Torres Talking: Productivity

Remember The Milk + Exchange = My Tasks Super System

Sun, 03 Feb 2008 21:19:01 GMT

I've been playing with Remember The Milk quite a bit this week, all the while wondering how I could fit it into my task/to-do workflow without complicating my life more than I need to. It's dangerous when you spend too much time in the "meta zone", thinking about how you're going to complete your tasks instead of actually completing them. So I gave myself a deadline (today) to figure out if and how Remember The Milk was going to work for me... and this is what I came up with.

<If you don't know what Remember The Milk is, check it out at www.rememberthemilk.com. It's an impressive service for task management/getting things done. I'm going to refer to it as RTM from now on.>

Since I rely heavily on Outlook + Exchange for work, any solution that took my tasks out of Outlook would be a non-starter. I need the ability to attach PDFs and (more importantly) emails to tasks for quick follow-up and I need them in my face all day long. At the same time, there are aspects of RTM that would make me more productive on a day-to-day basis so I wanted to find something that would work across both systems. So I started with this:

I continue to use Outlook tasks & my toolbar macros (from 2004, wow) to create tasks while at work. Obviously this syncs to Exchange and to all of my other Outlook installations; I think I'm up to 4. Using my macros, I'm able to attach emails to tasks automatically so that when I'm sitting in front of Outlook on any of the machines I regularly use, I can pull up tasks and act on email immediately.
I continue to sync my tasks with Exchange on my phone. I use Oxios ToDo List on my smartphone; when I complete a task on my phone it synchronizes immediately to Exchange and to Outlook at home, work, on my laptops, etc. It's a great system that I've been using for a long time.

And this is what I'm now doing a little differently:

I also use MilkSync on my phone (which works well) to sync my tasks back to Remember The Milk. I have it set to every 15 or 30 minutes (experimenting) which means RTM now has all my tasks, complete with notes and categories. But since RTM doesn't support email attachments, it doesn't store any of the email I've attached. Which is fine with me because a) it would violate corporate policy to store Microsoft email on another company's servers and b) I only need those attachments when I'm sitting in front of Outlook anyway.
I setup Jott to publish directly to my “Next Actions” category. So now when I’m driving and I need to remember to do something, I just hold down the number 3 and say “Task” followed by what I need to do. It then just flows into the system and shows up in Outlook, my phone task list, and on www.rememberthemilk.com.
I added an RTM gadget to my new Netvibes homepage. No escaping my tasks.
I added an RTM bookmarklet in IE and Firefox so I can grab any date or text on a web page and make a task out of it. That task then flows through the system.
On my Mac, I'm using Quicksilver to add new tasks to RTM with just a couple keystrokes. I don't have to actually open anything at all to create a new task. And I have a Dashboard widget running that gives me a quick snapshot of my current tasks if I ever remember to hit F12.
I can now interact with tasks on every platform via the browser if I have to (Mac, PC, etc.) including going offline. Ditto on the flowing through the system bit :)
I setup a special email address for my wife on RTM for "honey-dos". When she sends an email to this address, it will be added to my "Next Actions" list and sync to all my endpoints. So if she really wants me to remember something (like the milk!) this is a great way for her to get into my head without spamming me with SMS or email. TBD if this is good enough - or if IWantSandy is a better solution for us.

As you can probably tell, the killer feature for me is the fact that all of this stuff is talking to each other. Everywhere I am (web, PC, Mac, phone) I'm working against the same task list. As I add a task in one place (even via voice using Jott), it's available everywhere.

So basically, I have RTM and Exchange in sync using my phone (running both ActiveSync and MilkSync) as the sync hub. It isn't the perfect solution, but it's working well. And yes, I realize I'm a little "over the top" when it comes to time management! But maybe one person will get value out of this post ;)

Time Management: Randy Pausch

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 01:21:59 GMT

Many of you may have heard of Randy Pausch from his fantastic "Last Lecture" or his recent visit to Oprah. For anyone as interested as I am in time management, this talk he gave in 1998 is an almost perfect treatise on how to manage your time effectively. It's especially fun to hear him talk about "electronic mail" and "world wide web pages" or about how storage is cheap because he just bought a computer with 16GB (!) of hard disk space.

One of the things he discusses is how little stress he has in his life because he archives all of his email as sort of extended memory - he knows that if he ever needs to get to anything, he can just search against it. He goes into detail on how cheap it is to store text in the cloud and how once people realize that, they'll be storing everything there without second thought. He uses his Dad's WebTV as the example (which used Hotmail as the backend). Foreshadowing at its best.

It makes you wonder if he could have had a second career consulting for Gmail or Hotmail, which didn't truly figure out email archiving and search for 5-7 more years. Or working with David Allen on Getting Things Done, as a lot of his tactics fit that mold. Randy should have written that book first!

Shared spouse calendars - FINALLY!

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:15:17 GMT

Back in 1997/1998 when we were building out Jump.com, one of the "killer scenarios" we were hoping to enable with our new online calendar was sharing between spouses/families. Fast-forward a full DECADE and today marks the day that I am finally able to see my wife's calendar, and have her see mine. It's glorious.

The reason it took so long was because we both rely 100% on our office calendars, and both of the companies we work for use Exchange servers. Exchange was designed to make intra-office calendar sharing a piece of cake, but never had any real support for sharing calendars between two "Internet users" until Outlook 2007 calendar sharing via iCal arrived. This is one of those features that for some reason no one I talk to even knows about, but it's great. Sure, we could have enabled calendar sharing over the years with MSN Calendar (which is the evolution of Jump.com!) or with Google Calendar, but neither of those calendars work at all with our calendars at work.

Today, my wife's company upgraded to Office 2007 and we immediately setup calendar sharing between us. Now when I go into my calendar, my wife's calendar appears right next to mine - I even turned on overlay mode just for fun, so I can see her appointments super-imposed on top of mine. Looks like she'll be in my building later today ;)

The reason this is so exciting is that it will likely cut down on ~20% of our random IMs and emails about scheduling dinners, travel, "what are you doing tonight?", etc. Gotta love those little life hacks that make life a little easier!

This is an overview of how Outlook 2007 calendar sharing works if you're interested: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA100398301033.aspx

Folders, files, and backup with Windows Vista (just 6 easy steps!)

