Below the Line

Toodledo and tailored, too*

I've started using Toodledo and I thought it was worth at least a mention as a useful account management and project management tool.

Toodledo is an online task manager which enables users to keep track of tasks and assign tasks to other team members. In terms of agency life, the useful features include:

• A timer feature which can help your team when it comes time to fill out timesheets or draft invoices
• The ability to estimate how long the task will take (read: no timesheet padding)
• A scheduling feature, so that team members can find the most appropriate tasks to work on based on the task priority, estimated time to complete the task and how long they have available to work on a task (e.g. "I am free for the next two hours - what should I work on?")

There is also an iPhone app which syncs with the data stored on the web so you can assign tasks or update their status on the go.

If used consistently by the entire team, this could significantly reduce the amount of time that the account management and/or project management team spend on updating status reports.It could also be a useful bug-tracking tool for web builds (though it's certainly not the most robust tool out there for this application).

In terms of "cons", I was originally interested in syncing the tasks with my Outlook task list, but Toodledo's web site says that there have been some problems with these tasks disappearing and that they cannot be responsible for third-party applications misbehaving. As I can't risk my tasks going MIA, I'm not able to use this feature.

Toodledo does have its limitations, but you can set up job folders and tailor the way the tasks appear on the screen. All in all, if you are looking for a way to consolidate tasks across your team, Toodledo is a worthwhile tool.

A pro subscription costs $14.95 per person per year and the iPhone app is currently $2.99.

For a comparison of Toodledo with Remember the Milk, another online task manager, check out this post at Web2andMore.net.

*Bonus points if you can figure out the famous U.S. campaign song to which this blog post title refers. (Hint: It established the power of signing as a campaign device.) Leave a comment if you know it and I'll give you a shout out on Twitter.

Mad Men validates account management

For every person in account management who has suffered through the "what is it, exactly, that you do" line of questioning, the season three finale of Mad Men offers some great validation.

Roger Sterling: I'm not going to throw it all away because he doesn't want to work at McCann.

Don Draper: Do you want to work there?

Roger Sterling: You don't value what I do any more than they do. 

Don Draper: I was wrong. I learned that with Hilton. I can sell ideas, but I'm not an account man. 

Roger Sterling: You're not good at relationships because you don't value them.

...and in a later scene.

Roger Sterling: Yes we want your accounts, but we also want your talent.

Pete Campbell: Really? What are my talents?

Roger Sterling: You'll do what it takes.

Pete Campbell: No. I want to hear it from him.

Don Draper: It's not hard for me to say, Pete. You saw this coming, we didn't. In fact, you've been ahead on a lot of things: aeronautics, teenagers, the negro market. We need you to keep us looking forward. I do, anyway.

That should put a smile on the face of account managers everywhere. Except McCann, of course.