------- Clearing Up the Confusion E-Zine ------- Vol 3, Issue 13 When I write these introductions I always seem to talk about my daughter, Kaylie, and her exploits as she grows. This time, though, just to be a little different, I thought I would talk about my lovely wife, Lisa. Lisa, among her many other amazing talents, has an ability to organize that is just this side of unnatural. She knows whose birthdays, weddings, graduations, anniversaries, etc, etc, are coming up and always seems to have a card ready (many of which she makes herself). She's ordered our household so that all of the general upkeep gets done in a timely manner. The only way a company for whom she works doesn't come out the better for the bargain is if they don't listen to her and act on her advice. Seriously. In fact, that's one of the reasons I've asked her to help me set up systems to help run my company, because while she is the crowned monarch of the world of organization, I seem to rate slightly lower on the nobility scale -- I think my title is something like "court jester". That being the case, I'm always on the outlook for tools which can help me keep on top of things and this month I've started working with a new one. Check it out in the article below. ---------------------------------------------------------------- In This Issue... ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article: Conquering the Mountains of Chaos 2. Shameless Self-Promotion 3. The Fine Print ---------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Article: Conquering the Mountains of Chaos ---------------------------------------------------------------- I recently finished re-reading "The E-Myth" by Michael Gerber for the third time. One of the things the author recommends for a successful business is to develop systems for everything. He makes a powerful argument, which is why I've started creating a more organized approach to my business processes. In order to jump start this a little, I thought I would check around to see what tools were available to me. The one I've been playing with the past few weeks is Basecamp (http://basecamphq.com/). BaseCamp is a system to help you organize projects, especially those with more than one person involved. To use the fully functional version, they charge a monthly fee, from $24/month up to $149/month. They do, however, have a free version which is missing a couple of features, most notably file storage and time tracking. Still, if you would like to try it out, it's a good way to go. I've got free accounts set up for two projects right now. One of the big things I use it for is To-Do lists. For the one project, I keep a separate list for each of the different modules. It's a good place to record those bugs and missing features that I discover as I work. Once they are in there I don't have to worry about remembering them again. Basecamp, though, is much more than just a fancy To-Do list maintainer. It has features to record milestones, assign responsibility for both To-Do items and milestones, and allows you to maintain notes in a "Writeboard" environment (yes, I spelled that correctly). It even has a messaging facility which would allow you to keep all information regarding the project in one location. One of the really nice things about Basecamp is that there is no dearth of information about how to work with the system. Every section has a video displayed, showing fairly clearly the finer points of using that particular section. All in all a very nice system. Now as I mentioned, the free version of the system has a few limitations. It has no time tracking, nor does it have file storage. With regards to the former, you could check out a service like Toggl (http://toggl.com/). For the latter, something like the free version of box.net should be sufficient for most people's needs. I'm just starting to use these tools, so I've got a ways to go before it is truly integrated into the way I do things. Still, I'm finding it fairly useful in the short run. I'll probably stick around for a while to see how it goes. So what sort of project organization products do you use? I would love to hear about them. Drop me a line at gpeters@cyberdatasolutionsllc.com and let me know about your experience. Copyright 2009, Greg Peters ---------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Shameless Self-Promotion ---------------------------------------------------------------- The "Clearing Up the Confusion" E-Zine is a production of Greg Peters, owner, chief cook, and bottlewasher of Cyber Data Solutions. CDS has been helping website designers develop better web presence for their clients for more than a decade. Visit us on the Web at www.cyberdatasolns.com to see how we can help your webmaster. ---------------------------------------------------------------- 3. The Fine Print ---------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: You can subscribe to the "Clearing Up The Confusion" E-zine at: http://www.cyberdatasolns.com/ezine Questions: If you have any questions, concerns or comments regarding the Clearing Up the Confusion E-zine, please email Greg Peters at: gpeters@cyberdatasolns.com This content may be forwarded in full, with copyright and contact information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Greg Peters is required, with notification to the original author. 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