Andy Goundry Ltd.

Consulting Sheffield, UK
http://www.andygoundry.com
@andygoundry

About

Providing business analysis, project management, user experience and graphic design, software development, and agile delivery services. Working with public and private sector clients including the NHS, HSBC, Alfa Romeo, On The Beach, and TechnoPhobia.

What do you use Daylite for?

Short answer: Everything.

To run our business, we have found that we work most effectively when we have all the information about a project or client to hand wherever we are. Whether this is on the train, on client site, or in the office, we've found that to make money, save time, and avoid those embarrassing "I don't have that information to hand" moments, all this information has to be with us always. This is where Daylite comes in. We store everything in Daylite. The only exceptions are files related to a project (which we store in DropBox), or invoices (which we store in Billings Pro). Everything else, including notes, tasks, events, reminders, contacts, projects, opportunities, etc are stored in Daylite.

What was the most painful thing about your previous workflow that Daylite has helped to solve?

Our previous workflow was simply too expensive to scale. It lasted a matter of only a few weeks before we started looking for a real solution. This workflow involved using a standalone GTD task management application for all of our todos, iCal for our events, and Address Book for our contacts. This was simply insufficient to run a real business, for a number of reasons:

  • None of these apps had the concept of a client, so there was no place to store client specific information in a neat and structured way. On top of this, because the GTD app didn't understand this concept, we couldn't relate a project to a client. The result was a very long list of projects preceded with client name (name-space magic) that was simply not scalable, plus a bunch of text files in client-named folders, which was plain messy and expensive to manage.
  • The GTD app didn't allow us to store notes against a project and this forced us to store these on disk as text files in name-spaced folders. This is plain ugly and although i know many companies use file stores in this way, the mess and weight it creates ends up being far too expensive and boring to manage. We work on exciting and creative projects and soon decided that non-billable time had to be time spent with our families; We couldn't afford to allocate non-billable time to tidying up project data.
  • None of these apps had the concept of an Opportunity. We tried making fake "Opportunity" projects in the GTD app but this soon added to the mess.

With Daylite on your iPhone, you've literally had your business in your pocket. Now, with Daylite on your iPad, what have you been able to further achieve?

We now save time by always using Daylite to take notes and create actions whilst in client meetings. Previously, we lost some time emailing ourselves notes and action points to later enter into Daylite because we tend not to always take our macs into client meetings (mine, for example, is the 17 inch MBP so can get in the way a bit). We also never use Daylite on the iPhone whilst in meetings as it can look a little like we're updating our Facebook status or sending a text, which isn't very professional looking ;) So, for us, Daylite on the iPad has given the access and speed of entering data straight into Daylite, in a client-friendly way. Perfect!

I now interact with Daylite even more often, because Daylite Touch simply comes alive on the big screen. The iPad version is beautifully big. The keyboard is large and fast to type on when entering data; The interface makes use of the screen size exceptionally well; All in all, the iPad Daylite experience is the most pleasurable of all the Daylite interfaces. I have always loved the slick Daylite Touch's interface and it really comes alive on the big screen. Its wonderful to use.

How has the iPad revolutionized the way you do business in general (not Daylite specific)?

Mostly as a design tool. We do a lot of graphic and technical design work and sometimes we need to articulate our solution in either a low or hi-fi graphic. With the iPad, we can achieve either of these styles with our fingers, which is simply awesome. We use OmniGraffle a lot and find that the iPad version is truly excellent and offers unique features, such as freehand drawing. Beyond that, the iPad simply increases productivity generally as it makes digital scribing effortless and goes to places where neither the iPhone or mac go.

Describe how you use Daylite on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad. In what scenarios do you use each device, and how has the ability to take your business with you improved productivity?

We use the Mac version mostly for refactoring projects in a big way (such as restructuring project data) and also generally when we're at our desks. We tend to use the iOS versions for smaller scale operations, like updating todos, refining today's list of activities, and assigning activities to other team members. The more complete the iOS versions become, the more we’ll use them.

What is your favourite thing about having Daylite on your iPad?

It's use of the real estate. It makes really good use of the larger screen.

How has Daylite helped you grow your business?

It has in that it's reduced the effort required to run the business and given us a single platform for the team to use.

Any other comments?

Looking forward to many great enhancements in the future :)

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