Not a Backpacker… That’s preposterous.
So far, it probably sounds like a nicely implemented wiki, but there are a few other nice features that make it much more useful than that. First, you can send items to a particular page via email. Each page has it’s own unique and randomly-chosen email address, and sending an email to that address with ‘todo: Buy flowers’ puts a check list item ‘Buy flowers’ on that page. Using a similar notation, you can add images, notes and files to the page. This is pretty brilliant, and I’ve used it several times already from my mobile phone when out and about. I used to use Ta-da Lists to house my wishlists of books, CDs and DVDs that I would like to get for myself or as gifts for others, but Backpack provides everything Ta-da did and more so I’ve switched. The emailable items become very useful when you’re in a shop and spot something you’d like to get at some point. You can make a quick entry there and then, and then relax knowing that it’s safely on your list.
I have a Backpack account. I haven’t actually used it. You don’t have to either…
I have an HPDA for things that I see when I’m shopping… and everything else I think of when I’m not in front of a computer. In addition, (I believe this will probably shock some people to the point where I’ll lose all credibility as any sort of productivity contributor) I don’t have a cell phone. So emailing things to myself only happens when I’m actually at a computer. My GTDMail implementation is working fairly well, and getting better the more I use it (and come to trust it). Just because everyone else says how great Backpack is, doesn’t mean you have to use it. Of course, just because I say you don’t have to use it, doesn’t mean you necessarily shouldn’t use it.
My actual PIM of choice, the combo of Gmail and AirSet, provides a List(s) feature, and I can share that with people in my “groups” there… I don’t really have the need to share that kind of information with people I don’t know. I already share information through this blog, my other blog, my del.icio.us account, and my BlogLines account. I’m sure you’re more interested in what blogs I’m reading than what I’m going to buy at Jewel this week.
One other thing - I’m not a freelancer or anything like that (again, it feels like productivity heresy). The company I work for provides me with all the software I need to manage projects at work. It may not be the greatest software, but everyone at my job basically uses these same tools to share project information. So, Backpack doesn’t provide any utility to me in that sense.
I know this post seems like I’m totally downing Backpack, but I don’t mean it that way. I know it is very easy to use and many people find it very useful as well. I just want people to know that you don’t need to change your system to fit with whatever may be the Blogosphere Productivity Darling of the Month. I’d like to try out Backpack and GTDTiddlyWiki more in depth, but I already have a system in place that works. I’m busy enough that I don’t have time to port all my information over to a new system every time something new and shiny comes along. I’m only saying this because I’ve already spent too much time trying to find a new system when I already had one that worked. Go ahead and put that new system on your “Someday/Maybe” list and look at it again when you’ve Got Things Done.
