In an attempt to get more organized, I’m trying to follow David Allen’s Getting Things Done process. This means I have a lot of lists, and because I’m a geek, these lists live on my computer and PDA. unfortunately, it’s not always easy to add something to these lists when I’m driving or away from my desk. So I spend a lot of time trying to remember things to add to my lists. Maybe I need a paper list of things to put on my electronic lists…
Or maybe I’ll just use Jott, another one of those “why didn’t I think of that” ideas. Just call an 800 number (ok, 877) from your cell phone and leave your reminder as a message. Because you’re making a regular voice call, Jott works with any cell phone, so you don’t need the latest “Superchocolate Slvr.” After you’ve left your message, Jott employees (yes, real people) transcribe your message and e-mail the transcription to you. Of course, since real people do the transcribing, the time it takes to receive your e-mails can vary (10-30 minutes so far) and you probably don’t want to use Jott for any top secret messages (“remember to hide the bodies”). You do have the option of disabling the transcription feature so Jott will simply e-mail a link to a recording of your original message. But why wouldn’t you just call your home answering machine instead?
If you’re still with me after learning about the human transcribers, I’m betting that you’re seeing how Jott can help you. Make a quick call and you’ll be able to remember to “bring extra clothes to daycare” or “find a babysitter for Saturday.” You can also specify that your messages go to other people, so you can send reminders to your spouse. The Jott website also offers tools for managing and searching your messages.
By now you’re probably wondering how much Jott costs, right? And the magic number is 0. Yes, other than the wireless minutes you use, Jott is free. Of course, I’m sure Jott has a plan for making money, perhaps with a monthly fee for extra services or by adding ads in the e-mails, but for right now it’s free. In fact, my only question about Jott is why the cell phone companies don’t offer a service like this?
Now that I’ve posted this, I have to find a babysitter for Saturday…