbe inbox. From there I could assign it to a project or make it a next action.  Then I discovered TaskClone which allows me to create a note with multiple check boxes, add a specific tag and presto ... each check box item shows up in Nozbe as a separate task.

So, there it is, my GTD system to gather up everything important that needs to remembered and tasks that need to be done.  All that from reading one book (and surfing around the net quite a bit).

Productivity: OneNote vs Evernote

Sure, I've been using a DayTimer since the mid-90's to keep my appointments, tasks and projects straight.  Most things I just kept in my head (that's not working as well as it used to). Since I've got all these tech-toys (Blackberry, Kindle, laptop), it's time to start using them to get organized and more productive.

What got this started was a roll out of Microsoft OneNote at work.  So, everyone in the office now has it and some teams have already been using it for tracking projects.   First impressions so far:

Pros

• Integrates with Sharepoint and other Office apps we have at work
• Installs on most devices for free
• Free web version of OneNote with a Microsoft OneDrive account
• Has built-in OCD and screen capture

Cons

• Free web version isn't going to link up with the version we're using at work
• No app for the Blackberry
• Nothing for Linux (Ubuntu!)

So, looking at trying to find something that would be more accessible on all my devices, at work and home, took a look at Evernote.  There are apps for Linux available (Everpad, NixNote aka Nevernote) and they have an app for the Blackberry.  Multiple subscription levels that include free personal use and scales up for business use.

Both have third-party apps that used with them to scan, capture web pages and utilize project management tools.

For now, I'm going to use OneNote just for specific work projects and Evernote for everything else.  Also going to use Zendone.com to integrate Evernote with my Google Calendar (OneNote can hook in with Outlook, but we don't use Outlook at work).

More to follow as I try things out.