How To Use Sendtask To Keep A List Of Writing Ideas

writing

About 30 days ago, I challenged myself to write every single day. Writing is
something I have always struggled with and I needed to find a way to make
writing easier for myself. I have since written an article, an interview or
other long form text every day.

Often, it is easy to come up with ideas but sometimes I don’t
know what I’ll write about immediately. For those moments, I keep a list of things I
want to write about on Sendtask. Sometimes, it’s a question that someone
has asked me. Other times, it’s an experience that I want to write about later.

In order to not forget about these, I’ve created a project named “#write”
on Sendtask. Because of our email integration, it’s really easy to add items
to the list while I’m on the go. All I have to do is send an email to ‘
task@sendtask.io’ and put my thoughts into the subject line, followed by
‘#write’. For example, for this article, I sent ‘How to use
sendtask to collect writing ideas #write’.

Similarly, I can add writing ideas to the list from Slack. Our team spends a lot of time in Slack. Being a distributed team, Slack is our equivalent of walking over to another desk and mentioning something. Naturally, a lot of my inspiration for writing comes up while I’m in Slack. We believe that one should be able to create tasks immediately from wherever one does a lot of their work. Thus we created our Slack integration. With a syntax that’s even simpler than the email syntax, one can create tasks right away via the /sendtask slash command. The above example would be: “/sendtask How to use sendtask to collect writing ideas #write’ – this will add the task to the #write project immediately.

Now, every day I don’t know what to write about I just pull up this list and
check what I’ve recently added.

Of course, you can use the same mechanic for another project – your grocery
list, a list of ideas for birthday presents and many more.

What kind of lists do you cultivate and what tool do you use for them?

How-to / productivity / Sendtask - 08/03/2017

How To Put Yourself In The Shoes Of A New User Over And Over Again

new user

The user experience (UX) of Sendtask is what makes or breaks us. If we succeed in building a good product, we create an experience that is fun, friendly and self-explanatory. Most important are the first few steps a new user takes in our app. In today’s day and age, people don’t spend minutes on trying new apps and products – they spend seconds. This is why the new user experience is extremely important.

It is easy to get distanced from this experience once you are a frequent user – or even a developer or designer on our team. Everything becomes familiar and it is difficult to see what’s self-explanatory and what’s not. Once we realized this, we built a system that helps us put ourselves into the shoes of a new user over and over again to remind us of these critical first few steps.

We do this in two exercises: onboarding feedback during our weekly call and group user feedback call during our retreats.

Onboarding feedback during our weekly call

Part of our weekly call is one person speaking about the best three things and the worst three things in a new user’s experience. Prior to the call, they ask a friend or other new user to go through the sign-up and onboarding process of Sendtask and then learn about their experience.

On one side, this is important because it forces this team member to dive deep with a new user and their experience with the product. On the other side, our team member might work on something that has little or no influence on the experience a new user goes through and we think that it is important that everyone knows about this crucial topic and learns about how well we’re currently doing first hand.

Group User Feedback Call

We schedule a call with one of our users (or groups of users in the case of companies) during the retreat and the whole team participates in the call. This is typically a longer call of about 45 minutes and covers more than just the onboarding experience.

We use this call to understand:

  • How the user found Sendtask
  • What they use it for
  • What works well for them
  • Which features they are missing
  • What was confusing
  • What was clear and straightforward

It’s been best for us to ask open-ended questions and let the users talk. Their feedback is worth gold and often answers very clearly what to focus on and how to prioritize our feature pipeline.

We also use the call to show them some hidden features. «Hidden» not because these features are actually hidden, but because our documentation is way behind and we know we can do a much better job at explaining the complete feature set of Sendtask.

Conclusions

These are two elements we use to put us in the shoes of new users and to become conscious of the things we’re doing well and the things we’re not doing so well yet.

What processes do you use to make sure you get an unfiltered view of your user experience?

