Saturday, August 01, 2009

Gmail, Gtasks, Gcalendar & Gdocs … the Gatekeepers ….

As a followup to using Gmail as a tasking and knowledge management tool … this is a simple discussion of taking some of the new capabilities of the G4 and turning them into the gatekeeper of an efficient cloud based system to keep you on track and in the flow ….

Many systems using the ideas of GTD and work flow exist and work for many … I tend to create my own structures within my space to enable my mind to freely flow rather than be encumbered by rules and things that I might forget and then have to redo …  so this has emerged from the chaos of trying to stay focused but yet trying so many “systems” to me that way ….

Let’s start with our core application, email … from there emerges most of the pathways that you normally take … ie, when an email thread contains information that must be kept and referenced, or dates emerge of importance that then must reference information, deadlines and tasks need to be not forgotten … etc etc

You get the picture … one of8-1-2009 12-10-05 PM my most used integrations now is the task feature on gmail … it pops out the list that I can quickly add info to and put in deadlines, etc … this new task feature is enabled in the labs section and then appears in your left hand column as I have circled …

The neat thing is now the tasks are also on the Google 8-1-2009 12-14-13 PM calendar app, same button on the left side, same enabling in lab feature .. and Same task list from Gmail … now it is a simple thing to add a calendar item and create an alert (my calendar synchs to my blackberry … mobile heaven) …. see below another great feature for calendar … the world clock as I have many contacts internationally that allows me a quick overview of times and places ….

Now going back to the gmail screen … here’s where it really gets fun … now I have all sorts of choices for 8-1-2009 12-21-22 PM information storage … if you notice at the of my screen in the browser bookmark area … I can use Evernote, which also allows me to take any website or any info into a completely searchable web and desktop interface … or my new experiment  Spring it captures it into Springpad which also allows for web access … way more powerful recall engines for those info challenged types like myself … also covered earlier is the create document option of google docs that allows for document creation from the entire email string … this allows searchability and easy cut and paste into more spreadsheet or document work in your docs space …

Obviously with the google gears, you now have an application space and web system that allows you complete portability, searchability and useability … did I miss any bilities?   Have fun and play … this one works and gives you a great basis to create something that will work for you ….