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Home Dashboard Contest

Shane D.

By Shane D.
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Joe Leondike

Joe Leondike 16

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6 hours ago, Shane D. said:

Hi there,

Thank you to everyone who participated in our Home Dashboard Contest! We were so impressed and inspired by the creative dashboards you all built to organize your information and maximize productivity!  

Our panel of judges included Ian, our CEO, and representatives from Product, Engineering, Marketing, and Design.  We had a blast going through your entries – and also some good healthy debates. (Talk about a tough decision!)

 

Here are our winners* (drum roll please!): 
 

Professor of productivity
 

  • Joe Leondike: Just looking at your dashboard already makes us feel more productive! We love how you draw ideas from a few approaches from the Eisenhower method to Stacey Harmon’s system to really make it your own. This is the epitome of a straightforward, no-frills, get-things-done home dashboard.

    See Joe’s dashboard here!

     

Captain of creativity
 

  • Sayre Ambrosio: This dashboard is creative on a number of levels! First, we love how visually creative it is - each of the distinct categories are paired with a perfectly matched visual. Additionally, we are inspired by how you set up a shared Evernote note to essentially have the functionality of a website for your community group. 

    See Sayre’s dashboard here!

     

Everything but the kitchen sink - It’s a tie! 
 

  • TK0047: We love your unique take on a home dashboard and were impressed with how comprehensive it is for something that is clearly very important to you: your breadth of software tools. It’s cool that this dashboard makes Evernote the place where you start everything - whether you’re going somewhere within Evernote or to a destination outside.

    See TK0047’s dashboard here!


     
  • Dandrade: This home dashboard is incredibly simple yet effectively organizes your most accessed content. We love that it is structured to separate work and personal as well as current tasks and reference material. It is simple and yet has everything you need to maximize productivity!

    See Dandrade’s dashboard here!

 

We think each one of these dashboards provides great inspiration for how Evernote can help make Evernoters more organized and more productive. 

A huge thank you to everyone for sharing their work and letting us all see the breadth of ways in which Evernote can be used.  We hope folks are inspired and managed to learn more than a few nuggets from each other.

 

Happy holidays and cheers to making 2020 your most productive year ever!

 

* Contingent on successful verification of US residency 

 

 

 

Thank you so very much. I am humbled by all the amazing work everyone is doing. I learned a lot from how others are using Evernote. Keep up the great work. 

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Sand talk

Sand talk 12

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Having read through this topic I am more and more curious as to why a dashboard competition was announced in the first place. I was also surprised at the range of experience people have - from not knowing what a dashboard was, to having some of the most intricate work I've seen in Evernote to achieve their aims. But, this feels like we are working for the system, instead of the system working for us.

My view is Evernote still has basic functionality that it is poorly implemented, or missing and these need to be rectified immediately. The behind the scenes work shows this is happening and kudos to Ian Small and team on this intent. My fear is that Evernote will succumb to scope/function creep. It comes back to the basic premise of "what is Evernote for?" I've seen almost every piece of software I've used go from being light and perfect, to bloated and messy. (Mailchimp being a perfect example). I think Evernote should focus on being the best knowledge management tool there is. And then partner with good PM SaaS offerings. 

Many of the dashboards I've seen here are attempting to replicate PM software, e.g. Asana, Basecamp, etc. Evernote can't compete with these systems in terms of PPP management, workflow, dependencies etc. But, project delivery alwasy fails to adequate capture information generated through the project, especially when it has completed!

I'm sure the developers/UI/UX at Evernote don't need to be told how to build a dashboard. For me as a user in a system the dashboard should aggregate the information in the system and display it in a way that is useful, the way I want it. I would expect a Dashboard in Evernote to allow me to easily add the metadata I want to see, e.g. Notebook, Tag, Notebook+Tag(s), To-do lists, reminders, etc. It's almost the concept of putting selected Saved Searches on a front page. And link out to the SaaS projects. 

