Microsoft Office

Open Thread: What's your killer app?

Merlin — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 07:58:59 -0400

The other day I was talking with someone about the novel and non-obvious ways that people use Excel in their work and home life. Gotta say, I've personally seen some pretty amazing stuff happen when people take a favorite app, get really good at it, then bend it to their will. (And Excel is perfect for this.)

This tracks to Danny's Life Hack concept by which the alpha geeks were achieving lofty heights of productivity partly by mastering 1-3 "killer apps" -- then using them to solve most of their information and functional problems in fairly novel ways.

So my question for you: What's your killer app? Is there one place where 80% or more of your activity takes place (by choice)? Vim? Excel? Perl? Firefox? Post-it Notes? What's yours and when did you realize you'd become a badass at using it?

”Open Thread: What's your killer app?” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on August 21, 2006. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Quicksilver: AppleScript to quickly add Entourage Tasks

Merlin — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 11:25:22 -0400

Entourage - Fast Task.scpt

A hacker who wishes to remain anonymous has answered my prayers by creating a modest one-line AppleScript that lets you pipe input from Quicksilver into a new Entourage Task with zero cruft—no Category, no Project, no date, and no reminder. Perfect for fast capture any place, and something I’ve craved for over a year.

To install:

Download the script, “Entourage - Fast Task.scpt”
Copy it to ~/Library/Application Support/Quicksilver/Actions/
Restart Quicksilver (CTRL-CMD-Q)

To use (just one example):

Invoke Quicksilver (usu. CTRL-space)
Type “.” to get the variable input field
Type “Test task”
TAB to the second pane
Type until “Entourage - Fast Task” shows up
Hit Return

Jump over to Entourage and you should have a nice new task sitting in your list. Note that the Quicksilver input, as ever, can come from practically anyplace; you can select text in Safari and “Send to Quicksilver” (CMD-Esc in most locations), etc.

Like I say, if you want all the “trimmings,” you should enter Tasks in Entourage as usual, but this is just terrific for capturing stuff quickly without changing modes. A minor godsend as far as I’m concerned.

(As ever with all my Quicksilver tips, I’m sure I’ve forgotten some critical element that makes this work on your end; if the Setup guide doesn’t answer your question, post a comment)

”Quicksilver: AppleScript to quickly add Entourage Tasks” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on June 14, 2005. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

More on gluing stuff together in Entourage

Merlin — Fri, 27 May 2005 06:29:00 -0400

The main reason I stick with Entourage for all my calendar, TODO list, and—to a certain extent—archival email needs, comes down to one word: glue.

As annoying as Entourage is in so many ways, I love that I can basically associate anything with anything via the “Link” functionality. This provides a handy little landing pad for any task, note, event, email, or contact onto which you can drop any other Entourage object as well as virtually any item from the Finder (for some reason it doesn’t easily handle URLs, which seems kind of dumb: use .weblocs as a workaround). Entourage then perpetually remembers that association in both the linking and linked items. Got it? Group like with like, and then get to anything from anything (Steal this idea, Apple; use Spotlight).

So, I can associate an email message with a TODO, attach a text file to a calendar event (see my article in June’s MacWorld), and even, apparently, attach Applications and folder paths to any Entourage object. Why is this last one so freaking handy? Lemme show you.

I love recurring tasks and use them all the time for repeating TODOs that I want to just forget about until they’re due again. One such task—ironically enough—is my monthly backup of Entourage’s glass-jawed database.

Now this isn’t terribly complicated, but here’s the steps I need in order to do this each month:

Get a reminder about the need to backup
Open the folder in which my Entourage identities (and databases) live
Open up the Database Utility to run the "Compact Database" command needed to generate the backup
Open the folder on my external drive where I keep my monthly backups
Copy the backup to the external drive’s folder

The beauty part is that I can embed links to the Database Utility app and both folder paths right in the reminder. When I get pinged each month, I can just open the calendar event, select all my stuff in the Links section, and click “Open.” Boom: the utility launches and the two folders open right on my desktop. No hunting, no searching, and no janky alias maintenance.

Think about applying this same process of linking in similar scenarios:

Keep all the running notes and Excel spreadsheets for a standing weekly meeting in one repeating calendar event (I’m looking at you, B-May)
Create a “job jacket” that contains the folders for all your design assets linked inside one event (like, maybe, the deadline)
Prepare for a retreat or other off-site meeting by keeping all the relevant folders, contacts, notes, URLs, and related events in one calendar item

Now if you’re already a long-suffering Entourage user, your eyes should be lighting up right about now, because this trick emulates several of the best features of the Project Center without the functional death march. No need to walk through the stupid wizard and tell it all the things you don’t need: just spark up a new task or calendar event, pop open the Links area, and start throwing your stuff at it. Super easy.

