Cockpill! That's not Viagra!

Cockpill?!?! Oops! That's quite viagrammatic! :)

So I am finding out from friends that while recalling and noting down tasks has become really easy, they don't remember to check the Cockpit App screen so regularly. :)

Even as we were developing the app, we mulled over this possibility. For Cockpit (or any planner of the same league) would deliver best when referred to fairly regularly.

My suggestion to these friends has been doctorly. Open Cockpit once after brushing teeth, once on reaching the office desk, once after lunch and once with the evening tea.

So if forming that habit is the biggest issue in getting users to make the best use of Cockpit, the name could as well have been doctorly. But that would be promoting a solution for erectile dysfunction instead of one for a habitual function. ;)

Why Dhoni doesn't care? And why we don't care either?

Alright, so I (perhaps we all) didn't like Dhoni's fielding of questions in yesterday's press conference. People expect a slightly different response from the cricket-mad country's captain cool, arguably the greatest captain India's had.

I asked myself what would I have done. What would most others have done if they were in exactly the same spot as Dhoni is?

To respond to an initiative or a question (very often a challenging one) in the 'right' spirit, one needs to care for it in the first place. But care isn't necessarily instinctual any more. In the current times, to care means to have the courage to care, and the memory to care. Courage causes indigestion, and memory now resides in the hard-drive of the laptop in front of which of one sits and does amazing things.

When (the loss of) crores and crores of money rest on a few words, it's always tempting to let go of the words and the courage required to utter those words. Considering the monetary stakes, it's easy to let go of courage to care for the sentiments of fans all around, courage to match the on-field show of strength in a helicopter shot, courage perhaps to lose even the captaincy of the team one's created, one which has achieved so much.

So I don't have any solution to Dhoni's dilemma. I don't have solutions to any of your situations which require courage to care to respond.

But if care for you is more a matter of (inadequacy or loss of) memory - meaning you find it difficult to remember to care to respond - trying Cockpit might not be a bad idea.

For all you know, you've always had the courage but just not enough specific memory to care to respond. Courage + Cockpit-aided Response is perhaps what the world desperately needs.

Image source: rediff.com

What my nephew forgets...

My nephew paid a visit a few days back. He saw me filling things in my Cockpit AIT Planner. He asked me how what is Cockpit all about. I tried (I realize I can only try) explaining.

After I was done speaking my bit, and thinking, "Wow! I've gotten him to understand what Cockpit is about. I have another convert!" I hear this from him.

"Actually, I also make a list of the Things To Do in my diary. The only problem is sometimes I don't remember the things I need to note down..."

Made me realize instantly that what I spoke didn't quite register.

So I informed him again. What Cockpit does is offer those important prompts to you every time you sit to plan so that you don't forget whatever you've to do.

To Do = Action + Interaction + Transaction

Action = The tasks which an individual has to do all alone - physical or cerebral. Including tasks like researching, finding, thinking, designing, arranging things, cooking, dropping the motorcycle for servicing... Hope you get a hang of this.

Interaction = Connecting with someone, Responding to someone, Following up with someone, Informing someone, Meeting someone

Transaction = Buying and Paying

Pic source: http://thacolorgray.com/tag/forget/

The secret of effective teamwork

is to get the individual sorted.

Like, we often say and hear, any team is only as quick as its slowest member. So, given any team, if every individual member understands what he has to do and actually ends up doing all that he understands, the team will by and large do its job.

Cockpit AIT Planner sorts things out within the individual first.

Nike forgot explaining what exactly JUST DO IT means

Yeah so often we see an image like that and get pumped up to reach our desk and wonder rather cluelessly what exactly it is that needs to be done.

JUST DO IT. To move beyond the sloganeering and into the meaning of this magnificent little sentence, it means UNDERTAKE ALL THAT WILL MAKE THINGS WORK. You are invited to phrase the meaning better than I have. :)

The phrase DO IT is a surrogate here for the numerous specific tasks we have to do. So in spite of buying into the adrenaline pumping phrase, we can't quite fathom why it just doesn't happen.

Every single day we sit down to fill our TO DO LIST. Sometimes convincingly but so very often rather unconvincingly. And that pad on which is written TO DO LIST always assumed that we remember the specific meanings of TO DO every single day and would note them down diligently and then do, all that's noted down, diligently during the day. The result is that a typical planner (physical as well as digital) is nothing but a nice blank pad with daytime hours and date written on every single page. No wonder, a satisfactory plan was always elusive. Forget about following the plan and accomplishing things.

I realized this gravely missing part of a typical planner-diary when the stakes in my entrepreneurial venture started getting higher every single day and I was under pressure to make use of every single hour and take care of every single task at the right time.

I split the TO DO into numerous specific meanings and started undertaking my tasks on the basis of those meanings. Over time, I could distill the TO DO into a universal set of tasks that every professional has to take care of.

Do = Action + Interaction + Transaction

Splitting further...

Action = The tasks which an individual has to do all alone - physical or cerebral. Including tasks like researching, finding, thinking, designing, arranging things, cooking, dropping the motorcycle for servicing... Hope you get a hang of this.

