Day Planner Tool

Submitted by pmcgovern on Thu, 01/17/2008 - 23:56.

"Time is God's way of keeping everything from happening at once"
-- Author unknown

I. Introduction
Traditional paper based day planners are a popular tool for organizing scheduled activities. They are simple, convenient, proven and readily available. This is a general time management tool case study that does not focus on a particular brand of day planner or method.

II. Day Planner Process Overview
Setup: Purchase a convenient day planner: (How) (Learning):

  1. The planner should be a convenient size that will allow you to carry it at all times.
  2. The planner pages and views should be large enough to
    accommodate your daily tasks, TODO lists, contacts and notes.
  3. The planner should have monthly, daily and/or weekly views.
  4. Consider buying a two-year planner around mid-November to allow scheduling of future appointments.

Usage: (How) (Learning)

  1. When starting a new planner, consider transferring important
    contact details such as phone numbers, doctors and "critical" holiday events.
  2. Post appointments, birthdays and other important events in the planner.
  3. Review your planner in the beginning of the day and then as needed throughout the day.
  4. Use a pencil to allow erasing mistakes or making changes.
  5. Consider using color coded, erasable pencils to make it easy to see different types of events or items.
  6. Consider using paper clips or bookmarks to make it easy to find important pages.

III. Time Management Tool Requirements: Day Planner Comparison
Ranking Scale: Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor, Very Poor.
Must Have Features:

  • The tool must allow convenient access and modifications to the schedule.

    • Score: Very Good
    • Pros: Day planners are designed and purchased for their
      convenience. They can be very simple to use and convenient to carry. This allows instant access to important schedule information.
    • Cons:Day planner "convenience" is subjective. Some people may find it inconvenient to carry and update a planner.
  • The tool must allow the data to be legible and easy to read.

    • Score: Fair
    • Pros:People who have neat writing may have legible planners.
    • Cons:People who don't have neat writing may have hard to read planners.

Nice To Have Features:

  • The tool should allow the data to be easily imported and exported.

    • Score: Fair
    • Pros:The 2 year day planners make transferring annual data
      easier.
    • Cons:Planners do not have automated import/export
      capabilities, which could be a serious problem if the planner is lost. All data transfers are manual activities.
  • The tool should provide notifications before a scheduled event.

    • Score: Good
    • Pros: Planners are convenient so accessing a list of scheduled events should be easy.
    • Cons: Event notifications are not automated. The user must
      remember the events or look at the planner often to avoid missing
      events.
  • The tool should be easy to convert to a new year.

    • Score: Fair
    • Pros: Two year planners are available to make this task easier.
    • Cons: Transfering events is not automated. Each future event must be manually entered.
  • The tool should allow easy access to past and future years.

    • Score: Fair
    • Pros: Two year planners are available to make this task easier.
    • Cons: Day planners do not have search capabilities.
  • The tool should use open standards versus proprietary to protect the data from vendor control.

    • Score: Good
    • Pros: A user can choose from a variety of planner brands and
      styles. The data is hand written and is not affected by technology
      constraints.
    • Cons: None.
  • The tool should allow the data to be synchronized to other formats.

    • Score: Poor
    • Pros: None
    • Cons: Day Planners can't be easily converted to other formats. It would be inconveient to scan the day planner pages.

Total Score: 3.75 (almost "good")

References.
"How to Use Your Day Planner for Maximum Efficiency,
Organization"Online website by AssociatedContent.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/58158/how_to_use_your_day_plann...

"Learning to Use a Day Planner (WWK11)" Online website by the National
Resource Center on AD/HD.
http://www.help4adhd.org/en/living/organdtime/WWK11
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