And I would still like someone to clarify why this comp was for US residents only...?I would have hoped being a paying customer for 10+ years would have counted... @Ian Small

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gazumped

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12 minutes ago, urusaiyatsu@gmail.com said:

For me as a user in a system the dashboard should aggregate the information in the system and display it in a way that is useful, the way I want it

Hi.  Surely that is the point of dashboards - to display information in the way that I want it - as a small block of graphics accessible from a mobile screen so I can open my database quickly to a specific area of interest?  Of course that is somewhat different from your suggestion outlined above - which is why we all have very different versions of that 'standard' dashboard,  and why Evernote is ideally set up to allow each one of us to express our individuality and specific preferences.  Some of these suggestions have background images,  some not;  others have checklists,  calendars or inspirational quotes.  I'm also a long-time user,  and I prefer Evernote the way it is - although I totally agree that 'light and perfect' is better than otherwise,  and that the team are right to concentrate on making things work efficiently rather than adding bells and whistles.

I think the topic did a great job of inspiring everyone to think of new ways to view and use their data - hopefully we'll see more like this.  I'm also non-US and I suspect the reason for the restriction on participation was mostly cost & admin-based.  Even sending a T-shirt around the world involves postage and local taxes that inflate the expense several times over.  Evernote hasn't gone in for this sort of thing before, so they might be cautiously trying it out...

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DTLow

DTLow 5,736

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2 hours ago, urusaiyatsu@gmail.com said:

I am more and more curious as to why a dashboard competition was announced in the first place

I thought the "why" was obvious; to share the methods we users implement a dashboard    
Your definition of dashboard works: an aggregate of the information in the system,  displayed it in a way that is useful    
I think a more important point is simplified access to the "information in the system" (our data)

I appreciate the submissions, and picked up ideas for my own dashboard use

>>this feels like we are working for the system, instead of the system working for us ... I think Evernote should focus on being the best knowledge management tool there is

I view the system (Evernote) as a generic digital filing cabinet; used for storing and organizing our data

The tools have been provided; we chose how to use them

>>I would expect a Dashboard in Evernote to allow me to easily add the metadata I want to see, e.g. Notebook, Tag, Notebook+Tag(s), To-do lists, reminders, etc. It's almost the concept of putting selected Saved Searches on a front page. And link out to the SaaS projects. 

That's valid.  Other uses have different ideas.    
We shared our methods for implementing these concepts    
I don't want to be locked into a specific method; "e.g. Asana, Basecamp, etc"

>>why this comp was for US residents only

The restriction surprised me too, but I ignored it.    
I still shared my concepts, and still learned from the other submissions 

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TK0047

TK0047 422

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4 hours ago, urusaiyatsu@gmail.com said:

And I would still like someone to clarify why this comp was for US residents only...?I would have hoped being a paying customer for 10+ years would have counted

Shane had responded to this before:

"We've received a lot of questions as to why the contest is restricted to the US. We would have loved to have everyone participate but unfortunately the rules for contests vary greatly by country and within that, by locality within countries. Therefore, it is unfeasible for Evernote to comply with all global regulation required to run a worldwide contest. That said, we greatly value everyone's input and encourage everyone to share their home dashboards!"

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Ian Small

Ian Small 215

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5 hours ago, TK0047 said:

Shane had responded to this before:

"We've received a lot of questions as to why the contest is restricted to the US. We would have loved to have everyone participate but unfortunately the rules for contests vary greatly by country and within that, by locality within countries. Therefore, it is unfeasible for Evernote to comply with all global regulation required to run a worldwide contest. That said, we greatly value everyone's input and encourage everyone to share their home dashboards!"

Just to follow up on this, when Shane refers to "rules for contests", he's referring to laws.

