It has been some time ago when I was talking how google influences my workflow so I have decided to look it again and summarize my experience.
Gmail
I have started to use Gmail couple of years agao as my secondary email address. It took me only short time to realize that the spam filter is probably the best on the market and the free amount of space has just made my mind. I started to use it as my primary address and now I am more then happy. During the years Google came with lots of new features and clever ideas. The spam filter is even getting better. I have all my email addresses forwarded to single gmail account. I use special Gmail account for my blog and I also have my old Hotmail account. They are both forwarded to my personal account.
Get organized
One of my most used feature on Gmail are Labels. During those years I have created about 70 different labels. My filters are mainly based on the email address. Why do I think is so important to create filters and have your inbox always empty? It’s peace of mind. One advantage is that you are organized and you know where to look for when you quickly need to find something. Another reason is called closing open circles. What does it mean? Anytime you start thinking about something that needs to be done you open 1 circle in your mind. When you have to many circles open you become stressed. That is why it is very important to close the circles as quickly as you can. Email is just one of the areas where you come across with open circles. Once you create a rule for emails you closing some of those circles because you are not having mass of emails in your inbox and you know you have to go through all of them in some point. When the post is filtered you have an idea which folders contain important post and which do not. Obviously you need to go and read important emails and schedule the task if there is something which needs to be done. That way the circle is closed. You don’t need to keep the problem in your mind because it was solved. Even if it has just been scheduled for later, in your mind the problem is solved because someone else is taking care of it and will tell you when necessary. So here comes the second part of the work flow.
For the time being I schedule my tasks in Google Calendar and iCal. They are synchronized with my iPhone so that would be fine. The problem is I don’t get the overview for the projects I can only see individual tasks in my Calendar. That is the reason I cam with the idea to create my own project management application.
Google Docs
When I was talking last time about Google Docs I have just start using them. In the meantime Google went long way and build in lots of cool features. Google Docs are coming closer and closer to offline applications such are Word and Excell. I have been using them for more then year now and I have not found a single case when I needed to use something more powerful.
Google Reader
Google reader is another application I use very often but I am not that happy about. I need online RSS reader that is for sure. I need to access my 50+ RSS feeds at home or during the lunch break at work. Google Reader has some very cool Javascript build in such are drug and drop and ajax updates for your RSS while you read. The problem is the interface. In this case I don’t fine it as good as the other Google apps. I am seriously thinking to produce my own RSS reader specially when my PHP class case work is some kind of news reader with google map implementation. The only think I need to come up once I finish the course is some kind of easy to use theme. Interface which would make you happy to come and read the RSS.
So these are mine core online applications. Which are yours?
One small trick at the end. If you use labels in Google mail and you want to see the most important folders (labels) at the top of the list use underscores. See example bellow.
Comments
Google Gmail beta is great, indeed. Especially considering that you actually got to pay for 1GB mailbox elsewhere. Not much, it was about 5 euroz/year, but still it only is a single gigabyte. I have pretty much get used to be sending even biger files among gmail. It serves as a cool flash disk for me sometimes…
@petr Gmail is great and its nice to see that guys from Google keep on improving the quality. I think at the end it will even look good ;)
I switched to gmail for my primary email app almost as soon as I started using it however many years ago that was. Today, like you, I import all my email into it and it is an invaluable tool to me. I love it.
Google calendar would also be in my list. And with a little “hackery” its synced to my iphone without the ical step inbetween. (im on windows :( )
Docs I dont use just because I dont have much need to be able to edit my docs from different places so word is fine for me at the moment.
Reader I find is a little nicer to use since the little interface tidy of recent. Have you had a look at Jon Hicks’ themes?
If these applications aren’t limited to those provided by google then Id also have to add Ta-da list. Great for quick lists and reminders for a later date.
@Ash I have just seen couple of days ago John Hicks Helvetica theme for Reader but have not tested it yet. But I have read on his flickr that the new version of reader which come out last Friday means lot of work for him so I guess it is not working at the moment until he fixes it, but it is one I am going to try for sure.
I have read about Ta-da list app. but have not tried it yet. 37signals applications are pretty much standard in web developers community. I tried to use Basecamp but there was only 1 project for free (what I understand) so stopped using it because it started to be very messy having all tasks in one Project. I plan to store all my tasks in Project + once its build. Lets see how that’s gonna work ;)
At the moment I keep separate documents for projects where I keep all the ideas about them. Once something become task which needs to be done then it goes to Calendar on specific day. It’s not very cool but it works for the being.
It was actually after using Basecamp for a year for a university project that I decided I wanted to build my own PM app (as you are doing) because I wanted to make myself a free version of Basecamp. When I’ve finished the app (which has since become the subject of a university project) I will use it rather than Ta-da list.
My methods of storing ideas seem a bit more old-fashioned than yours as I still use paper for that.
@Ash Do you have some screen shots or url of your PM app? I would be interested to see that. I keep on posting my one to the flicr.
What work flow have you chosen for building your one? I am asking because I have only made my analyze in head and jump straight into designing templates and I feel I should start with functionality, data analyzes and so on. I need to sit down and write down exactly what the app is going to do and how. So far I have an idea in my head but it is not the full picture and I think when I start writing things down I will actually get better idea what exactly I need to do and in what order.
I lurv http://streetfolio.com – it’s a great app, it’s useful and it saves me money!
Gmail notifier is also one of my favourites!
Unfortunately I don’t yet. The project has been very slow starting because of other deadlines. To begin with though I am researching project management techniques and practices so that I can base the functionality and flow of the application around these.
Although, if I can add you to my list of testers to get some feedback when the time comes I will gladly return the favour.
@Ash Sure! Go ahead. I will be interested to see it. I am planning to start developing my one very slowly because of other projects as well. I will keep my code on Google code so anyone can deep in and even give me some advices during development process. Need to build the home page first though :)