Collaboration / How-to - 07/06/2017

How We Get From 600 Applicants To One Top Hire In 11 Hours

hiring-sendtask-hire

One of the big benefits of running a completely virtual company is that our candidate pool is larger than that of a traditional company which is restricted to hiring people from one country or even one city.

But a much larger hiring pool forced us to re-think the hiring process. We stuck our heads together and came up with a process to go from hundreds of applicants to just a few final candidates in very little time.

Preparation

When we start looking to fill a new position, we start by writing a detailed briefing for that role. The briefing has the following structure:

  • Description of the role and hourly commitment (E.g.: MEAN Stack Developer, 30hr+/week)
  • An intro including what we are building, where candidates can try our product, our vision, and mission
  • What’s important to us and how we work
  • General Responsibilities for this role
  • More fine-grained list of tasks for this role
  • What we offer (the way we work together, our retreats, …)
  • A high-level overview of our hiring process

This briefing is typically about two A4 pages long (about a thousand words) and takes 5-10 minutes to read.

You can find an example briefing here: MEAN Stack Developer Briefing
You can find our currently open positions here: Sendtask Jobs

We then publish the briefing on various channels – freelancer sites, social media, our network, job sites, etc.

Typically, until here I have invested about 30 minutes of my time to tailor the briefing to a new role.

The Tripwire – Going from 100% applicants to the best 15%

On a typical post, we get about 600 replies. Way too many to review by hand and filter the good from the bad. This is why we came up with “The Tripwire”.

The Tripwire is one small sentence that makes a huge difference. We place it somewhere in the above briefing. It reads like this:

“If you’re interested in this job, make sure to start your application with these exact words: “Hey Team Sendtask, I’m the MEAN Stack Superstar you’re looking for!””

This very simple detail allows us to immediately filter any applicants who have not carefully read the briefing and missed that detail.

Typically, only about 15% of all applicants get this right! This was a huge push for the efficiency of our hiring process as it allows us to spend zero time on the 85% of candidates that did not take the time to carefully read our briefing!

Typically, it takes the team about 15 minutes to filter out the candidates who did not get the first line right. In total, we have invested about 30 minutes of my time and 30 minutes of the team’s time.

The Questionnaire – Going from 15% to just 3%

80 Candidates are still too many to manually review and interview. This is why we added this next step. It gives us two things:

1) A lot of data about the candidate and much more depth than any CV
2) A good idea of how much the candidate wants the job

We send a Google Form questionnaire to the candidates who got past the first barrier. We split the questionnaire into four parts:

Part 1: General questions about the candidate’s name, their Skype ID, their location, etc.

Part 2: Assessing whether they will be a good fit for the company. We ask them about their favorite productivity tools (which is important as we build one), what they hope to get out of the role and also seemingly unrelated things like what they do for fun.

Part 3: We ask them for their first impression of Sendtask. We ask them to try our app and answer a few questions. This is extremely important as we want to understand if they are getting the point and if they have good inputs for how to improve our product.

Part 4: The fourth part is three technical problems in their area of expertise. For a MEAN stack developer, the questions will be about these technologies.

The questionnaire can take anywhere between two and four hours of their time to complete. Some people get frustrated and stop about halfway through.

Working in a completely virtual and distributed company can often be frustrating – there’s no one you can just walk over to and tap on the shoulder to ask for help. You need to have above-average persistence in order to be successful and happy in a distributed setup and that’s why we test our candidates here.

About a quarter of the candidates that we send the questionnaire to complete them within the deadline. Now we’re down to 3% of our original pool. Typically up and until this point, we have spent less than two hours between myself and the team to go from 100% of all applicants to the top 3%!

Here’s an example questionnaire.

The Review – Going from 3% to 1%

Because we use a Google Form for the questionnaire, all the answers end up in a spreadsheet. One member of our team goes through the first three parts of the questionnaire (General, Company Fit & Impression of Sendtask) and assesses the applicants’ communications skills. How good is their English? Are their answers complete? Are they able to give clear and concise answers?