For all sorts of reasons, most of which are due to people or companies using some form of "pretend" contest to take advantage of consumers in the past, most countries have developed a fairly detailed set of laws and regulations that apply to any entity trying to run a "contest" open to their residents.  If you are a company like Evernote that does business globally, you have to pay attention to each country's laws if you are going to run a contest open to residents of that country.  As you can probably imagine, the combinatoric impact of 30 or 40 different sets of laws can make running a truly "global" contest both hugely complex and quite expensive.  And choosing to run a contest (however lightweight) in those countries *without* complying with local laws exposes us to significant risk - because one unhappy resident of that country can file a complaint with their local consumer protection agency, and then we're off having to respond to that, provide appropriate make-good/restitution, etc.

It's unfortunate that these laws apply to a situation like this - where we're encouraging people to share their work with others, and offering some free swag as a "prize" - but there's enough in there to trip the local definition of a contest in most countries.  For something relatively lightweight like this dashboard contest, it just doesn't make sense to try to comply with so many sets of laws.  Instead, we restrict *winners* to the US and live by the laws in this country.  Otherwise it would take months of planning to be able to do something like this.

I recognize that rubs some people the wrong way.  I'm glad most people see through that and understand the goal here was to get forum participants to share experiences with each other, and as a result we had numerous folks who live outside the US sharing their dashboards regardless of not being able to "win" a prize.  But at least between Shane's explanation and this one, please know it's not that we're not interested in you, it's not that we don't care about usage outside the US, and it's not the cost of shipping swag around the world to a winner on the other side of it that causes us to say "US Residents only".

Back to lurking,
ian

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doc martin jr.

doc martin jr. 8

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On 12/4/2019 at 8:16 AM, Terminal said:

Use: Daily this gets generated once I arrive at work. Once generated I use it for quick links to notes I use regularly, track tasks I do daily in the morning, get a daily verse from the Bible to read and study, and a beautiful picture. 
 

additionally, I take random notes at the bottom, which at the end of the day I revisit and generate more detailed notes from my thoughts. 
 

Automated using Automator AppleScript & Bash

Bible verse, picture are unique daily and are generated from open source API's,

 

Dashboard.thumb.png.dc9c8ea2a741c76afcfab5092a01b959.png

Generated if you open Evernote in your Office? That's COOL. A dashboard which is highly flexible editable and with the possibility to implement content from different sources..

6 pm then, showing a inner space screenshot of your fridges with recommendations what to buy and what products are necessary needed , where the product might be available and a pre-calculated route how you get all those things a. fastest way  b. most economically way  c. comparison of coÂČ footprint (buy it now or buy it in one load weekly/monthly) ...

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doc martin jr.

doc martin jr. 8

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4 minutes ago, prascal@gmx.net said:

CONGRAZ. Anyway, there are a few boards really inspired me. Sadly i missed this content... but thanks to all 🐞 for the great inspiration for upcoming 2020 restructuring works in Evernote. Happy day.

To the admins and forum creators:
Might be considerable to open a forum section for dashboards and other creative things in which productivity and creativity works of Evernote users can be presented. We are all looking for solutions and ideas, i would say almost every single day. Sometimes it doesn't needs much but just a great input and a thought-provoking-impulse to find the way to a perfect and tightly fitting solution ... happy day

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Sayre Ambrosio

Sayre Ambrosio 520

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On 12/4/2019 at 7:02 AM, Corybe said:

Wow, you folks just opened my eyes to how I might solve the problem with which I have been struggling for years.  I use Evernote A LOT, and I have been wishing there was a way for it to be the first thing I open each day and have it guide me through my daily tasks and provide resources for said tasks.  I suffer from a brain injury, and my organizational skills, memory, and processing printed material are quite challenged as a result of the damage.  I tried setting up reminder alerts, but that got too cumbersome and overwhelmed me.  Having a dashboard note seems like an answer to my prayers.  Soooo, how the heck do you create one of these and load in dynamic content like photos?  I know how to use note links and such.  I need some help figuring out just how to do this.  Can someone help me?  THANKS!!!!

