10 Ways to Be Productive with Backpack
May 25th, 2007 (5:10am) Leo Babauta 28 Comments
37signals’ online organizer tool, Backpack has been a favorite with GTD geeks and web workers for some time now. It’s sleek, it’s cool, it’s got all kinds of Ajaxy goodness. And it can be used in many different ways to make you more productive.
There are a million uses for Backpack, but what follows is a list of 10 productive uses for them. Why use Backpack? As a web worker, you need a tool that you can access any time, anywhere – not just from your home computer. And Backpack is a great tool because of its intuitive, easy-to-use interface. It’s also versatile and seriously useful.
10 Productive Uses for Backpack
- Capture. If you’re a fan of writing down every thought, idea, task and fancy that pops into your head – and if you’re not, you should consider it – you might carry a paper notebook everywhere you go. And paper is great, but you’re less likely to use it when you’re at your computer, or using your laptop or mobile device. And if you’re driving, it’s seriously hard to jot down ideas. Enter Backpack. At your computer, you can quickly pop open your Backpack front page (name it “Inbox”) and jot down a new note. Now all your notes are in one place, neat and organized, and you can easily paste them into other documents if needed. And when you’re on the road, you can use cell phone notes for Backpack – it’s a free service, and you can call a toll-free number (U.S. and Canada) and leave a voice note, which is then forwarded to your Backpack page.
- To-dos. We’re always looking for a better to-do list. Backpack works as well as the best of them, because it’s simple. Enter a new item, drag and drop them around, check off the completed ones. No fancy fields to enter info. And for GTD fans, you can manage multiple to-do lists in a snap. Create mini-lists for your calls, work tasks, errands, home tasks and more. Now, when you need to do something, just look at the appropriate context list, instead of looking at a huge long list that you have to scan through. And this to-do list is accessible from anywhere, unlike one you might save on your computer.
- Mobile productivity. If you have a Treo, mobile phone, or wireless PDA with a web browser that can display basic HTML, you can use a slimmed-down version of Backpack on your phone. Just enter /mob at the end of your page’s url, and you can get it without all the Ajax. Using your mobile device, you can now view all of your pages, add list items and notes, make a new page, and view and add reminders. And you can send yourself text messages and alerts from Backpack, so you’ll never forget anything again. That means you can be productive from anywhere. Or don’t be productive, but at least know what you aren’t doing.
- Reminders. A cool little feature on Backpack, the reminders can be especially useful. A client wants you to check back in a week? Enter a quick reminder and forget about it. Need to send an invoice on the 30th? Have a deadline in a fortnight? Don’t want to forget your wedding anniversary for the third straight year? Set a reminder. And they’re super easy to do: just enter the reminder and a date, and you’re done.
- Project planning. One of the seriously useful ways to use Backpack. A complicated project could require a bunch of lists, notes, photos, links, a timeline and more. You can put those all on one page in Backpack, and keep everything organized. Use reminders and the calendar feature to keep the project moving along and on time. Attach files you might need to reference later. Here’s an example of a wedding planned using Backpack. And you can share the project page with others who might also be working on it.
- Simple collaboration. There are more feature-filled collaboration tools out there (37signals’ Basecamp being one of the more popular ones), but if your collaborative needs are simple, Backpack has a “writeboard” feature. Invite people to collaborate on a document, and multiple people can edit it, comment on it, and see changes from previous versions.
- All lists. Keep all your lists in one place. A list of ideas, articles to check out, goals, checklists, schedules. Your waiting-for list (for follow-up), your someday/maybe list, your dreams. By keeping them all in one page, things stay simple and organized. No more little Post-it notes all over the place, no more flipping through your notebook looking for that grocery list, no more writing down a list of goals and forgetting about them. I like to keep a growing list of article or blog post ideas that I refer to every day.
- Log. Backpack is great for logs. I do an exercise log, an articles log (for invoicing later), a work log. It’s a very simple and fast way to log anything – just open the page, enter, and get out. And now you have a record of it for later, which is hugely useful. The key is making it a habit to log things as soon as you’re done doing them.
