Paolo Belcastro

Cynical Optimist

PRM

akumal ardes austria berlin chicago costa rica CRM distributed dubrovnik fmw focus france h iceland japan las vegas lisbon london mediterranean montreal nashville new york city office orlando palermo paris personal-productivity personal growth photomattchallenge PRM product product management review sabbatical-2017 sabbatical-2023 san francisco second-brain ship30for30 shotoniphone time-management tokyo v vienna whistler work

  • The result of my quest for a Personal Relationship Management app

    [read_meter]

    DALL-E 2023-11-24 A grayscale, horizontal image depicting a modern, sleek smartphone displaying a sophisticated personal relationship management app. The app's interface should feature a clean, organized layout with various contact profiles, showing names, photos, and brief notes. The smartphone is placed on a minimalist wooden desk, surrounded by a few personal items like a stylish pen and a small plant, suggesting a productive and personal workspace. The overall tone should be professional yet inviting, capturing the essence of personal relationship management in a digital age. The image should resemble a high-quality photograph

    I began my research two weeks ago.

    It was a different world, a different time. I desired to do a better job of staying in touch with the people around me. But then, we were all confronted with the fragility of the world we took for granted, and that sentiment has only grown.

    Software reviews sound extremely futile in the current context.

    But it’s not about software; it’s about being thoughtful with friends.

    The apps and the process

    I found 20 candidates.

    I eliminated the apps focused on the commercial aspects of relationships, which left this list. You can read the individual atomic reviews by clicking on each.

    The results

    In the end, I believe there are three strong options.

    They are not in competition, as their approaches are radically different.

    I think the choice will eventually depend on your relationship with computers.

    Clay

    Clay is a beautiful app. The adjective applies to the design and the concept. If you want the software to lead you, and you have no wish to do any maintenance on your own, Clay is the answer. It leverages machine learning to present you with a limited set of choices. You have to accept to give up control and let the AI make decisions for you.

    Mogul

    Mogul is at the opposite end of the spectrum. Nothing happens that you haven’t initiated manually. It is a minimalistic approach where you are never confused, never surprised. Of course, keeping full control has its tradeoffs, and in Mogul’s case, they are about entering all the data by hand.

    Dex

    Dex is the most complex to use. It has more options and more flexibility. Most data input is automated, but it uses straightforward algorithms that are easy to follow. It requires more maintenance than Clay but not as much manual work as Mogul. It’s a good solution if you enjoy using apps.

  • How I currently manage my contacts with Roam

    [read_meter]

    I just tested ten personal CRM apps.

    I couldn’t have finished this series of tests without mentioning my original attempt at using Roam as a PRM. I am not satisfied with my solution, or I wouldn’t have invested considerable time looking for an alternative. However, it’s not all bad.

    I figured I’d share my experience.

    The benefits of having a single source of truth.

    Roam is my knowledge management system.

    I keep in it anything I deem worth saving for later. In this context, it seemed practical to keep track of my contacts in Roam and gain the ability to instantly locate notes related to them. Every person I meet has a page linking to every mention of them in my notes.

    I add to it any additional information I need.

    Staying in touch with spaced repetition.

    One of my central needs is setting reminders to keep in touch.

    Roam offers a function it calls ∆ that instantly moves a block to a future date, specifying how far in the future and repeating this each time the ∆ button is clicked. In other words, I can type a person’s name, set ∆ to 30 days, and I’ll find that person’s mention in my daily note a month from now.

    It’s almost like magic.

    There is such thing as too much freedom.

    Roam’s flexibility is its major quality.

    I love not having to figure out upfront where I should put a note and rely on connecting thoughts afterward. It is extremely efficient with unstructured blocks of text. However, I also discovered that it is limiting when dealing with data that would benefit from a database structure. Everything relies too heavily on my remembering to type the right information in the right places. It’s also impossible to keep contacts synchronized with any other data source other than manually.

    I aim to reduce the number of tools I use, as each introduces new points of failure. I also know that everything becomes a nail if all you have is a hammer.

  • Atomic Review: Dex Personal CRM

    [read_meter]

    Dex checks many boxes.

    It is loaded with features and assistants, yet very practical to use. Dex seems smart enough to streamline your flow, but not so much that it becomes confusing.

    Links

    Evaluation

    • Design

    Nothing fancy, but very polished.

