Staying Organized Online
I’ve been testing out a bunch of online services to try to keep somewhat organized. Some of them are to-do list managers, some are calendar applications, some are more like freeform-note applications with crazy parsers built in that figure out what you really mean.
After a bunch of accounts, tests, and residual fallout, which included (the unfortunately named) I Want Sandy, Stikkit, and Plaxo, here is what’s left that works for me, at least:
Remember The Milk - this is a great to-do list organizer. You organize them into groups, which appear as tabs across the top. You can prioritize the items by color, and the application can remind you of due-dates via email or SMS. Add to that a handy list of keyboard shortcuts, and keeping track of your to-do items is a snap.
Google Calendar - the old standby. Great collaboration with other people’s calendars and other web apps (like RTM!). It can also remind you of upcoming events by email or SMS, and can both subscribe to and export as iCal files for easy integration into other applications. Adding new events is ridiculously easy.
Jott - This is the newest one for me. It can also be used to organize to-do’s, but it best used as a phone-based reminder/note-to-self service. You call an 800 number, tell it to whom or what application you would like to address, and after the tone, speak your mind. Jott uses a voice-to-text engine to transcribe your words - it will then send your message by either email, SMS, or web service to whomever or whatever you choose. It integrates with a ridiculous number of services such as RTM, Google Calendar, Wordpress, etc.
Basecamp - The tried and true project management suite - this makes it a breeze to collaborate with a team of people and clients. It takes care of passing along and versioning related files, messages, milestones, timelines and contact information.
Between those four webapps, I can trudge in a relatively straight line no matter what insanity a week might toss in my direction.