We're using a lot of different communication and organization tools today. There are the basic tools, like an email client, an instant messenger and of course our phone. When you favor the latest technologies available on the market, you may even use Skype for phone calls over the internet.
It can be a hard task to add all different data, like appointments, notes, tasks and contacts into a single tool and don't lose the overview. This often results into several tools, one for its own type of data. This way of organization may result in a higher level of confusion. When your different tools aren't synced with each other, you need to ask yourself which program is holding the information you currently need.
Does it take too long for you to find a contact's address, email or phone number. How long does it take to find a meeting slot for you and three other people? These are typical situations where a lack of functions and interoperability between your different tools make your daily work harder as it needs to be. It's still common to use MS Excel for organization, but Excel is definitive the wrong software for this job. Excel is great when it comes to calculating with formulas, but it should be the last option for organization.
On is to use a Personal Information Manager, or just short PIM. A PIM usually consists of a scheduler, a contact manager, notes, an email client and a task manager. The most important thing is that the PIM was designed to help you with your daily private or business organization. Mostly all parts are working together; therefore you can turn off all other applications which handle only a single issue of your organization.
PIMs consist of an email client, an appointment, a task, contact and note manager, offer a rich set of functions especially for communication and planning. Think about a scheduler which can be synced with others and that shows you with one click when several users have time for a new meeting. Think about a contact manager with search and filter options that let you initiate a chat or Skype session with just a few clicks. Sounds good? Then take a look on the available PIMs and give it a try. The most known PIM is MS Outlook, but there are some alternatives to it like Pimero, iCal or Lotus Organizer.
It can be a hard task to add all different data, like appointments, notes, tasks and contacts into a single tool and don't lose the overview. This often results into several tools, one for its own type of data. This way of organization may result in a higher level of confusion. When your different tools aren't synced with each other, you need to ask yourself which program is holding the information you currently need.
Does it take too long for you to find a contact's address, email or phone number. How long does it take to find a meeting slot for you and three other people? These are typical situations where a lack of functions and interoperability between your different tools make your daily work harder as it needs to be. It's still common to use MS Excel for organization, but Excel is definitive the wrong software for this job. Excel is great when it comes to calculating with formulas, but it should be the last option for organization.
On is to use a Personal Information Manager, or just short PIM. A PIM usually consists of a scheduler, a contact manager, notes, an email client and a task manager. The most important thing is that the PIM was designed to help you with your daily private or business organization. Mostly all parts are working together; therefore you can turn off all other applications which handle only a single issue of your organization.
PIMs consist of an email client, an appointment, a task, contact and note manager, offer a rich set of functions especially for communication and planning. Think about a scheduler which can be synced with others and that shows you with one click when several users have time for a new meeting. Think about a contact manager with search and filter options that let you initiate a chat or Skype session with just a few clicks. Sounds good? Then take a look on the available PIMs and give it a try. The most known PIM is MS Outlook, but there are some alternatives to it like Pimero, iCal or Lotus Organizer.
About the Author:
Gerard Schwabe is senior project manager at soft-evolution, an innovative provider of team management software Pimero.
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