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 06:01:39 GMT

Back in the early days of this blog (almost three years ago already) I posted about my backup strategies. Since I'm in the process of upgrading my system, I figured I would update this post with some Vista flair. I'll focus on Windows Vista specifically since that's what I use and love - I'll copy and paste the old post and change up some stuff. If you're still using Windows XP or Windows 98/NT/2000 (yikes!) the old post will still help you out.

It goes without saying that if you aren't backing up your data, you will lose it at some point. It's just a matter of time. So please do invest in a fool-proof backup system. Here are 6 steps to keeping your data safe.

1. Store all of your personal files on a separate physical drive (let's call this the Z: drive)

If you don't want to invest in a second hard drive, you could use PartitionMagic or DiskPart to create a logical partition on your existing hard drive, splitting the C: drive into C: and Z:. Of course, you need to make sure you don't actually rely on anything on your C: drive before partitioning it as you wouldn't want to do this to your primary drive.

While partitioning one drive works, I would strongly recommend investing in a separate physical drive primarily because (depending on the size of your personal files) you can use your existing drive for backup and be sure that if one drive fails (which is likely!) you still have a safe copy of your personal files.

What exactly constitutes a personal file? Simple: Anything you don't want to lose. In other words, anything you create or save for future use: emails, documents, presentations, photos, music, and so on. Applications (like Microsoft Word) or shortcuts aren't considered personal files because they can always be reinstalled if your hard drive fails.

2. Use folder redirection to map your User folders to the equivalent folders on the Z drive - and put ALL of your personal files in these folders.

This is an important step; you should always know exactly where your most important files are being stored. The easiest way to do this is to mirror the C:\Users\[username] folder in terms of structure, so whenever you're working with "Documents" launched from Explorer or from the Start menu, you know exactly what you're working on.

This is how I map the folders inside "Mike":

Desktop - Z:\Desktop
Favorites - Z:\Favorites
Documents - Z:\Documents
Music - Z:\Music
Pictures - Z:\Files\Pictures
Videos - Z:\Files\Videos

For whatever reason, there isn't a way to just map the [username] folder - instead you have to map each folder underneath it individually.

Update, 8/10: I forgot to mention how to do this. It's actually pretty easy, you just need to right-click on the folder (i.e. Desktop) and go to Properties. Then go to the Location tab and specify the new location (i.e. Z:\Desktop) and click OK. You can see a screenshot of how to do this here.

Always store everything in these folders!

3. Ensure your application critical files are in Personal Files as well.

If you use Microsoft Outlook a lot, you're going to want to store your PST file on your Z: drive (I put it in Documents when I used Outlook; now that I'm using Windows Live Mail with Hotmail, it's all backed up in the sky). I also put my Microsoft Money 2007 file on my Z: drive under Documents\Finances. For both Outlook and Money, I actually set the automatic backup options to backup the data files to my C: drive just in case I need an older version of the file. (You can download the Outlook Backup tool here.)

Going forward, you shouldn't store anything on C: except Program Files. You should be 100% confident that if (when?) your C:\ drive fails, or if you have to reinstall Windows for some reason, you won't lose those irreplaceable pictures of your newborn baby [wow, did I know that 3 years later I would be even more worried about this? Probably.] Part of the hidden joy in this approach is that if you want to upgrade Windows, it doesn't have to be an all-day process. All of your personal files are on a separate drive, so formatting the C:\ drive and installing Windows again doesn't touch your personal files.

Side note: Another fun trick is creating a disk image of the C:\ drive once you get Windows installed with all of your favorite applications and settings. This makes it really easy to return to this state in the future without going through the hassle of reinstalling all those applications again. This is what OEMs have tried to make easy with that "recovery CD" they give you when you buy a new computer, but those CDs install all of those AOL and Earthlink icons back on your desktop, along with about 100 megabytes (or more) of software you just don't need. No one needs their start menu to be 400 folders deep. Keep it simple.

4. Enable automatic or one-click backup of the entire Z: drive (and any application settings on C: you may want to keep) to an external hard drive or network location. I use an external 750GB Western Digital drive (X:\) for everything I have, and every few months I also backup my non-music files (as my WMA Lossless files take up the majority of space) to an external 100GB drive that I keep in a fireproof safe.

There are a number of applications for automatic backup, but I've personally found shortcomings in all but one. You could give SyncToy a shot (but folder exclusion doesn't work for some reason, and I don't want 10GB of daily recorded TV to be backed up). Windows Vista has a backup tool built-in, but it requires you to backup the C: drive which I don't want to do - same with OneCare. Retrospect is the standard backup software that comes with almost every hard drive on the market, but I had more problems trying to get it to run in Vista that I gave up; I never liked it anyway. It's cumbersome.

So now I'm using SyncBack SE which is one of the best shareware tools I've ever used. It has ever single feature I need, yet it's still simple enough to setup and use that I can recommend it to non-geeks (although it could be simpler still). This is how I set it up:

Files will be copied from Origin (Z:\) to Destination (X:\).
If the same file has been changed on both Origin and Destination then the file on Origin will replace the file on Destination.
Files only on Origin are copied to Destination.
If a file is only on Destination then it is ignored.
If an empty directory is only on Origin then the decision is automated.
If an empty directory is only on Destination then the decision is automated
DVR-MS files are ignored (this is my Recorded TV)

I set SyncBack up on a weekly schedule, and I opted to store my password with SyncBack and have it run even when I'm not logged in. That way if I logoff, or if my wife is logged in, the backup still occurs.

5. Backup to an online service (Mozy.com) for extra protection.

I've added this step in the last couple of months as I'm not taking any chances with my data. Mozy.com is an online service that backs up 2GB for free, and an unlimited amount of data for just $4.95/month (with discounts if you purchase a year or two in advance). The price can't be beat. And the simplicity of the client tool makes it all worth it. Highly recommended.

6. Setup FolderShare or SyncBack SE (if on a LAN) to sync files from other PCs to your Z: drive.

I've also added this step recently. FolderShare is a complete joy to use and it's phenomenal for keeping multiple copies of a file in sync across the Internet. I keep my current "in progress" documents, my OneNote notebook, and my IE Favorites in sync across all my machines. Any changes to my notebook, docs, or favorites won't be lost - as soon as the change is made, the file is replicated back to my home PC which backs up the file to both the external drive and to Mozy offsite.

Happy backups...

