Protocol Productivity

There’s always a shiny new productivity tool promising to make life easier. The only way to escape the pressure of constantly switching tools for a better workflow is by using protocols. Protocols are independent of tools. I won’t dive into the specifics of SMTP, CalDAV, or CardDAV here. These protocols are represented by email, calendar, and contact book. That’s all you need to get things done.

This, of course, requires you to build your workflow around the protocols. They limit you, but that's the beauty of it. This way, you have to make fewer decisions about how to get things done, allowing you to focus on what really matters.

To-do Lists, Daily Planners, Personal CRMs

The question is how to manage things without relying on to-do apps, database templates or no-code tools. It's all about leveraging protocols.

For tasks, use your email inbox as a simple to-do list. When you send yourself an email, it’s like assigning a task to yourself. Incoming emails? Think of them as tasks from others.

To plan your day, review your email tasks and block time on your calendar for each one. The event description is a handy spot for notes, so you can keep all the important details in one place.

For managing contacts, your contact book has everything you need—URLs, addresses, notes, and more. No need for fancy no-code tools to build a personal CRM.

Clients

I mentioned not relying on fancy tools, but you still need to choose a client for the protocol. My personal criteria for a good client are: nice design, no distractions, minimalistic, and local-first. Keep in mind, clients often add extra features that aren't always part of the protocol itself.

For email, I think Superhuman is the best, though it's more expensive. But you can also set up Gmail to work like Superhuman. For team communication, Spike takes an interesting approach by turning email into a chat-like view. In the daily planner space, many tools try to add calendar features, but I think it's important to choose a client that is built around the calendar from the start. Amie does a good job of this and also includes email features. For contacts, Clay fits the category, though it adds a lot of extra features, which can be distracting.

What about Note Taking?

There are some note taking protocols with interesting approaches to using knowledge graphs, but they don't seem to be ready for widespread use yet. Technically, it's not a protocol, which is why I didn't mention it earlier, but I see Markdown as the common standard for note taking. Using the same criteria as other tools, this means avoiding features like pages within pages or synced blocks. That's why I would recommend Haptic.

If that resonates with you, or if you have other ways to use these protocols or different clients, I’d love to hear your thoughts.