Can you unplug? Making time to have a life. More than ever, today’s newsrooms are trying to do more with less. Learn tips to help you manage your time and those of your newsroom teams, while getting the job done and staying sane. (Jeremy Caplan)

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Summary Notes:
1. Fresh start ​= Hit restart. Do things differently. Be the who who smiles, not “stressed”
2. New habits​. Seek new strengths. = By 2019, how will you be different? Start a habit.
3. Experiment. Explore.​ = Try a new app(roach). Allocate 15 minutes/day to an experiment.
4. Streamline your stuff.​ Trello for projects. 5 - 10 columns of stuff. Simple to-do
list.
5. Set up your digital notebook.​ Evernote works. Phone it in. Clip from Web, email.
6. Simplify email.​ “Batch” so you can focus. 1 thing at a time. Check hourly. Be brief.
Follow-up. Search, don’t file. Use searchtags eg #craft #bronx. Undo send =
magic.
7. Rituals rule.​ Morning routine. Tech break. News diet. Build muscle memory.
8. Create patterns​, e.g. screenless Saturday am, bed = paper only. 1-minute journal.
9. Use your willpower thoughtfully​. Start days strong. Mens sana in corpore sano.
10.Seek balance.​ Be someone who both has time to enjoy and gets things done.
One specific step I’m going to take this week:

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Core Toolkit
1) Google Drive​ for documents | ​Slack​ for team communication
2) Google Calendar​ for keeping track of everything you have to do
3) Dropbox​ / ​Crashplan​ for backing everything up for your sanity
4) Google Keep​ or ​Tasks​ / ​Apple Reminders​/ ​Toodledo​ for to-do items
5) Google Voice​/​Contacts​ for contacts and calls
6) Instapaper​ for saving items to read later
7) Tweetdeck​/​Hootsuite​/​Buffer​ as a social media dashboard
8) Trello​ for managing projects and goals
9) Adobe Spark Suite​/​Canva​ for designing graphics
10) ​Evernote​ for loose tidbits of info / ​Calendly​ for managing appointments
11) ​Gmail​ for unified communication
12) MixMax​ & ​Boomerang​ for email efficiency
13) Mediagazer​ and ​Techmeme​ for keeping up with media & tech
14) Nuzzel​ for socially-curated news
15) Castro​/​Overcast​/​Downcast​/​Radio Public​ for podcasts
16) Snapseed​/​Layout​ for mobile photo editing/collage
17) Quik​/​Adobe Clip​/​Legend​/ for creating quick mobile videos
18) Waterlogue​/​Prisma​/​Pikazo​/​Lucid​/ for photo illustrations
19) Lynda​ for learning on your own
20) ProductHunt​ for keeping up with new stuff
One specific tool I’m looking forward to testing out this week:

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7 Tips for Digital Ninjas
Techniques + Tools for Digital Efficiency
by ​@JeremyCaplan​ | Version 3.0 March 2018
Link To Share this Document:​ ​bit.ly/jcninja
Related slides: ​bit.ly/pubtech18​ | Fave Tools: ​bit.ly/toolkit18
1. Streamline Your Digital Life
a. The Technique:​ Create and use a digital filing cabinet
b. The Why: ​Add and find notes, lists, references + other vital info quickly
c. The How:​ Use ​Evernote​ to input + access notes quickly & easily
Tips:
❏ Clip anything​ from the Web or Gmail
❏ Email stuff in​ using your private Evernote email address
❏ Use the app to make audio notes or record interviews
❏ Use the app to take photos as visual notes or to publish later
❏ Use the free software to add notes from your computer
❏ Use the Web version to add notes from any computer anywhere
❏ Set up notebooks for each project or story you’re working on
❏ Set up tags for each class or topic area for future searching
❏ Share or publish notebooks to collaborate with others
❏ Learn more: Evernote’s official ​tips​ or Mashable’s ​newbies guide

