A personal contact info management system
arunaugustine says:
Recently I ran into an old friend. During our catching up chit-chat, she asked me how my siblings are doing, remembering them by name. I was amazed at the amount of info she remembered about me, at the same time embarrassed that I didn't recollect even whether she had an elder sister or a younger brother, let alone their names. As a staunch follower of GTD i wondered, how to keep personal info and tid-bits such as these about each people I know in a trusted system other than my head. The contact management software currently was either too rigid or an overkill. Then it hit me, of course RTM is the way to go! So here is my system (It also doubles as a agenda system as per GTD)
1) In a normal list named "contacts" (or "people I know" if you wish) each person is added as a 'task'. (Tasks in this list is marked complete only when the person has moved on :D )
2) The task is titled with the person's full name nick names if any string you might search him/her by (eg "Jacob Charlie aka pro college friend" of "Mr Mathews bank manager")
3) Now add notes to this task. You may like to add all tid-bit info about Jacob in a single note. Or you may have multiple notes for each category of information ("personal/family info" "gift ideas for jacob" "current job and hobbies")
4) As a special note you may have a "Agenda" notes. In this you may list things you need to discuss with Jacob next time you run into him.
5) if you have anything in the "Agenda" notes tag the "Jacob Charlie" task with an "@agenda" tag.
6) Create a smartlist for items tagged with @agenda to have a list of agendas with people in your contact list. when you are finished, just remove the text in the agenda notes and untag. (Don't delete the contact :))
7)Searching: Now you can search for a person using their first or last names or any other info that you remember. if you check "search the notes" option RTM will search your notes also for the search string. The search in RTM is so powerful!! ( use "noteContains:married to" as an alternative to ticking the search notes option while searching for
the details of a person whose spouse's name is the only thing you recollect :D)
8) Now if you have RTM in your mobile device (iPod or Android or BlackBerry) you can search and bring up the info about a person whom you meet even in the streets. All the info is completely offline and available on your device!
So henceforth amaze your friends and show them you care! People love it when someone takes the effort to remember things about them! Amaze them with a gift that they have wanted since long! use RTM to get personal again :)
1) In a normal list named "contacts" (or "people I know" if you wish) each person is added as a 'task'. (Tasks in this list is marked complete only when the person has moved on :D )
2) The task is titled with the person's full name nick names if any string you might search him/her by (eg "Jacob Charlie aka pro college friend" of "Mr Mathews bank manager")
3) Now add notes to this task. You may like to add all tid-bit info about Jacob in a single note. Or you may have multiple notes for each category of information ("personal/family info" "gift ideas for jacob" "current job and hobbies")
4) As a special note you may have a "Agenda" notes. In this you may list things you need to discuss with Jacob next time you run into him.
5) if you have anything in the "Agenda" notes tag the "Jacob Charlie" task with an "@agenda" tag.
6) Create a smartlist for items tagged with @agenda to have a list of agendas with people in your contact list. when you are finished, just remove the text in the agenda notes and untag. (Don't delete the contact :))
7)Searching: Now you can search for a person using their first or last names or any other info that you remember. if you check "search the notes" option RTM will search your notes also for the search string. The search in RTM is so powerful!! ( use "noteContains:married to" as an alternative to ticking the search notes option while searching for
the details of a person whose spouse's name is the only thing you recollect :D)
8) Now if you have RTM in your mobile device (iPod or Android or BlackBerry) you can search and bring up the info about a person whom you meet even in the streets. All the info is completely offline and available on your device!
So henceforth amaze your friends and show them you care! People love it when someone takes the effort to remember things about them! Amaze them with a gift that they have wanted since long! use RTM to get personal again :)
arunaugustine says:
Remember to update your notes when you learn something new about your contact :)
leah.shalom 
says:
says:Great idea!
arunaugustine says:
Another wonderful thing: RTM automatically updates a time stamp on your note to show when you last edited this note. So you can always check this to see if your info about your contact in the notes is uptodate.
arunaugustine says:
Another use case: I don't have to save all unimportant phone numbers to my mobile anymore (That is if i have a RTM app on my mobile). Phone numbers of my plumber/electrician etc goes into RTM list. The title will be something like "Mr.John plumber". In the notes, I can add his phone number plus his service charges, odd info regarding the last time I had to call John etc. Basically it is an info file on my electrician (or anybody).
Advantages:
1) It does not clutter up your phone contacts data base.
2) you can search for a phone number by anything (electrician or his actual name if you remember it .... it so happens to me frequently that I forget the name by which i saved a guy in my mobile phone list)
3) It is always backed up and synced to your mobile, the web and any desktop applications. So even if you loose your mobile you don't have to worry! Even if you forgot your mobile at home, you can check RTM online to call a number from your office phone :)
Advantages:
1) It does not clutter up your phone contacts data base.
2) you can search for a phone number by anything (electrician or his actual name if you remember it .... it so happens to me frequently that I forget the name by which i saved a guy in my mobile phone list)
3) It is always backed up and synced to your mobile, the web and any desktop applications. So even if you loose your mobile you don't have to worry! Even if you forgot your mobile at home, you can check RTM online to call a number from your office phone :)
arunaugustine says:
Do you want yourselves to remind yourselves to keep in touch with your friends?
Use the "repeat after" feature of RTM. In the repeat fied input "after a week" or "after 6 months".
So every time you manage to catch up with your friend, tick of the task as complete. And voila, a new reminder will be created which is scheduled after a week or six months from that day.
Remember to add a new task "catch up with Bob" and not mark the item in the contact list "Bob (the monkey)" with the repeat duration. Or you will loose the notes that you had associated with Bob when u mark the item complete (the new item will not have those notes).
Use the "repeat after" feature of RTM. In the repeat fied input "after a week" or "after 6 months".
So every time you manage to catch up with your friend, tick of the task as complete. And voila, a new reminder will be created which is scheduled after a week or six months from that day.
Remember to add a new task "catch up with Bob" and not mark the item in the contact list "Bob (the monkey)" with the repeat duration. Or you will loose the notes that you had associated with Bob when u mark the item complete (the new item will not have those notes).
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