Enhance productivity using your mobile and the right software

DropboxThe one thing that defines my life is the constant and overwhelming assault of demands on my time. So for me, productivity is not a nice thing to have, it’s an essential skill to master.

Add to that the fact that I have a naturally curious personality prone to distractions (INTJ in Myers Briggs) and what you have is a recipe for disaster.

So to stay on top of things and be effective I use a suite of software programs that help me be hyper-productive: very focused on the most important tasks for me, on top of the information that I need to get my work done and with a list of things that my colleagues owe me.

I have honed this system over time so that it stays with me, whether I’m working in the office, working at Starbucks, travelling, or even when I’m hanging out and all I have access to is my iPhone or my Android.

Here’s what my productivity software list is made of:

  • OmniFocus
  • + Basecamp
  • + Dropbox
  • + Evernote
  • + Socialtext
  • + Ringio
  • = stay productive.

My personal organizer application: OmniFocus.

OmniFocus
OmniFocus

I mentioned this app in my previous blog post. In a nutshell, OmniFocus helps me implement David Allen’s Getting Things Done system. It is a sophisticated app for managing to-do lists. What’s special about it is that it has many criteria to help you bubble up to the top whatever is important to you.

OmniFocus has desktop software client and a mobile client. I sync between them using a service called Spootnik, which has the added benefit of syncing between my organizer system and the rest of the company’s system, which resides in Basecamp.

Other alternatives to Omnifocus are: Things and TaskPaper (which I really like for its simplicity). Remember the Milk does similar things but is web-based.

My company’s organizer application: Basecamp

Basecamp
Basecamp

It’s not enough for me to keep track of my tasks, I need to be able to keep track of other people’s tasks, and as a group we need to stay organized and seamlessly communicate about each other’s projects. Since Ringio collaborates with a lot of vendors and people outside the organization, we use 37 Signal’s excellent, lightweight project management tool called Basecamp.

If you’re using Basecamp right you will have increased the awareness about the status of projects, and the chances that something will catch you by surprise will be drastically reduced.

If you don’t like Basecamp, or the price, there are many worthy alternatives

My files: always with me with Dropbox

Dropbox
Dropbox

It’s amazing how complicated it was to share files two years ago… if you had a Windows network and had a file server you could set up local file sharing… but it turns out that most of the files you want to share is with people outside of your network :-) The alternative is FTP, but many people don’t know how to use it, and it’s insecure anyways. What you really need is a way to create shared network folders without the network or without the file server… enter Dropbox.

Dropbox is an elegant service that integrates right into your desktop (Finder, Windows Explorer, etc) and mobile, and allows you to share folders with other people. When you update a file on your computer, it updates on theirs, and vice versa. Even when you’re not at your computer, you can log in to the Dropbox website and it gives you access to your files, and shows you recent activity. It even helps you recover accidentally deleted files.

One edgier alternative to Dropbox is Drop.io

My personal note taking system: Evernote

Evernote
Evernote

Evernote is a lightweight note taking system that helps you keep all your text, screenshot and video notes organized. I use it to jot down ideas, meeting notes, feedback from customers, transcripts of phone calls, reference how-to-do-this things….. anything that is for my eyes only.

Evernote does a great job of staying out of the way until you need to recall something, then it’s super search and tagging system come to the rescue.

With their iPhone and Android clients, Evernote helps me capture notes (even voice dictation or pics I take with my camera) while I’m on the road.

My company’s document sharing system: Socialtext wikis

Socialtext
Socialtext

A wiki is collaboration software that helps you keep documents organized and hyperlinked, much like a website that anybody in your team can edit. The ultimate example of a wiki is Wikipedia. We use wikis at Ringio to create things such as product specifications, software release plans, to create customer proposals, to keep track of our competitors, and to store instructions for different kinds of activities that our teams do.

A wiki is a system that acts as “company memory”. If you’re using it right you will be avoiding duplication in the long term, because you will be able to more easily recall when somebody had been working on an idea that you’re revisiting.

There are alternatives to Socialtext, such as Clearspace, or Google Sites.

My company’s virtual PBX system: Ringio

Virtual PBX
Virtual PBX

I spend a good chunk of my time on the phone, making calls to prospective customers, bloggers and the press, investors and partners.

It’s essential for me to spend as little time as possible looking up contacts and dialing, and I need the flexibility to call from any old phone and know that the receiving person is seeing always the same caller ID.

The Ringio software does exactly that for me.

There alternatives to Ringio, such as Google Voice, Toktumi or Ringcentral. I’m biased, of course, so I encourage you to try the different solutions.

Other productivity boosters:

  • Searchable email: I heavily rely on Gmail’s search capabilities and labels
  • Delicious bookmarking, Chrome’s bookmark sync
  • 1Password or LastPass for password management and form-filling
  • Tungle for meeting schedule management

What software do you use to increase your productivity?

Must-Read List of Free Social Media White Papers

12 Essential Tips for Success in Social Media – BuzzLogic BuzzLogic is a digital media company with a data-driven ad platform built to optimize advertising across the largest pool of trusted blog content on the web. We combine proprietary conversational analytics with industry-leading audience targeting data to maximize performance – and provide contextual insight to boost results.

The Social Media Playbook – 360i Marketing used to be different – a lot different. Today, brands are faced with a myriad of opportunities for reaching customers online; and, while the social landscape can be daunting, it holds a world of opportunities for connecting with consumers in deeper and more meaningful ways.

The goals of the Playbook are to:

  • Provide a framework for establishing a set of clear objectives and strategy when approaching social marketing
  • Move beyond the checklist approach and offer a filter for evaluating the myriad opportunities and platforms
  • Encourage thinking of social marketing as an opportunity to have a continuous, valuable exchange with customers
  • Advance discussions on amplifying marketing results through the integration of social marketing and offline campaigns

Oh My God What Happened and What Should I Do? – Innovative Thunder This book helps traditional advertising and marketing people master the step into the digital era, providing tools to create campaigns that reach the people of today. It was not written by a CMO giving expensive seminars and presenting big theories with no solutions, but by a creative team dealing with and living the changes in media every day.

The Science of Retweets – Dan Zarrella a 22 page report full of scientifically proven ways to get more retweets from Hubspot viral marketing scientist and author of the Social Media Marketing Book.

Nimble – Razorfish It’s aimed at content producers that are moving from traditional media distribution to digital, and finding themselves facing new challenges. Most magazines, newspapers, TV shows, etc. have a website at this point, but it doesn’t mean that they’re making the most of the digital experiences that they’re creating for their audience. The report looks at three major areas of interest to content companies – how they attact and retain their audience, how they deliver content across new channels, platforms, and devices, and how they remain profitable in the new digital economy…

The report discusses the types of structure that can set content free, and how this approach will change the role of the editor, the way content companies make money, the way they deliver content, and the way they attract an audience. It also includes information about emerging technologies and tools that can help digital content publishers move into this nimble world.

If you have an iPad, I recommend using the killer combination of DropBox and GoodReader to read these PDFs. Dropbox lets you automatically sync files from your computer to the cloud to be accessed through the website or on your iPad, iPhone, or Android smartphone. Good Reader (iPad and iPhone only) functions as a really slick document reader.

For comprehensive reading, I recommend the following books about social media community management and marketing:

Engage! By Brian Solis

Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff

The New Community Rules: Marketing On The Social Web by Tamar Weinberg

Trust Agent by Chris Brogran

Let us know what you recommend in the comments section.