CPD23 - Thing 19 - Catching Up

Reflection

This is the second time that the CPD23 Things course has dedicated a specific time and space for participants to reflect (the first time being Thing 5 way back in July 2011!)

This time, however, we need to think about each of our previous posts and consider:

• what elements were most useful
• how you could integrate them into working routines

Throughout the course we have covered:

• social media tools (blogging, RSS feeds, Twitter, LinkedIn)
• productivity tools (Evernote, Google Docs, Wikis, Google Calendar, Mendeley, Prezi, Jing, Podcasting, Screencapture software)
• professional development (personal branding, reflective practice, advocacy, events, networking, mentoring)

Here are my thoughts in these elements:

• Blogging

The first element to reflect on is blogging, which underpins this whole course. Since Week 1, I feel more comfortable writing my thoughts for public consumption. Still not sure anyone is listening but like the therapy value!

Given the work I do, I am still not sure whether I will be to blog in an official work capacity although my department now have a departmental blog (which includes contributions from Ministers and policy officials) and there might be an opportunity to contribute to this in some way in the future.

I am now starting to think about what to do after the end of CPD23 Things ends and will share some thoughts separately.

• Social Media tools

I already used all of the social media tools (with the exception of Pushnote) before the course in either a personal or work capacity. I've started to use Twitter and RSS feeds more personally (both following others) and building up more own followers via my work and personal accounts.

Since Thing 6 about online networks, I've actually signed up to Google +. Not sure how much use this will be until friends, colleagues and family also start to use as well - I'm virtually billy-no-mates at the moment on there! I also noted with interest, the changes to Facebook's news feeds in early September (in response to the launch of Google+ beta version), and I have monitored some of the comments and feedback shared by others about these changes.

• Productivity tools

Most of these tools were unknown to me before the course. I've particularly enjoyed exploring using Prezi, podcasting and screen capture software which will be useful at work as part of my communications/awareness raising role.

I've downloaded a few of the tools including Evernote and Mendeley but not really had a chance to use them properly. I'm still most excited about using Mendeley to manage and group my PDF documents. I've also been recommended to download Camtasia (a premium screen capture software) which I intend to explore using as well.

• Professional development

The CPD23 Things programme generally has been a great opportunity to reflect on things I've achieved and where I can support others. I made a commitment to put my name forward to become a CDG Chartership Liaison Officer - something I've only just done - so great to be reminded.

In summary, I think most of the elements of professional development have a potential impact on my working routine in making me more motiviated and conscious of how I work with other people. Understanding your impact on other people is very important in helping you to progress and grow in life (professionally and personally).

CPD23 - Thing 8 - Organising yourself (Google Calendar)

"Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it" M. Scott Peck

"The great dividing line between success and failure can be expressed in five words: 'I did not have time' "Franklin Field

"Never leave 'till tomorrow which you can do today" Benjamin Franklin

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I have a confession, somebody once described me as being a kernel of organisation in the middle but frayed round the edges, which is unfortunately true.
Is Google Calendar therefore the answer to my prayers and will it help me in becoming more organised?
Although I freely use many other Google tools, such as Blogger and Picasa (for photo sharing), I've never been inclined to share my schedule online. I don't particularly feel the desire or need to share my calendar widely to the world.

I do appreciate online calendar sharing might have some advantages (eg for busy families or for use by co-workers) but a calendar is only as useful as connecting with others and having the right tools to access it. For various reasons, Google Calendar does not initially meet my organisational needs since:

1. My friends and family are not always online and my husband is notorious for not planning - he always famously says 'I'll have to check my diary' as a running joke.
2. Working for government, there are also restrictions on syncing desktop applications which means I can only effectively use Google Calendar for personal reasons. At work, we use the proprietary Microsoft Outlook system which does the job of communicating my schedule for colleagues.
3. Finally, I don't have access to an app-enabled phone to make maximum use of an online calendar tool.

In other contexts, however, I can see the value of a tool like Google Calendar. For instance, it can prove invaluable to professional networking groups like CILIP's Career Development Group in enabling members to view the latest events programme without resorting to lots of tireless HTML web-coding. Given the rise of blogs and more applications integrated into corporate and personal websites I can see why using Google Calendar would be useful since it lives on 'the cloud' and can be accessed anywhere.

I also remember many times when we were looking to organise Christmas or Summer social events and using Google Calendar would have been very helpful in connecting with other committee members to share our personal schedules more quickly and easily. In this context, we sometimes used an online tool called Meet-o-matic which is described as 'the world's simplest meeting scheduler'. Although it is a bit clunky and badly laid out, it did the job of helping the group in narrowing down on potential dates for holding events - invaluable when you all work in different organisations. The advantage of Meet-O-Matic is that no registration is required and  you don't need to share a common diary or website platform. You can use to propose and schedule meetings and invite participants using your own email system. I am aware that there are many other similar online applications around such as Doodle, Diarised, 30 Boxes, Cozi, Yahoo Calendar and many more. I've not used any of these so, I wouldn't feel qualified to comment but you can read reviews and make up your own mind by reading reviews published at http://www.calendarreview.com/ and http://www.pcmag.com/.

In reading round the topic of online calendars I've come across some favourable reviews of Google Calendar. I'd recommend reading "Getting Organised using Google Calendar" published by Simon Haughton where you highlights some useful tasks it has enabled him to do. Another clear and comprehensive review can be found in a blog post called "Getting organised in the Cloud: Google Calendar" (posted on the blog Owen Swart's Don't Fear the Tech). This posting explains more about maintaining multiple calendars for all the different aspects of your life and cool stuff that helps you stay organised such as the ability to add public or interesting calendars others have added, the ability to publicise appointment slots to show when you are available and chance to use extra fun tools in development.

Given these reviews (and also that Google is free and I already have a Google account), I will probably explore Google Calendar more (in the hope that one day I will be able to sync more effectively between work and personal life computers and get even more organised).

There can't be too much harm in this as being as organised as possible improves efficiency and your chances in life and work and making the most of all opportunities that might come your way. Maybe this will help me become less frayed round the edges...there is always hope!