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2. Liberate Your Stuff
a. The Technique:​ Use a Web-based document creator
b. The Why:​ ​GDocs​ are: accessible anywhere, collaborative, publishable,
embeddable​, searchable (account-wide), reliable, translate-able,
auto-saved, exportable
c. The How:​ Get to know 10 key aspects of GDocs
Tips:
❏ Share docs with individual collaborators
❏ Publish docs to the world with view or edit access
❏ Add images, tables or drawings
❏ Link any word or phrase by selecting it and clicking COMMAND+k
❏ Download or email docs as Word, PDF, or whatever else
❏ Add comments (w/ Command-Opt-M) + track revision history
❏ Access docs from any mobile device or Web browser
❏ Use the “​New Doc​” Chrome app to add a new doc browser button

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3. Turbocharge Your Email
a. The Technique:​ Implement a new approach to streamline your inbox
b. The Why:​ 500 email messages/week yield the biggest time challenge
c. The How:​ ​Here’s my Email Ninja guide​. Tips + tools = Email Efficiency
Tips:
❏ Search, Don’t File. (Filing messages = 3.4x slower than searching)
❏ Use ​advanced search terms​ to find email efficiently; “is:unread”
❏ has:attachment; from:caren; subject:budget; newer_than:2d
❏ Be Early. Email links sent @6am vs 4pm = 3x more likely to click
❏ Install ​Boomerang for Gmail​ to schedule when your email is sent
❏ Be Brief. People spend ​73 seconds per reply​. 50 replies take hr/day
❏ Batch, Don’t Squirrel. Pick 10x/day to check email i.e. hourly 9-5
❏ 4 ​shortcuts​: C = Compose |R = Reply |A = Reply All |F = Forward
❏ Unify Inboxes: check mail centrally to speed things up
❏ Avoid Disaster. Enable ​“Undo Send”​ in GMail Labs
❏ Email out to ​Evernote​, ​Instapaper​, ​Pocket​, ​Dropbox​, and ​Toodledo

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4. Manage Yourself
a. The Technique:​ Decide on 4 key life areas and pick 10 projects for each
b. The Why​: Keep track of the big picture as well as specific next steps
c. The How: ​Use a project tracking tool or to-do list or Evernote
Tips:
❏ Try ​Trello​ to manage projects and tasks on a sleek board
❏ Alternatively, use ​Evernote​ or a to-do app like ​Toodledo​ or ​Any.do
❏ Keep categories simple: Imminent vs. Someday
❏ Review projects, tasks and deadlines weekly at the same time
❏ Create rituals that ensure good practices become solid habits
❏ Use a Web/app ​calendar​ for classes, meetings, deadlines + events
❏ Maintain a Web-accessible contacts list using ​GContacts​, ​Brewster
❏ Use ​Google Voice​ to unify phone numbers, record calls, etc.
=

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5. Design a Dashboard
a. The Technique:​ Set up a social media dashboard
b. The Why:​ Keep on top of your beats and other topics you care about
c. The How:​ Use ​Hootsuite​ or ​Tweetdeck​ and customize your setup
Tips:
❏ Invest an hour in initial setup to yield saved time & new story ideas
❏ Add 3 Twitter lists (i.e. ​CUNYJfaculty​, ​Class of ‘1​8, ​NYC areas​)
❏ Add 3 Hashtags (​#wjchat​ ​#journchat​ ​#digitaljournalism​ ​or others​)
❏ Add 3 Searches (i.e. Bronx + Crime, “Skin Cancer,” “Your Name”)
❏ Schedule Tweets (w/ Hootsuite, Tweetdeck or Buffer)
❏ Add Facebook and LinkedIn to Hootsuite

