Current gig: Marketing Manager for commonsku, a software company for the promotional products industry (those are the nice people that sell you pens and shirts with your logo on it).

Working from: Toronto, Ontario - usually at the office, sometimes at home.

Working on: Dell PC at the office, Dell laptop at home, Nexus 5 in-between.

imgres1. Tell us about yourself and the kind of work you do.

I’m a marketing generalist, so I do a bit of everything: copywriting, blogging, tradeshows, SEO, HTML & CSS, analytics, project management, community engagement, social media, folding t-shirts, and occasionally opening the beer on Friday afternoons.

2. What does a typical work day look like?

My workday usually starts at home on the couch.  I check email and do social media scheduling while I’m still in my PJ’s enjoying my morning cup of coffee.  After I get into the office, it’s a mix of meetings and computer work - though the first thing I do when I sit down at my desk is check Sandglaz.

3. How big is your team of coworkers/collaborators?

My company currently has 10 full time staff - I’m the only one in my department though.  I do the most collaboration with our UI/UX specialist, but I work with everyone in the company in the course of my job.

4. Why did you choose Sandglaz?

I’m an admitted task management hopper.  I’ve tried the lot of them. I remember reading about Sandglaz in Lifehacker a few years ago; I tried it out and stayed with it.  What keeps me with Sandglaz is the beautiful simplicity and flexibility of the application. I can expand or contract it as I need to by breaking out or condensing tasks and milestones. I also love the slick UI and how it really forces me to prioritize.

5. How does it fit into your workflow?

Sandglaz is the first place I look every morning, and about a bajillion times throughout the day. I use it to keep track of everything that I currently have on the go.

6. How do you organize your tasks in Sandglaz? 

Right now I have six Sandglaz projects that represent the bigger areas of my work like blogging or landing page updates - these are areas that are never without a to-do.  I also have a catch-all project for the in-betweeners that aren’t big enough to have their own project, but are still important.

My Tasks is an excellent tool for organizing my day.  I use it as a reality check for scheduling out my tasks for each day.  I know that if there are more than 5-7 things on there, I won’t get them all done in a day so I update my projects to something more realistic.  Doing this helps me create timelines not only for me, but for my bosses as well.

I also like to make sure I note the little things that pop-up throughout the day in My Tasks.  In the past, I never really noted those things, so I would sometimes feel like I didn’t accomplish anything at the end of the day.  Now, I pop those impromptu items into my tasks as I do them, so I can review my day before I go home and have a more accurate picture of what I accomplished - even if it wasn’t to my original game plan.

7. In one sentence how did Sandglaz change the way you work?

Sandglaz helped focus me which made me more productive on the things that matter most.

8. What’s the best task or project management advice that you’ve received?

Work is about action, not about planning. Get started and update as you go along.