Now, I know nobody ever wants to admit to their dark existence on the Entourage downlow, but I must ask: Anybody else doing cool tricks with linking? Got a neat way you keep your stuff tidy in Entourage? Share.

”More on gluing stuff together in Entourage” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on May 27, 2005. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Entourage & txt: In which the farmer and the cowman become friends

Merlin — Wed, 16 Feb 2005 04:28:00 -0500

I love that Entourage lets you link files to any item (task, contact, appointment, etc.). I use this feature all the time to point to text files on my Mac.

Why bother? Why not just use the built-in notes capability of Entourage? Ah, if you were a fan of text files you wouldn’t need to ask that, and if you were a fan of Quicksilver, the gears would already be clicking.

Among many features—as we all know by now—Quicksilver lets you append or prepend to any arbitrary text file without changing out of your current app. Once learned and ingrained, this will become one of your favorite things to do on the Mac, bar none; but Entourage doesn't currently support it. Still, this tip helps you get around it in a satisfying way—letting Entourage handle all the busy work, while your beloved text files do all the heavy lifting.

This, obviously, assumes you have Entourage and Quicksilver installed (more on Quicksilver here and much more here)

Open TextEdit.app; type some stuff; and save the document to your Desktop as a file called “frink.txt”
Open Entourage and create a new task called “Frink: Agenda”; save it (but leave the task’s window open)
Click the little chain icon () in the task header; select “Link to Existing...”; then select “File...”
In the dialog box, surf to your Desktop; select “frink.txt”; and click the “Link” button
You’re done

You now have a way to add items to bring up at your weekly meeting with Professor Frink at any time and from anywhere on your Mac, all without leaving your focal app. The beauty part is that the text file stays associated with the Entourage task even if it’s a recurring task. Note the quickest way to access your linked file is from any view list; just click on the tiny chain icon on the left and select your document (or any other attached items ) from the flyout menu.

Need some practical ideas for using this trick?

How about a “groceries.txt” that’s associated with your weekly “Go to Trader Joe's” task.
Associate your “Movies.txt” file with your “2nd Date with Ann” appointment on Saturday.
Planning a once-a-year trip to the flea market? Capture 11 months of wishlist items in “fleamarket.txt,” and attach it to next month's reminder for the big day.
Maybe start a text file for each member of your family where you can park birthday gift ideas, then associate that file with each of their contacts in Entourage.
Attach a text file of professional accomplishments to a task in your “Update Résumé” project.

The possibilities are endless, but the basic point stays the same—we all crave functional glue to keep the pieces of our world together. With a little help from Entourage you can continue to harness the power of text and Quicksilver from wherever you are.

”Entourage & txt: In which the farmer and the cowman become friends” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on February 16, 2005. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"

Using Categories & Tasks in Entourage

Merlin — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 08:19:09 -0500

Categories are a powerful tool for organizing any of the information you store in Entourage 2004—whether it’s email, contacts, appointments, or notes—but I think they really shine as a way to provide context for your task list. I use Categories almost synonymously with the idea of "contexts" that David Allen discusses in Getting Things Done—as a way to identify the location, conditions, tools, or focus needed to work on a given item. As I said the other day, I try to use my Categories to provide ready answers to the "How," "Where," and "When" of a given task as clearly and uniquely as is reasonable. You want to be analyzing and thinking about this stuff when you’re planning it, so you won’t have to process it again when it’s time to actually do it.

Still, it’s important to me to strike a balance even when I’m planning and processing: how do I touch each item as quickly and infrequently as possible while still ensuring that it pops up when and where I might need it later? For me this usually means applying only one Category per item and changing it later if the need arises. I mean, for example, I know I need to be online in order to send an email, but I don’t want to get bogged down in trying to describe every conceivable facet of the task with the finest granularity. (Keep repeating: "GTD is about action; it’s not about playing with lists.")

Also, as I’ve said before, I’ve found context to be one of the most challenging aspects of implementing GTD—especially because, on some days, my contexts feel limited to "computer" and "everyplace else." Still, getting contexts right for your unique situation can be critical to succeeding with GTD. If you’re struggling to think about what you should be doing next, something’s not working. For "next actions" to have the kind of brain-dead physical simplicity we all crave, they need to be situated in a way that lets you take them up wherever you are and without a constant level of meta-thinking about "whether this is in the right place."

