Productivity,  Simplify

One Productivity Tool? Or Many?

Wednesdays are simplicity days at SimpleProductivity blog.


Photo by kalleboo

Somebody asked me recently what I thought of single solution productivity tools. They mentioned a particular software that had a calendar, task list, project list, and contacts, and you could read your email from within the software.

Today we will look at the difference between single- and multi-tool productivity solutions.

Jack Of All Trades

There is an adage, “Jack of all trades, master of none.” It means that someone who knows a lot about many things is not an expert in any of them. The same applies to software.

But…you may not need perfection. You may just want to have your calendar, tasks, projects, notes and contacts all in one place. That doesn’t seem like such a tall order, given that paper systems have been doing it for decades.

The multi-function system can work well, and it allows you to keep all your information in one program. This means linking between the different types of information should be included.

The problem is with so many components, there is a lot of development time. In this day and age, it is no longer feasible to have five years to write a software package. It must be done and done quickly. That means that not everything is going to get the same quality design and programming.

In the best case, this may mean that some parts of a system are a bit primitive. In the middle it may mean that the user interface is a bit clunky and it’s hard to get things done. In the worst case it may mean that some parts of the system are totally unusable. (I have seen all three scenarios occur)

The Problem With “Do It All” Tools

Even with the best scenario, using a single program to store different types of information means either it is all stored the same way (square pegs, round holes) in order to make searching easy, or if it is stored differently, then searching becomes complicated.

The same goes for extracting. You can’t expect to extract calendar data in the same format as tasks or notes.

The Beauty of Single-Focus Tools

The beauty of single focus tools is that they can do one thing and do it well. The development time is less, so the quality of the design and programming goes up. It does one thing, and does it really well.

The Downside of Single-Focus Tools

Unfortunately, that may mean that you can’t get information from one to the other easily. For instance, you might not be able to see all the appointments you have had with a certain person in your contact list.

How To Choose Your Tools

I’m not saying that single- or multi-purpose tools are better or worse for any given person. I’m saying you have to consider how, when and why you are going to use them.

How Much Do You Need

They make Swiss Army knives with all sorts of configurations. But if you are not going to use most of the blades, why carry them around?

When looking at a multi-purpose tool, make sure you are going to use the majority of the components. If all you are using is the calendar, task list and address book, you might not need a package that does receipts, mileage, contact history and more.

The Bottomless Pit

The first thing you have to know before choosing any type of tool is how you are going to get the information out. It does absolutely no good for you to spend time and energy to put information into a system if you can’t get it out in a meaningful way.

If you need to be able to see your calendar on the go, it makes no sense to use a system that doesn’t work with your phone. If you need to be able to access your address book from your computer, it makes no sense to use something that is just on your phone.

Garbage In, Garbage Out

We have a saying in IT: Garbage In, Garbage Out (GIGO). That means that whatever you use has to capture the information in a good way.

Think about a contact application that stored only the person’s first name and their favorite color. That wouldn’t do much good if you needed to put in an address or phone number.

If the solution mangles your information, it won’t be useful later on, so why bother putting it in?

Location, location, location

Just as in real estate, location matters a great deal in the tools you use. You have to consider where you need the information…and it might be in multiple locations.

If you choose a system that lives entirely on your phone, what do you do when you have no cell signal? What about when you are sitting at your desk at work? Do you keep referring back to your phone?

A Word About Isolation

One other thing that needs to be looked at with any type of tool is to recognize it will never live in isolation. How can you get information into it?

Many single- and multi-use tools allow you to send things into them by email, or by import.

Conclusion

There exist both single- and multi-purpose tools. Which one(s) you choose will depend on your needs. Make sure you are using the features of the package(s) you choose, the program doesn’t mangle your data, and you can get to it where you need, and you will be on your way to finding software that works well for you.


Photo by kalleboo. Licensed under Creative Commons.

4 Comments

  • Rachel From Centask

    Great analysis. What is your opinion on an approach that may take the best of both world, i.e. enjoy the single tool focus and have one view of everything you are working on from separate focoused tools such as gmail and evernote. One master ToDo list, that integrates actionable emails, files, and links.

    • LJ Earnest

      I actually do use a centralized task list…everything actionable from Evernote, Gmail and websites all end up in Remember The Milk. One tool to rule them all….

  • Danielle

    Awesome! When I was choosing task management tool, I asked myself the same questions: how, when and why I’m going to use them. So I stopped on two tools:

    1. http://casual.pm/ (allows to track dependencies between tasks and plan work more effectively)
    2. Microsoft Project (for super complex projects)

    They make me more confident and calm.