Web-Based Productivity Tools

Using the right tools can add time to your day and save your sanity

By Elaine Grant, Principal, Muddy Dog Media LLC

As any entrepreneur knows, there are times when 24 hours in a day simply aren’t enough. Desperate to stretch time, I wondered if any of the burgeoning number of Web-based productivity tools out there might “buy” me some precious hours. I turned to a social networking site, LinkedIn, to find out what other small business owners were using. They recommended a variety of tools that, happily, have helped me stretch my day – and my budget.

There are several kinds of Web-based productivity tools, and many are free:
1. To-do lists and organizers
2. Project management tools and sharable documents
3. Time and expense reporting software
4. Tagging sites that help you do better research in less time
5. Miscellaneous tools that do all kinds of cool things efficiently

Try these tools today and start getting your life back:

Keep track of your tasks

The most obvious way to increase efficiency is to post your goals and tasks in plain view. For me, that plain view is in my Web browser.
Try: Check out Backpack and Ta-Da!, both spiffy, easy-to-use to-do list applications from software maker 37 Signals. Both are simple, intuitive, shareable, and offer free versions – but Ta-Da! Is newer. Now that I’ve started using Backpack, I can’t live without it. Another recent, nice-looking entrant into the to-do list market is the cleverly named Remember the Milk. Tweeto looks good, too. You can subscribe to RSS feeds of all of these apps – a nice feature that posts your live to-do list into your browser’s toolbar.

Collaborate

Need to keep track of the details in a project with far-flung team members? The following project management and sharable document tools should help.
Try: Wrike is a free, feature-rich project management tool designed for small businesses; it allows you to assign tasks to others and keep track not just of your own progress but of theirs as well. Basecamp, the “parent” of Ta-Da, is comprehensive project management software that includes to-do lists, file sharing, chat, time tracking, and more. A free version allows you to manage one project; prices go up to $149 a month for unlimited projects. Writeboard is collaborative writing software that saves versions. People swear by shareable Google spreadsheets, and Google offers shareable word processing documents, too.

Share your calendar

You and your business partner are both supposed to attend the same meeting, but he’s scheduled one two hours away at the same time? Avoid the problem by sharing your calendar.
Try: Outlook is the granddaddy of sharable scheduling, but Google’s free calendar is a terrific addition to the category. Struggling with domestic or international time zones? Try the World Clock and the World Clock Meeting Planner, or, if you use Windows or Vista, download Microsoft’s Time Zone utility, which runs in the system tray.

Get better research results -- faster

Researchers, journalists, and business people who use a wide variety of Web sites will find tagging useful, not only for keeping track of bookmarks but for expanding their knowledge base easily.
Try: One of my LinkedIn pals, an author, uses Del.ici.ous to research magazine articles and books. Tag a web page (mark it with a key word) and you’ll instantly see recommendations of similar sites from other Del.ici.ous users. Talk about accelerating research! Technorati is a good blog search tool. Use Google News alerts to search for up-to-date news; Google emails results to your inbox. Finally, I’m a huge new fan of LinkedIn Answers: members of the free networking site can post questions, which anyone on LinkedIn can answer. My question drew responses not simply from people in my network, but from people I’d never heard of.

Use cool tools

The following useful tools don’t fall into a single category.
Try: Another LinkedIn friend loves Text Expander, available from Smile on My Mac. She writes, “You can enter in any text you type often -- for me it's intro letters, e-course lessons, my address and phone number, etc. -- and give each item a code word. Whenever you type that code word -- in any application, online or off -- the full text appears. I use it constantly.”

Need help staying on track with your goals? Joe’s Goals is straightforward and simple.