For task list management, I use Hands High's ToDo PLUS instead of the standard To Do List application. ToDo PLUS (at http://www.handshigh.com/html/todoplus.html) gives me better presentation of due dates and priorities, the ability to set alarms for tasks, better control over which tasks are displayed, and a large menu of date selection items such as "Monday," "End of month," and "+1 week." Some of these features may have made it into the standard To Do List application, but I have been using ToDo PLUS for some time. Last time I checked, several of these features were still missing. In addition, Hands High has given me excellent technical support and updates. Its compatibility with the normal To Do database allows you to view items in Palm Desktop and beam items and categories to other users while only losing the extra features.

Scheduling, hours tracking, and billing
I still use the standard Date Book application. In addition to handling my appointment scheduling, it serves as the center of my hours tracking. I happen to bill on quarter hour increments. If I were billing in tenths or by the minute as you may find in a law office, I would need one of the many time tracking applications available for download. Figure A shows an example schedule from the end of a day at a client's site.

FIGURE A

I use the standard Date Book to schedule client meetings and record hours.

Now is a good time to mention shortcuts. I set up shortcuts for the words "Meeting," "Requirements," "Manager," "Management," and may others. I also set up shortcuts for client's names and other frequently scheduled names and events. The more commonly I use the shortcut, the fewer letters I assign to it.

Of course, tracking your hours in this way doesn't fill out time sheets. As much as possible, I handle time reporting and billing electronically. Most accounting departments can handle electronic spreadsheet attachments to email, and some even welcome them. I use Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to create time sheets and invoices.

The convenience is that I use Documents To Go from DataViz (at http://www.dataviz.com/products/documentstogo/index.html) to synchronize spreadsheets on my Palm handheld with those on my desktop. Figure B shows an example of a time sheet in Sheet To Go, the spreadsheet portion of Documents To Go.

FIGURE B

Sheet To Go allows you to update and synchronize with Microsoft Excel.

I can update the time sheets and prepare invoices in advance, keeping the full spreadsheets with company logos and digital signatures on the desktop.

I haven't yet used products like TealPrint to print time sheets or invoices directly from my PDA. I suspect that the formatting that I have on the desktop but that Documents To Go omits from the handheld, like logos, would be lost if I tried that. I also have not tried beaming these documents for the same reason and because of the loss of the paper trail.

As a bonus, I also keep things like weight, blood pressure, and workout logs in spreadsheets. Whenever I need to travel, they are conveniently available. The Documents To Go Add-On Kit even adds graphing capability, although it can be awkward to use and not as fully functional as on the desktop.