Working in a distributed company requires everyone to be even better at communication than in a traditional setup. This is why we need everyone to adhere to high standards. Our team member goes through the answers and marks answers green (very good answer, +1 point), leaves them unformatted ( the answer is ok but not great, no point) or marks them red (answer doesn’t meet the benchmark, -1 point).

After this, we reorder the candidates based on their score from high to low. Now a technical team member reviews the answers in the fourth section, starting with the candidates that have the highest score so far. He assigns them either a ‘go’ or ‘no-go’. He stops once we have three candidates that scored high on the first three parts and passed the technical review.

We’re now down to the top 3 candidates, which is typically the top 0.5% to 1% of all applications we have received. So far, we have typically invested about 30 mins of my time and about two hours of the team’s time.

Test Task – Finding our Favorite

At this point, we prepare a test task that takes between eight and twelve hours to complete. The applicant is paid for those hours if hired. The goal of this task is to see how much a candidate can get done within that time frame and also understand his thinking process. How does he split up larger tasks into smaller tasks? How does he react if he runs into a roadblock? Does he do any of the bonus tasks?

One of our engineers prepares a two to four-page document that contains the specifications for the test task. There are several main objectives as well as bonus tasks.

We start with our favorite candidate and have a one-hour phone call with them. Typically, it’s me and one of our engineers on the call. The call’s purpose is to get to know each other, clarify any questions that either party may have and introduce the test task. Then, we agree on a deadline for when the test task will be handed in. We track the test task progress in a Sendtask project where the engineer and I are added so that we can see how the candidate breaks down the test task into smaller tasks.

We schedule another two-hour call for the day after the candidate hands in his solution. On this call, we dive into how they approached the problem, what they found difficult and what was easy. If all goes well, we then schedule interviews where every team member gets to speak to the potential new team member. If everyone likes the new candidate, he gets hired.

When we’re not satisfied with the results of the test task or if any of our existing team members vetoes, we move on to our 2nd and 3rd choice.

If we go with our first candidate, we typically spend about three hours of my time and about eight hours of the team’s time.

Conclusion

Realizing that we will hopefully get to hire much more people into the Sendtask team, we took some time to think about how we can optimize this process to be respectful of both the applicant’s and our own time. So far, this process has proven to be very efficient and led to great hires.

What does your hiring process look like?

Collaboration / How-to - 06/06/2017

How To Use The Magic Bar – A Brief Guide

Magic-bar-screenshot

The Magic bar lets you search for, create and assign tasks. The cool part is it can recognize dates using natural language, project names, and email contacts. It also triggers when you type anywhere on the screen. This means you can create, search and assign tasks with due dates in seconds, without even touching the mouse. In this brief guide, you’ll find tips for using the Magic bar.

How to trigger the Magic bar

Animated GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

Click on the Magic bar or start typing anywhere on the screen (unless it’s another input field). This will trigger the Magic bar view which shows you task search results and lets you create new tasks.

How to search for a task

magic-bar-search

If you want to search for a task, start typing its title or any part of it and it will appear in the search results. Note that you must have access to the task either as a follower, assignee or through a project you’re part of.

How to create a task

magic-bar-create-task

If you want to create a task, simply type its title and press “Enter”. You will be the default assignee unless you delete your name from the beginning of the task.

How to add a due date to a task

add-due-date-magic-bar

You can set a due date by entering words like “tomorrow” or “next week”. Of course, you can still use normal dates if you prefer such as 14/05/2017 or May 14. See a list of available commands here.

How to add a task to a project

add-task-to-project-magic-bar

If you want to add a project to a task, use a hashtag (#) in front of the project name. If the project does not exist, you will see an option to create it.

How to add an assignee or follower to a task

Animated GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

Adding assignees or followers is easy. Simply type “@” before the person’s name (if they’re on your contact list) or email address. You will also be able to choose from your list of existing contacts. Note that the first person you mention will be the assignee and everyone after will be a follower.

