December 7, 2010 47 Comments

Nudgemail For GTD

97/365 Rubber band ballMy friend, Jeremy Toeman, sent me his latest project, NudgeMail to review. I have to admit that the first conversation was a bit tricky, because I kept misunderstanding how it worked. The thing that kept hanging me up: it’s too simple. Whenever you find yourself saying this, immediately stop what you’re doing and realize that you’re on to something cool. “Too simple” means that there’s some facility and usefulness cleverly hidden behind your ability to comprehend (think: Flip video camera).

Nudgemail

Nudgemail is

Nudgemail is an email reminder system. There’s nothing to install. Simply, you lob an email to an address @nudgemail.com, and it spits back whatever you sent it on whatever date and time you ask for it. So, if I want to remind myself to send Dan Zarrella a quote for his new book, I just enter “thu@nudgemail.com” and the system sends me an email on Thursday. If I want to get something back on a specific date, I enter the full date @nudgemail.com. If I want something commonsense, like “noon,” I enter “noon@nudgemail.com.”

I can even do “nextweek@ , nextmonth@, nextyear@” which is pretty nifty, eh?

Getting Things Done

One way that Nudgemail is helping me is that I can remind myself of things that need follow-up, and thus delete or archive the email that I *was* using as a primitive method of reminder. For instance, I had a mail sitting in my box to remind me that I wanted to bother Tom Peters about something, and now, I can just nudge myself.

In fact, on a scan of the 54 messages currently stuck in a “holding pattern” in my inbox, about 44 of them can be archived and turned into nudges.

You Don’t Need An Account

You’re already a user. Just email whatever you want to try at nudgemail.com , and you’ll get something back. Need help? email commands@nudgemail.com

Pretty cool app, I’d say.

Why I Reviewed It

Reason 1 is that I’m friends with Jeremy Toeman, and he’s done some cool stuff, like with Bug Labs, for instance. Reason 2 is that this solves a problem I’m having, and whenever I’m having a problem, I imagine that you might need a similar solution. Reason 3 is that I needed a blog post for this afternoon. ; )

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  • http://womeninbusinessradio.com Michele Price

    Chris,

    Your timing is perfect my friend. This has been bugging me how to manage reminders.

    Glad you needed a blog post this afternoon ;) Off to check out nudgemail. (gotta love collective minds)

    • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

      Happy to help. : )

    • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

      Happy to help. : )

  • http://twitter.com/nalts Kevin Nalts

    I like what you discover for us, even when you’ve got a relationship with the creator/founder or make money… especially cuz you’re transparent. This one will come in handy. I hope they find another way to activate the alert over time. I kinda like keeping the subject header the same as the topic, and then I could reply to someone, copy nudge, and still have a way to set the timing. Furthermore this would incourage me to use it with visibility to others… hence spreading the word. Maybe the first part of the e-mail note could activate the timing?

    • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

      Well, this one’s free. I wish I made money from it, but Jeremy only works on startups, and well, those don’t make anyone money for years. Right?

      You can/could keep the subject line the same, I believe. The real magic is in the “to” field.

    • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

      Well, this one’s free. I wish I made money from it, but Jeremy only works on startups, and well, those don’t make anyone money for years. Right?

      You can/could keep the subject line the same, I believe. The real magic is in the “to” field.

  • http://www.netwitsthinktank.com frank barry

    hey Chris, do you know anything about their security and what not? it’s a very cool tool. i love the way they solved the problem of reminders/tasks/etc through giving you the ability to easily get “nudged”, but the security in terms of business info being stored somewhere worries me a bit.

    @franswaa

    • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

      I know nothing about security. But what would you be storing in that email? Would you email someone your credit card or something? This is more like “reminder” mail.

      • http://www.netwitsthinktank.com frank barry

        Yea, I hear ya. I’m not thinking of that type of secure stuff (i.e. CC info)
        but more along the lines of conversations, info related to business, etc
        that you may not want others to read.

        It’s possible I don’t know enough about the solution yet – that’s likely it
        :), but sometimes I want to be reminded about something and all the info I
        need is in the email I’m adding the reminder to. The text of the
        conversation, information, etc is stuff I don’t want people outside of my
        business or sometimes team seeing.

        Am I making any sense here?

        @franswaa

    • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

      I know nothing about security. But what would you be storing in that email? Would you email someone your credit card or something? This is more like “reminder” mail.

  • Omerino

    Ditto to Kevin’s comments.

  • Irwinde

    Thanks for blogging about this helpful little tool.

  • Anonymous

    this is going to save my life!