Goodbye Google Notebook, Hello OneNote + FolderShare

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 01:57:33 GMT

A few months back, I wrote about Google Notebook and how I was using it to store notes on a project... and I alluded to the fact that I might end up switching back to OneNote at some point. Google Notebook has the benefits of being available from anywhere and being relatively simple to use. Unfortunately simple also meant simplistic, and being available anywhere... well, there's more than one way to skin that cat. Apps don't have to run in IE/Firefox exclusively to be available across multiple machines. That's just how Google does it.

I decided to switch back to OneNote once and for all, but this time with the added "feature" of roaming my notebook thanks to FolderShare. OneNote has nifty roaming features built-in, but FolderShare is a dream when it comes to keeping all of my files in sync across machines. All I did was setup my "OneNote Notebooks" folder as a FolderShare library and within seconds it was available across 4 different PCs running Windows Vista (work PC, work laptop, personal laptop, personal desktop). Changes are synchronized across the Internet within seconds. Joyful.

Why the switch? Well, editing notes in a browser just isn't as easy as it is in OneNote. Basic things like taking screen captures or inserting images, video, and tags either can't be done, or it's really, really tedious to do. It's similar to the differences between Windows Live Writer and a basic web-based blog entry form - anyone who uses Writer knows what I'm talking about.

And of course, OneNote integrates so nicely with Outlook (which also roams my tasks and notes across all PCs via Exchange) and Windows Vista search (just hit the Start key and type a search phrase!) that are reasons enough for me to switch back.

Naturally, I'm a little bummed that OneNote isn't yet available via some basic web interface - even if just read-only. And the mobile integration isn't yet what I need. I almost never dock or synchronize my Motorola Q with a local PC; everything I need other than my notebook can be synchronized over-the-air already (email, RSS, tasks, calendar, contacts) which is ultimately what I want from OneNote. Both of these things - a web interface and OTA mobile sync - require a services component to OneNote. Necessary disclaimer: I have no idea if this is being worked on or not. But one can hope!

Welcome back OneNote. I missed ya.

Merlin Mann’s “Inbox Zero” talk

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 01:23:41 GMT

At least twice a week, someone will swing by my office and say one of three things:

A) "It's disgusting that you only have 7 emails in your inbox. I have 19,132!"
B) "Did you just move in? Your office is sickeningly clean - where do you put all the paper?"
C) "How in the world did you remember to remind me about that? We talked about it months ago!"

Part of this is probably just my personality; I don't like clutter or cognitive overhead and I hate disappointing people (or regretting something later) by dropping important things on the floor. I can remember my email inbox back in 1993 went to zero every single day, so this is far from a faddish GTD love for me. I've been using a similar system for close to 15 years. Keeping my inbox clean, especially when I receive more than 150 emails per day, is the only way I stay sane.

But I've never taken the time to write up all of my tactics. I plan to. In the meantime, this video is fantastic - it's Merlin Mann of 43 Folders speaking at Google about his Inbox Zero system. I watched the entire thing and I don't think I disagreed with a single thing he said.

Enjoy...

Video for Merlin’s “Inbox Zero” talk

Email attention disorder solved?

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 19:44:35 GMT

OK, I love this idea.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based start-up called Seriosity has come up with an e-mail management system that borrows heavily from the virtual economies and currencies found in WoW and other large-scale online games.

Known as Attent, Seriosity's system is essentially a new currency--called the Serio--that corporate e-mail users spend to indicate a message's importance: the more important they believe the message is, the more Serios they spend on it. Recipients keep the Serios in the messages they get.
Source: News.com - A cure for e-mail attention disorder

Just about every day, I wonder what it would take to cut down on the amount of email I receive. In a typical day, I can receive a few hundred email messages with 60-70% of them being replies to threads that I didn't need to be on to begin with (and of course, there's no way to remove myself). It's absurd in a lot of ways because I've implemented just about every possible Outlook rule to reduce the clutter... and it still flows in.

Which is why I look at something like Seriosity's Attent as a potential solution to this problem. People at Microsoft use the high or low-priority indicators on email relatively frequently, but those two options simply aren't enough to provide "sort on importance" functionality in someone's inbox.

There would be a number of positive benefits to introducing a currency for attention:

People would think twice before assigning a value to emails that are important to them but not important to anyone else.
People who abuse the system would immediately be punished because there's a limited supply of Serios (points).
People could get through their inboxes first thing in the morning or on a weekend in a fraction of the time it takes today, because unimportant emails wouldn't even register.
People could setup rules for Smartphones which allow filtering and sorting based on importance - which is virtually impossible today. Every message is the same give or take the few that have high-pri indicators attached.
It would reduce the amount of spam people receive in their corporate inboxes - spammers simply wouldn't have enough Serios to support their business. Interestingly enough, this is exactly what Bill Gates has been saying for years, although from what I remember he was always talking about real currency (i.e. pennies).
It would give people a way to evaluate employees based on their email signal-to-noise ratio.

All in all, I'm hoping a solution like this is seriously considered by the Microsoft IT staff. With 77,000 employees sending email all day, imagine the savings in server costs alone much less applied productivity if that flow decreased by just 1 or 2%.

Exchange for "life"

Sun, 14 Jan 2007 07:10:57 GMT

During my haircut yesterday - haircuts being the epitomy of small talk in action - my hairdresser was marveling that my schedule, notes, tasks, email, and contacts were automatically synchronized between all my PCs and my phone. Don't ask how we got to talking about it, and yes I probably brought it up, I don't really remember. But the point is: most people don't "get" just how cool having access to an Exchange server really is. So I have to keep beating the drum. If I mark a to-do item as complete on my phone, my PCs immediately reflect the change. Ditto for my notes (since I store them as tasks now) and everything else.

Lots of people buy smartphones thinking the benefits are immediately available - things like web browsing or little QWERTY keyboards. But the real power is in the ability for smartphones to connect to online services like Exchange and Windows Live. The fun isn't limited to smartphones though; the same thing is available if you use programs like Outlook to connect up to a service. Whenever I setup a new PC or buy a new phone, I have my schedule, tasks/notes, email, and contacts (and settings like rules, views, and layouts which I customize the heck out of) at my fingertips within minutes of booting Windows. All I have to do is type a username and password... it's fantastic.