    A highly professional look and quite a good user experience. The Network tab gives you the best, with a graphic representation of the relationships between your contacts, and the worst, with a hierarchical model of your address book by groups that is barely readable.

    • Performance

    I wish it were as snappy on desktop as it is on mobile.

    Whether I use the web app or the native one on the computer, there is always a slight loading time. Pages often load with a previous state, updated quickly, but not enough to be invisible.

    Data is sometimes slow to sync between the native and the web app on the same laptop.

    • Platforms

    Dex runs everywhere: iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, web app, and a Chrome extension.

    • Integrations

    Dex offers Google Calendar, Contacts, and Gmail integrations to sync your contacts, events, and email conversations. It also integrates with LinkedIn to bring in additional metadata.

    A Chrome extension allows you to create/update contacts from Twitter or Facebook.

    • Flexibility

    Groups, note types, custom fields are all customizable.

    Dex also offers options to export your contacts, the full timeline of notes and events, and even updates synced from LinkedIn as .csv files you can import elsewhere.

    • Cost

    Free, but limited, or $120/year with all the features. If you buy it via iOS, it’s 30% more expensive.

    Conclusion

    I recommend testing Dex if you are looking for a personal CRM. It sets the bar high in terms of features and focus. I found a couple of rough edges, but it’s still a very young app, less than two years old. It would be perfect if it had integrations with Slack, Telegram, and Signal.

  • Atomic Review: Hippo

    [read_meter]

    Hippo is another app built by a single developer.

    Born out of his own need to remember details about his contacts and struggling to succeed by memory (I feel the pain). Hippo is very simple and mostly relies on manual input, but it seems to do a decent job tracking contacts, notes about them, events related to them, and even reminders.

    Reminders are not, like in other apps in this space, there to remind you to get in touch, but instead to remember what you wanted to discuss or ask during your next conversation with a person.

    Links

    Evaluation

    • Design

    It’s simple but effective on iPhone and iPad.

    A bit too colorful for my taste, but that’s very personal. The biggest caveat is that the macOS app is the iPad app now running on macOS but not designed for a large screen. One usability issue that confused me was placing the Settings button at the bottom of the events list.

    Once I populated the list, it became hard to locate.

    • Performance

    I only added a dozen contacts, so hard to evaluate. Contact addition, though, is manual, even the import from the phone contacts requires manually selecting them, so I wasn’t going to import hundreds.

    • Platforms

    iOS only at the moment. That is a bit limited.

    • Integrations

    Contacts and Calendars on iOS. It can import contacts from the former and read events from the latter. Unfortunately, events come in quite messy, with HTML code not interpreted everywhere in my experience.

    • Flexibility

    I don’t think Hippo is built with flexibility in mind. I respect the choice, although it’s too limited for me.

    • Cost

    Free for one month, then $2/month or $15/year.

    Conclusion

    Probably the smallest set of features of this series of tests.

    It’s not what I am looking for now, but I have the utmost respect for very focused apps doing only a thing or two well.

  • Atomic Review: Mogul Networking

    [read_meter]

    Mogul wasn’t part of my original list.

    It didn’t come up in my searches. I discovered it while testing Nat. They have a page listing similar products, and I was familiar with all the ones mentioned, except for Mogul. Now, if a small team makes Nat, Mogul is built by a team of one. That triggered my interest even further, as I have heard quite a bit talking about small bets these days.

    Evaluation

    • Design

    Simple, minimalistic, but very elegant. It reminds me a bit of Bear, the note-taking app for macOS and iOS.

    • Performance

    It’s been very decent with a couple of thousands of contacts. However, the developer mentions that performance would degrade if end-to-end encryption is enabled. Still, I’d underline that Mogul is the only app on my test offering E2E encryption, and if you want that activated, a small performance hit is probably a fair tradeoff.

    • Platforms

    A web app is accessible anywhere, including mobile devices, and native iOS and macOS apps are available.

    • Integrations

    It only comes with a Google Contacts integration to import contacts. I wish it had a Google Calendar integration to populate scheduled interactions.

    • Flexibility

    Fields and labels are customizable.

    • Cost

    The free plan comes without E2E encryption or customization. The full version costs $10/month or $100/year.

    Conclusion

    I like it. A lot.

    It’s ultra-simple but offers key features: the ability to log interactions, set up reminders to follow up, add notes, and merge duplicate contacts. However, I wish it had a calendar integration to reduce manual input at this stage. I’d also love it had a way to integrate with Slack, Signal, Telegram, and other messaging apps, but to be fair, none of the apps on the list offers that.