- Personal time. Don’t just get your professional time organized. Shovel your personal stuff into Backpack as well: movies to watch, books to read, books you’ve already read, places to travel, cool gadgets to buy. Your kids’ extracurricular activities. Grocery lists. Checklists for packing. Chores lists. Pretty much anything in your life.
- Today. One thing that works well for me is creating a “Today” page and making it your home page (you could also make your “Inbox” your home page). On this page, just put three things you want to accomplish today. I like to put an inspiring quote or poem and photo. And I usually have an “agenda” list for a couple of key people in my life (boss, wife, not in that order), where I keep a list of things I need to talk to them about. Don’t dump everything on this page. Just a few key things you need to do today. Everything else that comes up, you can shunt into your inbox or to-do lists. At the end of the day, review your Today page, and if you’ve checked off those 2-3 things, you were successful! I try to clear off my Today page every day.
28 Comments Post your own comment
Work in Bursts; 10 Productive Backpack Uses; Pare Your To-do List | zen habits says: May 25th, 2007 6:45am
[...] Web Worker Daily: 10 Ways to be Productive With Backpack [...]
Serge Lescouarnec says: May 25th, 2007 8:24am
Thanks for the detailed suggestions on how to use ‘Backpack’.
I use the service mainly to coordinate personal tasks with my wife.
I have to expand my use to some aspects you mention for business.
Serge
Blog:
http://www.sergetheconcierge.com
Biz:
http://www.njconcierges.com
Nitin Badjatia says: May 25th, 2007 8:32am
If you are a Treo user, there is a great little application called Satchel from Stand Alone. Satchel synchronizes wirelessly with Backpack, pulling down all of your to-do lists and notes. I reviewed it a while back, and use it to mobilize my Backpack.
http://www.nitinbadjatia.com/2007/01/19/satchel-a-new-way-to-interact-with-37signals-backpack-emerges-for-palmos-users/
Drainedge Link Tank · Today's Links says: May 25th, 2007 9:20am
[...] 10 Ways to Be Productive with Backpack – Web Worker Daily [...]
jemix says: May 25th, 2007 10:26am
“Reminders” yes i do….
jamespoling says: May 25th, 2007 12:37pm
Aren’t pretty much all of these features available for free with Google Apps?
I’m not trying to be facetious I’m always looking for a way to improve productivity but as a freelance worker I’m also always looking for ways to not spend money.
Backpackit looks pretty cool but it seems that most of the stuff you could accomplish with Google Apps.
Would you mind possibly doing a compare/contrast between the two?
Top Posts « WordPress.com says: May 25th, 2007 4:58pm
[...] 10 Ways to Be Productive with Backpack [image]37signals’ online organizer tool, Backpack has been a favorite with GTD geeks and web […] [...]
Coops says: May 25th, 2007 5:22pm
As a hobby web worker, backpack didn’t really seem worth it for me. I find it interesting that you said, “Don’t just get your professional time organized. Shovel your personal stuff into Backpack as well…”
What happens when you are away from the computer? I tried this with GCal and RememberTheMilk and couldn’t keep up with forgetting things when all I had was paper. Now I have resported to all paper :(
jamespoling says: May 25th, 2007 8:28pm
Yeah, to add on to what COOPS said, that’s sort of the point I was making.
“Your kids’ extracurricular activities. Grocery lists. Checklists for packing. Chores lists”
Am I supposed to make those lists then print them out and take them with me every time I leave my computer? Kind of makes jotting them down not feel so bad.
And again I’m playing devil’s advocate to try and convince myself to get on board with this. I really would like to be a backpacker.
Leo Babauta says: May 25th, 2007 9:06pm
Well, you could print out your lists, if necessary, or you could view them from anywhere using your mobile device.
10 Ways to Be Productive with Backpack « Darker Me says: May 26th, 2007 10:15am
[...] 26th, 2007 There are a million uses for Backpack, but what follows is a list of 10 productive uses for them. Why use Backpack? As a web worker, you need a tool that you can access any [...]
