Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Short-term crisis management
When something unexpected happens, it can be hard to pick up and move forward. Or, at least, there may be a lot to pick up. This week’s tip, shared by evanblackerby, discusses how he used Remember The Milk to navigate a tough situation he had never dealt with before.
We recently had a 4 ft diameter oak tree hit our home during a severe storm. My wife, son, and I were missed by the tree. We were all safe, but shaken. Three rooms on the house were destroyed by the tree and rain. We have had to deal with a tree service, insurance company, banks, and various contractors. Countless people. This is a lot to remember and keep straight. As crazy as it has been to be displaced for a few months, Remember The Milk has helped me keep it all generally straight. There is a lot that goes into rebuilding one-third of my home.
The way it works for me:
• I immediately created a category called “The Tree” :-)
• Everything under that category has a person connected to it. “Paul” my contractor. Electrician. Tree guys. My own personal duties (Evan).
• I save each thought or question I have directed at a person. These come at random times.
• Then I create Smart Lists based on each of the people involved in the process. This does the magic in our situation.
In the demolition/construction/renovation business the workers/bosses show up at random times. It is difficult to collect my thoughts on all things that I need to discuss with each of them. “Where to put these lights” or “why does that look crooked” or “is this supposed to be more sturdy than this?”
With the searches, my contractor can just show up and I run the search for “Paul” and all the questions for Paul show up. Same with insurance and bank people.
This tool has been invaluable through these uncharted waters these past 3 months. Thank you guys for helping us through this crisis.
Thanks for sharing your story, Evan. You’re our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.
Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we’ll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.