    I appreciate the small bets movement, but I have to admit worrying a bit, as a user, that the app could disappear overnight.

  • Atomic Review: Nat Personal CRM

    [read_meter]

    Nat is intriguing with its unusual look and feel, small team, and original approach.

    Most apps in this space fall into one of two categories:

    • Either they import all your contacts from your address books, calendars, emails, which saves time but leads to an overcrowded database.
    • Or they start as a blank canvas needing lots of manual input.

    Nat syncs with your existing data but starts with an empty contact list. Next, you manually select the people important to you. Once you add a person, their full history is automatically populated.

    Evaluation

    • Design

    As I said, unusual. To be candid, it has a sort of MVP/prototype look and feel, but it’s easy to navigate. Some color gradients are overwhelming, but that’s a personal taste.

    • Performance

    The initial sync was quite long, possibly due to API rate limits at Google. However, I had no complaints once it loaded the data, and it reacted quite fast.

    • Platforms

    It’s a web app, so it works everywhere. I tested it both on desktop and mobile; it adapted well to both.

    • Integrations

    It’s heavily focused on Google products and syncs with Contacts, Calendars, and Gmail. That works fine for me, but it might be a blocker if you use other tools. It is interesting to note that it also has a Stripe integration, which can be useful if you sell products. In my case, it’s irrelevant as I am only looking to track my network.

    • Flexibility

    Not very flexible. It makes choices and limits its options to those. For example, you can’t edit contacts, and you can only log interactions, add notes, or send emails.

    • Cost

    From $9/month to $29/month. No free plan.

    Conclusion

    A very interesting option. I need to play with it more to understand if its choices suit me, given the lack of customization options.

  • Atomic Review: Uphabit

    [read_meter]

    The promise of Uphabit sounds exactly like what I am looking for, a “Personal CRM for thoughtful Super Connectors.”

    Whatever a “Super Connector” is, the words “Personal CRM” and “thoughtful” were enough to add the app to my list.

    Evaluation

    • Design

    I am still trying to understand what the app does or what a “Super Connector” is. On top of that, the macOS app is, in fact, the iPad app, with literally no adaptation to larger screens. It’s a terrible experience.

    • Performance

    I guess we’ll never know…

    I connected the app to my Google calendars. It spent a while importing events, then offered me to deduplicate a bunch of contacts. I clicked to see the list of dupes, and I am still waiting.

    • Platforms

    iOS and Android native apps. The macOS app only exists because Macs can run iPad apps, providing a jarring experience.

    • Integrations

    A Salesforce integration is promoted heavily on the site, another signal this is not what I am looking for. I am looking for an app to manage my personal relationships, not close deals.

    • Flexibility

    No idea. I haven’t been far enough; I can’t make it work.

    • Cost

    A free plan allows unlimited contacts but only ten relationships and five introductions, whatever these are. Then you get unlimited relationships for $50/year and unlimited introductions for $70/year.

    Conclusion

    Not the app I am looking for.

    The performance issue might be a fluke, so I won’t eliminate it on that basis, but the terrible macOS experience and the fact I can’t figure out how it works are enough for me not to insist.

  • Atomic Review: Can Airtable be a Personal CRM?

    [read_meter]

    Airtable has changed a lot since I last used it.

    I remembered the product as a spreadsheet on steroids or a simplified relational database. Today it looks more like an application development environment. One can build many things without writing code, but they also extend it with Javascript and offer an API.

    To be candid, it feels a bit overwhelming.

    Evaluation

    • Design

    It is colorful; I’ll give you that! It’s also very polished, but at the end of the day, it remains a pretty raw representation of data in a database, mostly made of tables with lines, columns, and neverending horizontal scroll.

    • Performance

    It’s a web app, it’s not super snappy, and the native apps on the desktop are just web views. So I am not super excited about the performance.

    • Platforms

    macOS, Windows, iOS, and Android: it is available everywhere.

    • Integrations

    The list is long. Airtable can connect to most productivity tools, publishing platforms, and social networks. After a slightly deeper investigation, it appears that most of these integrations, if not all of them, are done through Zapier, INtegromat, or similar.

    • Flexibility

    A strength of Airtable. You can build anything with it if you have the time and dedication.

    • Cost

    Airtable is accessible for free, with some limits. Two paid plans are available, for $10/month and $20/month. Prices are per seat, as Airtable is made for collaboration.