Interaction = Connecting with someone, Responding to someone, Following up with someone, Informing someone, Meeting someone

Transaction = Buying and Paying

Is that not what we do every single day but find difficulty recalling when we sit to plan?

Pic courtesy: http://labelle-et-lebadboy.blogspot.in/2011/11/just-do-it.html

Al Toothbrush: Launching Toothbrush with an inbuilt Alarm

Sounds like Al Jazeera, right?

Here's how it looks. Nice, no?

This toothbrush is meant for those who forget to brush their teeth in the morning. They find it difficult to remember to brush and so have to be reminded somehow. So instead of relying on a separate alarm bell meant to remind us about brushing teeth, we have designed a toothbrush with an inbuilt alarm. Would love to try? Your feedback will be important for us.

Out of the many suggestions, sometimes we have received this suggestion that Cockpit App should have an alarm bell too, for important deadlines and tasks, including an alarm to remind one to open the App itself. I was enthused about it early on and I value all the suggestions. And yet this suggestion has been the most irksome to me personally, as a product developer and user.

Here's what I feel. Planning your day is a habit. Or let me say, should be your habit. When you use Cockpit AIT Planner, you realize that it turns out to be a 'go-to' tool during the day, and most effective when you fall into the habit of noting things down early morning everyday.

Yes, Cockpit is an essential habit tool. Refer to it early in the day and your day's sorted. You won't require alarms and such to remind you of what's important. If important requires alarm, then I wonder what does alarming require? Automated hammer-bang on the head?

If one can't remember to brush every morning, we'll invent an Al Toothbrush for that person? I think this person is largely beyond repair. Perhaps in need of medication or therapy. :)

I don't think there's a point in advising (through an alarm reminder) any person to plan his/her work every morning. I don't think one needs to be reminded about important deadlines through an alarm either. Alarm can't be the habit or can't build a great habit. You habitually brush your teeth or habitually smell stale.

Do you want to or don't want to plan? If you are alarming the brush into your teeth, the planet's doomed. Good plot for movies.

Image from: http://www.freysmiles.com

You can download Cockpit AIT Planner app from this page: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.planner.cockpit&feature=nav_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDNd

Pitching Cockpit AIT Planner against the gigantic Evernote

A friend told me, Productivity tools is a crowded market.

I responded, Has the crowd solved the problem?

He said, No it hasn't. But...

I checked Evernote which has been hogging the limelight for quite a while. The friend told me it's a productivity app and he uses it. After checking the app, I went to the About Us section of Evernote website.

Here's what it states:

Our goal at Evernote is to help the world remember everything, communicate effectively and get things done. From saving thoughts and ideas to preserving experiences to working efficiently with others, Evernote’s collection of apps make it easy to stay organized and productive.

Interesting, no? And if something delivers on that promise, life's sorted, right?

So here's the thing. Cockpit AIT Planner beats Evernote in 'remembering everything', 'communicating effectively', 'working efficiently with others', 'getting things done', 'staying organized' and 'being productive'.

To tell you honestly, Cockpit might not be as sleek looking to the eyes as Evernote is. But take the comparison beyond the visual sleekness and you'll find that Cockpit is intuitively usable, fast and delivers on the points mentioned in the inverted commas above. Why? Because of the AIT (A = ACTION, I = INTERACTION & T = TRANSACTION) classification framework on which Cockpit AIT Planner has been designed. Evernote seems to have a lot of whistles but lacks the framework that fulfills the points mentioned above.

Try Cockpit AIT Planner on your Android. This is the link to download. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.planner.cockpit&feature=nav_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDNd

Alternatively, if you love the charm of writing and maintaining a little planning book, just drop in a message to sidsoni at gmail dot com and I'll ship a copy to you.

David Allen's famous book and Cockpit AIT Planner

I haven't read this book - David Allen's Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. But from what I see on Amazon, looks like it's very popular. As on this afternoon of 9th May, the book's got 893 reviews on Amazon with an average rating of 4.5 (or near-abouts) out of 5. I reckon, therefore, that the ideas therein are really valued by people who've read it.

The guys at epipheo.tv have even created this very short cartoon-video based on the main ideas of the book.

When you watch the video and come to the point where the author says CLARIFY AND PARK RESULTS AND MONITOR, you'll understand how and why Cockpit AIT Planner works so beautifully and intuitively. It almost feels like Mr. Allen's endorsing Cockpit :).

Yes, it might sound bombastic but the more I've used it, I've realized that the Cockpit AIT format is so universal... And it goes that crucial-logical next step beyond what this author has to say.

I am printing Cockpit in this form at the moment. It might not thrill you visually :) but it's not bad either. And it'll aid you in doing just what you are supposed to.

If you want a copy, dial 8140002228 and give me the shipping details. Or write to sidsoni at gmail.com.

For those who use smart-phones like a magic wand, Cockpit AIT Planner app is available for Android phones too. Search on Google Play and download right now. Yes, that's free.