Separate your email from your to-do's | Geek To Live

"Your boss needs the updated PowerPoint presentation file by Tuesday. Your spouse wants to know how many vacation days you've got left this year. Your co-worker needs your office pool picks. Everyone gets task requests via email all day long, and it's so easy to let these messages slip through the cracks. Whether your inbox is stuffed with two-year-old fwd'd kitten photos from Aunt Edna, or if you empty it every day and diligently file away actionable email to a 'TO-DO' folder - it's still not easy to track the messages you've actually got to DO something about using email." Click the title to read more...

Email Overload: Download a Free Copy of David Allen's Email Rules

"David Allen, author of Getting Things Done and inspiration for a lot of posts 'round these parts, gives away a free four-page PDF at his website that covers his basic principals for keeping email organized. Getting specific without going too in-depth, he explains the 'two minute rule,' why action-able emails should be kept separate from others, and why creating your own system—such as Gina's modified 'Trusted Trio'. Great reading for GTD neophytes, and a good brush-up for the rest of us." Click the title to read more...

2,433 Unread Emails Is An Opportunity For An Entrepreneur | TechCrunch

"I routinely declare email bankruptcy and simply delete my entire inbox. But even so, I currently have 2,433 unread emails in my inbox. Plus another 721 in my Facebook inbox. and about thirty skype message windows open with unanswered messages. It goes without saying, of course, that my cell phone voicemail box is also full (I like the fact that new messages can’t be left there, so I have little incentive to clear it out).

How do I deal with email now? I scan the from and subject fields for high payoff messages. People I know who don’t waste my time, or who I have a genuine friendship with. Or descriptive subject lines that help me understand that I should allot a minute or more of my life to opening it and reading it."

Wow. Talk about a dysfunctional way of handling communications! Are you having problems like this? Here are a couple of ideas...

1. Use Gmail. No other ISP offers the tools to handle large volumes of email like Gmail...
2. Read 'Getting Things Done' by David Allen. If you're in a hurry, skip to #3...
   
3. Check out Inbox Zero...

If you can't implement it on your own, scroll down and give me a call -- I'll be happy to help you out...

Ubuntu Founder Mark Shuttleworth on Productivity and Linux | Lifehacker Australia

"Founder of Ubuntu Linux Mark Shuttleworth took time out of his busy schedule to talk with us about email, productivity, travel, web applications, Ubuntu, free software and much more. We asked Shuttleworth what you wanted to know and he gave us the full scoop." Click the title to read more...

This should be interesting...

I sent the following email to several school districts and a couple of 501(c)3's in my area today...

"A recent study by the Radicati Group on ‘Microsoft Exchange 2003 Total Cost of Ownership’ concludes that Microsoft Office is much more cost effective than Lotus Notes with an average acquisition cost of $450.39 per user with a total cost of ownership of $107.02 per user per year. While schools and non-profit organizations are usually able to negotiate much lower pricing, either through educational discounts or through the little known ‘Microsoft Charity Program’, it does not eliminate the need and expense of administration, training, etc.

In the current economic environment, most schools and 501(c)3's would do well to evaluate the benefits of Google Apps Education Edition – a cost effective collaboration suite powered by Google that delivers many of the collaboration features of the Microsoft Back Office suite at a small fraction of the deployment cost and maintenance costs. In fact, the Google Apps Education Edition has NO DEPLOYMENT OR ANNUAL COSTS and ongoing per user administration costs are lower because Microsoft certification is not required. See for yourself at http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/admins/customers.html#edu. [By the way, the Google Apps Education Edition is free for 501(c)3's as well…]

I’ll be calling you to talk more about this topic. Please contact me via return email if you’d like a copy of the report I mentioned earlier..."

This is like offering free money -- I wonder how many of them will take me up on it? What most administrators don't realize is that their tech people have a vested interest, not necessarily in doing the right thing, but in keeping the school or business on Microsoft technology, regardless of how ineffective it is from a cost standpoint. I'll keep you posted...

By the way, what about your business? Should you be looking at this? Of course you should!

Some thoughts on better contact management...

I recently came across this post from my Internet buddy Brandon Henak and I've been thinking about it all week. It was about using Plaxo for unified contact management and it went like this...

"The people in your network and the relationships you develop with them are some of your most valuable assets as a young professional. You look to them first for advice, job opportunities or just to discuss the latest events in your life. How you keep track of all the contact information you have collected in your personal and professional life is crucial to your success.

Contacts Everywhere!