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6. Save Yourself
a. The Technique:​ Backup Your Stuff
b. The Why:​ Save Heartache, Headache & Time
c. The How:​ Use ​Dropbox​, Time Machine and Google Photos + YouTube
Tips:
❏ Get a 1tb or bigger drive as a ​Time Machine​ backup for your laptop
❏ Free Time Machine works seamlessly, automatically w/ Macs
❏ Tip: Set a weekly weekend time for the backup
❏ Download ​Dropbox​ and put key folders into a Dropbox folder
❏ Why Dropbox? Easy, reliable, automatic, works with other apps
❏ Tip: 5 primary Dbox folders (photos, notes, video, audio, research)
❏ Upload photos to ​Google Photos​ / ​Flickr​ (free online storage!)
❏ Upload important, edited videos to ​YouTube​ (set privacy)

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SLACK 101
3 Ways Slack Can Be Useful
1. Private Messaging​ with group members with a simple place to access
past messages.
a. Example: I want to message Bob about our teaching plan for
today’s VideoLab class, and I want to message a student with
feedback on something, and I want students to be able to ask me a
quick question that I can reply to easily, and to message each
other in a way that promotes collaboration and teamwork.
2. Simple Discussions​ in one place for sharing info, resources or ideas
on a particular topic.
a. Example: I spot a job opening or an internship and I share it to a
Slack channel Andrea is on— the channel is specifically related to
job opportunities. There’s no need for Andrea to email me back,
no need for her to search through email to find a link I sent, no
need for three other people to send her the same thing they found.
3. Sharing Files
a. Rather than emailing files back and forth, Slack stores documents
for easy subsequent retrieval.
i. Example: I share a PDF explainer doc with students
explaining how to use an app, or a schedule doc that
reminds them about upcoming events, or other documents.
They can access those docs in the relevant channels for
events, or in the relevant channel for tips and tools.
Tips:
1. Go all-in with Slack to reduce burden on your inbox and to ensure that
everyone relies on it and uses it actively.
2. Use private groups for small discussions that don’t affect a larger group.
3. Use reactions in lieu of replies to confirm that you’ve seen something.
4. Start with a small number of channels, expand when a channel is needed

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Challenges:
1. Getting people up to speed in a busy environment can take a little time
and effort, and people have to be willing to make the effort and initial
investment.
2. Getting people to add yet another platform to their regular mix of email,
news, Facebook, Twitter and whatever else can be an initial challenge.
3. Figuring out the nuances of Slack’s capabilities takes a bit of poking
around and experimentation.
Within two years of its birth, Slack had a $2.8 billion valuation and
750k daily users.
Newsrooms on Slack: Quartz, Vox, Buzzfeed, Slate, Fusion, Times of London
Additional Resources:
Getting Started with Slack​ - ​Slack’s Own Guide / ​First Steps for New Users
Slack’s Promo Video
NiemanLab on How 7 News Orgs Are Using Slack
Slack 101
Slack Handbook (Created for Emerson College​)
What Slack looks like:
Notes by @jeremycaplan

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Bonus: 10 Mobile Apps to Consider
Category Recommendation
Notes Evernote
Documents GDrive​ and ​Dropbox
Projects/Tasks Trello​, ​Toodledo​ and ​Any.do
Photography Instagram​ and ​Camera+
Photo Editing Snapseed
Video Quik​ and ​Magisto
Social Media Dashboard Hootsuite​ and ​Tweetdeck
Podcasts Castro App
Reading Instapaper
[Your favorite apps? Feel free to highlight this text and add them as a Comment]
Bonus Resources:
1. bit.ly/medianext18​ for summary of new trends
2. bit.ly/smarterphone18​ for more mobile links
3. bit.ly/cooltools17​ for seven social media toolsets and ​bit.ly/wondertools​ for tools
4. bit.ly/ninjasanity​ and ​bit.ly/jcninja​ for notes and more links from this talk
5. bit.ly/storytools17​ for new tools for storytelling
6. bit.ly/ejlinks​ for entrepreneurial journalism resources
More Links: Streamline Be an Email
Ninja
Sharpen Your
Phone
Update Your
Toolkit
What’s Next