Tag Archives: OneNote

Uncategorized

Seven ways project managers can use OneNote

OneNote can be an invaluable tool for project managers when it comes to planning, collaboration, and tracking a project.  Here are seven ways OneNote can be applied when it comes to project management:

  1. Collaborative Requirements Gathering – By using a section in an OneNote notebook, project requirements can be captured and reviewed by the team. When finished the section can be saved to streamline the production of a final requirements document.
  2. Task Assignment and Tracking – OneNote can be used for simple task assignment through checklists. Notes and completion statuses are captured on the same page to provide the PM a real time view of work status and issues.
  3. Meeting Minutes – Creating a template to capture meeting minutes in OneNote makes them searchable, updatable for accuracy, and easily summarized for later reference.
  4. Team Member Reference – Team member reference information can be stored in OneNote including contact information, reference information, and relevant links such as LinkedIn profiles as needed.
  5. Templatized Project Process Steps – If your working on recurring or repeating projects a template in OneNote makes avoiding missed items and maintaining consistency of execution easier for the project manager and team members.
  6. Status Reporting – Status reports are the lifeblood of many projects and OneNote makes the process of gathering, composing, and distributing the status reports more efficient.
  7. Project Information Archiving – Consolidating the project information into a OneNote notebook makes the process of archiving the project information after completion as simple as storing a single file (the OneNote notebook file, not an export, to be clear.). The notebook sections can also be exported as PDF files for permanent project records.

This is just a small sample of the ways OneNote can assist when it comes to project management.  If you have ideas or suggestions, please share them in the comments below.

Tools

TIP – Using the OneNote badge – Adding to a note

Since the OneNote update is out for Android and iOS that includes the new OneNote badge, I thought I’d throw out one of my favorite tricks from beta testing.  The badge allows you to attach your new text to an existing note.  So for example if you create a note called “Today’s Notes” you can use the badge to quickly add more text to that note from anywhere on your device.  It’s great for copy and paste as well as research.
Uncategorized

TIP – Using the OneNote badge – Adding to a note

Since the OneNote update is out for Android and iOS that includes the new OneNote badge, I thought I’d throw out one of my favorite tricks from beta testing.  The badge allows you to attach your new text to an existing note.  So for example if you create a note called “Today’s Notes” you can use the badge to quickly add more text to that note from anywhere on your device.  It’s great for copy and paste as well as research.
Uncategorized

Five Quick Organizational Ideas and TIPs from The Idea Pump

Since this is The Idea Pump (TIP), sharing some TIPs on how to get more from your capture and collect tool (see OneNote, Evernote, and others in that class).

When working on something you need to disassemble and reassemble, take pictures of each step and what was necessary to accomplish it.  Put those images and descriptions into a note in the correct sequence and you’ll have your assembly directions available when you need them.

Listening to the Beyond the To-Do List podcast this weekend they mentioned a trick that I used recently myself: when packing away boxes take photos of their contents and label the boxes so you can look up not only their content but see the content before having to open each of the boxes.

When I visit our local big box store without my wife and see something I think we should consider getting or something she may be interested in I snap a shot and put it in a notebook with her name on it.  After we discuss the item if we decide to get it I just move the item from the review notebook to the shopping notebook for my next trip to the store.

Creating a notebook of tasks that need to be done more than once, such as chores to winterize the house and yard, can be a big benefit to make sure nothing gets left behind.  I recommend something more substantial than just a checklist since a full notebook can let you add photos as to where things are stored, items that need to be repaired/replaced, and notes about changes for the coming spring.

If you’re buying video games for kids this year, sneak a photo or two of your kid’s game collection so when you’re ordering or shopping you can know what they have and don’t have rather than guessing.

There are hundreds of more ideas and ways to apply to your capture and collection tools.  If you have some suggestions, please leave them in the comments below!

Uncategorized

Evernote2OneNote – Automating the move

Over the weekend I started exporting all my Evernote content over to OneNote prior to shutting down my Premium account.  Yes, I’m done with the big green elephant.  There’s a great tool called Evernote2OneNote for migrating the content of your notebooks that does the trick extremely well.  Here’s a couple of tips I can recommend when you sit down to use it:

  1. Condense as many of your Evernote notebooks as possible.  Evernote2OneNote migrates at the notebook level, so each notebook in Evernote needs to be done individually.  The fewer the notebooks, the fewer the runs.
  2. In my experience if I cancel a migration mid-stream I need to reboot my computer to be able to restart the process.  I think it’s a problem between the tool and OneNote, but the restart is quick enough so I’m not going to sweat the issue.
  3. Be patient. Large notebooks can take a little while to migrate but there’s an excellent progress bar including counts and actual note titles as things move forward. I’ve even found some notes this way I forgot I had.
  4. Occasionally a note will throw an error (not sure why) but I’ve been able to just continue past the error and keep migrating.  I suspect it’s something in the Evernote note, but I’ll update this as I discover more.
  5. Migrated notebooks are stored on the local hard drive of your computer (Evernote2OneNote requires desktop copies of both apps to work) rather than being pushed automatically to the cloud.  Moving them to OneDrive is easy enough but it is another step you need to do if you want your notebooks globally available.

I’m about half way done through 7500+ Evernote notes, then the cleanup begins in OneNote.  Updates as events warrant…


UPDATE – I completed the migration successfully and have not had a reason to open Evernote since.  The migration does require patience and the more cleanup you can do in advance the better, but aside from that the tool worked extremely well.