I also have a brain injury as well as my husband. If you ever have any questions feel free to send me a private message or tag me here on the forums.

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jefito

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On 12/24/2019 at 4:50 AM, urusaiyatsu@gmail.com said:

Having read through this topic I am more and more curious as to why a dashboard competition was announced in the first place.

Well why not? Isn't giving other Evernote users ideas as to how to use dashboards to improve organization, productivity, etc. a good use of the forums? And handing out a little swag and/or recognition can help to spur more participation -- especially by people who might not ordinarily participate in the forums -- at a pretty low cost to Evernote.

On 12/24/2019 at 4:50 AM, urusaiyatsu@gmail.com said:

I was also surprised at the range of experience people have - from not knowing what a dashboard was, to having some of the most intricate work I've seen in Evernote to achieve their aims.

Doesn't need to be fancy. As a longtime, abd reasonably adept, Evernote user, I've used weekly journals to organize the work I do, and that does work to some degree, but seeing the entries here, inspired me to create my own dashboards, both for work and for my personal Evernote, Of course, in true jefito fashion, mine tend to be more spare and utilitarian, and not so fancy as the winners here. Journals give me a record of what I've done; dashboards give me a view of what I need to do next.

On 12/24/2019 at 4:50 AM, urusaiyatsu@gmail.com said:

But, this feels like we are working for the system, instead of the system working for us.

Not sure how that could be. The forums here are mainly for Evernote user participation: bug reporting, feature suggestions, and helping others with ways to use Evernote better. Sure Evernote has self-interest in increasing user engagement (entanglement?) with Evernote, but Evernote being largely an open format (as in no set rules for use), it helps people who are already invested in Evernote to see what how other Evernote users use Evernote differently, and possibly better. Don't want to share or participate? Fine. There's no rule that requires you to.

The beauty of the dashboard concept is that users can build their own pretty easily that suit their own needs, and it doesn't need to be an Evernote feature (i.e., supported in the architecture or UI); it's just something useful that you can do in Evernote with features already available in Evernote.

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jefito

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On 12/28/2019 at 10:16 PM, prascal@gmx.net said:

Might be considerable to open a forum section for dashboards and other creative things in which productivity and creativity works of Evernote users can be presented.

I'd say that at least a couple of the existing subforums of https://discussion.evernote.com/forum/53-evernote-general-discussions/, e.g., https://discussion.evernote.com/forum/279-productivity/ and https://discussion.evernote.com/forum/280-organization/ would be suitable for this,

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DTLow

DTLow 5,736

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On 12/28/2019 at 7:16 PM, prascal@gmx.net said:

open a forum section for dashboards and other creative things in which productivity and creativity ...

I started a dashboards discussion topic at the note linked here
As per @jefito, I think the existing Productivity Forum is a good place for these discussions

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Terminal

Terminal 23

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On 12/28/2019 at 9:36 PM, prascal@gmx.net said:

Generated if you open Evernote in your Office? That's COOL. A dashboard which is highly flexible editable and with the possibility to implement content from different sources..

6 pm then, showing a inner space screenshot of your fridges with recommendations what to buy and what products are necessary needed , where the product might be available and a pre-calculated route how you get all those things a. fastest way  b. most economically way  c. comparison of coÂČ footprint (buy it now or buy it in one load weekly/monthly) ...

Since I use Alfred and it’s sync’d across my personal and work machine. It generates no matter where I open Evernote. 
 

sadly, I am moving everything to NotionSo, as it has many features I’ve been seeking. 

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jefito

jefito 5,589

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Just realized that even though I didn't previously have a dedicated dashboard note, I did use Evernote reminder system as a dashboard of sorts. Tasks I need to work on get a reminder date, as do my weekly journal notes and anything else I need to focus on near-term. Now I'll just add a reminder date to my dashboard note as well. 1 percenters FTW!!

