It’s been years since I was last forced to use Lotus Notes as my primary business e-mail system, and I don’t miss it. But I still know more than a few professionals who depend on Notes for the bulk of their daily business communications, calendar tracking, and other essential work stuff. If you’re a Notes user interested in bringing GTD to your inbox, eProductivity is definitely worth a look.
I should take a moment to say that, while Notes isn’t my preferred communications tool, it does happen to be the chosen messaging and calendar platform of a certain Mr. David Allen. And I think it’s fair to say that Mr. Allen knows a thing or two about GTD. And when I last spoke to David Allen about his personal toolkit for GTD, he claimed to use eProductivity. So there’s a solid recommendation for you.
Last week, eProductivity released a new version of the product, eProductivity Stand-Alone, designed for Notes users who lack the administrative permissions to change their mail template. However, like its enterprise-grade cousin, eProductivity Integrated, it still has the ability to turn messages into next actions, set customized contexts, categorize the inbox, and walk you through your weekly review.
The Essentials edition of eProductivity Stand-Alone is free, but it only lets you create 25 next actions. That’s not nearly enough for anyone who’s actively committed to GTD, but it certainly gives you enough of a taste to see if you want to buy the real deal. For $7 a month, $70 a year, or $129 for a perpetual license, the Advanced edition gives you 100 next actions (which might be livable). But the power user’s Professional edition gives you unlimited next actions for $11 per month, $110 per year, or $189 for the perpetual license.
The two important features you don’t get in eProductivity Stand-Alone but do get in Integrated are calendar integration and mobile syncing. Unfortunately, this appears to be a function of the way Notes administration works, so you’d need the ability to install Integrated if you want that feature. (Check with your Notes administrator to see if you qualify.)
