Whats your “system”: Duane Brown
The following is the first entry in our What’s your “system” series by Duane Brown. If you’d like to be featured, send an email, link to your website, and a picture (If you’d like) to scblanda@gmail.com.
I’m a pretty detailed person and write everything down, because well, I don’t want to forget anything. I would say I use five or six pieces of hardware and or software to stay on top of school, work and my company. I run everything off a Mac Mini and a 19′ monitor at home and a standard PC at school. I’m taking a marketing degree program at Ryerson University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The System
Word
I tend to write all my class notes in word and save them in folders that are broken down by semester and then by class . They also all get backed up on a USB stick and a personal HD that every student at school gets access to.
iCal
I use iCal to schedule everything for work, school and social activities. When projects are due for school and work, they get placed in iCal as well as any extra notes I may want to add to speed up the research process such as books and websites. I also place birthdays and a reminder of when they are near as I know I’ll forget the odd one here and there.
To Do List
I use the To Do list, in iCal, to keep a running track of all the projects that are due for all my classes. Everyone gets ranked from one to five depending on their due date and difficulty level. As they get completed, and handed in early in most cases, they get ticked off the list and the next assignment gets added to the two or three projects I could have on the go at any given time for any of my classes.
PDA (Sony Clique)
I sync my PDA and my iCal every few days and make sure that both are in order. I also have professors contact information and anything school related that I could need in my PDA, which is also synced with my addresses book.
School Agenda
The agenda is a back up of everything in my PDA and iCal, should something happen and my Mac or PDA go down on me.
USB Stick
A back up copy of everything I write in school and at home for school.
Gmail
I sometimes send myself a copy of an assignment to my Gmail account as a few times last year, PC went down at school and I needed to print things at a friends place.
That’s pretty much how I get through school, work and life and stay on top of everything.
September 3rd, 2006 at 6:19 pm
Hey
Thanks for posting the article. I think I come off anal, but then again I know I can be with school and keeping everything organized. Plus I wrote the article. I hope you get some more articles in. It would be interesting to see what other students are doing. Thanks.
Sincerely,
Duane