Evernote Review (Part 3)

Part 3: How I use Evernote Professionally

In Part 1, I reviewed what Evernote is and why you should use it.  In Part 2, I reviewed how I use it on a day to day basis for personal note taking. Next we will review how I professionally use it and some of the ideas I am currently implementing in my professional use of Evernote. I will also provide some links to how other professionals use Evernote.

image courtesy of evernote.com

Project Notebooks

I create a notebook for each project. I start off with a note listing out team members with contact info (attach pictures/scans of business cards). I am an engineer, so my projects are swayed by what City/County/Jurisdiction the project is in. I create a note that lists out all of the jurisdictions that the project will need to be tailored to and any contacts for that jurisdiction. A note for some of the basic project info and site info. As the project starts, many of the notes are broad sweeping. As the project moves from schematic to more detailed, the notes also become more detailed. Research notes. Meeting notes. A note on a specific topic with summaries of phone conversations, emails, meetings. Phone log. Task list. Project schedule.

I love grabbing pdfs and pictures from email attachments and dropping them into notes. I also tag the notes based on topic. For instance, if I have an email that has some critical coordination information in it, I drop that info into a note and tag it "coordination." I can then search based on project (notebook) and with the tag coordination. If I get some info from a jurisdiction, then I tag it with the jurisdictions name. This allows me to search for that note based on the jurisdiction without having to remember which project I got that information for.

General Notebook

I have started taking notes about products, jurisdictions and other things that I might learn along the way and like to recall at a later date. I am an engineer and there is always something to learn and keep track of in my field. I have a file with loose leaf paper and a notebook with my chicken scratch notes collecting everything I have learned in the past 4 years of my career. Unfortunately, searching through that can be tedious and think of all the things that I may have forgotten to put in my file? Evernote makes it so easy to store information! I will have to one day scan all my files and get it into Evernote.

I try to tag my notes with the key topic. For instance, if I get some information about gas construction from Puget Sound Energy, I tag it PSE. When I do a search for all PSE tags, I'll get information from my main notebook plus some coordination information from specific project notebooks.

Use Evernote Hello to keep track of business cards
and people. (image courtesy of evernote.com)

Business Cards

I save contact info and business cards to my Evernote. I do it the old school method, but now that Evernote Hello is available on Android, I might start using it to snap pictures of business cards. In my line of work, there is a ton of coordination between team members and interaction with others outside of your firm. Business cards get dealt out at meetings. I try to stay updated with outlook at work, but it would be handy to start a notebook of contacts. Take a snap shot of a business card, create a note, list out what projects they work on and what role they provided, what firm they work for (or have worked for?), etc. Add tags for the projects they are working on and what role they provided. Evernote eventually makes photos searchable, so you will be able to fully search through your notebook of business cards. I have a hard time remembering people's names, so I might take some personal notes about each person so that I can better recall personal details better during conversations.

Evernote Blog: Tips and Stories

I think I have mentioned the Evernote Blog several times in the previous entries. I just love reading these articles on how other professionals use Evernote in their day to day professional and personal life. Here are some that I found interesting:

• Building a Business Card Database with Evernote Hello
• Lindsey C. Holmes, Evernote Small Business Ambassador Shares Her Business and Marketing Tips: She discusses using shared notebooks among her staff to distribute stuff while out in the field and also using shared notebooks to share notes from events with colleagues.
• 6 Real Estate Tips from Krisstina Wise, New Real Estate Ambassador, Plus Evernote for Real Estate Webinar: She discusses setting up a notebook for each customer, sending a note or notebook to a staff member back in the office to begin the buying process once a customer makes a decision, sharing notes/notebook with staff.
• How Cartoonist Matt Madden Creates Comics and Teaches Classes with Evernote: He discusses how he uses Evernote to organize his work flow and his lectures/classes. I love the idea of Evernote for an educational tool, both from the teacher and student perspective. I wish I had had Evernote back when I was in college.

Conclusion

This wraps up a three part series reviewing Evernote. Check out my follow up post on Evernote Flaws and my IFTTT Review. Here is a list of other bloggers that offer ideas on how to use Evernote:

• Ron's Evernote Tips and his shared Evernote Tips Notebook
• 7 Evernote Resources by Micahel Hyatt.  He has some great Evernote blog entries. In this one he lists out some resources, including some that I have listed above. At the bottom of his page he has some additional articles he has written about using Evernote.
• The Evernote Blog - Tips and Stories - I love reading about how other people are using Evernote. It inspires me and gives some great ideas.
• 8 Great Ways Couples can use Evernote Shared Notebooks - If I could get my fiance to use Evernote, I could perhaps do these. Unfortunately he isn't one for note taking or list making.

How do you use Evernote (or a competitor note taking app) for professional use? Post your thoughts in the comments below!