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Sand talk

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On 12/31/2019 at 3:16 AM, jefito said:

Well why not? Isn't giving other Evernote users ideas as to how to use dashboards to improve organization, productivity, etc. a good use of the forums? And handing out a little swag and/or recognition can help to spur more participation -- especially by people who might not ordinarily participate in the forums -- at a pretty low cost to Evernote.

Doesn't need to be fancy. As a longtime, abd reasonably adept, Evernote user, I've used weekly journals to organize the work I do, and that does work to some degree, but seeing the entries here, inspired me to create my own dashboards, both for work and for my personal Evernote, Of course, in true jefito fashion, mine tend to be more spare and utilitarian, and not so fancy as the winners here. Journals give me a record of what I've done; dashboards give me a view of what I need to do next.

Not sure how that could be. The forums here are mainly for Evernote user participation: bug reporting, feature suggestions, and helping others with ways to use Evernote better. Sure Evernote has self-interest in increasing user engagement (entanglement?) with Evernote, but Evernote being largely an open format (as in no set rules for use), it helps people who are already invested in Evernote to see what how other Evernote users use Evernote differently, and possibly better. Don't want to share or participate? Fine. There's no rule that requires you to.

The beauty of the dashboard concept is that users can build their own pretty easily that suit their own needs, and it doesn't need to be an Evernote feature (i.e., supported in the architecture or UI); it's just something useful that you can do in Evernote with features already available in Evernote.

Thanks for the considered response.

I'd only add that I meant it feels sometimes we are working hard for Evernote the 'system' to do what we want, rather than it being easy to achieve what we want. I agree Evernote is a blank slate that lets everyone work as they want, but for me the purpose of a dashboard is to aggregate the work done into a useful summary - rather than something that needs constant maintenance.

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Sand talk

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On 12/24/2019 at 8:22 PM, DTLow said:

I thought the "why" was obvious; to share the methods we users implement a dashboard    
Your definition of dashboard works: an aggregate of the information in the system,  displayed it in a way that is useful    
I think a more important point is simplified access to the "information in the system" (our data)

I appreciate the submissions, and picked up ideas for my own dashboard use

>>this feels like we are working for the system, instead of the system working for us ... I think Evernote should focus on being the best knowledge management tool there is

I view the system (Evernote) as a generic digital filing cabinet; used for storing and organizing our data

The tools have been provided; we chose how to use them

>>I would expect a Dashboard in Evernote to allow me to easily add the metadata I want to see, e.g. Notebook, Tag, Notebook+Tag(s), To-do lists, reminders, etc. It's almost the concept of putting selected Saved Searches on a front page. And link out to the SaaS projects. 

That's valid.  Other uses have different ideas.    
We shared our methods for implementing these concepts    
I don't want to be locked into a specific method; "e.g. Asana, Basecamp, etc"

>>why this comp was for US residents only

The restriction surprised me too, but I ignored it.    
I still shared my concepts, and still learned from the other submissions 

Thanks for the considered response.

Perhaps I was grumpy the day I posted, but if the explanation re competition laws globally etc was given up front then I think it would have avoided the hurrumphing. I'd still love to see global usage stats though...and, these days, if a company wants my IP they need to offer something in return, especially when I'm a paying user...

Agreed everyone should use as they wish. But, it feels like I am often working hard to make Evernote do what I want, rather than it being easy for me. The Dashboards I've seen are impressive but they seem to be a lot of work. I don't want to have to constantly maintain a dashboard, just set it up and it does the work for me. 

The reference to other systems is more the idea of adding flexibility, rather than limiting it, where e.g. I've done lots of work in (more sophisticated and specialised) PM systems already, and want to leverage that work done already. It's the concept of other channels doing the work and Evernote, and users, getting the benefit if time energy is sunk. And it helps promote the product to other audiences - benefits to all.

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gazumped

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1 hour ago, urusaiyatsu@gmail.com said:

I don't want to have to constantly maintain a dashboard, just set it up and it does the work for me. 

