Are You Overwhelmed With Everything You Need to Track?

December 14, 2006 by Ben Yoskovitz 26 Comments

We all lead crazy lives. If we could magically add an hour to the day, most of us would add two just so we could get a little more done.

And if you’re like me you work from several places – an office, at home, in the bathroom, while driving, while sleeping…

The more projects I add to my existing schedule the more notes I’m taking. The more notes I take, the more I think about a more effective system of note-taking. I’m fairly effective when it comes to maintaining a lean, mean, fighting to-do list, but it’s all the other little scraps of notes that are getting to me:

reminders
ideas / brainstorms
websites to visit later
passwords
contacts
etc.

And let’s not forget my favorite: those weird, kooky messages I write myself before falling asleep that are impossible to interpret the next morning.

So now I’m left wondering…How SHOULD I track all this stuff?

I know there are software applications to handle to-dos…maybe that’s the answer. There are note-taking tools, and you can use neat little applications to let you mark-up web pages/add sticky notes to them as reminders, etc. I’m not so sure it’s even about which tool to use, as much as it’s about building a system for myself that works.

It’s not a question of falling behind or even about things falling through the cracks (at least not yet!) It’s about consolidating everything that’s going on into one system/structure and place that I can use effectively and brainlessly (the system has to be so easy that I’ll stick with it.)

Help!

How do you keep track of E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G? Is it even possible?

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Char

You should see my desk!

Anyhow, the best tip I have for keeping track of passwords etc is to set up a master sheet in Excel. I have one for our personal stuff and one for my business. I print out one copy, put it in a protector sleeve and keep in a three ring binder on my desk. The other copy goes in the safe. I do the same for keeping track of all the FTP info for my sites and client sites.
Char

You should see my desk!

Anyhow, the best tip I have for keeping track of passwords etc is to set up a master sheet in Excel. I have one for our personal stuff and one for my business. I print out one copy, put it in a protector sleeve and keep in a three ring binder on my desk. The other copy goes in the safe. I do the same for keeping track of all the FTP info for my sites and client sites.
Chris Cree

Ben, I’m with you. I’m getting to the point where I have a ridiculous number of passwords to keep track of. That one alone would be a big help for me.

But getting everything else under one roof would be great. I hope someone out there will share a great application.
Chris Cree

Ben, I'm with you. I'm getting to the point where I have a ridiculous number of passwords to keep track of. That one alone would be a big help for me.

But getting everything else under one roof would be great. I hope someone out there will share a great application.
Ed Carvalho

Microsoft OneNote (2007 version Trial Avail) is my ‘everything bucket’… A real -why didn’t they think of this sooner??? tool…

Slick-ness doubles for Outlook users: Seamless task / to do list & reminders integration

Holy-cow Trifecta: When used on a take it everywhere small Tablet PC (Samsung Q1 in my case)
Ed Carvalho

Microsoft OneNote (2007 version Trial Avail) is my 'everything bucket'… A real -why didn't they think of this sooner??? tool…

Slick-ness doubles for Outlook users: Seamless task / to do list & reminders integration

Holy-cow Trifecta: When used on a take it everywhere small Tablet PC (Samsung Q1 in my case)
Ben Yoskovitz

I’ve thought about trying OneNote. I think I even installed it at one point…

But there’s no web-based version to synchronize with for other computers/access remotely is there?

And thanks for commenting Ed!
Ben Yoskovitz

I've thought about trying OneNote. I think I even installed it at one point…

But there's no web-based version to synchronize with for other computers/access remotely is there?

And thanks for commenting Ed!
Ed Carvalho

While I can’t speak from direct experience with the sync functionality (funnel all I can to the small tablet), 2007 suppossedly handles this real well…
Lots of info @ link below:
http://blogs.msdn.com/chris_pratley/archive/2006/06/07/621692.aspx
Ed Carvalho

While I can't speak from direct experience with the sync functionality (funnel all I can to the small tablet), 2007 suppossedly handles this real well…
Lots of info @ link below:
http://blogs.msdn.com/chris_pratley/archive/200…
Carolyn Manning

For all of my reminders, ideas, brainstorms, etc Microsoft Works works. I named one document ‘scrap paper’ and use it every day. If something needs its own document, transfer is nothing more than cut and paste. Otherwise, stuff gets deleted when I’m finished with it. The calendar in my mailbox is wonderful for sending myself email reminders.

