Yasoon’s new Wunderlist for Outlook is a task manager add-in allows you to manage emails, meetings, and Wunderlist tasks all right within Outlook. Here’s how it streamlined my workflow and saved me a ton of time.
The Disjointed Workflow
It’s 9 am and you just realize that you’re bombarded with meetings for most of the day. On top of that, you’ve got fifty new emails to process. While on-the-go, you make a few important to-do’s in Wunderlist via your smartphone, but then completely forget about these once you start processing your email at the end of the day. Did your task manager let you down?
This scenario happened to me a lot more than you’d like to think. Even with a good GTD system for Outlook email and dedicated time for checking off tasks in my Wunderlist task manager, somehow to-do’s still got missed and people were still let down. I blame some of this on having an unbalanced application workflow. Sometimes, I have more email to-do’s than Wunderlist tasks, and vice versa. With no synchronization between the two technologies or inability to cross-reference tasks and meetings, some things just naturally get dropped.
How did Wunderlist for Outlook help?
It essentially gave me a single synchronized view to see all my emails, meetings, and Wunderlist tasks – at both a professional and personal level. It allowed me to create Wunderlist tasks on my Android while I was on-the-go and then see those tasks side-by-side with my Outlook calendar when I was back at my desk. I could even click-and-drag school-related task items from my Tasks pane directly onto my calendar. How do you like that for time chunking?!?
Secondly, it allowed me to create detailed actionable Wunderlist tasks (and sub-tasks) right from my emails. This was not only a huge time-saver but great for mobility as well. For example, I could convert a “how to fix your leaky faucet” email into a task with detailed notes on tools I’ll need and appropriate steps to take. I could then view this task while I’m shopping for parts (a possible sub-task) or even as a reference while I’m actually working on the faucet.
Thirdly, by plugging my Wunderlist tasks into Outlook, I’m able to get reminders of all upcoming tasks. When I’m working on multiple high-priority items, reminders are a must.
How do you install?
First, go to Yasoon’s Wunderlist for Outlook page and click on the Download Now button. Follow the install instructions and create a Wunderlist account if necessary. Since you’re reading this, I’m assuming most of you already have the Microsoft Outlook 2010/2013 email client and Wunderlist desktop app, but if you’re doing this for the first time, all you need is Outlook and the Wunderlist for Outlook add-in. If you plan to view or create tasks while on-the-go, it helps to have Wunderlist on your smartphone or tablet as well.
Wunderlist for Outlook has been awesome so far. Though still fairly new, this simple Outlook add-in filled a gap that my task manager was previously struggling with. It streamlined my workflow, saved me a ton of time, and improved my follow-through on high-priority tasks. Now, I open my Outlook email client in the morning and say, “Bring it on, baby!”
