My nomination re: the killer app for GTD: ECCO (Palm-sync'd)

[steve]

Since picking up GTD in January I have evaluated many PIM tools on the Palm, PPC, and PC. My last big adventure was with Excel, but currently I am having even more fun doing GTD in Ecco, syncing to an NV-70 Palm (Clie). It is hard to see how anything is ever going to beat Ecco as an awesome tool for GTD! It is now available for upload online at:

ftp://ftp.netmanage.com/support/pub/utilities/EC401/Ecco32/

Download Setup32.exe, and this will install version 4.01.1, which the latest version. All files created with earlier version will work with it.

Ecco is an incredible PIM program; it's been described by many users as "addictive". Despite being discontinued in Aug 1997, it still runs great on Windows 98, 2000, XP, etc. and there are many active users. The Yahoo!Groups "eccopro" forum has 850 members and is quite lively. Once you get the 'Gestault' of Ecco and get your business onto it, it is really fascinating how much faster you can work, and how much more output you can have -- I've never seen anything like it. I'll be surprised if it doesn't get revived either as open-source, or an ambitious startup company over the next year or two - considering the mometum and fan club base.

There has already been one GTD Template for Ecco published (see the archives), I'll also be publishing one soon.

-Steve

[cpacvacfe]

Steve,

I really appreciate all you did to help me get Ecco on my computer. I am excited with the power of the program and the possibilities of using it in GTD. I am enjoying using it and really look forward to your template. I have spent a good part of this evening looking at the templates at Grpahic Ideas, particularly the ones for case management, project management and the one based on Franklin Covey. It is really eye opening as to the exciting things that can be done with GTD and Ecco.

Again, thanks for your help and I look forward to the release of your GTD template.

James :D

[Anonymous]

Thanks James, glad the Ecco is working for you! I was "scary productive" with it today. I just kept breaking apart top-level items in each of my active projects for the week until there were 2 or 3 concrete, physical next actions ready for "no-think execution". Then I would ask, couldn't I just do the next action right here as a sub-item in Ecco. e.g. I write a letter right there as a couple of bullets, then use the "Shooter" to create a word doc, print the letter & envelope with Ecco's correspondence manager - lots of "GTD surprises" (something's DONE before, normally you would even get started). Then I move the letter into the phonebook as an indent under the addressee, so it's there for future reference. Cross-reference it into an "appt" for followup later, and the whole thing's done is 3-4 minutes. Ecco's like that - it just speeds everything up (that's just one example). I probably knocked off 125 next actions with it just today.

-Steve

[Anonymous]

How much does Ecco cost?

[Anonymous]

I didn't think Ecco was being supported/developed for any longer. Has this changed?

[Paul V]

It is no longer supported or developed for -but Net Manage graciously made it available for free download .

even though it's no longer developed --the 97 version of Ecco is above and beyond the 02 versions of many programs --very steep learning curve with it- :wink:

I used ecco back when Arabesqe had it --moved away from it for early versions of Franklin covey Ascend 97---Big mistake!

[Anonymous]

I envy you guys who are so good at GTD that you have time to figure out these complex programs!

Seriously, is there a simplified guide to Ecco for my simple brain?

Thanks

[Anonymous]

Steve,

Would it be possible for you to share some of how you have ECCO laid out?

[Anonymous]

I have been using ECCO for GTD, and think it is particularly suited to project management that individuals do. Because it uses outlining, it is good for project planning, and linking the next action to the project. I also have downloaded the Graphic Ideas templates, and am impressed. I would like to see your GTD template when it is finished, Steve.

Mark

[Anonymous]

yes, I'm working on a template i'm going to write up. I will also share an interim version sooner. Problem is, it's a mult-hour project to get my own data out of the file, write up notes in the file just a bit, etc. It'll turn into 4-6 hours work, which I can't squeeze in right now. Working on the Excel version took a lot of cycles out of my own work that I'm catching up for now :) But I'll get an interim Ecco-GTD Template posted ASAP.

In the meantime, I suggest you download/print/study the back issues of "Easy Ecco", from www.eccorocks.com. That will get you up the learning curve quickly.

