Determining what’s the right tool for a deliverable is not obvious

Every once in a while, I get into spring cleaning mode and take a look at my online presence. To me, it’s about making sure I know what presence points I have, how I keep them updated, and can some rationalization be done to minimize the amount of effort while maximizing their value. The old 80/20 rule in full effect.

In the past, I’ve used different ways to represent his information: Excel spreadsheets, Visio charts, Powerpoint slides, simple text documents. This time, I started with a pen and a piece of paper, and getting the picture of how I’m spread out was very easy. But when came time to capture to computer, it was a different story. Which tool do I use? Which one is the best for the job? What’s quickest/simplest to use/update?

I first launched Powerpoint, then tried Excel, thought to myself I should probably use OpenOffice instead (it’s not 2nd nature yet), and then launched Impress, and then Calc, only to think that those tools didn’t a) feel right and b) would require me to learn them, when all I really wanted was a quick results, and not a complete learning curve scenario.

I finally ended using Visio. It was quick, alignment guides helped and the result, while not as ‘cute’ is definitely functional, and easy to edit. Below is a picture of my result, and a somewhat semi-intuitive legend on the bottom. In essence, my matrix is trying to define what presence points I have for both my personal and professional lives, as well as in-between, such as this blog (while it talks shop, it’s no strictly IBM).