Getting More Stuff Done

Today’s Links:

All of the above is both free and awesome! :)

Which do you prefer, Trello or Asana? Do you have any of your own favorite productivity apps? Let me know by leaving a comment below!

Please leave a comment below.
Note that I don’t reply to all comments, but I do read them all. If I don’t reply to your comment, it most likely means that I agree with what you say and don’t have anything meaningful to add, myself. I appreciate and read all comments and your comments play an important part in what I write about, so keep them coming.
Spammy comments are always filtered or removed. No surprise there.

I use http://www.producteev.com It is free fast easy and get the work done…but I never heard of those you talk about so I will check them out.
Thanks for the info ;-)

Hi Shane,

I’ve been trying to contact you for several weeks now.

I’ve left messages on this forum and have emailed you directly without success.

I appreciate you “filter” posts and emails etc but maybe you are losing $$$ because of it !

Regards,

Shane,

One of the things I appreciate about your videos is they don’t
just start playing when I arrive at the site.
I normally scan my emails and if there is something interesting,
I click on the link.
Then I go back to finish going through emails.
It is very annoying when a video just starts playing after clicking the link.

It may seem like a minor thing, but I have unsubscribed from many
lists for that very reason.

Thanks for all your hard work and helping rather than annoying.

Mark

Steve says:

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I agree with this totally. First thing in the morning I read through emails and open all the links I need to in one go and then read through all those we pages. It is so annoying when a couple of videos then start playing and I have to go through all the tabs to find them and switch them off. There are even some ads that now play videos and they are sometimes well hidden on the page and I’ve sometimes just closed the page and not bothered reading it. After all, why should I read someone’s content if they are going to annoy me.

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I have been attempting to email you, to post support tickets at SwissMadeMarketing support, and to get product support for the vanished Hybrid Connect for 2 weeks now without success.
Do you have any plans to let people who bought Hybrid Connect know what happened?
Should we request a refund while we still can?
I don’t like posting comments like this on your IM Impact site, but all other attempts to get your attention through the channels you set up have proven futile so far.

Shane says:

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If you are a Hybrid Connect customer, you still have full access to the product. It’s only been removed temporarily from purchase for new customers.

If you are having any unresolved issues with the product, you can submit a ticket here.

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- Phil says:
  
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  Thank you for your response, Shane.
  I figured out why I was unable to submit a support ticket for Hybrid Connect, and the issue was at my end.
  I have always thought that Shane Melaugh and his products were a cut above the rest, and you and your staff have proven this to me very dramatically. (To those reading this, I was given excellent assistance off this discussion thread.)
  Please accept my apology for taking this discussion off-topic, and know that you have a customer for life.
Paul says:

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Are you saying you’ve been raising support tickets for two weeks? Can you provide me the ticket ID’s? I’ve been running through support tickets pretty much every day for the last two weeks so it’s surprising that I’ve managed to miss yours.

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- Phil says:
  
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  Thank you Paul.
  I used the help system to respond to you, now that I understand better how it works!

Hmmmm my latest personal productivity is the Pomodoro technique and so far so good – it keeps me on task big time! Pomodoro works on the basis of working for 25 minutes, taking a break for 5 minutes and starting on another 25-minute tasks. Then after 4 Pomodoros you take a break for 15 – 20 minutes and then start the cycle all over again.

The program I’m using is freeware called Pomodairo (Adobe AIR app) and it includes a list of tasks you can mark as complete as you’re working.

Hi Shane

I also use Pomodoro the same as Niall,

I’ve had a go at a few management tools such as ‘Tasks’ but things seem to get left behind still.

I’ve just joined Asana after following your link so will let you know how I get on with it.

Nice to hear from you.

cheers

xxxxcarlxxxx

Hey Shane,

Since you always look very closely at these things, can you contrast Asana and Trello to Basecamp?

We chose Basecamp for those same reasons – ease of ‘getting stuff done’.

Separately, I sent you a Skype – have some things we’d like to get you involved in… lol, nothing TOO bad..

