October Newsletter

Lots of new products have been released from Microsoft in the last 30 days that may or may not improve your productivity. Let's take a look at them with respect to the 1MTD and MYN systems (and look at some other things too):

Surfce 4 Pro and Surface Book

This week two new Windows 10 PCs were released by Microsoft, the Surface Pro 4 and the Surface Book. The first is just an update, but the latter is a big new direction for Micorosoft, since it's their first real laptop (a hybrid really).

In summary, I like the new Surface Book hybrid laptop a lot. It's light, thin, and powerful, and it's a "real" laptop. As to the other release, depending on your job role I am still not convinced the Surface Pro is the right answer. Here are some details on both:

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Outlook 2016 is Available

Microsoft has formally released Outlook 2016 desktop (available through an Office 365 subscription or as a boxed set). I've been using it for about 6 weeks now, previously as a trial copy. My thoughts are that for 1MTD and MYN purposes, it's nearly identical to Outlook 2013 with a few new bells and whistles in e-mail features. For Windows users it's a worthy upgrade, if only just to stay current. But I feel 1MTD or MYN Mac users should NOT upgrade. I discuss why.

Don't Beat Yourself Up if You Don't Complete All Critical Now Items

I had an MYN user talk to me the other day and she was telling me how badly she felt that she was not completing all of her Critical Now tasks each day. She basically was beating herself up for not keeping what she felt were obligations she had made to herself. I realized that I never beat myself up that way so it made me think that perhaps many people might misunderstand the right purposes of the MYN and 1MTD to-do lists. They should not be made into a morality game.

Pocket Informant iOS as Alternative to TaskTask? (Video included)

You probably know that I recommend you use the iPhone and iPad app called TaskTask to access your Exchange Server -based MYN or 1MTD tasks when on a smartphone. However, there are more and more cases where TaskTask cannot connect to your corporate Exchange Server. In some cases, it’s because corporations are, for security reasons, blocking access to their servers by third-party apps. In other cases, it’s because they’re using access protocols that are just not supported by TaskTask. So is there an alternative app?