The importance of ease of use and integration with productivity apps

As graduate students, our time in precious.  Anything I can do to be more productive or efficient when I am working frees up just a bit more time for a bit of downtime which is essential to staying sane during grad school.  So productivity apps seem like the perfect thing for me to implement, right?  Well, yes and no.

For me, if my main goal is to use a resource to help me get organized, take better notes or keep my appointments straight there are some key features it needs to provide.  First, I need an app that can be used ideally on my smartphone, my laptop and my office computer.  Secondly, it should be able to easily integrate with whatever other applications I am already using, such as my calendar or even my email.  Then there are some important characteristics of the app itself that I like to consider.  For instance, it needs to be really user friendly.  An app could have the most useful features in the world but if they don't seem logical or easy to use I know myself, I just won't end up using them.  Also, it has to be free, at least for the basic features.  I am a grad student and unless I know I love an app and really want to use it, it just doesn't seem worth the effort to try it out.

Here's a list of four apps I've tried or regularly use (presented in no particular order).

1. Evernote: I've been using Evernote for the last few years and would categorize it as helpful but not necessarily essential to my life.  I looked back over my notes and most seem to be recipes, to do lists, some contact information and some saved photos with comments.   I would say that it's strongest pull for me is the ability to store written, photo or audio notes.

2.  GoogleDrive... is my life.  After emailing myself documents for a ridiculous amount of time or lots of frustrated muttering when I realized I left my USB at home or in the office, I joined the world of cloud storage a few years ago.  And since then, life is simplified.  I can share documents, integrate GoogleDocs into my folders, even download my GoogleDrive on multiple computers.  I don't use it on my phone frequently, but I don't miss that.  This is easily one of the most useful apps I've come across.

3. Dropbox.  Pretty much the same for me as GoogleDrive except I ran out of storage much more quickly.  I personally use dropbox for my collaborations with professors on research and GoogleDrive for all other files, seems to work well to have this division.

4. Do It Tomorrow.  I am a self-professed lover of all things lists and grids so this seemed like a good idea for a while.  You check off the things you do and then whatever is left undone goes to a list for tomorrow.  A bit too simple for me, I found myself wanting to make sublists and change the order/priority of tasks and it was quite limited.

My next task planner to try out is called Swipes.  I'll install it soon and let you know what I think about it.