For the Business Focused members: Time Management Programs?


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Time management programs (software) I have only recently got into seriously. I have played around with many for a decade before moving back to pen and paper.

have started again, so far I am an "enthusiastic Fail" but hell....might as well give it a crack when you are running 4 separate businesses ....Yes I am an idiot unknown.gif

While I am OK with GTD and other project/time management philosophies, for the business peoples out there what do you use in terms of Web sourced/Android/Mac/Iphone solutions to just.....well...Get Things Done.

I have yet to find anything that meets my needs. ThinkingRock comes close. Yet I would love to integrate e-mail into a complete approach and I don't want to do so through a "cloud".

let us know what you are using, why you use it (your experiences), pro's and con's.

I still find myself every 2 years or so moving back to pen and paper biggrin.png

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Yep, pen and paper for me, but my job is not very "everywhere". I basically know what i'm doing and jsut have a do to do list in my diary. I like the old school nature of writing with a fountain pen and cleaning the pen etc. Adds to my smoking cigars and pipes, polishing boots and using cut throat razors hobbies.

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i started a business about 3 years ago and it took off. Being 29 i have a lot of friends out of college who are struggling to find good jobs. About 6 months ago i asked a friend if he wanted to be an assistant, and now he's with me 8 hours a day 4 or 5 days a week. His organizational skills are top notch. He sends me a weekly email with things that need to get done for the week, then an email every evening for what is happening the next day.

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I have tried numerous GTD-type platforms for the 3 businesses that I own/control. I do have an assistant. We cross-collaborate frequently with access to each others' schedules, generic to-do lists, notes and the like, but we have both found that the time commitment necessary for platforms that require constant re-funneling of data is more work than its worth for what, to us, is a net gain of zero.

We prefer to sit over a good cigar and a beer and go over what needs to be done or use the phone. For us, and myself in particular, it is a much more organic way to crystalize project/process needs. Call me old school, but some of the new technology just re-invents a mouse trap that does not need reinvention. Give me my Samsung tablet, a stylus for notes and I am good to go.

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I currently run my own law practice and have run a few other law practices for my then employer(s). I have tried a host of solutions to make the practice 'paperless' or to run more efficiently but always seems to get back to pen and paper as you do.

Every solution seems to have some amount of learning curve, some steeper than others. In the end the software does not seem to be utilized to its designed full potential (granted some of that is 'user error' I am sure). Unless you have an IT specialist on staff who also trains on the efficiency software, I find it difficult to get everyone up to speed, stay on top of the inevitable software updates, and troubleshoot.

As a few others have noted above, a good email and calendaring program along with a user friendly smart phone, tablet or laptop and I can run my business from just about anywhere. I am sure that many may disagree but running a small business doesn't need to be complicated by software. I agree with NastyPirate that all these programs try to reinvent the wheel and it is not necessary.

My goal is to make a profit (do a good job, like my job etc.). The more time I spend screwing around with trying to make my practice more efficient, the less time I am spending making money. I know the software is supposed to make me more efficient so I can make more money but it never seems to work out that way which is why I always end back up with...

you guessed it...pen and paper.

(Pen and paper actually meaning smart phone, computer, printer, fax, scanner, legal pads and pens)

Specifically, Google Apps has email and calendaring systems that sync up on my phone, tablet, and computer.

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For what it's worth. I make all of my jobs into appointments in outlook and set reminders for the week, day and morning before the job is due. It works reasonably well and I can invite other technicians if it's more than one person job. The difficult part is capturing job reports, hours, client sign off, materials used, etc. this is still done on paper so everyone gets a signed off copy of job reports but a electronic system would be handy

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I use Microsoft Outlook integrated with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. One or both can be cloud based and both offer responsive design (allows you to go from desktop to smart phone browser and the page automatically adjusts). Furthermore, CRM can be extended to handle A/R A/P and fulfillment integration's.

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For what it's worth. I make all of my jobs into appointments in outlook and set reminders for the week, day and morning before the job is due. It works reasonably well and I can invite other technicians if it's more than one person job. The difficult part is capturing job reports, hours, client sign off, materials used, etc. this is still done on paper so everyone gets a signed off copy of job reports but a electronic system would be handy

Try this http://www.assistancesoftware.com/ I use it to manage Programs/projects/time entry/invoicing/project status reporting. Great tool reasonable monthly fee, unless you have hundreds of users then it becomes cost prohibitive. Best part is it integrates with Outlook and with a push of a button pulls in user(s) outlook calendar into timesheet system.

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