These are the basics of getting started with the Magic bar. We hope you’ll find your own way of using it and save more time in your day. 

How-to / Sendtask - 05/21/2017

Getting Started With Sendtask

List-view

This guide will provide you with a description of how Sendtask works. By the time you finish reading, you will know how to use all the basic features from creating a task to assigning it to a team member or anyone else.

How do you create tasks

There are four different ways to create a task:
1) Click the “+” signs at the beginning of each section
2) Type in the empty fields at the end of each section
3) Press “Enter” when you’ve selected a task
4) Use the Magic bar

See below for more details on how to do this.

1) Click the “+” signs at the beginning of each section

Create a task with +

You can create a new task by clicking on the “+” buttons in the upper left corners of your due date sections. You will see these buttons in other sorting views as well, such as project view and assignee view.

Note: The “+” buttons are not available when sorting your tasks manually.

2) Type in the empty fields at the end of each section

3 - Create a task with Add a task

3) Press “Enter” when you’ve selected a task

4- Create a task by pressing Enter

4) Use the Magic bar

5 - Create or search for a task with the Magic bar

The Magic bar is used to search for and create tasks. It can recognize dates, projects, and email contacts. You can type anywhere on the screen (other than the designated fields for writing) and the Magic bar will populate.

How do you search for tasks

6 - Magic bar in action

You can use the Magic bar to search for tasks. Again, the Magic bar will recognize various properties such as dates, projects, and even your email contacts. You can type anywhere on the screen (other than the designated fields for writing) and the Magic bar will populate.

How do you set a task due date

7 - Set a due date 1

Set a due date for your task by clicking on the “Calendar” icon in the top right of the task description box. Choose a date and the assignee (this could be you or someone else) will be automatically reminded on the morning when the task’s due.

8 - Set a due date 2

If you want to specify a particular time for your deadline, simply type it in after the date you choose. For example, add “2 pm” after the deadline in the Due Date field.

How do you add a comment

9 - Add a comment

You can add a comment to describe your task in more detail or communicate with your followers. Simply click the chat box, add your comment, and press the “Add Comment” button.

Note: Followers are collaborators who participate or need to know about the task, but they are not the direct assignee. All followers will be automatically notified when there’s a new comment.

How do you attach a file

10 - Attach a file

You can attach a file by clicking on the paperclip icon below at the beginning of the chat box. Your file will be uploaded and all task followers will be notified by email.

How do you create projects

11 - Add a project 1

Project names help you organize tasks and work as labels for filtering. You can add a project name by clicking on the “+” button and typing in its name or choosing an existing project.

12 - Add a project 2

Pro Tip: Click on the project name to view all tasks in that project and assign different colors for a quick overview.

How do you add/ remove a task follower

13 - Add a follower 1

If you want to share a task with team members or anyone else, you need to add a task follower. You can do this by clicking the “Add Follower” button and typing in their name or email address. You can remove followers from the same field.

14 - Add a follower 2

How do you assign a task to someone

15 - Assign a task 1

You can assign the task by clicking the profile icon in the top of the task description box. If you’re logged in with your Google account, you will see your contacts. Otherwise, type in the email address of the assignee. Then simply choose the assignee and the task will automatically disappear from your list and go to theirs.

16 - Assign a task 2

How do you add a task section

17 - Add a section

Sections help you organize your tasks and projects. To create a section, just add a colon (:) at the end of a task title. Sections are especially helpful when you sort a project by manual order (choose “Sort By> Manual”) and then drag tasks into the right sections.

Pro tip: You can also add #, ## or ### at the beginning of a section to create further structure.

How do you delete a task

18 - Delete task

You can delete a task by clicking the “More options” button in the top right of the task description box and selecting “Delete”. You will then get an option to Undo deleting a task in case you did it by mistake.