  • Anonymous

    this is going to save my life!

  • http://twitter.com/DonnaPapacosta Donna Papacosta

    Sounds very handy and simple, Chris. On a Mac you can use iCal to email yourself notes on certain dates/times. I find this very useful.

  • http://www.coopersbarnyard.com Frankie Cooper

    This is an awesome tool.

  • http://shegeeks.net/ Corvida Raven

    I have a similar hack of leaving emails in the inbox as a reminder. I know I’ll never see them again after they’re archived unless they follow up. Thanks for the recommendation about this. I just might look into using it.

    Can you link reminders to specific messages?

    • http://twitter.com/jtoeman Jeremy Toeman

      You can set any email to become a reminder, just forward the message to nudgemail, specifying when you want it back (per Chris’ blog post or the directions on the site).

  • http://www.jokosusilo.com Joko Susilo

    Its really simple. Usefull tool

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  • http://mindmappingsoftwareblog.com/ Chuck Frey

    I use the Jott app on my iPhone in a similar way. At a date and time I specify, this online service sends me a reminder via e-mail and SMS. Very helpful! If I’m driving and can’t type myself a reminder, I can call a toll-free number, dictate my to-do item and set a reminder for it, all using a voice prompt system. The translation to text is surprisingly accurate!

    The important thing is that this task is no longer taking up any of my “psychic RAM” (David Allen of GTD fame coined this great term) until the date and time it’s due. Marvelously simple. Devastatingly effective!

  • Anonymous

    Thanks for turning me on to this, Chris! This is an awesome tool that I can use to set up paperless reminders when I’m on the go.

  • http://www.coreymcmahon.com Corey McMahon

    This is a great concept, and so simple! Looking forward to seeing how this can increase my productivity and effectiveness

  • Putnamjw

    This is awesome. Thanks, Chris.

  • http://twitter.com/hherbzilla Herb Hernandez

    I’ve been using followup.cc. It sounds, well, identical to nudgemail. Either way, it’s a fantastic idea and has become a part of my daily routine.

  • http://www.miere-bucovina.ro miere de albine

    I think this initiative has two major advantages: a community in which it consolidated and strengthened and refined character of the men who took part in it. I hope these initiatives will be increasingly more, and separate communities and people will understand that they must work together. Just so the results will not delay to appear.

  • http://www.Twitter.com/ArtseyC ArtseyC

    This is a dream!

    Like Anthony & Frank, I have concerns about deleting all the emails, then something goes wrong and I don’t get the reminders, but I agree that it’s probably not to be used for high-priority items, but rather those that are already on the back burner, sitting in emails on page 3 or 4, waiting for me to have time to get to them. (Ha.)

    This is a “hat’s off” idea. Thanks, Jeremy & Chris.

  • http://www.Twitter.com/ArtseyC ArtseyC

    This is a dream!

    Like Anthony & Frank, I have concerns about deleting all the emails, then something goes wrong and I don’t get the reminders, but I agree that it’s probably not to be used for high-priority items, but rather those that are already on the back burner, sitting in emails on page 3 or 4, waiting for me to have time to get to them. (Ha.)

    This is a “hat’s off” idea. Thanks, Jeremy & Chris.

  • http://ruinunes.com Rui Nunes

    I like these simple platforms that do the work, no fuss! I use Posterous because is quite simple to blog using just a simple email. But what’s going to be non functional to me is that email doesn’t work for me as a reminder since I already got 500 relevant emails a day not to mention the Spammy ones. So, I just use “Things” which is a good App for Mac and keeps me updated with my tasks.

  • http://ruinunes.com Rui Nunes

    I like these simple platforms that do the work, no fuss! I use Posterous because is quite simple to blog using just a simple email. But what’s going to be non functional to me is that email doesn’t work for me as a reminder since I already got 500 relevant emails a day not to mention the Spammy ones. So, I just use “Things” which is a good App for Mac and keeps me updated with my tasks.

  • http://twitter.com/pubcoach Daphne Gray-Grant

    I’ve started following your blog and am very impressed! I’ve been doing a newsletter on writing for the last five years and am going to switch to blogging early in the new year. Anyway, I just wanted to offer you a quick tip.

    The photo you have, above, is too close to the text for easy reading comfort. I’ve noticed this every time you run a photo with the text wrapped around the right.

    I’m going to be learning WordPress shortly but I currently have an HTML based site and I used Adobe’s Contribute as my content management software (REALLY REALLY buggy –don’t use it!!) Anyway, to get some extra space adjacent to my pix in such situations I simply right click on the photo, select the “image properties” choice on the link and then add 15 pixels of horizontal padding.

