Organizational Software

[WCD Admin]

I am curious - is there a software that can help me organize everything? My email is a wreck, my contacts are a wreck. Something I check all the time are on the internet, sometimes they are in a spreadsheet on my hard drive, sometimes they are a program (like statsremote)

Is there some sort of... i want to say "Console" software that keeps you guys sane?

My data is just so spread out and so many things get opened that I get lost in my own computer and email program

Just checking if I am missing out on some really cool software... many thanks,

Bernie

 

[cowboy]

Great post. I'd love an elegant solution for that too!

I currently use Bento, but it's kind of just a glorified spreadsheet. Bento If I was more industrious (or had more time) maybe I'd get good at FileMaker Pro or, if I really had my act together, whip something up in PHP to meet my needs.

 

[Guard Dog]

I use OpenOffice and spreadsheets way more than I should

I did purchase Outlook 2007, though, and I love that for keeping track of appointments, flagging important emails (I email myself to keep myself informed... and then flag that too).

I currently have a lot of flags going, but it does help a lot.

 

[WCD Admin]

Hey Andy,

It is refreshing to know that someone else is emailing themselves out there - I picked up that frightening habit as my programmer couldn't keep up with my thoughts and they land in a folder. Now that folder hasn't been looked at in a year!

BUT - today I did find something that might help me a great deal which is a FireFox plug in called lightning - it reminds me of the Outlook (mail program) but for FireFox. The reminders are pretty cool you can put attachments on them, color code them, audio announcements, etc.

I have been setting up alarms for when people are due for bills, etc. I am sitting here patting myself on the back. I think I'll even have some wine. If only this coffee wasn't so good....

Anyway, if anyone wants a calendar / task / event plugin like the one in Outlook for FireFox, it's free, too....

Lightning - Project Home

thanks for the tips guys - I'm downloading FileMaker Pro, now too... 227MB, it looked to cool not to try it.

 

[dominique]

When this involves more than one person and a bunch of projects, there are project managers that are really useful. Even for one overworked person with too many ideas, lol. We have been using achievo, but Donna is looking at something more comprehensive that allows a better overview of the activities of a lot of people at once. You may want to use one of the smaller ones, they have project management software of all descriptions these days.

 

[WCD Admin]

Thanks Dom

I highly suggest activeCollab for working with your partners, it's wicked. It almost does everything I want - but I really was looking for something just for me that I could have on my hard-drive (not online) --- but aC does grip of stuff, tickets, discussions, pages, files, and comments on all.

each separated by project and you can control who can access each one.

I think you'd love it. (If I have the right idea about how you work, which is with many people and many projects)

check it out! it really is awesome:
activeCollab | Project Management and Collaboration Tool

 

[cowboy]

Also, since nobody's mentioned it, I'll throw Basecamp in here.

Project management, collaboration, and task software: Basecamp

Love it.

 

[WCD Admin]

Cowboy that FileMaker software is pretty sweet. Once I get my hands around it, so far its my choice. thanks a lot!

 

[cowboy]

Cowboy that FileMaker software is pretty sweet. Once I get my hands around it, so far its my choice. thanks a lot!

Cool, glad to hear that! I've always been deterred by perceived learning curve, but I should probably just suck it up! Seems pretty deep...

 

[Guard Dog]

I am looking for something like this now

Filemaker is ok, but I like Basecamp quite a bit more. The only problem I have with Basecamp is that I can't purchase the software outright. I don't really want a hosted solution unless I host it myself.

Any other ideas?

 

[WCD Admin]

I didn't try that one yet, not sure I am going to. Filemaker was to complicated and expensive. I came to the conclusion that its probably ME that needs to be fixed, not some software solution for being organized.

I opted to just go with the plugins for Thunderbird, start using the task reminders, calendar, address book for contacts, etc. Still using encrypted spreadsheet for passwords.

If you run into the miracle software we all need DO tell us!!! ;D

 

[cowboy]

I am looking for something like this now

Filemaker is ok, but I like Basecamp quite a bit more. The only problem I have with Basecamp is that I can't purchase the software outright. I don't really want a hosted solution unless I host it myself.

Any other ideas?

Check out ActiveCollab

activeCollab - Project Management and Collaboration Tool

 

[Guard Dog]

Funny you mention them... I was just testing that one out with a demo account. I'll let everyone know how it goes. Seems interesting, but not sure it can do everything I want yet.

 

[RayUK]

I use Mozilla Sunbird and Excel spreadsheets

 

[RockbetJohn]

What about google, google docs and google labs? They seem to have almost everything and I'll predict it will only get better.

 

[WCD Admin]

Just a guess, but most people are going to be a little un-trusting of Google to provide a place for them to put all their sensitive information, etc.

If you take the program activeCollab (which is what my partner did) and hook it up to a computer in your own house and plug it into your cable modem to host it yourself, you can completely encrypt your work area. You can setup zones for certain workers, private zones for passwords, etc)...

and then stick the server in the closet and let it run. Basically, if you are going to be snooped on, they'll have to come get your machine physically from the closet, not even your host can see it.

I would vote for ActiveCollab.
Also using Quickbooks
And the Lightning plug-in for thunderbird to alert me no to forget stuff
Although "Mozilla Sunbird" that RayUK suggested looks really nicer than Lightning....

 

[Guard Dog]

I did try ActiveCollab. It's ok, but not quite what I needed. I am still using Outlook tasks, unfortunately. Could be worse, I guess. Oh yeah, and I am using Quickbooks as well for some alerts (due to $$ of course)

 

[talkingcasinos]

You can't go wrong with Google. I'm a big fan of the big G!

 

[tryme1]

OK, as this thread seems to have been brought up again, we're using Teamness.com for project management and collaboration. It's free - but it is a hosted solution.

Anyway, it's worth checking out - it might just do what you want. For my Bellstock Media Ltd stuff where we have people in different parts of the country and different time zones worldwide, it works extremely well.