PST Newsletter

1. ManagePro User's Want even More out of Version 8.5

I wanted to give you a quick status update on ManagePro 8.5.   Every time we think we've got a wrap on this release, we get another round of requests from you, our fantastic user group.  Some of the requests are so good, we feel like we've got to make them available for everyone - so we push the release date back another few weeks and keep programming.

I hope you'll forgiving us for sliding the release date, and thanks to all of you who have been submitting "won't you please include this in the next release?" requests.  I wish we could get all of them in.  We are getting a lot, and I think you'll be very pleased with some of the changes suggested by your fellow users. 

Having said that, we have frozen the new feature list at this point, and we do anticipate releasing the week of November 17th.   Please keep sending in your ideas, we'll put them on the list for the next release.   One of the areas that you are going to notice a big change is in the area of managing email.   Keep reading and I'll discuss.

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2. Getting Out of the Email Bermuda Triangle or Email Jail

Mark Lamoncha, CEO at Humtown Products,  is a user who coined the term "Email Jail" for me in a recent conversation.  It aptly describes how easy it is to get locked into the daily email management time sink - for which there seems to be no end.

Here at PST we tend to refer to it as the "Email Bermuda Triangle". Start working your email and it quickly sucks up your time. Time that is often misdirected or misappropriated in terms of priority, eg. you really could use your time for better purposes than organizing your email, reviewing CC'd messages to makes sure you didn't miss something, etc.

So email both sucks up too much time, and gets us off course, gobbling weeks of time over the course of a year when your priorities would suggest you spend your time in higher value-add activities.  But then, that's what the Bermuda Triangle is reported to do.  As I look at an average of 200-300 email a day, it's easy to get lost in there.

Here's the good news.  You'll find that ManagePro 8.5 has some "break through" new tools when it comes to managing emails and todos.  Tools that will help you break out of your email jail, should you be spending time in your "cell" daily.

Let me show you just a couple of new features coming your way next month that will help:

1. Here's a quick question that addresses a long process.   "What percentage of your incoming email has one or more todos or requests embedded in the context?  Over 25%, 50%?

What happens if you don't respond... don't have time to respond at the moment?  Does it stay in your inbox or some other folder, and you hope by scanning it as you scroll by that you'll remember what needs your response?

That whole system of receiving and responding to work requests and tasks via email is full of opportunities to have details and requests slip through the cracks.  Hard on relationships, hard on business, hard on income.

We've got a cool solution for that.  Building upon ManagePro's existing capability to drag and drop your email onto the appropriate record for anyone to view if working the project, we've added the ability to copy segments of the email or parse them directly into todos or progress updates.  Just highlight a request while you're dragging an email in as a progress update and save that section with the new right click function as a todo on the fly.  If you have multiple requests embedded in an email, create multiple todos while you're saving the email in ManagePro. 

It's as simple as highlight the text, then right click and select Save As.  It works whether you save the email as a progress update or a todo or event.

2.  We also created the ability to convert any "related data record" (progress update, todo or event) into a second copy of a different data type.  That means you can convert an event and the comments directly into a progress update, etc.  I think you'll find, as we have, that it goes a long way towards getting you out of the Email Bermuda Triangle.

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3.  November Training in Las Vegas Canceled

Based upon your feedback we decided to cancel the annual training event in Las Vegas in November.  It seems too many people are experiencing cut-backs on allowed travel.

We'll be offering some very timely training solutions over the web in the next couple of months, and I'll write more about that with the release of version 8.5.  There are a lot of new features in 8.5, whether it is the performance management additions or the project management tools -  enough to make the learning experience very worth while for new and advanced users.

Have a really focused, productive November - we'll be talking with you shortly about 8.5. 

 
Rodney Brim,  Ph.D.
CEO Performance Solutions Technology
www.ManagePro.com/Blog

PS. During the 4th quarter, we have a goal of increasing the number of links to our website from our customers.   Links from you to us.  Simple ones, we provide the text and html code, your web-master just inserts it on your site.  A 10 minute job.   Here's what we are offering in return -  One free hour of live training over the web and phone.   It's a $90 value.  Don't miss out on this opportunity.   Call us at (877) 487-3001 - and we'll get it coordinated and you scheduled for the free hour of training.