Online Productivity Tools: taking longer to make your life "easier"

Maybe six years ago, I spent some time setting up my schedule on Yahoo's Calendar. Entering my work routine and creating a Tasks list made me feel very organized, although I could probably have used that time to actually be productive, instead of planning on being productive. I don't recall ever using the calendar again. It's not practical for me as I don't have a mobile device on which to consult my calendar. And it's usually when I'm out and about being mobile that I need access to a calendar most, not when I'm at home in front of my PC. Besides, I challenge anyone to a quick draw: you and your mobile device, me and my trusty 2-year pocket daytimer. I'm sure I can whip that out of my purse, flip to the month I need and pencil in my next hair appointment way faster than you can!

So I chose to explore Google Documents instead...

I can see the usefulness of creating and sharing documents online. Especially for someone like myself who doesn't have the convenience of a laptop, being able to access any document from any computer is an attractive feature. And I can also imagine a number of scenarios in which people could share and edit documents collaboratively. There's no question, the idea is a very good one.

Except...I didn't like it. A few minor irritations presented themselves rather quickly. I couldn't see what page of my document I was on unless I went to Print Preview. And the comments that were present in the document I uploaded didn't display on my home computer, although they did on the computers at work.

But the big drawback is the speed. While it uploaded a Microsoft Word document from my PC in a jiffy, it slowed to an absolute crawl when I tried to edit it. The same thing happened when I created a document in Google Docs from scratch. Slooooow! So slow that I had to stop typing every so often and wait for it to catch up. And if I used the vertical or horizontal slide bars, clicked elsewhere in the document to reposition my cursor, or used the arrow keys to manoeuver around my document...well, let's just say you've got time to brew a cup of coffee, clean the cat's litter box, or maybe even phone your mother between moves! I'm assuming this happens because it's in constant saving mode. And admittedly, my computer at home runs at snail speed to begin with, but the same thing happened when I tried using Google Docs on the computers at work.

So, what I've gained in convenient access, I've lost in speed, and therefore in productivity as well.