Björn Zinkler's blog

Apps on my home screen

Björn Zinkler — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 11:36:30 +0000

In this blog post I’ll write about the iPhone apps on my home screen which I use very often. They are also a representation of my mainly used web applications.

Todoist
Todoist is a web based task manager which has a lot of features like intended tasks, projects, labels, comments. I like Todoist because its interface is simple and you don’t get information overload. You can also sort the tasks by hand so that you can set up the importance with drag and drop. I used Doings before but had syncing problems. The official Todoist iPhone app doesn’t have all the features of the web version but at the moment it’s enough for me. (Web, iTunes)

Highrise
I have a subscription of the popular CRM (customer relationship management) software Highrise of 37signals in order to manage both my personal/business contacts and contact related tasks. So I have access to the whole data on the go. You can also record voice notes after a meeting and append them to contacts. (Web, iTunes)

Harvest
Harvest is the best solution for time tracking of client work and invoicing. Time tracking also syncs in real time with the Harvest server so that you can stop the timer on your iPhone after starting it on the web app. When you setup clients or projects online, you also setup a budget or your hourly rate. From the tracked time you can automatically generate invoices which will be sent to the client by email with the ability to pay directly through PayPal or creadit card. (Web, iTunes)

iPhone calendar
Apples calendar is the best for iPhone. I have Google calendar integration and a subscription of different iCal feeds (Harvest, Basecamp, Facebook, …).

Evernote
It’s my virtual brain (reference material) with access to so many notes and documents. I’m going paperless and scan all important papers. With Evernote I can make full text searches where ever I am and add new notes anytime. With the premium version you have the possibility to make notebooks available offline. (Web, iTunes)

FastEver
Because Evernote doesn’t run as fast as I wish FastEver is my choice for quick saving new ideas or text notes to my digital inbox. (iTunes)

SpeedText
This app can be used to create fast notes with your finger. This is helpful if you don’t have a paper and a pen with you and need to draw or save a handwritten note. Notes can be sent by mail or stored to Evernote. (iTunes)

Dropbox
Of cause the best way to store your files in the cloud. I tend to only save data there which is still in use (project files, university lecture material). Older files are stored on my external hard disk. This is peace of mind because I can be sure that all the data on my PC is save, even if there should be data corruption. With Dropbox for iPhone you have access to your files and make them offline available if you need. (Web, iTunes)

Twitter
Mainly used in order to stay up to date. (Web, iTunes)

Facebook messenger
I don’t like Facebook very much because they collect huge amounts of data about you and sell them to companies. That’s why I limit myself to only use the private messaging service for receiving messages of friends. (Web, iTunes)

WhatsApp
I don’t know how famous this app is outside of Germany but here it’s widespread. Like iMessage but also works with Android and Symbian. (iTunes)

Dictamus
The best dictation app for creating larger voice notes or dication. Files can be saved on Dropbox or automatically redirected to writing services or by mail. The quality is great. (Web, iTunes)

YNAB
If you want to master your finances YNAB is the king. It stand for You Need A Budget and is the most powerful software if have ever seen for this personal area. The iPhone app can be synced with WiFi so that you have access to your budget (how much spent/available) and can track on the go where you have spent your money. (Web, iTunes)

Insight
This is an app for the project management tool Basecamp of 37signals. If I’m working on a project with one or more persons Basecamp is my choice for communication, documentation and project management (milestones, tasks, …). Insight enables you to see and make progress anywhere. (iTunes)

project planner
This is a progress tracker for my personal/single projects (university lectures, …) where I can create simple progress notes which will be appended to my project timeline (”logbook”). I developed the web app “project planner” some months ago to have a mid-term (resources based) overview about the next weeks which helps me to balance projects. On the overview page I see how many days are remaining (e.g. until an exam). On a project detail page I get a graphical overview of the weekly progress.

NeverForget!
With NeverForget you can setup reminders on Backpack (also of 37signals) which will remind you via mail. It’s better for my needs than a calendar reminder because I can leave it in my inbox until I have finished it at the end of the day. (iTunes)

Quadrants of Focus Model (QoF)

Björn Zinkler — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 23:25:43 +0000

Today I start my productivity series which will consist of six main parts:

Introduction and Quadrants of Focus Model (QoF)
iPhone apps on my home screen
Software on my computer
Great web applications
Methods and Models
Multi project management and integration

But before we move there I want to have a look at the big picture with you. While productivity and efficacy say how well we are doing something (input-output relation) we should ask ourselves before if we are doing the right things which will help us to achieve our long term goals. That’s why thinking about effectiveness (doing the right things) is extremely important before we start doing something. Where do you want to be one year, five and ten years? – Your vision gives you information about the direction in which you need to go. Dependent on the direction you need skills to achieve smaller goals (projects) and keep moving towards it until you achieve it.