Yeah, Ecco does ROCK for GTD... it's way better than anything else I've used. After 9 months using GTD and a lot of progress, there was stilll a substantial "leap" into a substantially faster progress-mode, within a week of adopting Ecco. Of course, I had used Ecco for 2-3 years previously, so I had a head-start on the learning curve. But I think you'll see the same thing.

-Steve

[jay ghee]

At the same ftp site that Ecco can be downloded, there is a user guide in pdf form. Try this link:
ftp://ftp.netmanage.com/support/pub/utilities/EC401/Doc/Usergd/

I didn't install Ecco yet, so I don't know if the setup includes this guide.
There also appear to be tutorials in the 'Doc' folder on the site.

[rossw]

Please tell me that ECCO can't be sync'd with my pocketPC.

Otherwise I'll spend ages setting it up and playing with it. Sorry...I just can't help myself!!

[Anonymous]

sorry Ross, but the answer is yes -- Ecco certainly can be sync'd with your Pocket PC :0)

You have to use Intellisync, or one of the other sync programs. They have listed a few of them that work over on the eccopro forum on Yahoo!groups. As soon as I run into that info again, I'll post (sorry;)

-Steve

[ScottL]

OK before I read any more of the 412 pg PDF file, how well does ECCO work for those of us who are mobile and basically use the PDA 100% and never use the desktop (I have a CLIE and backup nightly to memory sticks)?

I should add that I am not a sales type, and most of my "stuff" is in the form of to dos or appointments with some low complexity projects.

Thanks.

Scott

[steve]

Doubt if Ecco is of much use if you're 100% PDA.

The big thing it does is allow you to "get a handle" on big/complex projects, and a lot of diverse activities across different projects. Working in Ecco, I will generate a lot of different approaches, then only map some of it into active "todo" (next action) status. But I find it invaluable as a brainstorming, information-gathering, and planning tool.

My Palm I use primarily as a portable storage depot/viewing device for the active todo's that are flowing out of Ecco... for "DOING" mode. And a quick-access calendar/phone book, of course.

-Steve

[Longstreet]

I work in an Outlook environment -- it is used for email and the calendar system is used extensively for scheduling meetings. Is is reasonable to also use Ecco? I have heard so many good things about this program! Are there any conflict issues with Outlook? :?:

[steve]

Yeah it would make a lot of sense to use Ecco for all your next actions and projects.... plus calendaring and phonebook. Most of the GTD stuff. Outlook is primarily an email client anyway, so you could still use it for that. I don't know of any conflicts. Ecco can be rigged to launch email too - e.g. you right click on a contract, and it launches an Outlook email to that contact.

Actually they'd make a decent complement - about the only thing Ecco doesn't do is email client. And that's about the only thing Outlook does *well* :)

-Steve

[Longstreet]

Well, I downloaded and installed Ecco -- it does seem to be an impressive program. But, I ran into the following problem. When I wanted to hotsync my Oultlook calendar, I was asked in the midst of the process (I use Chapura) for the file from Ecco, which I provided. Now, my Outlook calendar does not hotsync -- just the Ecco calendar. Is there a way to setup Ecco and not have the calendar hotsync? I like it better than Outlook, but I have to use Outlook calendar due our collegiate use of scheduling meetings automatically through the Outlook environment.

Any advice would be appreciated! Help... :(

[Anonymous]

you should be able to change it by clicing on the hotsync icon in your system tray, then choosing "custom". A setup dialog for hotsyncing will pop up, including whether to hotsync ecco's calendar, etc.

also, there is a fantastic 'eccopro' support thread over on yahoo!groups. there are dozens of Ecco sync'ing experts on there and they'll give you answers right away - it's a busy thread.

if you're just learning ecco, be sure to download the "Easy Ecco" newsletters from eccorocks.com and study those. Especially, to understand three main ecco concepts: folders (which can also function as 'columns' - really the same thing), views, and TLI's (the "bullets" - top level items). Once you get a good understanding of how folders-columns, views, and TLI's work you're well on your way to tapping Ecco's power. Give it some time thought, usually Ecco takes a while for a new user to really start to appreciate - it's sort of like a Ferrari :)

-Steve

[Anonymous]

I gave up on Ecco.