In the poll we took earlier today we saw an interesting breakdown of contact management solutions, from relying on a cell phone to store contact information to using Microsoft Outlook, Facebook and other online sites. Each one of the solutions have their advantages and disadvantages. I have tried every one of the solutions listed with various degrees of success but, what if you could use each of them where they work the best, Outlook at the office, Mac Address Book at home and Plaxo online, without having to manually update each? I recently found a way to centralize and standardize all my contact and calendar information across all the services I use, automatically!

Sync them up!

Enter Plaxo 3.0 beta with Sync Points. After setting up an account, all I had to do was click on the “Add Sync Point” link for each of the programs I wanted to use (in my case Google, Mac Address Book, Outlook, and AIM) and it walks you through the process of putting in your login information for Google and downloading small add-ins for Outlook and Mac Address Book. Now, all of my sources sync together and I can sync all my contacts to my phone through Address Book. Any addition anywhere flows across the systems and is easily accessible."

This was particularly interesting to me because I'm a Plaxo subscriber, but I've experienced a lot of problems with contact management. So what's the problem?

A little background info...

I've been in marketing, sales, and technology for 25 years now and I have collect over 5,000 vcards and thousands more business cards that aren't documented. I use 7 computers spanning three platforms and I want to access my contacts on all of them.

The answer?

The answer for me, like Brandon, starts with Plaxo for the following reasons:

1. It's platform and browser independent.
2. It offers 'sync points' for the tools I use or have access to; Outlook, Thunderbird, a Treo 700wx running Windows Mobile 5. [Many more are available...]
3. Members can choose to link to give one another the latest contact information as soon as it changes.
4. The duplicate merger/remover is among the best I've used.
5. There is a growing social network component which is a cross between Facebook and LinkedIn.

So if Plaxo is the answer, what's MY problem? In a nutshell, using Plaxo was causing, not eliminating duplicates. Or, better said, using Plaxo with ActiveSync was causing duplicates. When I made the decision to stop using two synchronization tools simultaneously, my problems went away and I got closer to the promised land that Brandon was describing...

More background. I'm currently in the process of moving to Linux; I don't want to pay ransom to Microsoft anymore and although I'm a former Apple account executive, I don't want to pay for Apple's industrial design when I can have the benefits of a Linux based operating system on inexpensive Intel hardware. The answer for me is Linux.

For now, however, my solution set consists of Plaxo, Microsoft Outlook 2003 [I only said I didn't want to pay anymore – I'll still use what I have], Gmail, Google Calendar and a Treo 700wx. I see myself moving off Outlook to Thunderbird/Lightning [Mozilla's answer to contact and calendar management – Mozilla is only going to get better at this!] and off the Treo onto either a Blackberry or the Google Android platform. Thankfully [?], Sprint is forcing me to keep my current phone until September when the outlook on Google's approach to cellphones should be known...

A big part of solving my problem was also to realize [thanks to David Allen] that some contacts are context sensitive, namely, that I don't need to be able to call all 5,000 people from my cellphone – some I only need to be able to access when I'm sitting at a computer. I was actually synchronizing contacts for which I didn't have a telephone number to my phone! Why? Because I was going to send them an email from the phone? Unlikely. In reality, I have found that after careful analysis, I actually need to synchronize less than 200 contacts between my phone and my computer and if I really were honest with myself, there are probably less than a hundred people that I call on a regular basis. So, I copied all my contacts to a folder called 'Master' in Outlook and deleted all contacts that I either hadn't called or didn't anticipate calling this quarter [there's a copy of the deleted contacts in Master, remember?] As a result, I'm only synchronizing what I have to now. This is a HUGE savings of time and energy and silly as it may seem, actually represents a massive epiphany for me. Call me Captain Obvious?

The underlying idea here is getting closer to a world where it doesn't matter what computer or platform you're using – your information is accessible from anywhere! Plaxo can get you a good part of the way there...

By the way, if you're not using Google Desktop, start! It can unify all the computers you're using and allow you to search your Gmail and your computers in the same way you search the internet now...

Step away from the inbox | Simply GTD with Kelly

"A few times lately in GTD classes, people have asked me for recommendations on how often I process email. There are some approaches out there that suggest people only check email once a day. Sounds pretty extreme to me, especially if your world moves pretty fast and real work is getting done through email. I check email as often as I need to and at least once a day my Inbox is at zero. However, I do think stepping away from the constant stream of new input can be helpful, if not essential, to getting things done. Otherwise, it can be like standing in front of a fire hydrant with water blasting you in the face. You'll keep getting pelted until you step away from it." Click the title to read more...

One inbox to rule them all...

Regular readers know I spend a great deal of time on the topic of email. Why? Because no other technology has the power to make or break your productivity in the way that email does...