Michael

Steve says:

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That’s odd, because I dumped basecamp because I thought it was way too complicated. Most software these days seems to be packed with features that not many people need.

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Thanks for the tips Shane.

Look forward to seeing the upgrades for the plugins.

Paul says:

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Hi Peter – a pretty major version upgrade is going to be uploaded in the next few hours. Version 1.0.10 – look out for that – it includes a beta version of lightboxes.

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Shane:

I appreciate the tips on the productivity tools. I am always looking for ways to get more stuff done. While productivity tools can be beneficial, the most effective productivity tool an individual has is his (or her) ability to “Focus on One Thing.” And that one thing has to be the “right thing.” The web marketplace is filled with entrepreneurs who are very busy. But the question I have is this: “Are they focused on the right things.” Productivity tools can help us get focused. But the challenge is making sure we are focused on the right stuff — the stuff that gets the results we want.

Long time Pomodoro user myself and I can say that it works.

But my personal experience is such tools only help remove distractions and help focus on the task at hand. I have tried such tools on mundane tasks like content creation, spinning, etc. and it did not always work. However, if its content creation where I’m sharing/teaching a new strategy then since I’m anyways excited I don’t even need time management to get the job done.

@Paul – Looking forward to the updates for HC.

This has been a long standing issue that I have not been able to solve. I manage over 200 active clients, 289 projects and I have 32 employees all over the world. I am using Basecamp because for me to make a move to a new system will take a ton of work so I have to find what is right. Basecamp is working but its not my ideal system. I hate that Basecamp don’t let you create recurring tasks. Its stupid they don’t! Then they went and made a new version that does not have the ability to make templates in it and still doesn’t do recurring tasks. I tried Asana but it is not built for a medium size team of people but even more it is horrible when managing a good amounts of projects and/or clients. Trello is very similar to the new Basecamp.com it lacks professional features that streamlines things. I found it to be a very simple; kind of corny project management system. I can see it good for a 5 to maybe 10 person team with a couple of contractors but nothing scale-able at all. I came very close to pulling the trigger on Podio which has a ton of great features, good pricing but again lacked a few simple things. As a SEO & Social Media company a template would consist of 500 tasks at least when setting up a new client from beginning to end when implementing Social Media and all the tasks for the first 30 to 45 days. I have it down to a freaking science when it comes to the blue print but because of my needs, habits and client size my search continues. Podio is very very close and now that Citrix snatched them up I am sure they will fix that quickly but I am sure they will also jack up the price.

I will check out http://www.producteev.com and any other suggestions that anyone else has. I love text reminders, I need templates and recurring tasks. I would love a approval process before checked off approved. I need the ability to customize features and widgets. As I mentioned Podio is most of them but not all of them! Please keep sharing ideas and platforms. I might have to also revisit Trello and Asana in case things have changed since last year when I checked them out. Thanks for the conversation Shane I need to input from others!

Hey Shane, Just wanted to give a plug to zonedone.com
It’s a very nice cloud based Task Management System that has the best Gmail, GCal and Evernote integration I have seen. It follows DTD very close.
As of right now they are still in Beta but are excepting new users. It is currently Free.
I made a choice to swich over to as much of cloud based system as I could, I have evaluated many programs and applications. If anyone is using even a few of the above mention applications I hughly suggest giving Zendone a good look.
To enhanced productivity and revenues in 2013
-Kevin

Shane says:

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Thanks, Kevin!

That site doesn’t seem to exist… can you check that?

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- Kevin Wiley says:
  
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  Sorry about that Shane, My link is an auto-login (LastPass) :) This link will take you to the site for a tour, information and to register for a free account https://www.zendone.com/
- Kevin Wiley says:
  
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  After reading the other posts I should add there is the “Delegate” feature that is in all GTD systems. Right now, Zendone is a very powerful information and task manager. There are no features for Team management like some of the other Apps. I don’t have a team yet and when I do I will look for something that works with Zendone or I will migrate to HyperOffice.

Yes I noticed the same thing