I dont have time to figure it out and it just doesnt look like a simple program for my simple brain.

[Anonymous]

OK, MM you have to go set in the corner with the dunce hat <G>

-Steve

[jena]

I installed PDASync to synch with my iPaq and everything works fine except categories for todos. I looked at the mappings section of PDASync and it doesn't have the category field for Ecco. Seems like Ecco doesn't have that field so I tried to create one, but it doesn't appear in the mappings section anyway.

Without categories all my next actions are in one huge lists, not very helpful. Any ideas?

[dbcoyer]

Jena,

I had the same problem. Here's what I did:

If you open the folders view in Ecco, you will see a folder called New Columns. Under this folder is another one called Notes. Add the notes column to your To Do Notepad. Now, unfortunately, this is not a popup column; it's just a text column, but I just type it "home" and "office" etc as my GTD context for the category...
Now, go to the PDA SYNC settings menu. Choose the mapping tab and then select tasks. Then click the mapping button. You should see, as the fifth field from the bottom on the Ecco side, the field Notes. Make sure you're not looking at Outline Notes, just Notes. Now map Notes to the Task's Categories field.
That's it. It's not the most elegant design, since you have to type in your categories in Ecco, instead of selecting from a list, but it works.

--David

[jena]

..I didn't know how to make it appear in my todo notepad.

Antoher question. How do you filter the notepad so I can see only those tasks that are on the @Phone list for example?

And is it possible to have undated to-dos? Ecco added the current date to all my to-dos.

[jena]

I used the Filter View function and it seems to be working. Even managed to add buttons to the toolbar to switch between the different next action lists. :D

[dbcoyer]

Now you're getting there! :D

As far as undated to do's...

I think you may be getting confused about the TO DO folder. The date on the To Do column is the date the To Do was created. So, by nature, all To Do's will have a date. However, there are also columns for Start Date and Due Date. These are probably the real dates you are concerned with, and yes, they can be undated.

--David

[jena]

Ok. The problem is that PDASync interprets the todo column as the start date. Thus it complains that I have a start date and no end date.

Yet another question. Is it possible to have default values for column values? I would like to have the Note field populated automatically. I.e if I'm viewing my @Phone list and the enters a new item, it should also have the value "@Phone".

[dbcoyer]

Hmmm.. Check your mapping in PDASync. There is an explicit Start Date in both Ecco and PPC. These 2 fields should be mapped together. The majority of my tasks are undated.

I am not aware of a way to get a conditional default value into a column?

Anyone else???

[Anonymous]

re: getting a conditional date into a column, that's a good question for the eccopro thread on yahoo!groups... plenty of serious expertise over there, re: the fine points.

Ecco can be programmed via a DDE interface, and there is even an add-on Visual Basic / Object interface now, so all kinds of things (like that one, for example) can be done externally too (similar to Excel/Word/Outlook) in Visual Basic, Com routines, etc. You can do it yourself or pay a programmer (typically) $25-$100 for mini-projects like that.

FYI,
-Steve

[Anonymous]

I should add that I am not a sales type, and most of my "stuff" is in the form of to dos or appointments with some low complexity projects.

Thanks.

Scott[/quote]

Scott:

I have used Ecco and looked at it again recently. Ecco is very good and the Ecco "Pilotsynch" is pretty seamless. You will still get your ToDo's, Appointments and "Pilot" Memos onto your Palm. But changing from Palm to Ecco as prime might mean a change in working style.

If your working style is always to be in touch with your projects so that when you complete a next action you can mark it off and look for the next next action, then you can structure your small Ecco projects to synch into your Palm as attached notes to your ToDo's or as "Pilot" Memos.

It may be more problematic to make large outlined projects portable in the Palm. If you choose to use Ecco, you probably have to make your Desktop prime for inputting and reporting.

One piece of advice...because Ecco is so particular (eccentric), it can be a lot of work to change back if you decide it's not for you.

To each his own.

Andrew