In order to get ahead, it's critical to move from being reactive to proactive and Gmail, the simple and powerful approach to email developed by Google is the key to getting your email life under control.

I'll be conducting an online 'lunch and learn' webinar at noon CDST on beginning and intermediate Gmail topics from configuring Gmail to send and receive from your other email accounts to using tools and techniques from Getting Things Done, InboxZero and Remember The Milk to enhance and extend your inbox. Grab a sandwich from Jimmy John's and sit down at your computer while we talk about how using Gmail can help you get your life under control. Email me at info@e1evation.com if you'd like the logon instructions...

Linux Communications Suite Enters Beta | PC World

"Software developer Unison has launched what it claims is the world's first fully-unified communications suite based on Linux.

Announced at CeBIT, the suite (also simply called Unison) combines IP telephony, e-mail and instant messaging with diary, address book and presence capabilities, all in a single Linux server. It is available free as a public beta.

'You can get all these elements separately on Linux, but this is the first time they have all been in one server,' said Rurik Bradbury, Unison's chief marketing officer. Other unified communications (UC) schemes, such as Microsoft's Office Communications Server (OCS) can require three or more servers to do the same thing, he added." Tired of Microsoft Exchange? Me too. Click the title to read more...

10 broken technology ideas -- and how to fix them | Computerworld.com

Here's 'thing' number 2...

"My main problem with satellite Internet providers is their fair use policies, which penalize users who download too much by throttling their speed back to almost nothing, and then slowly adding more speed over a 24 hour period. Both WildBlue and HughesNet do this, and they claim it helps all users.

However, the Internet is not just for e-mail and simple browsing anymore, it's a pipeline for television, network back-ups, remote access and a myriad of other activities -- not to mention Web apps and streaming media."

I am a WildBlue customer and their Fair Access Policy sucks! Sorry, but it does, but not half as much as their customer service -- WildBlue has the worst customer service I have ever encountered in a high tech company. The product works great as long as you don't violate the Fair Access Policy and have to talk with their customer service...

Click the title to read the full article online...

Making the switch from Microsoft Office to Web apps | Workers' Edge

'For him who has ears to hear!' as the Good Book says. It's possible to have a powerful computing experience without using a single Microsoft product [or paying a single penny to Bill Gates]...

"The only reason I've opened Microsoft Outlook or any other desktop e-mail program in the last year is to test tips. Since I added my ISP account to my Gmail in-box, and moved my Outlook appointments to Google Calendar, I get all the information I need in my browser.

Now I'm getting ready to boot Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for their Web alternatives, but before I bail on Office entirely, I stuck a toe in the Web-apps water by using the free ThinkFree Online service irregularly over the past few weeks. So far, I haven't missed Word, Excel, or PowerPoint one bit. In fact, I appreciate the comparative simplicity of their Web counterparts, which have worked without a hitch--so far, at least."

Click the title to read more...

5 Sentences | How to Change the World

I post a lot about email. Why? Because for most business people the battle for control over the inbox is THE most critical fight they face each day. Most actionable items come to us in the form of email and tools like GTD and Inbox Zero help us process that information [search the blog for those topics]...

What about writing emails? There's a move afoot called 5 Sentences. It's not complex -- you can read everything you need to know about it here. Guy Kawasaki also wrote about it in his post 'Ten Things to Learn This School Year ':

"How to write a five-sentence email. Young people have an advantage over older people in this area because older people (like me) were taught to write letters that were printed on paper, signed, stuck in an envelope, and mailed. Writing a short email was a new experience for them. Young people, by contrast are used to IMing and chatting. If anything, they’re too skilled on brevity, but it’s easier to teach someone how to write a long message than a short one. Whether UR young or old, the point is that the optimal length of an email message is five sentences. All you should do is explain who you are, what you want, why you should get it, and when you need it by."

Handling email effectively is not only knowing how to process your inbox -- it's a collaborative effort on all our parts to write better and more succinct emails!

The Working Inbox | TeacherTechBlog

"Today, I was firing off a couple of emails when I noticed that the message count in the top corner said, “483 Messages”! I decided enough was enough and began doing some more research into managing my inbox. I checked up on lifehacker.com, 43folders.com, and a few others to see what was going on. One of the best words of wisdom I found, however, rested in Scott Hanselman’s blog.

Remember that your inbox is not storage, it’s a list of what hasn’t been categorized yet.

This is exactly what my inbox had become. Sure it was kind of handy to have every email that I have received in the past year within a couple of pages, but I thought there must be a better way to manage it. I will list a few of the resources that I picked up, but let me sum most of them up." Click the title to read more...