Believe me,  I understand the frustration... but I don't know of any software that will jump in and offer a turnkey solution to what for the sake of this discussion I'll call 'personal productivity'. 

If I could afford to employ a systems person to sit next to me for a month so we could map out my activities and design an app - the result still wouldn't be perfect,  because I can use my judgement and experience to deal with occasional curveballs,  but an app either mishandles the situation or just crashes. And a software engineer often has to make compromises between what's wanted and what is currently possible in your OS of choice.  Even bespoke solutions have maintenance and support requirements.

Evernote has been compared to Lego - you can build a Saturn 5 or the Manhattan Skyline (and lots of other stuff in between) from the bits available.  I think that's a strength,  not a weakness - and over time I can build my own bespoke solution that can supply 99.5% of my needs.  I'm up to about 85% now...  🙂

 

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johnataylor

johnataylor 14

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Congratulations to the winners. I enjoyed viewing the multiple dashboards (got some new ideas), and the questions from those to whom the term dashboard was a new concept. That surprised me, because in the nonprofit world I inhabit, dashboards are a pretty common thing. I have one or more dashboard for almost every digital tool I use. In Google Sheets for instance, I have a Master Dashboard that links to all the other important sheets I make use of on a regular basis (as well as to EN notes that apply to that area). For me, a digital dashboard is like the dashboard in an automobile: It's one place to monitor essential operations. In digital space, the dashboard also serves as a launchpad (or as I like to think of it, a bullet train) to other places.

Someone raised the question of linking from a dashboard to individual notebooks. I do this by simply creating an index page in every notebook, then linking that page to my dashboard. The index page serves as a dashboard inside my notebook (sometimes created by the EN "Table of Contents" feature, sometimes updated manually as I add notes within the notebook). I'm a minimalist, so I don't make my dashboards too involved (and I want them easy to use on mobile), but I also like to make things beautiful to brighten my day, so I add in pictures, quotes, etc. Because I do this as a consistent part of my workflow it is not time-consuming, things evolve organically and are easy organized as needed.

I think the fact that we can create dashboards and suitable set ups in Evernote. This highlights how powerful it really is for every day use. It always amazes me how quickly we'll jump ship from Evernote because of the few things it has struggled with over the years (I did over the "privacy gaffe a few years back" but soon returned), while ignoring the things it does well--even if sometimes it takes a little creativity to set those things up. In an time when everyone is touting modular apps (or software that allows you to create the "apps" you want), we often forget that Evernote was already ahead of the curve--many of us simply failed to recognize it initially, and Evernote did advertise these use cases well. So I for one am glad for the Dashboard contest because it highlighted the multiple and personalized ways EN can be used--even if Dashboards aren't your thing.

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Sayre Ambrosio

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On 12/12/2019 at 10:59 AM, merman said:

Would love to see the second layer behind the dashboard. Are there notes listed in table of contents?

@mermanFinally have a functioning 2020 setup. Here is the note to the public notebook if you would like to take a look at how I have it set up. New 2020 images and all. Best way to view it is alphabetical order of course so that the dashboard is at the top. You can also click on the Reminders for the notebook as I have the dashboard pinned there as well.

https://www.evernote.com/pub/csambrosio/act-communitynotebook

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jefito

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2 minutes ago, MosesGTC said:

You guys are creative. I feel I m under using Evernote. For me, it's just bullet journalling format. 

And that's a perfectly valid use. But if you see something in the fancy dashboards that you can use, by all means take advantage of it. There's no real rules as to what's over- or under-using Evernote -- it all depends on what you're trying to do.

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Shane D.

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Hi All,

I wanted to thank everyone again for their wonderful home dashboard submissions!

At this time, I am closing this thread from further commentary.

However, as many of you have requested ( @prascal@gmx.net) , I've created a special home dashboard forum section that you can access here:

https://discussion.evernote.com/forum/644-home-dashboards/

Please continue to share your homepage dashboard ideas and designs there.

As always, let me know if you have any other questions!

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