Organized Time

Microcomputer programs designed to increase personal productivity haven't been runaway best-sellers. Recent developments, though, are now making these packages more attractive executive tools.

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In theory, it seemed like a great idea. Why not let the microcomputer take over the dreary daily routine: keeping track of things to do, places to go, people to see. Freed of these mundane, quotidian chores, the executive could concentrate on important tasks -- like running the business.

Thus, in 1979 was born Time Manager, a personal scheduling and appointment software package that has spawned at least 25 imitators. Ranging in price from less than $55 to more than $990 (for The Scheduler, from Micro Information Systems Inc. of Montgomeryville, Pa., a program dedicated to untangling the complicated lives of attorneys and accountants), the majority do many of the same calendar-juggling tasks -- some, however, better than others. A few of the programs will diligently search for an open time slot; others will remind you that an important meeting is coming up. Many produce expense reports; some will coordinate a number of different schedules.

For the most part, though, these programs have failed to fire the managerial imagination. "Let's just say [Time Manager] wasn't the biggest hit in the world," says a spokeswoman for Microsoft Corp., a Bellevue, Wash.-based software publishing house that recently dropped the version of the program it had been distributing for Apple computers.

Why have executives been reluctant to dump their Day-at-a-Glance paper calendars in favor of electronic schedulers? "A lot of them still seem to prefer the human element," says Andy Johnson, manager of Your Business Software Inc., a Dallas retail outlet that has sold only two or three of these programs in six months. "They have a secretary who tugs on their sleeve and says, 'Mr. Jones, you have an important board meeting in the morning.' Those who do buy the programs often find that they don't perform the kinds of jobs they thought they would or don't do enough to warrant the effort involved in updating them."

Until recently, however, one of the greatest liabilities of time management programs was the fact that the computer had to be dedicated entirely to their use in order for them to work most effectively. "If I'm doing word processing or spreadsheet analysis and someone gives me a call and says, 'Hey, can we get together for lunch next Thursday?' says Paul Schuman, software product manager for Businessland Inc., a 15-store San Jose, Calif.-based computer retail chain, "I've got to save the document I've been working on, take out the disk for my time manager, stick it in my computer, boot up the system, and about three minutes later I can see whether I have any time free next Thursday."

The alternative, of course, is to use the computer strictly as an electronic scheduler. And, points out Marty Winston, president of Winston & Winston Inc., a nine-employee Fort Worth marketing communications consulting company, "the last thing a person needs is a $5,000 calendar."

In the past few months, however, software developers have come up with a solution: programs that allow users to switch easily among many different software packages that are stored in the machine's memory. Now you can forge ahead with Lotus 1-2-3, for example, while keeping a time management program running in the background. Punching one key lets you jump quickly from one package to the other without interrupting work in progress.

Despite their limitations, not everyone finds time management programs unappealing. George Hayles, former editor and vice-president of PC Info Inc., a Marietta, Ga., start-up that publishes a biweekly newsletter for business users of the IBM Personal Computer, uses Shoebox (Techland Systems Inc, New York City; $125), a scheduling program that he found helpful from day one. "I'm the kind of person that doesn't like to leave loose ends," he says, "and this has a way of reminding me of all the loose ends that need to be tied up."

Shoebox, which purports to "tidy your life," lets users keep appointments, expense reports, and a daily reminder list separately -- the feature Hayles finds most valuable. When he arrives at the office each morning and powers up the computer, "the first thing I do is look at that list of things to do and see what I scheduled for myself today."

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