Well, after this chat with Ms. Hairdresser, I stumbled upon this from Michael Gartenberg... so I had to link to it:

I love Exchange. Every time I get a new computer or Smartphone, all I do is plug in our Exchange settings and magic happens. All my contacts, calendar items, to-do lists and email flow directly into the new device automatically. Once that happens, if I make a change on one device, it ripples across all the others. Everything is in sync and up to date. It's nice we've solved sync for PIM information but that's not enough for me now.

Source: Michael Gartenberg - I want "Exchange" for the rest of my digital life

Exactly. While Exhange handles PIM data, we need something that handles everything else. FolderShare and Orb are a start, but I want something a little more. I won't go into detail about it now, but imagine never having to think about where your files are stored at any given time. You just always have the most up-to-date copy with you wherever you are and on whichever device you choose to access them from. Kind of like that banking analogy ;)

Anyway, if you have a smartphone, you're on-the-go a lot, and you're currently using web mail or a POP3 account, you should take a good look at hosted Exchange solutions like Mail Street with Windows Mobile ActiveSync. Having all your personal data with you and up-to-date all the time is smooth.

Hide the Recycle Bin "hack"

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 01:50:56 GMT

Omar just asked me to blog about this. So I'm gonna.

Referencing my 5 things post, I like to keep everything on my PCs as clean as can be. If I could bust out a virtual broom and Roomba/Scooba combo to spitshine the thing, I would. Keeping my PC clean is easy enough, but there are times when it's actually dangerous. Here's an example.

When I see a full recycle bin, I empty it. I don't know why I do this, I just hate seeing those little crumpled papers in that little basket. I want to see through the thing to the clean desktop underneath. [ Note that I'm not really that crazy - I think it's just an old Win95 habit that I haven't broken - I remember doing this back then too ]

But this defeats the entire purpose of the recycle bin. If it's always empty, it isn't serving any purpose except adding a few extra clicks during the day. So instead of emptying it when I see it (and I know I'm not alone in this!) I choose to NOT see it anymore. I just permanently hide it. This can be done easily in Windows Vista by going into the control panel and typing "desktop icons" into the search box and then clicking on the first result to show or hide common desktop icons. It can be done in older versions of Windows too - but it's been so long since I've used XP, I don't remember how! I think you need to download TweakUI to do it.

So now, if I need to dip back into the recycle bin for a deleted file from weeks ago, I can. It's the little things man... the little things.

Outlook 2007 Sidebar Gadgets

Wed, 06 Dec 2006 01:16:00 GMT

Via Melissa Macbeth.

I've been wanting these for a while; Windows Vista sidebar gadgets for Outlook 2007 upcoming appointments and tasks. They work so well, in fact, that I've turned off the To Do Bar in Outlook 2007 (my favorite feature). This way I have my upcoming appointments and tasks on the screen no matter what application I'm in.

Of course, I do have a nitpick: the Tasks gadget should support "view by" and "filter" so you can set it up to view by category and filter on "today" just like you can in the To Do Bar.

Anyway, if you're interested in further productivity and you're a Vista and Office 2007 early adopter, check these out:

Inboxes and inputs

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 01:48:03 GMT

This is a partial listing of all the "inboxes and inputs" into my life... just for fun. These things are constantly competing for my time and attention and never go on vacation at the same time I do. This list was created in about 10 minutes, so consider it an incredibly incomplete list at best. I never realized I had so many things to "keep up on"... and this is all post-Bloglines. I can't even imagine what it would have been like getting all of these things down to zero otherwise.

My snail mail box full of junk
Bills to pay
Things to file (notices about mortgage, insurance, etc.)
Magazine subscriptions
Netflix movies
Blockbuster rentals
iTunes podcasts
Facebook News Feed
New books and comic books
Xbox 360 downloaded content (movies, game demos)
Microsoft Money pending transactions
New photos on digital camera
Links added to my desktop to check-out
CDs to rip
Windows Media Center recorded TV
Comcast DVR (worst POS ever) recorded TV
Windows Updates to install
Voice notes on my Smartphone
Text messages
MMS messages
Calendar reminders (both mobile & PC)
Exchange inbox
Exchange junk mail folder
Exchange distribution lists (DLs). 5-10 of them.
Windows Live Mail inbox
My other Windows Live Mail inbox
Yahoo Mail inbox
My other Yahoo Mail inbox
Gmail inbox
Gleams in Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Spaces comments
Windows Live Spaces Pending Requests
Windows Live Writer drafts
Bloglines subscriptions
Internal RSS feeds in Outlook (internal blogs)
Task list
Voicemails at work
Voicemails on mobile
~~Voicemails at home~~. Got rid of my phone.
Offline instant messages and IMs in general
Facebook inbox
MySpace inbox
Flickr inbox
Xbox 360 inbox
Orkut inbox
Friendster inbox
LinkedIn inbox

And people say the need for a unified inbox doesn't exist ;) Software can do so much better here - it's just a matter of time before people get fed up with the disconnected state of the world and build some sort of a smart notification system and unified inbox for all life's inputs. It may take another decade, but it needs to happen.

Outlook "hack" for synchronizing Notes over-the-air

Fri, 29 Sep 2006 02:09:01 GMT

For those who've been reading this weird blog for a while, you know I'm a productivity nut and try to optimize the heck out of everything I get my cursor on. I've posted in the past about my Outlook dream features, my longing for OneNote/Outlook/Exchange synchronization, my backup strategies, my need for better mobile features, my cool Outlook macros for Getting Things Done, and my list of productivity tools from the old days of 2004.

I wrote this in Outlook 2007 and Mobile:

One thing does still disappoint me though: the lack of "on the go" support for the new features. Sure, this may be coming down the line in a future version of Windows Mobile - but we, as a company, really need to start embracing "anywhere access" throughout everything we do. Mobile shouldn't follow the desktop by 2 or 3 years (it took almost 10 to get task synchronization!)

The epitomy of lame is the fact that Outlook Notes stored in Exchange don't a) sync over the air, or b) sync to Entourage (or anywhere else) on the Mac. The same holds true for OneNote Mobile notebooks - as cool as they are, if they rely on me remembering to synchronize my device by plugging in a cable and watching a progress indicator, they will surely get out of date and cause all sorts of sync errors. The beauty of Windows Mobile 5.0 + Exchange with email, tasks, calendar appointments, and contacts is that I don't have to remember to do this. As soon as I make a change on the device, every display surface in my world (multiple PCs, Outlook Web Access, Mac, etc.) get updated automatically. Just not for Notes :(

FYI, this is what I store in Outlook Notes:

I keep stuff mostly for reference; grocery list, CDs to buy, list of things to pack before a trip, blog ideas, my goals, my 5-year plan, my personal mission statement, my conference calling numbers, etc. Things that I may need to reference at some point (not necessarily at my desk) that don't fit into a "task" or a standalone document.

