In the 9th chapter of Journalism Next, Mark Briggs discusses ways of managing and organizing one’s personal and professional life with web-based tools and programs.
When organizing your email, the process should be fairly quick and simple. Briggs recommends taking advantage of the filters and files that are available from your email provider for easy organization.
In a professional setting, journalists have to manage much more than emails. They need to manage contacts, to-do lists, calendars, presentations, notes, etc., and this is usually within a team or group.
So what’s the easiest way for journalists to manage these tasks effectively and efficiently?
Using project management systems.
A project management system, such as Backpack, allows you to manage all your information in one location. It is especially helpful for managing team projects.
According to Backbpack’s website, Backpack lets users “store, share, discuss, and archive” everything that’s important in one place.
Backpack Project Management: Credits to strategicincubator.com
Briggs believes these project management systems “bring order to an individual working on a big story with lots of moving parts or an entire newsroom attempting to hit daily headlines.”
Other examples of project management systems provided in the chapter include:
The last solution Briggs provides for a more organized professional life is the use of spreadsheets, databases and map mashups for data-driven journalism.
Spreadsheets are great for getting you started and prepared to use a database, by tracking contacts and reporting sources.
Databases are ideal for tracking tons of information and storing it in a very organized and accessible way.
Map mashups organize information geographically. This is great for getting breaking news stories in a specific location.
Whether it is for your personal or private life, Briggs gives many online tips and sources in this chapter to help manage and organize everyday tasks.
Briggs sums up the chapter well by saying, “You can become a better, more efficient reporter or editor simply by trading any of the paper-based information storage systems you’re using and going digital. Your contacts, beat sheet of story ideas, source lists and more will be more sortable, more flexible and more useful if you store them electronically—in spreadsheets, databases or project management systems.”
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