Design an Online Workflow
There are countless wonderful, free, online tools out there that help you with productivity, and give you a pretty good way to manage your projects, your small business, and more. But how do you design your workflow, such that you actually make use of the tools consistently, and to their best effect? Let’s set something up.
First, let’s make this a system you can use to manage your projects, personal or otherwise. Second, let’s make it a system that gives you full network communications and collaboration capability. Finally, let’s make it free from start to finish (at least at the base levels of all these products). Here are a few setups:
Web-Based Toolbox
- Build a Protopage- I went to Protopage and built a START PAGE. The logon is lifehack and the password is demo1. Protopage lets you do all kinds of things. You can have sticky notes. There’s a calendar. There’s widgets to put up photos, to display web pages, and to show RSS feeds.
- Get a Voo2Do Account- Go to Voo2Do and get an account. This will be your todo list. (or use tadalist, or remember the milk, or toodledo, or a gazillion other great products).
- Use GMail and Google Calendar- Gmail and Google Calendar are just easy. They’re fairly uncluttered as apps, and both have all kinds of functionality. I’m still not over Gmail not letting me have folders, but otherwise, they’re the best. I forward my domain email accounts to a Gmail account for ease-of-use, and one-stop collection. The Calendar has lots of great features, like group calendar and all kinds of easy drag-drop create feelings.
- Set up AIM- An IM client puts you in touch with people for quick fast discussions. I actually recommend using a multi-service client, like Meebo (web-based) or Gaim, so that you don’t have to do the “do you use AIM, or Yahoo! or MSN Messenger” conversation.
- Set up a Campfire- It’s probably easiest to send you to 37Signals itself, and you can pick up Campfire, their group chat app, as well as BaseCamp, their project management software.
- Get Skype- Skype’s a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) product, which use can use as either internet-only, or you can combine with SkypeOut service and SkypeIN service to connect it to the greater telephone network. You can by handsets that make it act like a regular phone, or you can just use your microphone and speakers on your computer.
- Check out Zoho- Zoho makes all kinds of free online office application tools, including a word processor, spreadsheet, a presentation tool, and more.
- Get a Wiki- A wiki is a web-based data site that allows you to build easily edited webpages where you can store information (see Wikipedia). There are some great free ones. I use PBWiki the most.
- Use an RSS Reader- No, they’re not just for blogs any more. RSS readers let you track important information, keep abreast of targeted data, and allow for collection and aggregation into a reading platform best suited for your needs. (I use Bloglines- do you have a more favorite web-based client?)
- Set up a Blog- Internal blogs or external, using a tool to capture information in a journal format with dates is really darned useful, especially when coupled with search tools. If it’s external-facing, then your blog is also your press release engine and your public advertising channel #1. (Wordpress for internal or external, Wordpress free and hosted, Blogger).
Sample Morning Using our Tools
Once you select all your tools, you’ll need to build a workflow that maps to what you need to get done. Here is a sample flow for a few fictional hours in a workday.
- Arrive 8:45AM, drink coffee #2. Set digital timer. Pop open Gmail for 15 minutes. REFUSE to check Gmail for 15 minutes.
- 9:00AM Open Protopage. Check Voo2do list. Projects are showing some next actions involving calls, and some involving editing a nearly-finished proposal. Handle the proposal first, writing it up in Zoho Writer or Writeboard, and share it using BaseCamp with your client. They’ve subscribed to your RSS feed, so you might not have to call or email until later.
- 9:20AM You finished your proposal, and you uncovered some great points you want to copy and use again later. Post those into the wiki. Get up for a stretch and a walk to the coffee pot.
- 9:30AM Double-check Gmail. There’s a note from Surya about traffic overheating your server in Ohio. Get on IM, find Surya, and ask him if he’ll cover it. Mark yourself busy when you’re done and post a blog entry marking down what you and Surya did, deciding on a final course of action.
- 10:05AM Go over some “Friends-only” pictures in Flickr of your prospective new data center in Vietnam, shot by a friend you met on Craigslist who was going that way anyway, and who you paid no more than a case of beer for his involvement in finding the data center and snapping pictures. Tag a few to remind yourself, and make a note in the wiki, linking back. Post about it on the blog, too.
- 10:42AM Check off 3 things so far in your Voo2Do. Double check them against your BackPack master list of your project, mission and goals, and consider using Zoho’s spreadsheet software to calculate out the savings between what you spec’d the job to cost in hours versus what you saved by flowing so smoothly.
Keys to the Scenario
You can change any of the software options I’ve listed, but the premise is this: hook them all together in a meaningful way and consider the SUM TOTAL of those products the platform. Consider it all related to what you’re doing. Remember that the goal is to accomplish things, to move yourself forward on the goals you have for yourself and your business. It’s not to master a foolproof system that you can never change again.
