I’m attempting to write (and complete) an ebook, but I haven’t even opened it in almost two weeks (sigh). This shouldn’t be a long project because this is all stuff I know off the top of my head – not much research required – the words should just flow onto my keys. But it’s not happening.

So I figured that it’s about time to micro-manage myself (pretty embarassing). I was going to spend an hour or so preparing a project plan of the pages and chapters that I should write on a daily basis. I had learned about this product, SmartSheet, which is similar to Microsoft Project.   MS Project is THE tool that project managers use to get their project done on time and on budget.  SmartSheet brings most of the same workflow as MS Project has to the web, and makes it easy to collaborate.

For the most part, both SmartSheet and Project are simply glorified spreadsheets.  So, I signed up for a SmartSheet account and as I was playing around with how I might use SmartSheet I recalled that I had already created a project spreadsheet similar to the one I was building – in Google Docs.

So I went over into my Gmail account and looked at some of the lab features I had added recently:

• Show your Google Docs in Gmail
• Create task from email
• Quick Links (add bookmarks to Gmail)

Plus some of the general features:

• Google Docs – spreadsheets, presentations, word processing, which can be organized by folders
• Google Reader
• Calendar
• Photos

I also just read on this post that you can now convert a really good gmail conversation into a Google Doc.

What??  All of these items together can make a perfect project management tool. The calendar and tasks can be used for scheduling and project planning; the address book can be used to manage your contacts (and if they send you an email with a to-do item, you can convert it to a task).  You can group all of your documents by project – group all of your presentations, graphics, spreadsheets in a folder in Google Docs. Or maybe a new Gmail account for each project so you can manage them separately – but maintain them all in your main Gmail account.

The only thing I don’t like about Gmail is the lack of folders for email. I know they have labels, but sometimes you just don’t want to see 100s of emails in your inbox!

I’m going to try it out and see if I can come up with a good system.  But for now, back for planning out my schedule to finish my ebook.