One of the many hats I wear is a Girl Scout troop co-leader. Even though it is a volunteer position, we are part of a large non-profit organization and that doesn’t make our day-to-day business challenges that different from for profit organizations.
For example, one of my biggest challenges is to properly share information with my troop leader and new co-leaders. This is very much like the core team in our business.
Throughout the year, we are always on the look out for fun venues and activities the girls can participate in. Museums, farms, skating rinks, tours or cooking classes. There are also ideas we suddenly think of when we’re out and about. For example we get news of organizations that need help, community service projects, craft ideas and all that… stuff.
Personally, I store these snippets and bits of information in Evernote. When I find awesome links to venues and information online, I clip it and store it there. I also have Evernote on my phone so when I am out and about, I can snap a photo, record audio or enter a text note and have it automatically synced.
Another option that works similarly is Springpad. However, Springpad is organized more like a social notebook. You can also see what your friends have shared. Evernote on the other hand is more personal. Both let you control access to your notebooks. But there is one big thing that Springpad has – which is alarms. You can work around that and still get email reminders for Evernote.
I still have not decided which to recommend to our leaders but am leaning heavily toward Springpad because it is organized in a more fun way and it has apps like meal planners, reusable grocery lists and household project planners that I believe will make it more attractive to women and therefore make it easy for them to adopt.
To be sure, you can do all that with Evernote but you will have to structure it yourself – part of the beauty of Evernote – I think that’s why in the beginning I had such a difficult time getting people excited about it.
For general business/work setting, I think Evernote is awesome for teams to share snippets of code, ideas, suggestions, information, audio, files when working on a project. Evernote also operates on a large variety of platforms – Windows, Mac, Android, PalmPre, iPhone, Windows Mobile and more which makes it tops in my opinion. Give it a go – if you haven’t already. Click here for an Evernote review.
Photo by sanja gjenero
Hi Lynette-
Thanks for mentioning Springpad in your article. Just wanted to clarify a few things for you and your readers! Like Evernote, Springpad has iPhone, iPad and Android apps – and we also have a mobile access site (http://springpadit.com.m) that all smart phones can use to access their accounts. All of the mobile apps automatically sync with the website. Also, even though we have the option to share the things you save, you can keep anything (or everything) private. However, it sounds like as troop leaders you want to be sharing all of the cool places and things you find with each other!
Springpad will also enhance what you are saving with useful links and offers. For example, if you save a business or restaurant, we will include maps and directions, links to reviews, and contact information. Hope this information helps, and let me know if you have any questions!
Hi Lauren, thanks for popping in. I am aware of the mobile platforms for Springpad and also aware of the mobile site. The reason that keeps me from adopting it fully is because I am using Windows Mobile (yes, the underdog right now) and it is a lot harder to launch the browser, get into the favorites, log in and then save a note vs launching an app and immediately jotting down the information. By the time I log in to a mobile site, I often forget or the moment has passed – picture opp lost or something. Hopefully your devs would come up with something for us 🙂
Lynette Chandler,thanks for your article.
I would love to check out all of these suggestion of yours. I reallly know how important it is for you to communicate with your co-members when you guys are working as a team. Good communication has been always a part of every project’s success.
Pretty nice idea, how did you come into this kind of idea?
Seems like really easy ways to keep organized and gosh knows I need it. My life is hectic and out of control I forget my head half the time. Thanks for the inspiring tips!
Most welcome Kendall
WIndows Mobile seems to be the choice for a lot of people. Evernote looks good. My main concers are backup, fallbacks and filing. Backup and fallbacks are natural requirements and I expect it should be in place. People probably assume that’s a given and don’t bother inquiring about it. I certainly hope it’s in place and functioning properly. One other aspect is how the information is organized. I haven’t used it so I wonder if it’s up to the person to define the settings to organize the information and if so, how easy is that task.. The freebie is up to a certain limit only — after that they charge — but it should be worth it if it’s that good.
Currently, I’m using Evernote. I find it very helpful for me to organize all my ideas for my work. Now, I don’t need to pile notepad in my desktop and drive D.
Thanks Lynette Chandle, for this information. I will try to use Evernote in my phone to share my experiences with my friends.
In our office we have tried both Evernote and Springpad, giving each a three month trial. For what it’s worth, we eventually chose to use Springpad although being a largely female office I guess that’s not surprising and in line with your comments above.