Section 5.4. Setting Up a PDA for Use with The Cycle

5.4. Setting Up a PDA for Use with The Cycle

If you use a PDA, you have many choices. PDAs usually come with software that lets you keep an appointment calendar, to do lists, and notes. However, there is a wealth of aftermarket add-on packages that can greatly enhance the experience.

DateBook (DB) V (http://www.pimlicosoftware.com) won my favor early on because it makes implementing the "to do list per day" concept very easy. I like to think of it as finishing what Palm set out to do. A Palm-based PDA without DateBook V is a toy. DB V makes to do entry very fast through the use of templates, uses color effectively to highlight what's important, and can give advanced warning of an event. This last feature is particularly useful to me. Before DB V, I had to enter a reminder for someone's birthday and plug in an additional reminder a week early so that I had time to buy a gift. With DB V, I can simply request advance warning of an anniversary or birthday. DB V is only available for PalmOS. One of the nice things about DB is that it maintains its data in the normal PalmOS data structures, so all your items sync just as you would hope they do.

Life Balance (LB) (http://www.llamagraphics.com) is not just great software, it's a great philosophy. LB has all the important features of The Cycle (to do lists, calendars, and so on), but it adds the important concept of being aware that your life needs balance. Maybe you've decided you want to split your time between three projects plus home life. If you've been ignoring one of those categories, to do items from that area will start appearing higher in your priority list. Eventually your life is back in balance. It's a great concept and many people swear by this software. It's available for Mac OS X and Windows, and it syncs to a PalmOS version.

Once, while I was teaching my Time Management for System Administrators seminar, someone said that when he's done with one task, he wishes someone else would pick the next task for him. He said he spends too much time worrying about what to do next. That's when someone else chimed in about Life Balance. You program it with how you want your life balanced, and it sees to it that you meet those goals.

Another nice thing about Life Balance is that rather than putting each to do item in a category such as Work or Home, you mark each item with the location(s) in which you are able to do that task. So, the next time you are at the grocery store (or your boss's office), you click on that place, and Life Balance shows a list of things that need to be done there. Very convenient!

What do I use? I've tried a variety of platforms. However, I must admit that I always returned to the first platform I learned: a leather-bound binder with preprinted paper filler for each day of the year. I think that if the first platform I used had been a peanut butter and banana sandwich, I would always return to it, because once I develop a habit, I tend to stick with it.

In all other aspects of my life, I'm fairly high-tech and upgrade to new systems regularly. I switch computers and operating systems constantly. I used email long before it was a household word, I set up one of the largest WiFi networks before it was called WiFi, and I bought a Tivo before most of my friends knew it existed. However, for my time management, I like paper. I like to write in large letters, scribble, draw arrows and circles. When someone starts rattling off information to me, I like to be able to start writing it down immediately, not wait for a microprocessor to get out of sleep mode. I used the same large-size (8.5" x 11") leather-bound binder from 1991 until 2004, and then switched to a smaller (5.5" x 8.5") one (but still leather!) in January of 2005.

I'm just a creature of habit.

The point is that what you use is what works for you. Try them all (especially the softwarethey usually have a free trial download). Borrow a few PDAs from friends and coworkers, even if it is just for a few minutes during lunch. Spend time in a stationery store getting a feel for various date books and planner systems.

Take Responsibility When Vendors Don't Follow Through

Follow-through doesn't just mean tracking issues. Follow-through is about results. A coworker of mine couldn't understand why his boss was unhappy with his performance when a project was delayed because a vendor hadn't returned a call placed two weeks earlier. It wasn't his fault that the vendor hadn't called back, right?

That's not how the world works. You can't assume that a vendor will call back. You have to take responsibility for a project's timely completion. Here are some tips:

• Call the vendor once a day until you connect. Call every day. Don't wait for them to take the initiative.

• Call the vendor early in the morning. If you reach them early in the day, they can spend the rest of the day working their bureaucracy to get you the answer or result you need. If you call them at the end of the day, then your request gets forgotten by morning. (They haven't read this book.)

• Log that you've called the vendor in your organizer. The log may prove useful when things go really wrong.

• Always leave voice mail. You need to leave proof that you called. Without leaving a message, it's the same as not calling. You don't have to be original each time. Simply say, "This is [your name here]. Please call me at [your phone number]. I need [status update/whatever] about [project]. Thank you." If you don't give a reason for calling, you'll end up playing phone tag. If you say what you need, the vendor can work on it whether or not they are able to reach you. However, be brief and leave your phone number at the beginning of the message, not the end.

Related to this, the order isn't "in" until a shipper's tracking number and/or delivery date is provided.

I've been stung many times by vendors (and purchasing departments) that were late to ship something. "Oh, I'd been sitting on this order for a week because there's a form you need to fax me." Why didn't they tell me? Don't these people work on commission? Have they found some magical business model where not shipping a product makes them money?

The wrong question to ask, and I know this because I used it unsuccessfully for years, is, "Do you need anything else from me?" Silly me. I thought that a highly motivated salesperson would take this opportunity to finish the deal so he could get commission. No, the real problem is that not all roadblocks involve me. Maybe a credit approval needs to be finished or a design needs to receive an internal sign-off. Technically, those involve someone from the purchasing department, not me. People don't want to feel that they are making work for you, so they are polite and answer no to this question. In reality, if I know of the roadblocks that aren't in my control, at least I can manage themi.e., I can start calling the purchasing department to make sure they clear the roadblock.

Therefore, when it seems like everything is done, I ask the magic question: "Can you tell me what date it will arrive?" Suddenly it clicks in the salesperson's brain to tell me that I really am done or to list the roadblocks: the product isn't available until next spring, or that while I've filled out the credit application, he hasn't submitted it to his finance department. These are both real examples.

Once I get a delivery date, the question changes to, "Can you give me a tracking number?" That's the real proof that the order hasn't hit any snags. For important projects, I call every day until I receive a tracking number. I always call in the morning, and I always leave a polite message if I'm transferred to someone's voice mail.