Tools

Leaving Evernote – Using Multiple Notebooks in OneNote

As part of my on-going departure from the Evernote ecosystem to OneNote one of the things I’ve been trying to identify is functionality in OneNote that corrects issues I’ve previously had with Evernote.  One of the main problems I had for years is the fact Evernote keeps everything in one big file.  No matter what the item is, no matter how old it is, it’s right there with everything else.  While this can be argued as a strength I’ve always found this an unnecessary amount of content to be immediately available.  Now, keep in mind there’s a difference between immediately available and easily accessible.

 

OneNote Notebooks

One of the strengths I’ve found in OneNote is the ability to have multiple notebooks.  Now I know you’re saying, “but Evernote does that!”  The difference is that OneNote notebooks are separate files.  They can be selectively opened and closed as needed.  If you’re building an informational archive you may not need access to the notes you took on a trip three years ago, but may still want to get to them at some point, the multiple notebook model makes it easy.

A practical example

One example of this is I have created notebooks for each of my previous jobs and moved to those notebooks all the emails, contacts, and other information for those companies. The benefit is that I don’t need to open these notebooks nor do I need to have them synced all the time.  They’re accessible when I need them, but not tying up storage on my mobile devices.

Uncategorized

Leaving Evernote – Using Multiple Notebooks in OneNote

As part of my on-going departure from the Evernote ecosystem to OneNote one of the things I’ve been trying to identify is functionality in OneNote that corrects issues I’ve previously had with Evernote.  One of the main problems I had for years is the fact Evernote keeps everything in one big file.  No matter what the item is, no matter how old it is, it’s right there with everything else.  While this can be argued as a strength I’ve always found this an unnecessary amount of content to be immediately available.  Now, keep in mind there’s a difference between immediately available and easily accessible.

OneNote Notebooks

One of the strengths I’ve found in OneNote is the ability to have multiple notebooks.  Now I know you’re saying, “but Evernote does that!”  The difference is that OneNote notebooks are separate files.  They can be selectively opened and closed as needed.  If you’re building an informational archive you may not need access to the notes you took on a trip three years ago, but may still want to get to them at some point, the multiple notebook model makes it easy.

A practical example

One example of this is I have created notebooks for each of my previous jobs and moved to those notebooks all the emails, contacts, and other information for those companies. The benefit is that I don’t need to open these notebooks nor do I need to have them synced all the time.  They’re accessible when I need them, but not tying up storage on my mobile devices.

Techniques

OneNote Android Tip – Shortcuts for Quick Access

A quick tip on how to make OneNote more useful on your Android device.  When you’re working with OneNote on a note or section you need quick access to, just press and hold on the name of the section or page and select “Add to Home Page” from the menu.  This will create a shortcut on the home page of your device that will take you right to that page or section.  Couple that with folders (if your launcher supports them) and you can create push button control panels to rapidly access collections of notes without having to open OneNote first.
Uncategorized

OneNote Android Tip – Shortcuts for Quick Access

A quick tip on how to make OneNote more useful on your Android device.  When you’re working with OneNote on a note or section you need quick access to, just press and hold on the name of the section or page and select “Add to Home Page” from the menu.  This will create a shortcut on the home page of your device that will take you right to that page or section.  Couple that with folders (if your launcher supports them) and you can create push button control panels to rapidly access collections of notes without having to open OneNote first.
Uncategorized

Can a PMO benefit from OneNote?

Project Management Offices are responsible for not only ensuring projects complete within their organization’s defined success parameters but are also responsible for sharing project management best practices to improve consistency and quality in the delivery of projects.  Locating tools to assist the operation and management of PMOs and CoEs (Centers of Excellence) can be time consuming and expensive, and in many cases, unnecessary.

Standardization of Templates

OneNote’s file based structure makes it easy for a PMO/CoE to create standardized templates for projects, engagements, and other repeatable processes.  All a user needs do is to copy the template notebook for their own use and sections, pages, and files are all duplicated and ready to use.

Organization of content around PMO processes

Unlike shared drives and SharePoint sites, a OneNote notebook can be easily organized, reorganized, and shared among a team reflecting the process recommendations from the PMO office. A PMO or CoE can define recommended processes and then not only document those processes but also organize the notebook around echoing the workflow of the process for easier execution.

Common notes and procedures

A PMO can leverage OneNote to create common collections of processes and procedures updatable by the team in real time to make sure faulty processes and procedures are not followed due to not being updated. By seeing not only when procedures were updated but also who updated them and easy version history monitoring, OneNote provides a powerful tool for PMOs and CoEs to keep team members using the right procedures.

Distributed packages of content

As a PMO or CoE grows collections of content around specific topic areas, those content collections can be gathered as OneNote notebooks and distributed as resources to be used online or off.  Starter kits for projects, audit libraries, metrics documentation and dashboards can all be packaged for easy sharing and distribution.

Planning for PMO / CoE success

Having a tool like OneNote as part of the core execution plan for your PMO/CoE from the beginning and bringing your users to the understanding of the benefits and uses of the tool can allow you to focus on the actual purpose of the group rather than the tools needed.  Take time to not only understand what your PMO/CoE needs to accomplish but also how that information will be shared, maintained, and collaborated on for the long term.