Joshua Kaufman says: May 26th, 2007 2:45pm
Regarding the folks who think they have to print: most carriers offer a relatively cheap ($5-10) data plan that allows you to use the mobile web, including Backpack’s mobile site.
links for 2007-05-26 « John’s musing says: May 26th, 2007 4:27pm
[...] Web Worker Daily » Blog Archive 10 Ways to Be Productive with Backpack « More online productivity stuff with Backpack & GTD (tags: online gtd productivity backpack web2.0) [...]
links for 2007-05-27 « Richmond Kills Me says: May 26th, 2007 5:27pm
[...] Web Worker Daily » Blog Archive 10 Ways to Be Productive with Backpack « (tags: toread) [...]
Notebook » » Backpack « says: May 27th, 2007 8:49am
[...] Web Worker Daily » Blog Archive 10 Ways to Be Productive with Backpack « * * * [...]
eLearning Service » Blog Archive » Tech links for May 27, 2007 says: May 27th, 2007 7:55pm
[...] 10 ways to be productive with Backpack I’ve used Backpack as an organizing tool but realize now that I haven’t plumbed all its depths. Web Worker Daily gives us great Backpack productivity pointers, whether for professional or personal use, and even with your PDA phone. [via Lifehacker] [...]
10 Productive Uses for Backpack : Investment blog says: May 28th, 2007 7:51am
[...] them into other documents if needed. And when you’re on the road, you can use cell phone notes for Backpack– it’s a free service, and you can call a toll-free number (U.S. and [...]
OnWebStartups.com Admin says: May 28th, 2007 2:16pm
I have been using google calendar and it’s worked great along with other google apps, google has also just implemented mobile access for their calendar which works great on my mobile phone.
Blog: http://www.onwebstartups.com
2.0 weblogs says: May 29th, 2007 6:08am
A big issue with backpack is that it is a bit slow and so issue with backpack, but the powerful apps that 37sigs brings to to office management is unparalleled. I vote for the Chicago based company WAY over other products i have used in this field, i just hope google doesn’t buy them, it is nice to have independent companies and their employees to root for.
http://ThunkDifferent.com
Mark Howell says: May 29th, 2007 6:22am
The link to “cell phone notes for backpack” is broken. Do you have more info on that feature for Treo? That would be a cool addition to an already good solution.
mark
Matt says: May 29th, 2007 11:55am
I agree with jamespoling, this seems like a wiki platform marketed differently and with a slick interface. You can’t even access the calendar feature without upgrading to a paying membership, which is something already integrated with Gmail. The value proposition isn’t high enough for me to pay a monthly fee yet.
http://metaviper.com
Design to support wombling « Derivadow says: June 1st, 2007 8:00am
[...] Backpack. One of the great things about Backpack is that you can easily use it to do so many useful things and it neatly fits around your workflow rather than making you work around its workflow. And I bet [...]
Ellebe52 says: June 5th, 2007 11:29am
I absolutely LOVE backpack for keeping track of home renovations. I can open a new page for each room, list what needs to happen and share it with my husband. He can reorder the list and add things I forgot. We can create budgets and have discussions and keep track of decisions we’ve made and link to products online that we’re interested in purchasing.
Oh, and we are expecting a baby, so we opened a page and made a list of names we like and can add to it anytime. We each have unlimited veto power so we can check off names we don’t like and they drop to the bottom crossed off.
Bits and Pieces - June 8 says: June 8th, 2007 9:49am
[...] 10 Ways to be productive with Backpack – a series of tips to help users get the most out of their Backpack accounts. [...]
Rene A. says: June 11th, 2007 1:41am
I can’t get the above mentioned “mobile” feature to work. Can anybody provide a small but working example for it (there are public shared pages available).
Thanks, René
Framtider.net says: June 11th, 2007 3:20pm
[...] Web Worker Daily » Blog Archive 10 Ways to Be Productive with Backpack « “Capture. To-dos. Mobile productivity. Reminders. Project planning. Simple collaboration. All lists. Log. Personal time. Today.” (tags: backpack 37signals basecamp produktivitet gtd guide tips) [...]
Scheherazade’s Ship » Tips? says: July 8th, 2007 8:08pm
[...] Anyway… Tips for using a very useful site… [...]
My Get Things Done List » Blog Archive » Work in Bursts; 10 Productive Backpack Uses; Pare Your To-do List [zen habits] says: January 21st, 2008 9:06pm
[...] Web Worker Daily: 10 Ways to be Productive With Backpack [...]