After explaining this frustration to Steve Garrity, a friend who works in the mobile space, he said very matter-of-factly "just use tasks for notes". I had considered it before but I didn't like the idea of mixing metaphors. Notes are little yellow sticky things and tasks are time-sensitive nudges to do something.

But I realized that with some Outlook customized view magic I could retrofit my notes into special tasks and get the benefit of over-the-air synchronization with my phone. I did it and it works beautifully. Here's what I did late last night:

Moved all Notes to Tasks by copying and pasting the body of the Note into a new Task item with the subject of the Note. None of them have any due dates, start dates, % completed, or any of that task-specific stuff.
Applied a category to my new "note tasks" so they aren't comingled with actual tasks. I chose "Notes". Clever.
Created a new Outlook view for my new Notes. Customized the view to just show the Icon and the Subject, sorted by Name instead of Due Date, and applied a special filter to just show tasks with "Categories equal to Notes". This view looks surprisingly similar to Outlook Notes. It works great even though it doesn't have all the fun colors.
Filtered my new Notes out of my normal tasks view (I use "Active Tasks") by customizing the view again and filtering to where "Categories doesn't equal Notes".
Hid the Notes icon in the Outlook Bar by right-clicking on the bar.

I played around a bit with how the views look and work a bit more but overall, this is the gist of how I got Outlook "notes" to synchronize with my Pocket PC phone over-the-air. I just use Tasks now with special views and formatting. Now when I pick up my phone and need to reference my notes, I just open tasks and Filter on the Notes category. Any change I make is immediately picked up by Exchange.

By the way, I realize this is a weird topic. But hopefully it helps one or two people out there. Now I just need to get document sync over-the-air and I'm golden. I wonder if Orb or Windows Live FolderShare or something similar could manifest itself as a solution. Hmmm...

An Outlook Dream

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 02:43:16 GMT

Over the past few years I've spent a lot of time "becoming productive". I've implemented everything from Outlook macros to pretty significant changes in my own personal workflow. I've gotten a good grip on Microsoft email culture (although I still don't like it) but I'm always looking for a way to squeeze another hour out of my day so I can get to the comments on this blog :)

Just yesterday I finally realized that sorting email by received date is not the most efficient thing to do, especially when threads at Microsoft tend to spiral out of control with a bunch of unnecessary "I agree" or "Thanks" responses from people who don't realize their lack of email etiquitte is wasting people's time. Scanning up and down the list piecing together a thread and trying to make heads or tails of the intent isn't always easy when you average a new email every eight minutes all day.

So I decided to try Group By Conversation in Outlook 2007 (it's available in 2003 as well). Hey, if it works for a couple million Gmail users, maybe I'll grow to like it. I'm not so sure. For one, the sort order is screwy - sometimes it's latest mail first and sometimes it's seemingly random. The indents are sort of hard to follow (for me at least) and I have more than once missed an email within a thread because I didn't realize the conversation was collapsed by default. All in all, I don't know how happy I am with it - but I'm sticking with it for at least seven days or so before I judge.

My dream is for Outlook to do a few things natively (i.e. I don't want to install add-ins):

I want threads compressed into one email message automatically, with parts of the message marked as unread instead of the messages themselves. And when a new message arrives that's part of an existing thread, move that "unified" message to the top of the inbox and mark the line item as unread again. This way I can see that a) the conversation has continued and b) there are parts of the conversation I haven't read yet. This way, my mailbox doesn't get flooded and filing the thread in a folder is much easier... and searching/browsing email is just more manageable.
Include my replies in that compressed thread as part of the conversation automatically.
If I'm sending an email to a distribution list that I also happen to be on, don't send the email back to myself. I actually set up a client-side rule to deal with this one (automatically delete mail from me automatically).
Let me take myself off of a thread while alerting others that I've done this. 30% of the email I get every day I don't have to get. It doesn't involve me and I don't want the thread to continue with me on it. But I can't do anything about it other than setup a bunch of custom rules - or run Omar's Thread Killer add-in. What I really want is a way to "opt-out" of a thread such that whenever anyone else replies, they see a status table at the top of the compose window that indicates who has opted out and maybe why (just in case the thread forks or the focus changes and those people are needed... this way the folks can be added back)

I love Outlook + Exchange - but these things would make my workday more productive than just about any other enhancements I can think of. At least now that the To Do Bar is available in Outlook 2007!

Why Not OneNote?

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 00:45:19 GMT

I can't hide it, I'm a company guy. I use just about all of our products and services during dogfood or beta phases and I do my best to stick with them, even when I'm using completely unstable builds. The reason I do this isn't just because I want to improve our software (I do), it's mostly because I want to benefit personally from the software. At the end of the day, it's all about me ;)

For instance, my use of Outlook 2007 isn't so I can test its performance against Exchange 2007 - it's so I can see my calendar and tasks from my Inbox, which probably saves me 100+ mouse clicks per day and helps keep me productive. The reason I played around with the Windows Live Messenger beta builds was so I could share high-resolution photos with friends and co-workers without having to install MSN 9 (for Photomail) on my work PC. And the reason I'm using PowerPoint 2007 is so I can make nicer looking presentations with much less effort. It's great.

In all my software travels, one of the coolest apps I've found over the last few years is OneNote. I've been a huge fan of the OneNote concept since first discovering it - all of your notes in one place coupled with sharing, ink, lightening fast search, and a host of other goodies is just too much to pass up. Or is it? I installed OneNote 2007 this past weekend because I was committed to a) learning all of the new features and b) finally using OneNote instead of just talking about it. It just seemed weird to sing the praises of an application when I don't use it as much as I should.

Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, I don't think I will be using OneNote on a regular basis... even though I truly believe it's one of the more elegant products we've ever released.