    I imagine that WordPress would allow you to do something similar. Anyway, my friends will probably all laugh at me for posting this comment (I’m a word-nerd not a designer wannabe!) but I thought you might want to figure out how to fix this little problem. It will make your site look better and your columns easier to read.

    Otherwise really really good stuff!

  • http://twitter.com/pubcoach Daphne Gray-Grant

    I’ve started following your blog and am very impressed! I’ve been doing a newsletter on writing for the last five years and am going to switch to blogging early in the new year. Anyway, I just wanted to offer you a quick tip.

    The photo you have, above, is too close to the text for easy reading comfort. I’ve noticed this every time you run a photo with the text wrapped around the right.

    I’m going to be learning WordPress shortly but I currently have an HTML based site and I used Adobe’s Contribute as my content management software (REALLY REALLY buggy –don’t use it!!) Anyway, to get some extra space adjacent to my pix in such situations I simply right click on the photo, select the “image properties” choice on the link and then add 15 pixels of horizontal padding.

    I imagine that WordPress would allow you to do something similar. Anyway, my friends will probably all laugh at me for posting this comment (I’m a word-nerd not a designer wannabe!) but I thought you might want to figure out how to fix this little problem. It will make your site look better and your columns easier to read.

    Otherwise really really good stuff!

  • Joseph Wesley

    Hey Chris, can you mention to your friend about getting some share links on his site? I was about to share it on FB, but there aren’t any links. Hard for it go viral without that…

  • Joseph Wesley

    Hey Chris, can you mention to your friend about getting some share links on his site? I was about to share it on FB, but there aren’t any links. Hard for it go viral without that…

    • http://twitter.com/jtoeman Jeremy Toeman

      Joseph,
      Good call, thanks. We have a “like” button, but could clearly use more. Will add to to-dos. Guess how? ;)
      Best
      Jeremy

  • http://www.yeokheng.com yeokheng

    The concept is simple, but the function behind the scene is absolutely brilliant!! Other services require registration and they keep sending some “marketing” email which is annoying. Do you think the same concept is applicable to twitter? For eg. @NudgeMail nextweek “Message” then next week I will receive a @Me “Message”

  • Alex_vinetti

    Call me crazy, but doesn’t everyone have access to a calendar softwares on their computers that do this. And if you are in business, you probably have a CRM that does this. If it’s a question of your calendar being on a computer and not the web… use a web based calendar like google. To do lists or task lists based in time… follow ups with dates…

    Am I missing something?

  • Alex_vinetti

    Call me crazy, but doesn’t everyone have access to a calendar softwares on their computers that do this. And if you are in business, you probably have a CRM that does this. If it’s a question of your calendar being on a computer and not the web… use a web based calendar like google. To do lists or task lists based in time… follow ups with dates…

    Am I missing something?

    • http://twitter.com/jtoeman Jeremy Toeman

      Alex,
      OK, you’re crazy! Just kidding. Yes, we all have calendar software, but there are a lot of folks like myself (namely our users) who (1) don’t like using the calendar for to-do’s – it’s not good for that, and (2) have multiple devices that might not sync calendars perfectly, and (3) have inboxes full of stuff to do – later – and want them cleaner. If you’ve found that your calendar and inbox management system is working for your needs, then congrats! Our goal is to help everyone else… and it seems like there’s a lot of us!
      Best
      Jeremy

  • http://www.crazymikesapps.com crazymikesapps

    Chris,

    thank you for the newsletter and this simple, yet cool tool. I am going to nudge myself for the heck of it. Maybe to say to wash the dogs :)

    thanks

    Mike

  • Jkelley

    So simple, so yet effective….just got back from 5 days out of the office and started using this to help me manage the e-mails I need to catch up on by grouping them into times…also find myself dropping my ‘nudge’ in the BCC field….

  • Jkelley

    So simple, so yet effective….just got back from 5 days out of the office and started using this to help me manage the e-mails I need to catch up on by grouping them into times…also find myself dropping my ‘nudge’ in the BCC field….

  • Matthew Tringali

    Thank you for sharing this. I love the concept and am trying to decide how I might use it. I am a Google Apps user and currently use google mail, calendar as well as google tasks and love the way all of these integrate with each other. I easily have the ability to just turn an email into a task to that it pops back up in my calendar later with an action item. I guess one thing I like about my current system though that I would lack with nudgemail is the ability to see all of my pending future tasks. I guess I could accomplish that by searching for “nudgemail” in my google mail, but that would seem a little cumbersome.

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