Excel sheets or something else for admin?

bernard

bernard

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How do you keep organized?

When I had a bunch of websites, I ran most from Excel sheets: overview, individual project, links, outreach contacts, pbn, etc.

Generally satisfied, but lacking somewhat in planning. I tried some of the more popular project management tools, but didn't find them all that useful, as freelancers also generally had their own thing going and didn't want to use a new tool.

Has there been new developments in this field for webmasters?
 
I use Spreadsheets for logging static information like like accounts, calculating finances, logging links.

I toss in Trello for the workflow side of organization per project.

For day-to-day, I use a text file as a way to track my to-do items and notes. They roll over day to day until they get deleted, and I adjust Trello and the spreadsheets as I tick things off.
 
It's all Trello everything for me across numerous projects / clients / about 30 people in total. If a freelancer doesn't want to use it, they can't be part of the team.
 
Ryuzaki said:
I use Spreadsheets for logging static information like like accounts, calculating finances, logging links.

I toss in Trello for the workflow side of organization per project.

For day-to-day, I use a text file as a way to track my to-do items and notes. They roll over day to day until they get deleted, and I adjust Trello and the spreadsheets as I tick things off.
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+1.

I use other tools as needed, but most of my information is now in spreadsheets and a giant todo file.
 
Excel to keep notes on existing projects, and Trello for to-do lists and new project ideas.
 
Interconnectivity? When you use excel and other stuff, it would be cool to click a link and be in an open excel sheet, that isn't possible with Trello is it? Google Docs might even be a better choice for that but I don't like it for several unrelated reasons.
 
I wasted like 3 months testing out various different options last year and in the end I stuck with Google spreadsheets for planning and admin and Todoist for weekly/daily task planning (I really like the productivity/karma tracking)
 
+1 for Todoist. I use it for all daily and weekly tasks - mainly because it's simple and makes it easy to set recurring tasks.

All my tracking is done in Excel, including longer term goals and targets for my sites. Then I have a folder with a Word document for processes.

I don't really get on with Google Docs - not sure why. Excel + Dropbox is fine for me.

Airtable looks interesting too, but it probably isn't that much better than Excel to force me to switch everything over.
 
I'm not a large operation, but I'm all excel. Would love if Excel + Dropbox didn't lead to "conflicted copies" when I leave a sheet open at the office. I know Google docs wouldn't do this, but google sheets is just garbage, imo.
 
ragnar said:
Interconnectivity? When you use excel and other stuff, it would be cool to click a link and be in an open excel sheet, that isn't possible with Trello is it?
Click to expand...

Dropbox is a great use for getting your stuff off your hard drive and linkable from the cloud. (but as @MichaelHayes mentioned, you don't want to leave the same spreadsheet open on in different locations). And if you can stomach Google Sheets, you can do cool stuff using Zapier: if I move this Trello card to the completed column, add an entry to my Google Sheet using the card title and the completed date.
 
Dropbox share files
Google Drive Share files and Comments
Sheets Project Manager workbook
Trello (Trello and SEMrush dope)
 
One other thing to note about Trello is, it tends to work well for visual-learners. For those that aren't, or if your needs are much more list-oriented and hierarchical, Asana is decent too. OpenOffice is also a great alternative to MSO stuff.

For the more complicated, or privacy/security concerns, Kolab is interesting (especially if you want no part of the evil "G"), though haven't used it much. There's the cloud service version, for a few bucks a month. There's also the free, open source version, if you want to go to the hassle of setting up your own email server...

If your needs are individually-oriented and you're not having to manage teams of people, my recommendation would be, pick your top 3-5 needs, find something simple and efficient that solves most of them fairly well, and roll with that. Maybe it's just me but, the more time and effort I've tried to put into systems and PM tools, I've found an inverse relationship with productivity. When it comes to project management apps, it is way too easy to fall into shiny object syndrome and generally accomplish less.
 
Honestly you sound like me... my solution was to code something from scratch in django that did exactly the tracking and management i needed. Before you say "wait i can't code" do 'learn python the hard way'... week or two of time... then do the Django 'make my first app' docs... both are phenomenal and might take you to a new place from 'what tool does x ok but i'll still hate it'.
 
Steve Brownlie said:
Honestly you sound like me... my solution was to code something from scratch in django that did exactly the tracking and management i needed. Before you say "wait i can't code" do 'learn python the hard way'... week or two of time... then do the Django 'make my first app' docs... both are phenomenal and might take you to a new place from 'what tool does x ok but i'll still hate it'.
Click to expand...

Hah, that's funny as I have learned Python and Django this last year, in part to make such a program.
 
Steve Brownlie said:
Honestly you sound like me... my solution was to code something from scratch in django that did exactly the tracking and management i needed. Before you say "wait i can't code" do 'learn python the hard way'... week or two of time... then do the Django 'make my first app' docs... both are phenomenal and might take you to a new place from 'what tool does x ok but i'll still hate it'.
Click to expand...

This, again +1

Learning to code is great, and creating something you need and are going to use is - hands down - the best way to go about it.
 
Potatoe said:
It's all Trello everything for me across numerous projects / clients / about 30 people in total. If a freelancer doesn't want to use it, they can't be part of the team.
Click to expand...

Sounds a bit draconian to me.

I remember once I was freelancing for a company back in the day with PPC. Got them great results.

About 7 months into the project, they wanted me to use this PM tool I didn't like and wasn't accustomed to. It was kinda odd the way it worked. I told them I couldn't use it and would rather stick to the method I had been working with for months.

They said the same thing to me about if I can't use it, leave. I went back to my desk ( I came in once a week ), said nothing, packed my bag, stole their G2 pens, and promptly left on my own. As I walked past the owner, I told her good luck finding another rockstar.

A friend that still works there told me after I left they lost close to 2/3rds of their total revenue from PPC the next 9 months.

Be careful the limits you put on people.
 
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@eliquid Thanks for the advice. I'd be willing to make an exception for you haha

In this particular case, if someone won't use Trello then they won't be connected to the rest of the team, we would have to give them their assignments / notes / updates and notifications separate from everyone else, would have to see when they've completed their tasks separate from everyone else, separately contact whoever is next to work on the article, etc. An article goes through 4 sets of eyes from conception to being published, so if one of the writers / or image curators / or editors isn't in Trello, it's a real stick in the gears.

In your case, it sounds like you were in the same office with at least some of the team, whereas these people are all working remotely so having everyone on different platforms would be a nightmare. I'd have more flexibility if the team was sitting right next to me.

Granted, if someone was coming on board for something that didn't require interaction with everyone else, I'd soften up the requirement. It's not a requirement for the sake of being draconian, it's essential for the workflow that we have everyone who is working on the same stuff, together in the same digital place.
 
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