All that said, here’s an overview of the Categories I use most when processing, filtering, and doing the items on my task list (currently ~150 items). Your mileage will absolutely vary.

Functional Categories

brainstorm - Never used if I really mean "write," but useful for when I need to generate ideas, start an outline, or when I want to just set aside a few minutes to get my head around a new idea.
calls - Requires a phone. Grouping phone calls into 20 contiguous minutes at a pass can save time and minimize future distractions.
chores - Stuff around the house—whether work or personal—that usually requires non-computer physical activity (Heaven forfend!). By the way, these are a great application of recurring tasks.
email - Reading, writing, sending, and responding to email. Most often attached to an item that will require a long note or detailed reply (> 2 minutes, end to end).
errand - Anything I need to do outside the house, in the neighborhood, Downtown, etc. (Reminder: I use SplashShopper to manage actual shopping lists, so no need for crufty "Buy foo item" tasks where "Go to Safeway" will do better)
read - Reading articles, web pages, proposals, books, etc.
write - You know. Writing. Usually implies work on a computer, except for when I just grab a notebook and hit the road to get a fresh environment. The point is, I know it’s time to turn everything off and focus on putting words on a page (or editing the ones I already have down)

Computer-Related Categories

Again, I know that many of these imply nesting; for my own system, I can live with that. I only want to tag an item with the Category that best represents its context (there's no manageable system that can do all the thinking for you). These sub-categories are still much more helpful to me than a generic "@computer"—that’s about as useful to me as "@breathing" or "@NorthAmerica."

mac-anywhere - Something, like installing a program I’ve already downloaded, that I can do anyplace I can use my laptop.
mac-online - Generic category for a task that requires an internet connection (I prefer a more specific one like "email" or "mac-research" whenever I can)
mac-desk - Requires I be in my office since the task requires something in that room—CD-Rs, an external drive, second computer, or supplies of some kind (e.g., cleaning the screen, fixing a friend’s Mac, etc.)
mac-code and design - General category covers design and development, graphic and html production, etc.
mac-print - Many true "next actions" begin with printing something out. Emails, documentation, an old draft I want to review—most start with a print job.
mac-research - Might as well be called "Google." This is just anything I need to look up on the web. (Word of warning: here be dragons. Don’t let a "quick search" ending up leading you to an extended surfin’ safari.)

Other Contextual Categories

agenda - An item I need to bring up when I talk to someone, the person of which is usually implied by the Project that’s applied to it in the "Project Center" (although I sometimes just add the person’s name in the Title of the task)
media - Movie, TV show, or CD I want to watch, buy, etc. Usually ends up being added to my big "Media.txt" file unless it’s specifically a time-based reminder ("O.C., Thursday @ 8:00")

Non-Contextual Categories

These are oddballs. A couple of them are GTD-inspired, but I think they all represent potential action down the road. Consequently, I filter them out of most action list custom views, and just review them separately every week or so. I think it’s important to add that many of the tasks tagged with the Categories "maybe-later" and "waiting" actually began life as a regular, functional todo I’d given myself, but later got retagged/downgraded to be one of these temporarily disowned items.

maybe-later - Lower priority items that I wouldn’t miss if they never happened, but would still like to maybe explore some time.
waiting - An intransitive task (basically, someone else’s todo) that is likely to turn into a task for me when I hear back from that person.
opportunities - Usually an idea for a project someone wants to do that I want to keep on the edge of my radar screen until I’m ready to do something with it. This needs a better home, but it works for now.

So that’s a quick look. I hope some of it is useful for you, but more importantly, I hope it helps you undertake a deeper look at how you organize and plan your work. To understand your work and not have it overwhelm you, I think it helps to grok where and when you can actually perform the constituent tasks. Getting your contexts wrong can mean a lot of frustrating list management and dropped balls, but knowing with confidence that your tasks are assigned appropriate contexts can be a huge timesaver and a big load off your brain.

What special contexts do you use to keep items on your radar screen? Any novel Categories you're using in your PIM?

(Nota bene: Fellow Entourage fans, be sure to tune in later this week for a post on the least utilized and most misunderstood feature in Entourage—custom views. GTD-friendly recipes await you.)

Related links

”Using Categories & Tasks in Entourage” was written by Merlin Mann for 43Folders.com and was originally posted on February 14, 2005. Except as noted, it's ©2010 Merlin Mann and licensed for reuse under CC BY-NC-ND 3.0. "Why a footer?"