How-to / Sendtask - 04/29/2017

Getting Started With Sendtask For Slack

sendtask-for-slack

This article will guide you through the most important features of the Sendtask integration for Slack. You will find out how to bring powerful task management features to your Slack team and control everything in one place.

Install the Sendtask integration for Slack

How to see your to-do list

You can see your list of tasks that are due today, tomorrow or are overdue by typing in “/sendtasks” in any Slack channel in your team.
how-to-see-to-do-list-two

Note: There is a limit of 100 tasks to be shown in Slack, ordered by due date.

How to see all your incomplete tasks

incomplete-tasks

If you want to see all of your incomplete tasks (not just due today, tomorrow or overdue), you must type in “/sendtasks incomplete”. The tasks will be arranged by due date.

Note: There is a limit of 100 tasks to be shown in Slack, ordered by due date.

How to see tasks that you’ve completed

complete-tasks

You can see all the tasks you’ve completed by typing in “/sendtasks complete”. You will get a list of all tasks you’ve completed arranged by due date.

Note: There is a limit of 100 tasks to be shown in Slack, ordered by due date.

How to see all your tasks – both complete and incomplete

all-tasks
You can see all your tasks – both complete and incomplete – when you type in “/sendtasks all”. This will bring a list of every task that was assigned to you in Sendtask, even if it was completed. The list will be arranged by due date.

Note: There is a limit of 100 tasks to be shown in Slack, ordered by due date.

How to create tasks for yourself

create-task

You can create a task for yourself by typing in “/sendtask” followed by the task name.

For Example:
/sendtask Buy milk on the way home

This will create a task titled “Buy milk on the way home” which will appear in your to-do list when you view it in the Sendtask app or in Slack. The task will automatically be assigned to you.

How to set a task due date

set-a-due-date

You can set a task due date by adding the due date anywhere after the “/sendtask” command.

For example:
/sendtask Buy milk on the way home tomorrow
OR
/sendtask Tomorrow buy milk on the way home
OR
/sendtask Buy milk tomorrow on the way home

All of these examples will create a task titled “Buy milk on the way home tomorrow” (or one of the other two variations) with the due date set to the next day.

How to assign a task to someone else

assign-a-task

You can assign a task to someone else by adding their @name (if they’re on your Slack team) or email address anywhere after the “/sendtask” command.

For example:
/sendtask Buy milk on the way home tomorrow @jason
OR
/sendtask @jason buy milk on the way home tomorrow
OR
/sendtask Buy milk on the way home jason@emailprovider.com

All of these examples will create a task titled “Buy milk on the way home tomorrow” that is assigned to Jason and has a due date set to the next day.

How to add followers to a task

add-follower

You can add a task follower by including their @name (if they’re on your Slack team) or email address anywhere after the assignee’s name.

For example:
/sendtask @jason Buy milk on the way home tomorrow bart.simpson@springfield.com
OR
/sendtask Buy milk on the way home tomorrow @jason bart.simpson@springfield.com

Both of these examples will create a task titled “Buy milk on the way home tomorrow” that is assigned to Jason and has a due date set to the next day. However, it will also include the task creator and Bart Simpson as followers in the task.

Note: If you want to assign the task to yourself and add collaborators, you have to include your @name or email address before you include any followers.

How to mark a task as complete

mark-complete

Whenever you view any task in Slack, you will see a “Complete Task” button. If you want to mark a task as done, simply click the button.

How to see more details about a task

show-deitals

Whenever you view any task in Slack, you will see a “Show Task Details” button. If you want to see more details about the task such as followers, due date, comments, and assignee, simply click the button.

How to undo completing a task

undo

Whenever you mark a task as complete, the button will change from “Complete Task” to “Undo”. Simply press “Undo” to bring the task back to your list.

Install the Sendtask integration for Slack

How-to / Sendtask - 04/28/2017

How To Take Control Of Tasks In Your Inbox

inbox-task-management

Lifehacker

Ever sent yourself a reminder email? You don’t have to.