Nonprofit Info Smorgasbord | Spare Change

Are you still getting email newsletters? I'm doing everything I can to eliminate them and keep my inbox for 'just in time' information only. Wait! Where do I get the information which was contained in those newsletters? Through newsfeeds. Here's a post that might help you get started...

"Do you have a huge number of blog and news feeds in your feedreader that you can't possibly keep up with on a daily basis? Or, on the other end of the spectrum, have you resisted deciphering those three little letters, RSS, and continue to check your bookmarked links regularly to see if your favorite web pages have updated?

Now there is a new -- and incredibly simple -- solution. Guy Kawasaki, whom I used to read in Macworld Magazine when he was the original brand evangelist, recently started a new network of websites called Alltop.com. Based on the popurls model, the sites -- each focusing on a specific topic -- show the latest five posts from a wide range of news sources and blogs covering that topic, all on one page. Topics include celebrities, health, "green," social media, small business and many others.

I suggested to Guy that he create a "nonprofit" topic and worked with him to identify news and blog feeds that should be included. And that's how nonprofit.alltop.com was born."

Whether you take the Alltop approach or use the free Google Reader to subscribe to feeds -- just do it! Getting newsletters out of your inbox and into your browser is a great way to resist following the rabbit trail of an interesting newsletter in the middle of your work. Save your inbox for action and your newsreading for a newsreader! Contact me if you're interested in learning how to make the switch...

Email Overload: Conquer Email Backlog with Inbox 0.5

"When you finally decide you're going to empty your inbox on a regular basis, the hardest part is getting started—most likely because you're already buried under an avalanche of messages. Blogger Jason Clarke offers a sensible approach to that first, most difficult push towards Inbox Zero, and he calls it Inbox 0.5. Clarke says that you can cut down a huge pile of messages without losing an entire weekend by processing HALF the number of backed up messages you've got each day. So if you're starting with 700, reduce that to 350 the first day. If you've got 400 the next day, reduce that to 200. Rinse and repeat till you've conquered the backlog and are just maintaining an empty inbox with new mail that arrives." Click the title to read more...

Alltop a single page blog dashboard of sorts | B2B Lead Generation Blog

Gathering information via newsfeeds is a critical part of the inbox zero approach to email. It will help you get distracting newsletters out of your inbox and into a newsreader where they belong.

"If you don’t have time to search though multiple blogs I recommend you check out Alltop. The site was launched by marketing wiz, blogger, author, entrepreneur & venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki.

What's different about Alltop? It’s really a selection of the top 50 RSS feeds (i.e. mostly blogs) in 20 categories. All that information is collected listed in a single page. Personally, I’m finding Alltop useful for keeping up with other topics I'm interested in but don't want to spend a lot of time on.

"Where are you going to put all the great stuff you find on Alltop? My suggestion is use Google Reader to collect and organize the feeds. Reader works with Gmail as a 1-2 combination to end clutter in your inbox. Gmail is for 'just in time' information and Reader is for 'just in case'. Don't let the two get mixed together...

Google Apps Goes Premier | InsideGoogle

Here's another move schools and 501(c)3s should make to get off Microsoft Exchange and its expensive licensing...

"Google has launched a new version of Google Apps (formerly Google Apps for Your Domain), and it adds Google Docs & Spreadsheets and a pay service.

There are now two editions of Goofle Apps: the free Standard Edition and the paid Premier Edition. Both editions have Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Google Page Creator, and a customized start page, [editor; Google also added the ability to create extranet sites 10 days ago as part of the package] no limit to the number of accounts, mobile access, and administrator control panel and web-based support.

Premier Edition differs like so: For $50 per user per year, you get a 99.9% uptime guarantee for email, 10 gigabyte inboxes for all email accounts (up from 2 gigs for the free version), the option of removing advertising from Gmail, shared calendars, APIs for integrating existing infrastructure (including single sign-on, user provisioning and management, and support for an email gateway), a limited release of email migration tools, 24/7 phone support, and third party applications and services.

A note: A 99.9% uptime guarantee means your account will be down for no more than 43.829 minutes per month. Google’s getting better, but outages have happened to Gmail, and I’m sure there will be months where Google has to refund a number of customers.

There is a free trial of Google Apps Premier through the end of April. Google Apps is free for schools and other educational institutions, as well as free for families and groups, which is really just another way of saying that those people can only sign up for the free version."

With the UW school system looking at making the move to Google Apps for Domains, what would prevent our local schools from moving in this direction as well? Click the title to read more...