Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
I recently joined the iPhone generation, and once I got over the novelty factor of “apps for everything”, I’ve been hungry for really useful applications to make my life easier. There’s many I’ve found, but I a few that I find myself using on a daily basis.
They’re all mobile versions of desktop applications or webapps I use often and that’s probably why I’m so taken by them. Rather than attempting to be standalone applications they add value to a bigger experience, focussing on the interactions you need when on the go, and not toiling with the more complicated interactions which would typically be a struggle on a handheld, touchscreen device.
There are other apps that I use regularly, but in terms of productivity and usefulness, here’s my top five…
1. Evernote
I’m constantly on the look out for inspiration and it never ceases to amaze me where the spark of an idea can come from. Whether it’s a URL for a useful article, an interesting colour scheme used in a billboard poster or a clever turn of phrase in a news story, I like to capture them for future use. I’m a big GTD fan, and couldn’t live without the “I write it down so I don’t have to remember it” philosophy. Enter Evernote…
Evernote is a free desktop application for capturing ideas as text, photos, links, web snippets. To access your notes from any other computer you can synch your desktop Evernote with your online account and access it from anywhere. There is a premium option for heavy-duty users (at time of writing, priced $45 a year), but I haven’t found myself pushing the boundary of the free service yet.
The Evernote iPhone app brings the “Remember everything” experience to mobile, giving me the speed and convenience of capturing ideas wherever I am, or whatever I’m doing. If I’m waiting for a train and want to knock-up a rough to-do-list after a meeting — dump it into Evernote and copy it up when I’m back at my desk. If I walk past a poster and see an idea for a current project — take a snapshot and file it later. Simple, powerful and hugely useful.
2. Mindmeister
I was introduced to mind mapping years ago through reading a book by the inventor Tony Buzan. Since then I was strictly of the opinion that mind mapping was a pencil and paper exercise and loved the freeflowing feeling of pouring ideas out onto the page. The downside of the paper-based approach is the difficulty in sharing the ideas with the rest of a virtual team or remote clients without scanning the image or passing the paper on. I’ve dabbled with mind mapping software in the past but didn’t like the idea of being constrained by working on screen. However, just recently I’ve been using the webapp Mindmeister as a quick and easy way of creating mindmaps online where they can be shared and developed with others collaborating on a project.
Mindmeister is becoming an essential tool in my toolbox for thinking out projects, concepts, blog posts and even client proposals. As a lot of my work is done remotely the iPhone app gives me easier access to view and edit maps I’m collaborating on with others. Building a large map on a small screen is a bit like looking at an elephant through a microscope, but for roughing out quick ideas and concepts on the go this app is great.
3. MiniBooks
This app accompanies Freshbooks, the online billing service for freelancers (and a service I use a lot). It offers handy client and invoice management and if you’re caught without an wi-fi or 3G connection it will store your data for synching when you get online. The time tracking facility is very solid (I actually prefer it to the official Freshbooks app which kept dropping timers anytime I received a call). You simply choose a project and task, start the timer and get on with your work. Stop the timer when you’re done it logs the time into your timesheet, ready to be applied to an invoice.
It’s not the full Freshbooks experience in the palm of your hand, but once again, it offers the features you need the most when you’re out of the office. Another GTD principle I live by is “If you discover a task that takes 2min to complete, do it and forget about it.” If I’ve just banked a cheque from a client, rather than making a note to update their account, I’ll fire up MiniBooks and add the payment right there. Job done, and one less thing to think about.
4. Sherpa
Like many of web professionals out there BaseCamp from 37Signals makes parts of my job possible. In my opinion, online project management doesn’t get much better. So, bringing the simplicity of BaseCamp to mobile is a tough task, but Sherpa nails it. Similar to Evernote, the developers have thought deeply about the most useful features to offer as a mobile experience. Reading and replying to messages, managing milestones and to-do-lists, they all work well on the small screen and the design is clean and uncluttered.
Sherpa lets you manage multiple BaseCamp accounts and integrates beautifully with other iPhone features (one-touch calling, SMS messaging or emailing clients and colleagues is a nice feature). As well as being a very solid and handy app, Sherpa is also free!
5. Things
I’d love to claim that I’m incredibly organised and efficient, but the truth is I’m prone to getting sidetracked or muddled at times. Due to this I get a lot of value from Things, the task manager from Cultured Code. It’s a very well thought out desktop application for organising to-do-lists and is the best I’ve ever used. I haven’t used many but this one seems like it will do everything I ever need it to.
Things is based on the Getting Things Done system. It uses the model of tasks, projects and schedules, and has a great tagging system for browsing tasks by keyword. It’s super-simple to enter tasks and track lists. The iCal integration is pretty good too.
Things For iPhone is the perfect extension to the desktop version and they synch beautifully (wirelessly too, if you’re within range) to keep your lists updated. The complex interactions like building up projects and schedules are best carried out on the desktop, and list management works great on the mobile.
iTunes link to Things for iPhone
So that’s my top five. What are yours?
Tags: apps, collaboration, GTD, iPhone