Email is meant to help you communicate. Therefore, using it as a task management and notification tool comes with a set of limitations.

Why you should never send yourself another reminder email

Simply put, using email for task management is like washing your car with just water and old newspapers – it does a sloppy job.

Why do I feel so strongly about this? I’ve managed tasks with email for years and experienced first hand all the issues this brings such as:

  • Cluttering your inbox
  • Making you waste time searching for tasks because not all of them are in emails
  • It doesn’t allow you to track progress, making it difficult to see the big picture
  • It’s very limited in terms of categorization
  • It’s plain old inefficient

It didn’t take long before I started thinking about using something else. I’ve tried and tested dozens of software solutions, only to come back to email again for one reason – I just HAVE to use it because of other people.

 

Using email for task management is like washing your car with water and old newspapers Click To Tweet.

 

How to turn your inbox into a powerful task management hub

So now you’re facing a different problem – you have to use email but it’s just not good enough for task management.

To solve this issue, I started using Sendtask to manage all the actionable items that somehow ended up in my inbox or anywhere else. Sendtask gives you all the task management features you need for efficient work and collaboration directly in your inbox.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on you can use it to take control of tasks in your inbox immediately:

Step 1) Add [due_date]@sendtask.io as the email recipient

To send any actionable information to your Sendtask account, forward or start writing a normal email, only this time enter [due_date]@sendtask.io as the recipient.

For example, enter tomorrow9am@sendtask.io if you need to do something the next day at nine in the morning. You can see a full list of email deadline formats here.

Step 2) Add the task title in the subject line

The subject line becomes the task title in Sendtask so you should make it something actionable.

Step 3) Enter any comments in the email field (optional)

 

If the task has extra information attached to it, simply type it in as a comment in the email field. This will come up in the details box on Sendtask. Then simply send your email and the task will appear in your dashboard.

You can also forward actionable info to someone else – even if they’re not on Sendtask.

You can manage your own tasks and also assign tasks to anyone else as long as you have their email address. Simply add their email address in the recipient field along with [due_date]@sendtask.io. This will create a virtual workspace for you and the assignee even if they don’t have an account. You will be able to track the tasks you’ve assigned to yourself and others in the same dashboard.

In short, Sendtask gives you the opportunity to capture all actionable info and track progress in one place. You can use email, mobile, and the web app to create and manage tasks, with a Slack integration also coming soon.

Ready to try it out? Jump back into Sendtask.

 

How-to / productivity / Sendtask - 04/10/2017

How To Use Sendtask With Email

how-to-use-sendtask-with-email

In this guide, you will find out how to use Sendtask with email. We’ll go through the process one step at a time, using our friend Bob’s workflow as an example.

Bob is a busy guy. He runs several personal and work projects at any given time. In order to organize and keep track of everything, he uses sendtask.io.

Bob starts a normal day by opening his email account. He sees a number of things he needs to do or delegate to his team. Instead of transferring everything into another software and losing time, he starts clearing off tasks as new emails come in. Here’s how you can do the same:

Step 1: Start creating an email and enter your recipient’s address in the recipient field

Sending tasks with sendtask.io is almost the same as sending a normal email. You begin by entering the recipient’s email address. Of course, you can enter multiple email addresses but only the first one you enter will be the direct assignee. If you include any other people, they will be added as followers who have access to the task, its comments, and attachments. Neither you nor your recipients need a sendtask.io account in order to gain access and use most of the tool’s features.

Pro Tip: You can include yourself as the email recipient or follower and manage your own task list directly from email.

Step 2: Add [due_date]@sendtask.io as an additional recipient (cc)

This is the only difference from sending a normal email. You need to include [due_date]@sendtask.io as an additional recipient in order for the tool to recognize your task. For example, this could be “tomorrow@sendtask.io” or “monday@sendtask.io”. A full list of all available deadline formats can found here.

Pro tip: If you don’t want to set a due date, use “task@sendtask.io” as the additional recipient. 