Check out the demo ProtoPage, if it’s lasted this long. And if it has to come down, build your own. It’s fairly intuitive. Then, try incorporating all those rich, free, easy-to-use online tools, and build a workflow that supports the lifestyle you’ve dreamed up for yourself. Feel free to load the comments up with modules you’d add instead, with defences of why your tool is better than the ones I recommended, and finally, whether using this methodology does something for your productivity.
–Chris Brogan has his own accounts on nearly every one of the web-based software tools out there. He also has accounts for [chrisbrogan.com] , Grasshopper Factory, and Podcamp.org .
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Comments
Viv says on June 29th, 2006 at 1:10 am
Thanks for all this info!
I’d like to add that using Google’s personalized homepage is also a great way to keep track of all your tasks. I included gadgets that allow me to:
1) See what things are listed on my google calendar
2) See all my new Gmail messages
3) 2 To-Do lists, one for long-term tasks (eg. earn $xxx by so and so) and one for today’s tasks (eg. pick up cereal)
4)It also allows me to receive feeds of all my favorite sites
5) There’s a gadget that allows you to divide your google home page into tabs, so you don’t have a cluttered home page.
Lilx says on June 29th, 2006 at 1:13 am
(I use Bloglines- do you have a more favorite web-based client?)
Try http://newsalloy.com
Krithiga says on June 29th, 2006 at 4:08 am
As a tangent to the comment posted by Viv, using a Portal site like Google’s Personalized Home Page or Pageflakes, you can add your Zoho Writer Documents too for quick access.
Here’s how you can do it:
http://blogs.zoho.com/writer/post-beta-update-iv/
Eric says on June 29th, 2006 at 10:31 am
Good article.
We use Gmail for email, Typepad as our blogging software, http://www.centraldesktop.com for our project managment/todo application, Newsgator for our RSS reader to read industry news and our centraldesktop project recent activity, and Skype for all our phone calls and instant Messaging. We are still using MSOffice for the standard office productivity applications, the online apps are still not mature enough in my opinion.
Roger says on June 29th, 2006 at 11:21 am
…and you can diagram your workflow for free using Gliffy [www.gliffy.com]
Roberto says on June 29th, 2006 at 11:25 am
Netvibes is also an excellent alternative.
The workflow should also make use of networking websites such as ecademy or linkedin.
My big question here is: How can we make all these web 2.0 apps into a single mashable interconnected app? What about integrating this into your smart phone?
Adrian says on June 29th, 2006 at 7:36 pm
For a slightly different kind of online workflow, you should take a look at The Blue Form. Its a new web 2.0 forms workflow site that allows people to create online forms using an AJAX based form builder and then attach approval workflows to them.
Jim says on June 30th, 2006 at 4:16 am
You have just described 10 “essentials”. Ten. There is an old old buddhist saying: “The more you have the more you have to worry about”. Sure some of these things are very useful. They have their place. I think one becomes much less productive, more obsessed with workflow than work, when one creates 10 systems that need daily checking and maintenance. Look at 37 signals blog. Message: Simplify. One attraction of these tools is that they are free. Free does not = necessary.
Toby says on July 25th, 2006 at 2:36 pm
I will setup my own system based on this advice and report on my progress here.
Your item Use an RSS Reader is contained in your Build a Protopage item so drop that one. List what your Startpage can do. That’s it.
For Startpages, I’ve decided to go with Netvibes. Not sure why exactly but it seems to be more highly recommended and the userbase seems more active.
Voodo2 is a nice simple To-do manager however Basecamp is great, I pay for it, and it has the campfire chat built in now. So, drop Voodo2. And you can develop Wiki documents in Basecamp too, using their Writeboard feature… but granted that’s not a public document like a wiki but it’s similar.
The blog idea is good but what about a regular homepage… to point people to whatever? Is this where your wiki comes in? Personally, I think Modx might resolve this area but it takes some learning… Okay, searching for a homepage/wiki/blog system…
Tobias Brown says on July 28th, 2006 at 10:31 am
As a regular user of Google Mail, Google Calendar, Skype, wikis, Basecamp, and many other web applications, I consider myself a fairly advanced Internet applications user. However, before I read Chris Brogan’s article here I had never heard of Start Pages! In less than two days I selected my preferred Start Page service, configured my setup, and now I am extremely glad to be using Netvibes Start Page as my #1 Start Point for getting things done online.
A Start Page is a “desktop” for your Internet applications. Wherever you may access the Internet, you can go to your Start Page and from there easily access your key Get Things Done (GTD) areas. But you must remember your login username and password to access your Start Page because it is a private Internet site.
Therefore, next to a Start Page, the next most important GTD item is a password application.