There are really three key reasons for this:

It's a separate application. I live and breathe in Outlook all day long. I probably spend 75% of my workday in Outlook dealing with email, meetings, tasks, contacts, and even notes. While the notes feature of Outlook is so very 1997, it's always there when I need it. I don't want to keep another application open in the background for note-taking - I want it built into Outlook in a big way. Even if it's just a button that loads OneNote in a frame like the old Digital Dashboard vision circa 1998. I just don't think in terms of application boundaries.
It doesn't synchronize with Exchange. One of the best things about Outlook - all of Outlook - is that I always have the most up-to-date information wherever I happen to be. Whether it's on my laptop, my PC at home, my phone, or my in-laws PC in Southern California. The beauty of Exchange is that all of this stuff is with me all of the time and it's always the latest copy... and it's always backed up. That's incredibly important.
I can't take it with me. A large majority of my "ideation" or overall note-taking happens on-the-go via my mobile device. I want access to all of my notes wherever I am - not just the subset I decided to take with me. Any plan that has note-taking happening only at my desk is a non-starter for me. Yes, I know there is a sync feature in Outlook 2003 for Windows Mobile devices - but it just seems so tedious. I would seriously sacrifice half the features of OneNote just to have a portable "notebook" on my Pocket PC that worked with 100% of my notes.

These things are important to me, but I bet they aren't important to most people. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure that if I had a laptop with OneNote in college I would have used it more than Outlook. It all depends on need. If the three things above aren't that important to you, check out the OneNote 2007 demo. But if they are, Outlook Notes are still the way to go - plain text and all.

Appendix: you might be wondering just what I use Outlook Notes for anyway... or maybe not. But I'll tell you anyway. I keep stuff mostly for reference; grocery list, CDs to buy, list of things to pack before a trip, blog ideas, my goals, my 5-year plan, my personal mission statement, my conference calling numbers, etc. Things that I may need to reference at some point (not necessarily at my desk) that don't fit into a "task" or a standalone document.

Fireproof backup

Mon, 15 May 2006 04:56:21 GMT

As someone who stores just about everything imaginable in digital form, backing up my data is something I don't take lightly. A few years back my primary hard drive died right in the middle of a wipe-and-replace of my backup drive, leaving me with two bricks and 11 years of inaccessible data. I did what anybody would do in this messed up situation: I freaked. I probably screamed like Superman when he found Lois dead in her car back in 1978. I think that's the closest I'd come to crying in years. I may have even shed a tear or two... just don't tell MC.

I called a data recovery place in downtown LA (we were living near the beach at the time) and within an hour some dude in a 30 year old broken-down Cadillac showed up at my door to take my precious Dell away. For over a week I was without my computer, not knowing if my data was going to make it... and not at all confident that my personal files weren't going to show up on some P2P service or sold to some identity thief.

I ended up getting the files back - all but about 16 random files that I haven't missed - and until now I haven't seen any family photos used for stock photography on the net. I'm still not sure that my data was deleted as the (sketchy) guy said when he returned my PC to me, but I have to believe that's what happened. It also cost me about eight bills, which was about seven more than I was expecting.

Which brings me to my hacked together backup solution today. A couple external drives that automatically backup all my files every few days (a few hundred gigs of lossless music, photos, and 13 years of email) and another external drive in a fireproof safe that I update every two months with my most important files (the latest Usher CD doesn't qualify). But it's just not good enough. You never know when catastrophe will strike.

So I went digging and found this article:
http://www.networkgarage.com/2005/10/fireproof_safe_backup_1.html

The author outlines a solution consisting of a (huge) fireproof safe with a built-in power strip and Ethernet over powerline. You have to wonder whether the safe is made for complex equipment like a network attached storage device plugged into a LAN. Those things have to run pretty hot, so would they be OK in an airtight space? If so, I may have to give this a go someday soon.

Yet it all seems pretty elaborate; also makes you wonder if some consulting company couldn't make a killing putting together a failproof digital backup solutions for everyday people. It's just too damn hard.

Outlook 2007 and Mobile

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 00:03:17 GMT

Ever since I got my hands on Outlook 2007 I've been anxiously awaiting its release. There are some absolutely killer features in this one; RSS, iCal subscriptions, To Do bar, "Send and Track", Tasks on the Calendar, etc. Just a bunch of goodies all around for productivity nuts like myself. And really, things I've been waiting for since I first started using Outlook full-time back with Office 97 (wow - almost 10 years).

Read more about some of these features here: http://blogs.msdn.com/melissamacbeth.

One thing does still disappoint me though: the lack of "on the go" support for the new features. Sure, this may be coming down the line in a future version of Windows Mobile - but we, as a company, really need to start embracing "anywhere access" throughout everything we do. Mobile shouldn't follow the desktop by 2 or 3 years (it took almost 10 to get task synchronization!)

For instance, when I flag an email for follow-up, I want it to show up on my mobile device AND remind me about it when I'm not at my desk. When I subscribe to an RSS feed, I want to see that feed (and it's read/unread indicators) throughout my web experiences from Live.com to Outlook Web Access AND on my mobile device automatically. And when I subscribe to an online calendar (say, the ETech 2006 schedule) my phone should have the same events listed as Outlook does on my desktop.

Where the data originates from shouldn't matter, and neither should which device I used to create the relationship. Between my tablet, my home PC, my work PC, my mobile device, my living room Xbox 360... I should have access to everything. That vision of ubiquitious computing is so close to being real and yet still so far away.

OneNote Mobile

Tue, 22 Nov 2005 01:54:20 GMT

Chris Pratley talks about OneNote Mobile. It's a great post for those interested in personal productivity and mobile devices. Given that I'm passionate about both, I'm all over this one.

Out and About with OneNote Mobile
OneNote Mobile goes way beyond that. It is a real note taking app for your mobile device. You can take text notes, voice record, or snap them with a camera. It has a cool picture viewer for navigating the image in detail.

One of the coolest features though:

But where OneNote Mobile really shines is when you combine it with our efforts to merge the Analog and Digital worlds. Now you can take pictures of business cards, printed PowerPoint handouts, whiteboards, receipts, name tags, product spec sheets, etc. and all these photos flow into OneNote on your PC, where any text content gets OCR'd so that you can search for these pictures by the text that appears in them.

That is just unreal. Read the post for examples.

