Put Multiple Organization Tools Into One
December 10th, 2009We’re using a lot of different communication and organization tools today. There are the basic tools, like an email client, an instant messenger and of course our phone. When you favor the latest technologies available on the market, you may even use Skype for phone calls over the internet.
Organization mostly is done with a scheduler. Meetings, appointments, tasks, notes and contacts – everything is added to your scheduler. This way you have everything at place. But is this the best way to structure your personal and/or business data?
Is it hard for you to get a contact’s private phone number when you’re talking to someone else at phone? How difficult is it to find a meeting time for, let’s say 3 people? How often do you have to talk to them until you have all agreed on a date and time? These are just some typical examples, where a good tool can help you save time. You may think of using Excel for this job. Many users try to manage their day this way. But keep in mind: Excel was designed to calculate, not to organize your day. There are much better approaches.
On is to use a Personal Information Manager, or just short PIM. A PIM usually consists of a scheduler, a contact manager, notes, an email client and a task manager. The most important thing is that the PIM was designed to help you with your daily private or business organization. Mostly all parts are working together; therefore you can turn off all other applications which handle only a single issue of your organization.
Some PIMs are able to create a network which enables you to share information with others. Finding a free meeting time becomes a one click action, contacting others, too. When it comes to PIMs most users think about Microsoft Outlook. As Outlook offers the richest set of functions, it’s also the most expensive one. Some cheaper alternatives and especially designed for individuals or small companies are Pimero, iCal or Do-Organizer.
Gerard Schwabe is lead tech developer at soft-evolution, a software company which has developed the team management software Pimero.











