This is something I am still working on and really do not find enough time that can be managed. Time management also includes Schedule management/Calendar management. Calendar Management: The above web services when used in collaboration with your existing email applications, makes your calendar available at all the places you need. A single update either on your mobile or any of the email services you use, can synchronize all your calendars and make sure that you don't miss any. Also, the above services make it possible to keep your work life and personal life separate and at the same time, give you a merged view of both. For example, when you receive an email invitation to a marriage or a party in one of your personal email accounts, adding it to the calendar within that account, can automatically have that event get into your mobile and outlook as a private event. To elaborate, managing time is all about managing your personal schedule, organizing your life and prioritizing everything that you need/have to do. Once you start paying attention to the different activities, you realize the importance of doing this using a Personal Information Management (PIM) tool which often includes Calendar/Time based application. The first act of organizing yourself is to get your act together and list down the repetitive as well as mundane things that happen regularly in your life along with major events. Meetings, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Bill payment schedules, Holidays etc are all interval based and you need something to keep track of, for which a Calendar fits the best. Most probably you already have all this information partially in your calendar and all it takes is to pay a little attention to it from now on. Actually, it is really cool, if you are willing to make use of it. I know, Outlook 2007 comes up with a merged view to combine multiple calendars and using that is fine too if you already have it. The point is to have your calendars synchronized across devices, email accounts and applications so that you know what 's up on your calendar next. And most importantly, things which should be private should remain private even after all this sychronization as you don't want something personal available for public view. Once my objectives, as above were clear, I tried various services and converged to the following few:
Plaxo gives you the ability to keep your address books and calendars up to date. While it is not the perfect tool for "sharing calendars" it does have that feature. For me, Plaxo is the tool that answers my synchronization issues across Outlook, MSN, Yahoo and Gmail. If you are planning to try it out, just make sure that you turn off certain features in Plaxo to make it less obtrusive and to integrate itself nicely into your existing routine. Otherwise, it tends to take up too many resources. The idea is to keep information up to date and so, check this page to see the minimum you need. All the rest of the options only fight to slow down your Outlook/PC and so stay away from them if you are using it at work. The automatic option for sync is selected because, I am not good at remembering to sync up at the EoD. If you think you are good and can manage, uncheck that too :).
Airset is my preferred service for sharing calendars, which I do with an application from my Home PC. I am aware of the sharing option in Google Calendar but it is not enough as all the items tagged as 'private' in your calendar are untagged when they are imported or synced up with Google. The only option is to go back into each event/appointment and tag them again. Airset manages that beautifully. You sync it up and create the calendar for your office and share what you need to. It strikes a balance pretty well and moreover you can create group calendars, selective sharing to members etc.
iScrybe's demo looks brilliant. If it delivers what it promises, it would be the perfect add-on for managing calendars. Why is 30boxes so down below in this section even though it is regarded as the best calendar out there? Only because 30boxes is too simple. But otherwise, it is a great application and is worth trying for someone who doesn't need all the bells and whistles and does not use a PC based calendar. I tried Kiko but it had enough quirks, had issues importing from other sources as well as issues rendering in a few other browsers. So, it moved further below the list.
Now that we have covered the various Online Calendar based services, let's look at a few that will help organize your family lives. This list is for services where you can have a Calendar for your family or your children's school to plan for activities around your family life. The same can be used for any Group based things too. Cozi: Let me give a little overview of Cozi.com, an online calendar for families. In Cozi's words, describing the service is pretty simple: "Cozi is a free web service that helps families manage crazy schedules, track shopping and to do lists, organize household chores, stay in communication and share memories—all in one place." Once you have you and your family start using Cozi, you can pretty much do everything within Cozi. You can also add their gadget to your iGoogle page and see your kids' schedules. A list of all Cozi's features can be seen at http://www.cozi.com/Features-Overview.htm.
Checkout my Self improvement page for a few references on time management. . And when we are talking about time management and tracking time, here are a few online services that might be helpful if you are looking for an online solution.
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