Attention PM's! How do you stay organized? Lists? Evernote?

Question

Hello PM's or Landlords!

I've been in the industry for 6 years as a PM, Maintenance Director, Vacation Rental Management, etc. in Denver, CO, and Breckenridge, CO. I've always struggled with task management/to-do lists and I've been bouncing back and forth with different methods for years. I wanted to solve this problem once and for all by reaching out to the Bigger Pockets community and seeing what platforms, techniques, or methods other landlords/PM's use that works for them. Within my company, other PM's use Excel, Evernote, legal pads, etc. so I understand that there's something different for everyone.

My current method is making lists/to-do's on a legal pad (highlighting the most important and urgent tasks) and I've been using Evernote for my reference material for years. This has worked great for me but once and a while something falls through the cracks and I'm SICK of carrying around my stack of legal pad sheets!

ANY advice or tips is greatly appreciated!

Anthony Angotti · Answer

@Taylor Wagner

Every task we do we document step by step no matter how small it is. I have my employees handle this because they are basically creating a manual for what they do as they do it. That way there is consistency. Each process has a checklist (reviewing tenants, filling maintenance requests, leasing, etc.) so that each task is done.

Each unit renovation we track in a google sheet that we fill in blocks for project management. I used to use Microsoft project manager, but with less deliverables than necessary it was more cumbersome than needed.

We have some of these through our property management software (we use Buildium) and others are just paper sheets.

All of our weekly meetings we keep minutes/actionable items in evernote so that we can reference back.

On a personal level I keep a moleskin and update tasks that are one offs. For things that I should be doing as a business owner and personally for consistency I use an app called habits. I sent my consistent tasks on timers that show me how often I am doing them. That could be reviews with employees, marketing tasks, personal things like running, going to gym, etc. It gives me a score for how well I'm completing that task and the gamification of it helps me personally.

Nathan Gesner · Answer

I use checklists for every repetitive project/task and then plug them into Asana. For example, any time I have a new tenant, I use a template in Asana to create a checklist for that particular tenant. I have templates for moving in or out, adding tenants, removing tenants, starting or terminating management, evictions, working with a buyer or seller, etc.

Each checklist task can have sub-tasks, due dates, be assigned to team members, followed by other team members, comments, and more. I can even attach documents to a task so if the task requires a specific form, the form can be right there so I don't have to look at it.

Every task can have a deadline. Asana notifies me every day of the tasks that are due that day. it takes a little work to learn the system and set up your tasks but things flow much smoother once it's done, particularly if you have a team.

Mark Ainley · Answer

@Taylor Wagner I am a zero inbox guy so what I use is a Gmail add on called Active Inbox that allows you to push a specific email to a future date to pop back up on that day you designated.  This creates a daily list for me and it includes messages I send myself.

Ruth Blue · Answer

@Taylor Wagner

We after a year of trial and error have developed a system that works for us. WE have a spreadsheet that is shared with each partner. The first sheet is DAY TO DAY. I have programmed each STR cabin in a list that must be selected then super easy to #1. DATE #2. Cabin name #3 ISSUE #4. Resolution.

It is simple and it works to keep everyone on track. I have tried so many system that promote making it easy but the process of learning new systems and implementing them is always a job in and of itself. This works because it's simple.

We have one designated person who does maintenance calls and we both check back to the list often to chat about resolutions. WE use shared google docs for all correspondence.

Dropbox shared for pictures and videos. We have a cheat sheet list of each property, bed count, link we refer to often we keep in Google Keep. We also use Evernote to save filed pictures for each property to reference to when guests or owners have questions.

Sounds like alot but honestly everyone needs to find what systems work for them. The key is finding something you will actually stick with and DO to stay organized. If its a job to do if your like me you wont do it!

Attention PM's! How do you stay organized? Lists? Evernote?

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