TRO Online with Lotus Notes?
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Email+SubmissionsEmail Submissions September 2010
    Posts: 170

    Just to confirm my direction to make sure I'm going to get the most out of this program.  The systems I use don't quite match up to the custom ebook.

        Corporate Mail/Calendar/Todo:    Lotus Notes
                                            PDA:  Blackberry (Bold 9700)
                        Extra BB Software:   Todomatrix

  • 4 Answers sorted by
  • Vote Up0Vote Down Coach_NateCoach_Nate September 2010
    Posts: 101

    Simply put, Lotus Notes is not TRO capable. Here's why. In order to see real productivity gains, your task list needs to work for you, not simply record lists. An efficient task list will do two things:

    1) Auto-prioritize your tasks
    2) Provide limited views into your tasks

    This means that when it's time to make calls, you can easily see a list of calls, already sorted by importance.

    In our experience, a task list must meet the following minimum requirements in order to do those two things:

    1) Allow multiple categories/tags for each task
    2) Have two date fields (or one date and a priority) which you can sort by
    3) Simple filtering (ideally saved filters) to show a limited number of tasks

    Lotus does not allow multiple categories or multiple dates, which makes it a rough tool for time management. You'll spend more time maintaining your task lists than you'll save by having them.

    With your Blackberry, I would recommend Toodledo (online web app) with Taskjot (Blackberry app syncs with Toodledo). So long as the computer you work at is always Internet-capable, Toodledo is one of the best tasklist programs we've seen. Taskjot allows Toodledo to sync with your Blackberry, so tasks are always with you. Our online training guide for Toodledo is still in beta, but all the Toodledo-specific instructions (NOT beta) can be found here.

    For simplicity, you would select "Outlook" as your task list and "Other" as your mobile device. Any time it talks about Outlook-specific instructions, follow the directions for Toodledo. The app for your mobile device is fairly intuitive; simply sync and go.

  • Vote Up0Vote Down MattHMattH November 2011
    Posts: 1

    Coach Nate,

    My findings are at odds with your observations above.

    Lotus Notes 8.x.x does:
    1) Allow multiple categories/tags for each task - Notes' ToDo has this feature
    2) Have two date fields (or one date and a priority) which you can sort by- Notes' ToDo has Start By and Due By, and it has priorities High/Medium/Low/None
    3) Simple filtering (ideally saved filters) to show a limited number of tasks - Notes allows one to create custom Views

    So, what am I missing?

    Thank you,

    Matt

  • Vote Up0Vote Down Coach_NateCoach_Nate December 2011
    Posts: 101

    Matt,


    I find myself in an awkward situation here. Admittedly, I asked an employee to evaluate Lotus Notes for its task manager capabilities, and the response above comes from their findings. If they are incorrect, then we need to change our stance on Lotus Notes.

    Lotus Notes will work for email and calendar. That is given. The only question is tasks.

    Matt, if you want to attempt to use Lotus Notes' ToDo for your tasks, I will be extremely interested in your experience. If you find it acceptable, I will use your experiences to start a knowledgebase for others who want to use Lotus Notes' ToDo as well. This is typically how we start adding new software to the TRO training. 

    One limitation I find as I search right now: Finding a good sync for tasks. CompanionLink appears to be the best option for iPhone and Blackberry, but again I'm interested in real-world experiences. Android appears to have several options, though CompanionLink is the most widely used.

    I will be very interested to hear people's experiences managing tasks in Lotus Notes. 

    ~nate

  • Vote Up0Vote Down kcrenkcren January 9
    Posts: 479

    Matt,


    Actually, the newest version of TRO Online Training now has a powerful "Other Task Manager" option. It's not a throwaway choice-- it's a blueprint for doing TRO with any tool. It lists all the nitty-gritty requirements for TRO and all possible ways to do what needs to be done.

    So for Lotus Notes, choose "Other" task list and follow the training instructions. The configuration requirements (or limitations) for TRO will become clear, quickly.

    This works for any tool, and it doesn't take a lot of extra time.

    Please let us all know what you find. If Notes doesn't work well enough (or for any other reason) we'll gladly refund the purchase price. See our $-back guarantee. (If you need to take longer to make your decision about Notes and it doesn't work out, refer to this post and we'll extend the refund time for you.)


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