Hello,
This is mostly inspired by the discussion I saw regarding who is using Evernote, but more I thought I would open it up for more answers.
The problem is that I’m still getting my digital life together but I share it with my better half who isn’t as enamored with the possibilities as I am. Our computing set up is an iMac at home that uses my icloud account and we both have iphones.
Should I pursue keeping information that needs to be shared in Apple Notes, Evernote or some other solution that I haven’t considered.
Bonus tanget/relationship points if you have tips or stories about how you share your projects with your SO. Honey Do lists are good.
For me we have a shared folder in google drive for all that stuff, and I gave her an omnifocus mail drop email to send me tasks to do.
Your best bet though seems to be to, just double down on apple notes, and probability have a note that you use as task capture location for whatever your system is
I found that most of my family members don’t get excited like I do about new apps for collaboration. When it comes to sharing information, I now default to stock apps, especially reminders, apple notes, and pages/numbers.
Shared reminders work for us - groceries, clean the litter box, etc.
For a recent vacation, I created a shared Apple Note for our packing lists.
And you can always talk
My partner is not quite the tech geek I am, so this is something I’ve also had to try to navigate. As with most couples we have no shortage of shared business, so of course I want to leverage technology to try and make this sharing easier.
We have shared reminders, notes, calendars, a shared 1Password vault, a few shared Dropbox folders, and iCloud Photo Sharing albums. We have used AirTable’s collaboration features (basically a user-friendly, graphical, relational database app) to coordinate an ongoing international move.
I have come to a few conclusions about getting partners on board with tech:
It needs to be something that makes their life better or easier, not just something that scratches your tech itch. You can warm them up to a given idea by, when appropriate, sharing how you are using it. (“Hey, you know, I use this thing called XYZ, and you know it really helps me keep my tasks organized, and it integrates with my calendar so I never miss a deadline! It’s really made things easier for me”). You can play the long game here.
Related to (1), you are the expert in the pair. Of course. you’ve tried all the things, know each option in and out. As such, use your expertise to make a wise choice about which software or service you actually suggest. Make sure the one you pick is stable, easy, and has a manageable learning curve. This may mean you end up suggesting an app that isn’t your favourite.
Be smart about when you choose to suggest a tech/nerd solution. Don’t try to insert your favourite app or service into every single problem or bit of shared business. Pick the ones that are easiest to onboard your partner with, or which will have the maximum benefit. You just aren’t going to get your non-geek (or perhaps just differently-geek) partner on board with everything.
Do some of the legwork. For example, if you are trying to get your partner into a password manager, put any shared logins into a vault already, even ones that your partner is typically responsible for. Just make sure you don’t violate the “teach a man to fish” mantra. You just want to ease some of the front-loaded effort so they can hit the ground running a bit easier.
Suggest you and your partner try the thing out first before going all-in, and if things don’t work out, it’s okay.
After you’ve made your case, ask your partner if they think the tech solution is something they want to do and if they say no, you should probably drop it (you could consider revisiting it at a later date).
There’s also a few things that you may just want to do. For example, setting up Backblaze for my partner and I. I just set it up for her (with her permission, of course). When she had time, I walked her through, briefly, any maintenance or monitoring she needs to do. There may be instances where this “just do it” approach is best.
Another example might be getting your partner on board with collaboration features of something they already use. If they already use Calendars but don’t share one, invite them to a shared calendar and start putting things in there. If they use Dropbox but aren’t sharing folders with you, find something in your life you share, put it in the folder, and share it.
I love tech solutions. My husband does not. I have tried everything to share information and to do lists electronically - standard Apple apps, specific apps for to do lists and taskings, grocery apps…you name it, I’ve tried to introduce it to him. In the end, he’s just a manual person. I use ToDoist to keep track of time-based tasks like bills and home maintenance etc. We have shared iCloud calendars but I manage them almost exclusively (standard conversation in our home: Hey babe, can you add ABC to the calendar/remind me on XYZ date to do something?). We have a paper calendar on the kitchen wall which records big movements such as holidays or doctor’s appointments for the kiddo. I’ve created a Dropbox “filing cabinet” where I store all our paperwork. Hubby has access, but has never logged on.
For my sanity, I do have the following rules:
My electronic calendar is king. If it’s not on there, it doesn’t exist.
All correspondence comes in via email where at all possible (bills, bank statements etc) to aid with filing.
I need to be digitised to the extent that in an emergency, I can get us back up and running with internet access.
My wife and I do several things to share information. We both use Macs, iPads and iPhones.
Shared Apple Notes. A packing list is a good example.
Shared Calendar – great for adding meetings and social events that we both need to be aware of (Christmas parties, BBQs, travel and plane flights, etc).
On the Macs, we have a shared Folder on our home wifi network that allows access to files like photos, documents, etc. This was great during our home renovation, where we had lots of paper and invoices from the interior designer, contractor, etc.
My perspective is to try to make the built-in apps work for the task at hand first, rather than reflexively going to a third party solution like Evernote, etc.
It’s been a long journey to get her on board with it, but my wife and I now have several decent, if not perfect, solutions.
For groceries, we use GroceryIQ. It has its flaws, but for scanning UPC codes and syncing with the cloud and organizing by aisle, it works best for us.
For calendars, I’ve finally moved us from Gcal o iCloud, which works much better and now she sees my work and personal calendars and I see her calendars and we’re keeping track much better. But we both know that if it isn’t on the calendar, then it isn’t happening.
For photos, we’ve decided my Photos library is the canonical one, so I have installed Dropbox on her phone and logged into my Dropbox account there. (She doesn’t use Dropbox on her phone otherwise and I don’t care if she can see what’s in my Dropbox; I acknowledge this may not work for other couples.) And I have set Dropbox to auto-upload all her photos to the Camera Uploads folder. On my Mac, I have Hazel watching that folder, running an AppleScript to import the photos, tagging them as imported, copying the photo to an archive folder on my NAS, and then deleting it. It’s a kludge until Apple figures out how to do a proper family Photo library.
We also have some shared Evernote folders for important documents related to finances and healthcare.
I have a similar photos setup. Hazel files everything into yyyy-mm folders but I also have smart folders set up by device — my wife and I have never had the same model phone or camera, so these smart folders let me see one stream or the other easily. And if I ever wanted to tag by photographer it would be easy to do.
Thank you everyone!
I didn’t share my digital set up that my wife and I kinda share.
As mentioned, we didn’t have a solution but would communicate in person or via text/emails. This works most times. I’m hoping that Apple Notes will help us with more complicated things, but it hasn’t been tested just yet.
For shopping, we use the reminders app or go together.
We use iCloud for calendaring and this has really worked for us because we have two kids. With the electronic calendar we have completely avoided issues related to scheduling conflicts. It’s first come, first served… unless she tells me that we can’t do it.
For photos, we have use Apple photos and manually sync her pictures. She’s got a 8gig iphone 5 and I have an iphone 6s so I’m in charge of family pictures.