Websites to visit later go into my bookmarks in a folder marked websites to visit later.

The address book that came in my computer works for passwords and contact info. Use the business phone and/or home phone fields for passwords and/or usernames.

These aren’t incredibly sophisticated, but they work well.

Carolyn
Carolyn Manning

For all of my reminders, ideas, brainstorms, etc Microsoft Works works. I named one document 'scrap paper' and use it every day. If something needs its own document, transfer is nothing more than cut and paste. Otherwise, stuff gets deleted when I'm finished with it. The calendar in my mailbox is wonderful for sending myself email reminders.

Websites to visit later go into my bookmarks in a folder marked websites to visit later.

The address book that came in my computer works for passwords and contact info. Use the business phone and/or home phone fields for passwords and/or usernames.

These aren't incredibly sophisticated, but they work well.

Carolyn
Ben Yoskovitz

Thank you for the suggestions. I have to take some time, think about how I want to do this and then experiment with some tools that can help!
Ben Yoskovitz

Thank you for the suggestions. I have to take some time, think about how I want to do this and then experiment with some tools that can help!
Drew McLellan

Ben,

Boy, DO I hear you with this. But, I have found a software (originally it was to synch with my Palm) that really helps me manage lots of information, passwords, URLs, credit card #s, frequent flyer #s — you get the idea.

Check out splashID.com

It has really saved my hide more than once!

Best,

Drew
Drew McLellan

Ben,

Boy, DO I hear you with this. But, I have found a software (originally it was to synch with my Palm) that really helps me manage lots of information, passwords, URLs, credit card #s, frequent flyer #s — you get the idea.

Check out splashID.com

It has really saved my hide more than once!

Best,

Drew
Ben Yoskovitz

Drew – thanks for the tip, I’ll take a look soon!
Ben Yoskovitz

Drew – thanks for the tip, I'll take a look soon!
John Smith

Very simple. Gmail.
Professionnaly backed-up (so I don’t have to worry about my hard drive crashing).
Accessible from everywhere.
Easily searchable.
John Smith

Very simple. Gmail.
Professionnaly backed-up (so I don't have to worry about my hard drive crashing).
Accessible from everywhere.
Easily searchable.
Ben Yoskovitz

John – how do you use Gmail for to-dos/priorities, etc.? Or for “things to look at in the future”?

Do you email yourself information then label it for later?
Ben Yoskovitz

John – how do you use Gmail for to-dos/priorities, etc.? Or for “things to look at in the future”?

Do you email yourself information then label it for later?
Jeff Carpenter

I’ve managed many developers on multi-million dollar software projects, but simple tools like BaseCamp (http://www.basecamphq.com ), AgileGraph ( http://www.agilegraph.com ), and Spreadsheets can help tame even the largest projects.

In fact, I developed and bootstrapped AgileGraph just for that purpose.

Many times I didn’t need complicated tools like MS Project, I just needed to find out which tasks were behind / complete / ahead, too costly, etc.
Jeff Carpenter

I’ve managed many developers on multi-million dollar software projects, but simple tools like BaseCamp (<a href=”www.basecamphq.com” rel=”nofollow”>www.basecamphq.com ), AgileGraph ( http://www.agilegraph.com ), and Spreadsheets can help tame even the largest projects.

In fact, I developed and bootstrapped AgileGraph just for that purpose.

Many times I didn’t need complicated tools like MS Project, I just needed to find out which tasks were behind / complete / ahead, too costly, etc.
Ben Yoskovitz

Jeff – you’re right – most of the time complex applications are not required. AgileGraph looks cool.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting! Hope to see you around.
Ben Yoskovitz

Jeff – you're right – most of the time complex applications are not required. AgileGraph looks cool.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting! Hope to see you around.

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