Step 3: Type in the task title in the subject line

The subject line will become the task title. This should be something actionable such as “Buy milk” or “Call Andy about new landing page”.

Step 4: Write your comments/ task description in the actual email

The email field is where you add your comments or task description. This will be useful for the assignee in case there is further clarification needed.

Step 5: Send

Now that you have an assignee, task title, due date and description, it’s time to send the email.

Step 6: Repeat process for all projects and tasks

You can repeat the same process for all tasks you have on your mind – both personal and work related. You can include your team, friends or family as assignees in case you need them to do something and you can build your own task list.

Step 7: Go to your Sendtask dashboard

how-to-use-sendtask-with-email-assigned-tasks

After you’re finished, you can sign in to your Sendtask dashboard and everything will be there. If you don’t have an account, you can sign up and take advantage of all of the tool’s features.

 

How-to / Sendtask - 03/31/2017

A Guide To Sendtask Due Dates

Due-date-formats

This post will guide you through the different due dates you can use in Sendtask. They apply to email, Slack and in-app due date settings. We’ll use email for our example illustrations, but the formats are available in all Sendtask integrations and apps. Here’s a list of the due dates you can use::

Scenario 1: You want to set the due date as today or tomorrow

Then add as additional recipient:

today@sendtask.io
or
tomorrow@sendtask.io

Note: By default, the timing is set at 12 am midnight when using this format.

You can also include a specific time:

Example:
today1pm@sendtask.io – this will set the due date for today at 1 pm
or
tomorrow2pm@sendtask.io – this will set the due date for tomorrow at 2 pm

…and so on.

Scenario 2: You want to set the due date as a specific day of the week

Then add as additional recipient one of the following:

monday@sendtask.io
tuesday@sendtask.io
wednesday@sendtask.io
thursday@sendtask.io
friday@sendtask.io
saturday@sendtask.io
sunday@sendtask.io

Note: By default, the timing is set at 11 pm when using this format.

You can also include a specific time:

Example:
monday1pm@sendtask.io – this will set the due date for 1 pm on the first Monday coming after today’s date
tuesday4am@sendtask.io – this will set the due date for 4 am on the first Tuesday coming after today’s date
friday11am@sendtask.io – this will set the due date for 11 am on the first Friday coming after today’s date

…and so on.

Scenario 3: You want to set the due date as a specific date

Then add as additional recipient:

YYYY-MM-DD@sendtask.io
or
YYYY/MM/DD@sendtask.io

Example:
2017-03-27@sendtask.io – this will set the due date for 27th March 2017.

2017/03/27@sendtask.io – this will also set the due date for 27th March 2017.

Note: By default, the timing is set at 11 pm when using this format.

Scenario 4: You don’t want to set any due dates

no-due-date

Then add as additional recipient:

task@sendtask.io

How-to / Sendtask - 03/31/2017

A Simple Guide To Decluttering Your Digital Workspace

Declutter your digital workspace example photo imac desk

Online content has exploded in recent years. We’re all bombarded with news, messages, push notifications and all sorts of information on a daily basis.

On top of that, over time we accumulate various data on our phones and computers such as photos, videos, software, and the occasional virus.

How much of all this data do you suppose is important?

It’s quite natural for digital clutter to add up and this is not as harmless as it seems.

Research suggests our working memory can only handle a limited amount of information at any given time. This means that every extra bit you add can be at the expense of something that’s really important.

In addition, the extra pressure on our mind creates unnecessary stress and impacts our ability to make decisions.

This is why people like Steve Jobs and Barrack Obama keep wearing the same type of clothes and simplify their life – they know that even the smallest decisions take mental energy so they use it carefully.

This simple guide to decluttering your digital workspace will show you how to create some empty space in your mind so you too can enjoy more creativity and mental freedom.

Here are five steps you can take to quickly declutter your digital workspace:

Step 1: Take advantage of free cloud storage

Cleaning up your desktop and uploading some of your hard drive files online can make a huge difference to the amount of unneeded information that gets to your mind.