I use KeePass installed on a tiny flash thumb drive that I can carry around with me. So, let’s say you’re in the field and you need to get something done really quickly. You access the Internet, go to your Start Page and enter the password from your KeePass password safe. Once into your Start Page (I highly recommend Netvibes), you can go to your GTD sites and again enter the passwords from KeePass. So, you’re off and running.
Therefore, the two essential Start Points for GTD are your Start Page and your password manager.
I can post a pic of my Netvibes setup if anyone’s intereseted.
One simplification in this scheme is that the KeePass password manager has a plugin module that will allow you to setup your passwords so KeePass automatically enters the username and password and submits them — logs in for you, no remembering passwords — as you double click the site in KeePass. Therefore, in some cases you may not need to go to your Start Page to get started, but can simply enter your task site via KeePass. However, in normal circumstances your Start Page will pull more things together than your password manager will be capable of.
Tara says on July 28th, 2006 at 11:37 am
Skype is great for personal use, but I just found out about Vemics. Vemics is better for an office setting. It offers a similar service, but accomodates multi-screen conferencing for a very affordable price. There is even a function for reviewing and editting documents via the web conference. check it out at http://www.vemics.com.
Tobia Brown says on July 29th, 2006 at 10:20 am
The 3 key start points for organizing my online work flow system are:
1. Start page: Netvibes
2. project management system: Basecamp
3. Password archive: KeePass with KeeForm
I think I can organize everything else under this triumvirate. Details may follow assuming I’m not pissing anyone off by posting here.
Tobia Brown says on July 29th, 2006 at 10:46 am
Vemics seems like a good online meeting application.
I did the setup and my systems tested out okay. But I didn’t located the test conference area (at 1234, tryit).
Contact me if you’d like to test this app with me.
Two other applications to check include
Yvew, http://www.vyew.com/ (2.0 coming soon)
Stickam, http://www.stickam.com/
Toby says on July 29th, 2006 at 1:18 pm
In setting up a work flow system, subordinate applications are subordinate to the primary start points: start page, password safe, and project management applications.
Examples of subordinate applications include:
Home Page Center
E-Mail Center
Accounting Center
Calendaring Center
Instand Messaging, Phone, Online Meeting Centers
Desktop Center
Subordinate applications are the secondary start points.
Toby Brown says on August 7th, 2006 at 7:16 am
Chris - I apologize for flooding this article with my posts… I was overly excited about things so please remove the posts. I will then report back with my final work flow plan. Thanks. Toby.
Craig says on September 17th, 2006 at 1:37 am
Very good article. Especially highlighting some of the free tools. Thx
Tev says on January 1st, 2007 at 2:18 pm
If your protopage has an RSS reader, why are you also using an RSS aggregator? Surely that’s just an additional thing to check?
Likewise, Google Calendar and protopage?
I’d like a blog that integrated an RSS reader, does one exist?
Neflhiem says on January 2nd, 2007 at 10:34 am
How do you get voo2do to show up on any of the net homepages? I cant get it on netvibes, proto or google?
leo says on February 21st, 2007 at 7:17 am
I dont know but why i don find such informative and profitable blogs so often,I suspect blogging world is becoming so small that we cant find such lucrative blogs like this one.
Alisya says on March 3rd, 2007 at 6:30 am
I suspect that’s thereason general public want to read blog….Internet visitors generally create blogs to declare themselves or their secret views. Blog grant them same matter on the monitor screen what they specifically needed,so as the above stuffs declared it.
Michelle Hipps says on March 20th, 2007 at 10:32 am
dude i
Pali Madra says on April 6th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Thank you for the article, a great help indeed. I like the idea floated by Viv of using protopage as a start up page where each tool’s feed is there in a snapshot.
Any ideas which software to use for designing mockups or sketches. I have searched on the Internet but it seems the good old paper is the best. Any ideas?
Dan says on April 17th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
Add a Workflow to your Blogs
1. Create or import your workflow at http://netfxlive.com and save it.
2. Add the following HTML code to your blogs or to any web page. Specify in Open method your UserName and WorkflowName:
var designer= new WorkflowDesigner();
designer.Initialize(document.getElementById(”designerCtrl”));
designer.Open(”ghenadie”,”Ajax”);
Enjoy!!!
Kris says on August 8th, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Great article and thanks for sharing.
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JS says on November 12th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Thanks for the great tips :)
Michelle says on December 26th, 2007 at 3:28 am
ha ha! that is so like the typical workflow day! might want to throw in checking your Gmail more than twice…it’s more like 5 times a day for me. ;)
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Patrick McLaren says on January 13th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
This post was very helpful! I have been researching different online workflows and its great to see what people do.
I’m starting my own creative boutique, if people would like to follow my experiences, please visit my temporary blog.
http://patrickmclaren.wordpress.com/
Thanks