Over the time I have developed a model called “Quadrants of Focus”. If you have your vision and want to achieve it there are important parts which need your focus. The model is designed to combine business and private scopes and balance them.

You will see in the following blog posts of this series that I use those quadrants for example for my directory structure and my GTD system.

As you see all areas are dependent on each other, embedded into technology and environment and directed by the central vision. Although models try to simplify the reality you can guess the complexity we need to face.

So what are these quadrants about?

Projects

Projects move you towards your vision.
Although Leo Babauta says that focusing on a single project at a time and moving to the next after finishing it often doesn’t work in real life. So I use a rule which was discovered by George A. Miller and published in Psychological Review which says that the magical number is seven plus/minus two if you want to get great project results and stay in control.
A project is a collection of things (files, tasks, …) which belong to the same objective and has a start date and end date (e.g. lectures or client projects).
mnemonic: S.M.A.R.T. – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timed

Clients

If you want to be successful in business or in social areas people are very important because they participate in projects and/or influence the results.
Knowing the right people can lead to great opportunities.

Roles

Referring to the model of Steven Covey
Dependent on you vision you choose how to live and commitments like beeing a father.
Give up commitments which don’t make fun and don’t belong to your vision and focus on the important ones!
Examples: son, student, entrepreneur, hockey player, …

Areas

This part is oriented on Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs and the work-life-balance model.
Maslow says that there are different areas in life which belong to important needs and should be satisfied.
Being aware of those areas and influencing them positively can help us to find balance and live a fuller life.
For example: health, fun & adventure, social interactions, …

In the next blog posts we will have a closer look on them and watch how the model can applied to everyday life.

What do you think about it? – Any suggestions?

Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) with Microsoft Project 2007

Björn Zinkler — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 16:35:52 +0000

I just created a project schedule (gantt chart) in Microsoft Project 2007 and didn’t find a built in function for exporting it into a work breakdown structure.

After some searching on the web I found a great tool which was released by Microsoft and integrates with Visio 2007.

Then you can select the WBS template on startup and import your project from Microsoft Project using the “WBS Modeler” in the main menu of Visio.

You will find the installer and manual here: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=14320

FreeMind to Textile converter

Björn Zinkler — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 10:32:39 +0000

During my exam preparations I often create outlines about the lecture and save them on Backpack or Writeboard of 37signals.

The only way to create nested lists there is taking use of the textile formatting language. It’ is not very complicated because you need to write a star at the beginning of each line for every level.

But the bad side of this is that the more levels you have the more stars you need to type in.

So I started to use the OpenSource mind mapping software FreeMind to create the lecture overviews. That works very fast and with a high usability. On the other hand the created mind maps are not helpful if you want to study on the go on your iPhone. Lists have the advantage that you can cover the following points with a blank sheet of paper so that you can try to recall them on your mind.

Because there was no built in feature to export FreeMind mind maps to textile I developed a simple converter in C# as a preparation for my C# exam at the university which I could use for the other lectures, too .

The Freemind2Textile converter is also helpful if you do brainstormings, create meeting protocols or other documents on FreeMind which you need in Basecamp or Backpack later. I think that there are a lot of practical use cases.

Download Freemind2Textile converter now!

Requirements:

Windows XP or higher
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0
1 MB free disk space

Enjoy the application and leave a comment !

Welcome to my blog

Björn Zinkler — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 14:34:33 +0000

It’s done. – My own blog is finally online .

Today I’m releasing the first version of my productivity tool Nozbe Quick Tasks. Let’s see if it will be helpful for others. I hope so .

At the moment I’m working on my thesis about the development of a custom search engine which can be used for competitive analysis. I’m going to use Python and PHP5 as programming languages for this. So maybe there will be some more technical blog posts during the next few weeks.

But I’m also very interested in

personal productivity
(self) management skills and theories
project management

and I’m passionate about

drinking a delicious cup of tea
reading
listening to Jazz music.

So I’m sure that there will be enough interesting topics I will write about.

Have a great weekend!

Björn