Tammy Lenski uses Backpack to run her conflict resolution firm, Tammy Lenski LLC, and manage client and business projects. She recently released a new book and Backpack is the foundation for her marketing campaign and virtual book tour. Below, she answers a few questions about her use of Backpack.
How do you use Backpack and why do you like it?
My business is a full-service conflict resolution consulting firm for individuals and organizations. That means I offer a mix of services from speaking engagements to seminars and one-on-one coaching to professional mediation. I also blog about conflict resolution at Conflict Zen and about running a conflict resolution business at Mediator Tech. My business is mobile, so I go on-site with clients and use my home office on days I'm not traveling.
Backpack is my business home-base and my sanity tool to manage it all. It's set to load when I open my browser each day because I do almost all my administrative work from Backpack. I love that I can access my project files from any Internet-connected computer and from my iPhone. And I love that everything I need for a client or business project is in one place. When I'm busy or on the road, that helps keep me organized so I can give my full attention and energy to my clients.
Which features do you use most?
I use the Lists and Notes sections every single day, because Backpack is my hybrid GTD/project management tool. I use the Dashboard to keep me focused on big business goals and major goals for the day, and create pages for everything from my annual marketing plan and website updates needed to business projects and travel itineraries. I also use the forward-email-to-Backpack feature to make sure that the most important exchanges about a project are also in the same place as other project files and notes.
What did you use before and why did you switch?
I used a combination of online task lists, Google home page, and Google docs before Backpack. It always felt cobbled together and I wanted a "one-stop" experience for my projects and business planning. I value elegant simplicity -- that's the way I work as a consultant and coach, and it's the way I want to navigate my own work -- and my prior system certainly wasn't elegant or simple! Backpack is. I don't want tons of bells and whistles I'll rarely use, I want a few key features done really well.
Get specific. Tell us a story about a project or situation where Backpack helped you kick ass.
My book, Making Mediation Your Day Job, was released in February. I've used Backpack to manage every aspect of the book's release and marketing, including questions for and notes from conversations with my publisher, pre-release promotion, post-release marketing, website updates, copies of reviews, and email templates to make responding to recurring questions easier.
I did a big business product and service prize giveaway as part of the initial promotion for the book, and used Backpack to track who had offered prizes, the details of the service or product they were offering, and all other information I'd need for the drawing and blog posts.
Now that the book's out, I'm using Backpack to manage my virtual book tour and requests for speaking engagements. I create a separate page for every online interview, teleseminar with ADR (alternative dispute resolution) associations, and book signing. For events that involve others in the planning, I just share the page with them so we can track what we're all doing and hold our "conversations" right there, using Notes or a Writeboard.
Any tips or tricks for other customers?
While it's probably not particularly earth-shattering for most of your readers, Backpack's usability really took off for me when I realized I could create a link to one Backpack page from within another -- that Backpack notes and lists could accommodate HTML code. It was a "D'oh!" moment. I could then nest a bunch of pages within another page and not over-fill the sidebar. It just made navigability so much cleaner for me.
Anything else?
I use PackRat to sync my Backpack pages and files with my MacBook Pro. I live rurally and DSL can be spotty during these northern New England winters, so PackRat enables me to use Backpack even when I don't have an Internet connection. I'm a little hyper about backups, especially as a business user, and PackRat's helpful on that front, too.
Do you use a 37signals product in an interesting or noteworthy way? Let us know.