I'm looking forward to seeing OneNote Mobile in action. The only downside right now is that it only runs on 1/2 of the Windows Mobile platform; the Windows Mobile Smartphone. As I posted in the comments on Chris' blog, some of the best phones coming out are running Pocket PC (like the Audiovox PPC-6700 and new Treo). Forcing our customers to understand the difference between Windows Mobile operating system variants would be a shame. The Pocket PC also seems to be more focused on data input (i.e. data-centric people lean towards keyboards and stylus input over T9), so OneNote Mobile seems to align more with the Pocket PC crowd than the Smartphone crowd.

Then again, I've always been dubious of the Smartphone/Pocket PC split. Developers shouldn't have to care. And end users really shouldn't have to care. They should see a Windows logo on the box and know that everything designed for Windows Mobile works with their device. Having them understand the differences between the two platforms is ridiculous. It's getting better, but it isn't quite there yet.

Anyway, read Chris' post about OneNote Mobile. This is a great end-to-end story for notetakers/researchers/GTD zealots.

Outlook Macros & Getting Things Done

Tue, 28 Dec 2004 04:54:15 GMT

OK, I lied. One more post before 2005.

Just a few hours ago, I talked about right-dragging emails to the Tasks button in order to create Next Actions, Waiting For tasks, or Someday tasks. After I wrote about the problem I have with the GTD Add-in for Outlook, I realized that writing an Outlook Macro to do exactly what I want would be pretty trivial. So I did a search for some Visual Basic code to take an email and create a task out of it.

This is what came up: KC Lemson, Create a task from an email

I made some modifications to the code, but they are pretty minor. Here they are, in case you are interested:

I copied the macro three times to create three different macros (NextAction, WaitingFor, Someday)
I removed olItem.Delete because I don't want to delete the original mail (I will file it separately)
In the WaitingFor macro, I replaced olTask.Subject = "Follow up on " & olItem.Subject with olTask.Subject = olItem.SenderName & ": "
I made the due date tomorrow instead of today, because if it is something I am going to do today, I usually just leave it in my inbox. This line olTask.DueDate = DateAdd("d", 1, Date) replaces olTask.DueDate = Date.
I added this line: olTask.Categories = "Waiting For" after the DueDate line. The Category value will be different depending on the macro; I used "Next Actions" for NextAction and "Someday" for Someday (surprise!)
I removed olTask.Save because I may want to change something before saving the task.

I also added some buttons to my Outlook standard toolbar next to "Send/Receive" and gave them recognizable icons. KC talks about how to do this in this post. Easy!

Outlook is so cool.

This post is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights.

Productivity tools in 2005

Tue, 28 Dec 2004 01:29:44 GMT

Marc Orchant posts his equation for serious productivity on one of my favorite blogs, The Office Weblog. I have been meaning to write something up about some of the tools I use to keep myself going; I figure now is as good a time as any!

First off, Marc and I have something in common: we are both power Outlook users, and use it as the hub for our own implementation of David Allen's Getting Things Done system (GTD). Most of what I do stems from Outlook including documenting my goals, personal mission statement, everyday tasks and work-items, appointments, meetings, emails, contacts, and so on. I use Outlook to store my grocery list, my suit measurements, the list of stretches and exercises I do at the gym everyday, and the things I need to pack up when I go out of town. Call me crazy, but these notes & tasks have saved me dozens of times over the years!

I also use an Audiovox SMT5600 smartphone which is in-sync with my account at work (contacts, tasks, notes, email, calendar on Exchange) as well as with Hotmail for my personal email. My smartphone is almost always an exact replica of both my corporate account and my personal account, making sure I don't lose anything and always have the most up-to-date information with me wherever I am (I am at Starbucks right now). Side note: one of the best things about storing my corporate info on Exchange and my personal info on Hotmail is that all of my computers are always in-sync. My PC at home, my workstation at work, my Toshiba M200 Tablet PC, and my Smartphone all have the latest appointments, email, contacts, etc. It is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, my Powerbook doesn't get to play, but I just use Outlook Web Access and Hotmail.com while on the Mac.

OK - now onto productivity. Here is my equation sort of mimicking Marc's format.

Desktop/Outlook: TweakUI (with some custom hacks) + OneNote SP1 + Outlook Connector with MSN Premium subscription (2GB inbox) + MSN Toolbar Suite (with shortcuts) + Bloglines link (see my writeup) + BlogJet (for my other blog) + Dantz Retrospect (for backup) + Plaxo + Anagram + Tablet Enhancements for Outlook

Smartphone: Power Calendar + Power Tasks (can't live without this) + Pocket MSN + FlexWallet 2005 + SmartphoneNotes

One thing you won't find is NetCentric's GTD add-in for Outlook. I tried it about a year ago but ditched it because it was too email-centric. I like to keep stuff out of email as much as possible since I synchronize everything with my phone. I also don't like having tasks stored as email - it is just too hard to tell what the heck I am supposed to do with it. An email with a subject of "Re: that thing last week" that I have to re-read everytime I am in "clearing tasks" mode doesn't tell me as much as the task "Call Joe @ 555.1212". So I stick with tasks and have my own system (very similar to GTD) that I have been using for about 5 years. I adapted it a bit after reading GTD last year.

Basically I have three task categories: Next Actions, Waiting For, and Someday (this is the part that is 100% GTD inspired). I customized the "by category" view in MS Outlook to add colors and italics to my tasks depending on when they are due (tasks due today are blue and bold, tasks due tomorrow are italicized.) I right-drag (right click, hold, and drag) any email referencing something I am waiting on, or something I need to act on at a later date, to the Tasks button in the Outlook navigation bar and select "Copy here as Task with Attachment." I change the title, category, and due date and save it. When I return to that task to complete it, I now have the email it refers to sitting there waiting for me. Sometimes I preface tasks with "Call:" or "At home:" or assign high or low priorities just so I can scan my tasks quickly in a rush. If I am waiting on something from somebody, I stick their name in the task - i.e. "Joe: $40 for books ordered".

Pretty simple. And yes, I keep my Inbox 100% clean. Right now there is only one message in there from Robert Scoble who forwards me some of the email he gets about MSN Spaces (Thanks Scoble!) This one I want to read later on tonight (it references a blog with some Spaces suggestions)

Tentative tools: I am also playing with some tools, but have yet to decide whether or not to stick with them - we'll see:

Onfolio
Bells & Whistles (looks cool, but couldn't get it to work after multiple attempts)
Opera browser for Smartphones

I am still lacking a bunch of stuff, of course. The most noticeable to an information junkie like me is a clean & fast mobile RSS reader. I am currently using Bloglines in Pocket Internet Explorer, and it works well - but it is slow. I want a smart client that will download a bunch of feeds ahead of time (while I am reading) so they are available as soon as I am ready to read them.