While you’re at it, make sure you also organize whatever is currently online.

Services like Dropbox, Google Drive, and pCloud will give you free storage that should be more than enough for stuff like old photos and videos.

You may have some extra free space as part of any recent technology you’ve purchased – for example, HP and Asus offer free cloud storage when you buy some of their products.

Keeping everything online and regularly uploading your data will ensure your desktop does not get cluttered and that you can access your files wherever you are.

Step 2: Use a single password (without sacrificing security)

After reading the above, you may be thinking – what about all the passwords I need for online storage? Well, you don’t really need more than one password to keep your security.

Services like 1Password or LastPass will provide you with a free online “vault” and store your usernames and passwords as you register and log in to various websites.

You can choose if you want to add the particular account to your vault or if you want to keep it out for now.

They also have mobile and desktop versions, so you can keep in sync wherever you are and never have to deal with multiple passwords again.

This way, you don’t have to keep spreadsheets with passwords and usernames and you don’t have to compromise security in case you use only one password for everything.

Step 3: Reach inbox zero every day

Reaching inbox zero is, without exaggeration, one of the best feelings you can get. There is a lot to say about email so we’ll cover this in a bit more detail.

Email is where we spend most of our time when working so it’s crucial that we keep our inbox tidy and distraction-free.

Following are a few tips which you can use to reach Inbox Zero every day:

  • Unsubscribe

The first step you need to take is to gradually unsubscribe from all unneeded newsletters and email lists.

This may require you to invest some time upfront, but the returns you get on it are more than worth the investment once you take into account how many emails you have to delete down the road.

  • Forward emails to one account

You don’t really need more than one or two email addresses in most situations. If you have more than this, you can forward your work email addresses to a single account and control everything from there.

This way you don’t have to open each separate inbox.

  • Set up filters

Most email providers will allow you to set up filters which automatically label your incoming mail into individual folders.

For example, if you’re working on several projects at the same time, you can create an individual filter for each of them and your incoming mail will be allocated to the respective folder.

This will keep your inbox well organized and you don’t have to worry about important emails getting lost among everything else.

Step 4: Remove push notifications

Notifications on your phone and browser are some of the biggest sources of distraction nowadays.

Every time your mind gets pulled away from the task at hand, it could take up to 20 minutes to get back to the same level of concentration as you were prior to the distraction.

If you want a productive day at work, it’s best if you turn off notifications at least for a while and leave out some space to deal with them later.

It’s a good practice to work in 90-minute increments with 20 minutes of rest.

However, beware of checking your notifications during these 20 minutes as they could easily turn into hours, especially if you don’t have someone supervising you all the time.

Step 5: Set up auto-backup for important data on your phone

You can set up auto-backup for the contacts, photos, and videos on your phone. These are normally the irretrievable pieces of information that we miss the most if we lose them.

The auto-backup means you can always reset your device to factory settings if you feel like there’s too much on it or in case you just want to make a fresh start.

Google Drive gives you unlimited storage for standard quality photos and videos but keeps in mind that you will need an internet connection if you want to access them later.

Conclusion

Digital decluttering may seem intimidating at first, but most of the time you will be surprised by how fast you can do everything.

Once done, you will appreciate the feeling of lightness and a job well done.

In addition, you will experience all the benefits like reduced stress, better decision making, and optimal energy levels.

Keep in mind, however, that in order to stay organized long-term, it’s always best if you regularly tidy up your digital workspace instead of waiting for a mountain of data to add up. Better yet, you should control the amount of clutter in the first place.

Tools such as Sendtask.io can help you stay on top of things while collaborating online, keeping everything organized and easily accessible. This way you can be sure to always find what you need and keep your digital workspace distraction-free.

Collaboration / How-to / productivity - 03/11/2017

Sendtask on Facebook

Facebook Pagelike Widget

Using Sendtask

About us

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

© 2017-2023 Sendtask