Working efficiently with clients - sharing updates and tracking owners
(closed account) says:
I work on a lot of different projects for different clients. At one, I use the client's Sharepoint to manage a list of tasks that I need to work on. Each day the client gets an automatic email from Sharepoint showing actual changes I've made to the tasks. They like this a lot.
I'd like to use RTM but I don't want to have to manage tasks in both RTM and Sharepoint. Is there a way I can do something similiar with RTM? Sharing, publishing, and the atom feeds aren't quite what I need. I don't think even the API lets you just see changes so unless there is some other feature in RTM, this probably requires an app that daily downloads all your tasks and then compares it to yesterday's data to compile a list of changes.
One other thing I'll throw in... the client also likes that in Sharepoint I have a column that identifies the "business owner" of the task. What might be a good way to track this in RTM?
I'd like to use RTM but I don't want to have to manage tasks in both RTM and Sharepoint. Is there a way I can do something similiar with RTM? Sharing, publishing, and the atom feeds aren't quite what I need. I don't think even the API lets you just see changes so unless there is some other feature in RTM, this probably requires an app that daily downloads all your tasks and then compares it to yesterday's data to compile a list of changes.
One other thing I'll throw in... the client also likes that in Sharepoint I have a column that identifies the "business owner" of the task. What might be a good way to track this in RTM?
(closed account) says:
Thanks for the tag suggestion, that makes a lot of sense.
I actually use basecamp for some projects (because the clients use it) but I'm not a big fan of it. I like the more GTD-approach of RTM and other similiar tools. I suppose by definition my problem is near insolvable. I have clients who use their own tools to track things, so I have to use them, yet none of them are ideal for tracking ALL the things that I need to do in a way that helps me keep track of important items. All I can do is have a task list that says "see client task list".
A good solution would require all these products to talk to each other and share data. I could certainly write some software to address some of my issues (like an email that gives a daily update to people showing what tasks I worked on the day before) and even write something to sync RTM to other tools. It just seems like more work than it's worth.
I actually use basecamp for some projects (because the clients use it) but I'm not a big fan of it. I like the more GTD-approach of RTM and other similiar tools. I suppose by definition my problem is near insolvable. I have clients who use their own tools to track things, so I have to use them, yet none of them are ideal for tracking ALL the things that I need to do in a way that helps me keep track of important items. All I can do is have a task list that says "see client task list".
A good solution would require all these products to talk to each other and share data. I could certainly write some software to address some of my issues (like an email that gives a daily update to people showing what tasks I worked on the day before) and even write something to sync RTM to other tools. It just seems like more work than it's worth.
(closed account) says:
Although maybe I'm thinking about this wrong...
http://lifedev.net/2006/12/gtd-refresher-the-next-action-list-isnt-a-project-management-system/
http://lifedev.net/2006/12/gtd-refresher-the-next-action-list-isnt-a-project-management-system/
andrewski (Remember The Milk) says:
Interesting article. I'd have to say keeping only the next few weeks of tasks in your list seems counterintuitive to the "one place for everything" that GTD encourages. "Put down the next few weeks"... and keep the rest in your head? Maybe I'm misunderstanding the article, but it sounds too drastic.
What I'd recommend is something a bit more moderate: what about keeping the next two weeks in your Smart Lists and keeping the rest "hidden" from your main lists? You can use sleeper tags to do this, and there are a few other methods I've come across in the forums.
That would definitely help you avoid "task anxiety", which is what that article tries to address, while preserving the important (at least to me) concept of getting everything out of your head.
What I'd recommend is something a bit more moderate: what about keeping the next two weeks in your Smart Lists and keeping the rest "hidden" from your main lists? You can use sleeper tags to do this, and there are a few other methods I've come across in the forums.
That would definitely help you avoid "task anxiety", which is what that article tries to address, while preserving the important (at least to me) concept of getting everything out of your head.
andrewski (Remember The Milk) says:
Whoops, I meant to address the inital request (a list of changes today) too:
I'm not sure if you're completing tasks every day, but you can create a smart list to show just the tasks completed in a certain timeframe. (This was also highlighted on our blog recently.)
For you, maybe something like (addedWithin:"1 day of today" OR completedWithin:"2 days of today") tag:ClientName to show that client's list. (I had to use "2 days of today" for completedWithin to show what I expected; you may want to play with it a bit.) It wouldn't show you tasks that were just modified that day, so I'm not sure if that would work for you.
I'm not sure if you're completing tasks every day, but you can create a smart list to show just the tasks completed in a certain timeframe. (This was also highlighted on our blog recently.)
For you, maybe something like (addedWithin:"1 day of today" OR completedWithin:"2 days of today") tag:ClientName to show that client's list. (I had to use "2 days of today" for completedWithin to show what I expected; you may want to play with it a bit.) It wouldn't show you tasks that were just modified that day, so I'm not sure if that would work for you.