I also use Microsoft Money 2005 (which is so darn blue) and don't have a good way of taking that mobile now that I have switched from a Pocket PC to a Smartphone. I don't know if the team is working on a Smartphone version of Pocket Money - but I sure hope they are. I suppose I could always go upstairs and ask. Does anyone know of another application for synchronizing with MS Money on an MS Smartphone? I really am a fundamental believer that anything you can do on your PC you should be able to (at a minimum) track from your mobile device.

I am also a bit bummed that my Smartphone notes and tasks aren't synchronized over the air with Exchange like my mail, contacts, and calendar are. I suppose this will also be available soon enough (especially because our competitors do this already) but I don't know for sure on this one either (I haven't checked - and if I had, I wouldn't be able to comment.) I still have to sync locally with my tablet (via Bluetooth or cable) to update my tasks & notes, which is a PIA.

And while I am on the "I want" trip, I also want more applications like ConnectedBits Weather or SmartPhlow (MS internal-only), both of which simply rock. Simple, attractive, single-function, connected applications that help me stay on top of things. Just last week I was picking up my mother and sister from the airport and I silently wished for a rich trip tracker for my Smartphone instead of relying on calling Continental Airlines or browsing. I could probably think of a dozen applications like this that would make my life easier.

So there ya have it. What I use day-in and day-out to stay on top of life. What do you use?

Note: This will likely be my last post until 2005! Happy New Year if so!

Folders, files, and backup

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 02:09:23 GMT

With all the chatter about desktop search, I spent some time this past weekend trying to understand what exactly this powerful new toolset means to those of us who actually like storing stuff in folders and navigating the file system ;) I have read quite a few people proclaiming that file folders are now obsolete and that the line between local files and web files is getting more and more blurred.

I am not so sure how I feel about either of these statements, but I do know that there is one reality to consider: you can't let the convenience of desktop search tools keep you from a) storing your important files in a single location and b) backing up your files on a regular basis. I had one major scare a couple of years ago... and ever since then I take backing up my files very, very seriously. But in order to backup effectively, you need a strategy; you can't have your files scattered across your hard drive and expect to catch them all when you run a backup.

So, here is mine. It may not be the best, but it works well for me. I am sure someone out there has a better approach; if so, please chime in!

4 steps to make sure you don't lose your most important files:

1. Store all of your personal files on a separate physical drive (let's call this the Z: drive) If you don't want to invest in a second hard drive, you can use PartitionMagic or Windows XP's Disk Management to create a logical partition on your existing hard drive, splitting the C: drive into C: and Z:.

While this works, I would recommend investing in a separate hard drive primarily because (depending on the size of your personal files) you can use your existing drive for backup and be sure that if one of them fails, you still have a safe copy of your personal files.

I would recommend creating a few folders on the Z: drive to store your files. I have folders for Desktop, Favorites, Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos and I keep all of my personal files within this tree (you will see why it is important in step 2)

2. Use Tweak UI to map critical Windows folders to the equivalent folders in your personal files. You can download Tweak UI for Windows XP here - and you can find these settings under My Computer: Special Folders.

This is an important step; you should always know exactly where your most important files are being stored. Sure, you could use Windows' Documents and Settings folder to store all of your personal files like the majority of the world does, but there are some drawbacks to this approach. First, you get a bunch of junk along with your personal files (I have folders like NetHood, PrintHood, UserData, IE Temporary Files, etc.) You also have a lot of application-specific stuff in this folder, which I explicitly want to exclude from my Z: drive for one reason: when I reinstall Windows or move to a new computer, I don't want to take these files with me. Part of the benefit in starting from scratch with a new computer or a fresh installation of Windows is that you don't take your old settings and configurations with you. Sometimes that is the purpose of starting from scratch :) Secondly, it is harder to move the pointer to the files in C:\Documents and Settings to the Z: drive reliably. Not impossible, just more difficult.

This is what I map via Tweak UI:

Desktop - Z:\Files\Desktop
Favorites - Z:\Files\Favorites
My Documents - Z:\Files\Documents
My Music - Z:\Files\Music
My Pictures - Z:\Files\Pictures
My Video - Z:\Files\Video

Note: These changes require a reboot.

3. Ensure your application critical files are in Personal Files as well. If you use Microsoft Outlook a lot, you are going to want to store your PST file on your Z: drive (I put it in Documents). I also put my Microsoft Money 2005 file on my Z: drive under Documents. For both Outlook and Money, I actually set the automatic backup options to backup the data files to my C: drive. (You can download the Outlook 2003 Backup tool here.)

Going forward, you shouldn't store anything on C:\ except Program Files. You should be 100% confident that if (when?) your C: drive fails, or if you have to reinstall Windows for some reason, you won't lose those irreplaceable pictures of your newborn baby. Part of the hidden joy in this approach is that if you want to upgrade Windows, it doesn't have to be an all-day process. All of your personal files are on a separate drive, so formatting the C:\ drive and installing Windows again doesn't touch your personal files.

Sidenote: Another fun trick is creating a disk image of the C:\ drive once you get Windows installed with all of your favorite applications and settings. This makes it really easy to return to this state in the future without going through the hassle of reinstalling all those applications again. This is what OEMs have tried to make easy with that "recovery CD" they give you when you buy a new computer, but those CDs install all those AOL and Earthlink icons back on your desktop, along with about 100 megabytes (or more) of software you just don't need. No one needs their start menu to be 400 folders deep. Keep it simple.

4. Enable automatic or one-click backup of the entire Z: drive (and any application settings on C: you may want to keep) to an external hard drive or network location. I use an external 250GB Maxtor Firewire hard drive. If you want to be really careful, you can place your external drive in a fireproof safe when not in use.

You will also want to make sure MSN Toolbar Suite (or your desktop search tool of choice) is set to index your Z: drive. For MSN desktop search, you can set this up in Indexing Options under Desktop Search.

Sound like total overkill? Maybe. But the whole process doesn't take too long and it goes a long way towards peace of mind.