If you like experimenting with new technologies, there’s no better time to be a web worker than right now. And in many ways, there’s no worse time. New startups and established companies are launching applications, all “beta” of course, at a dizzying pace. It’s almost too much. How many different ways can you save a bookmark, write a list or count your friends? Are your friends and co-workers thisclose to revolting if you send them just one more invite link?
How do you decide what’s worth your time to try, much less adapt into your work and social routine?
We don’t link to or review every new application out there. We can’t. No one can. We try and concentrate on those applications that we believe our readers would find the most interesting or useful. As selective as we are, we still throw a lot of new applications in to the mix for you to try and perhaps work in to your daily routine.
No matter how wonderful we may think a new application may be, in the end it doesn’t matter what we think. It’s about what works for you. Here are some tips to help you decide whether a new application may be worth your time (and money, as the case may be).
Concentrate on the process, not the technology. Know yourself. It doesn’t matter if you “do” GTD, another task management methodology or something of your own creation to keep track of the craziness that is your life. Regardless of whether you use a keyboard or a pen, you’re going to fall into your own natural patterns. Don’t be lured by a long feature list. If all you need to do is balance your checkbook, don’t be distracted by the fact that the application will also wash your car. Chances are, it does a mediocre job of both. It’s more than just imitating the look & feel of a desktop application.
Think of the times in your life that you were the most productive. Were you neatly organizing things into folders, or were you throwing everything into piles? It’s possible to appear completely disorganized to the outside world, but still be at your productive best…if that’s the kind of worker you are. Look through that feature list and find the application that seems to mirror how you would personally approach the problem the application is trying to solve. If it feels completely foreign to you, chances are you’ll play with it a few days and then forget about it. Sure, drastic process change can happen. But recognize the time and effort that has to go into not only learning a completely new methodology, but the tool you’ve selected to implement it. It won’t happen overnight. With everything else going on, is this the battle you want to fight right now? Maybe, maybe not.
“Know” the developer. There’s nothing worse than trying a new web application, and then months later you’re watching it die on the vine because the developers moved on to a new project. Sure there’s a lot of buzz for an application in its first few weeks after launch, but where is it going from there? Was this application built for the long haul, or for the hope of a sale to a bigger company? You can’t make this decision based entirely on how much venture capital the company has raised. Look at the version history (if available). How often are new features added? Even more important, how often are bugs fixed? Sometimes we stick with a so-so product (case in point: most Google 1.0 applications) because the developer has a history of taking a slow launch into something wildly successful.
Think about how rigid the application’s environment is. Here’s where desktop applications have a bit of an edge. Part of the reason why Google applications are so popular is due to the many, many different ways you can work with its data. It can be a completely different experience depending on what you do with it. Other tools, like those from 37Signals, are built on a philosophy that there is one simplified process. If you can wrap you head around their line of thinking for their applications, they have amazing products. Otherwise, the walls may feel like they’re caving in.
Have an entry and an exit strategy. When I consider a new application, one of the first things I look for is an “import/export” link or preference item. I don’t want to spend days bring my data in, and should I change my mind I don’t want to lose any time I’ve already spent.
The beauty of something like Twitter is that it has just enough practical application to be useful, yet no one will have their work come to a grinding halt if it disappeared tomorrow. Same goes with most social networks. The investment is more emotional than concrete. Let’s face it…we’re isolated and disconnected and Twitter fills a need without capturing any critical data. But the same couldn’t be said about your email, calendar or task application. My life would come to a standstill if I lost my calendar. I recently transitioned away from keeping my calendar data in Outlook. I now use Google Calendar, but that was after months of running the two side-by-side as I slowly weaned myself away from Outlook.
Decide if this is something worth selling to others. As web workers, we’re frequently stuck in this space between enterprise applications that assume that everyone is already connected (through Outlook, on a computer running some version of Windows) and consumer applications that assume our lives are one big party line. If the collaboration tool requires everyone you work with to be using the same tool, will you have difficulty convincing your co-workers to use it? My husband keeps his calendar data in Airset. My remote co-workers keep their calendar data in Salesforce. While it would be great if they had Google Calendars that they could share with me and visa versa, it’s unrealistic for me to expect that to happen. I had to work out strategies to get Google Calendar to work for me collaboratively, without changing how others manage their own data.
Play the “what if” game. What if my hard drive crashes? What if my browser doesn’t launch? What if I’m not online? If we’re talking about Twitter, the answer is probably “oh well.” But if we’re talking about the application you’ve selected to store all your passwords, keep your database or prepare your next big presentation, you better have a ready answer.
It’s different, but is it better? Sometimes, it’s just change for change’s sake. There’s nothing wrong with that. But know that’s why you’re doing it going in. Maybe you don’t have to switch to something else. Maybe you can just spend some time in the preferences window and change the theme or what shows by default on first view. That could be enough to scratch the “I need something different” itch without requiring the investment in a whole new application. At the same time, recognize when the tried & true just isn’t working for you anymore and don’t be afraid to venture out on new ground. Carefully.
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