    Conclusion

    My conclusion is similar to the one for Notion: if you use Airtable across your work or personal life, it’s a great option to build a Personal CRM or use one of the templates available online.

    If not, I don’t think the extra complexity is worth the hassle.

    It’s also important to note that Airtable shines in a collaborative setup, which is a plus if you need to share access to your data with your team.

  • Atomic Review: the case for Contacts+

    [read_meter]

    I have been using Contacts+ since 2017.

    It’s not a Personal Relationship Manager per se, but a piece of the larger puzzle. It keeps all the different address books you have in sync. So as you create new contacts or update existing ones, you don’t need to worry about where they are stored, and Contacts+ synchronizes them for you. It also detects duplicates and helps you merge them, and gets updates from social media to keep your contacts fresh.

    It can remind you of birthdays. That’s about as far as it goes as a PRM.

    Evaluation

    • Design

    Nothing shiny, even a bit outdated, but, on the upside, you seldom see it.

    • Performance

    It works in the background, almost impossible to detect.

    • Platforms

    Contacts+ comes with iOS and Android native apps, a web app, a macOS native app, and a Chrome extension making it available everywhere.

    • Integrations

    It connects with Google Workspaces, Office 365, and iCloud for contacts synchronization. It also works with Zapier and Blendr for more automation.

    • Flexibility

    Contacts+ is very specialized; it does just a few things but very well.

    • Cost

    Free for a single address book and up to 1,000 contacts, which is of limited use. $9.99/month or $99/year for up to 5 accounts and 25,000 contacts.

    Conclusion

    I have been using Contacts+ for more than five years, so I can only recommend it.

    Yet, I almost forgot a key feature, and the reason I originally installed it: it is a great business card scanner, saving much time when traveling was a thing.

    I’d get back from conferences with many of those. I have not used that feature much in the past two years, I’ll admit.

    Overall, it is a great tool if you are serious about managing your contacts, but it is not sufficient by itself.

  • Atomic Review: Notion as a Personal Relationship Manager

    Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

    Notion is a highly flexible collaboration environment. Notes, databases, checklists, kanban boards, it has all that, and a lot more. For the sake of this review, I googled “notion personal CRM templates” and found several free options. If I decided to use Notion, I would build my template.

    Evaluation

    • Design

    Notion is decent from the design perspective but doesn’t stand out. Like most no-code tools, it is based on a few different data views like tables, boards, pages, lists, and some basic customization options, involving headers and emoji.

    • Performance

    The performance is excellent with a couple of hundreds of records. However, I tried to import several thousand, and it became sluggish. I am not sure where the limit is, but keep that in mind if you have a large list of contacts.

    • Platforms

    A strength of Notion. It is available as a web or native app on all platforms.

    • Integrations

    Notion is integrated with productivity, notetaking, and project management apps, from Slack to Asana, Jira, or Evernote. Nothing specific to relationships management. The calendar integration is limited, and there is no way to pull and update contacts automatically.

    • Flexibility

    Notion is a blank canvas where you create pages, lists, databases, add rich content, relations, and some automation. The upside is that you can configure it precisely as you wish and need. The downside is that you have to do more work to customize it.

    • Cost

    A limited version is free. $4/month remove most limits.

    Conclusion

    My relationship with Notion is odd. I have wanted to find a good reason to use it for years. Still, I inevitably end up in the same place: the only way to get enough value to compensate for the extra work required to configure it would be to run everything I do in it, which I can’t justify as I love specialized apps.

  • Atomic Review: Monica Personal CRM

    Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

    Monica is an open-source project, which is an advantage in my book.

    You can install it on your server or deploy it on Heroku. You can also use a hosted version if you don’t want to deal with the technical bits.

    Evaluation

    • Design

    The design is simple and efficient but also very basic. It has a pragmatic database flair but is hardly exciting.

    • Performance

    It’s a web application. Pages are rendered server-side, so there’s a loading time after each click. As a result, it’s not snappy but very decent with a couple of hundreds of contacts.

    • Platforms

    As a web app, it works everywhere. However, it’s annoying that the layout is only very partially responsive, and on mobile, it becomes hard to manipulate the data. That’s one of the two issues I encountered that I’d consider a blocker right now.

    • Integrations

    None. It offers an API, but one must build their integrations, something I do not have time to do.

    From what I read on the developer site, this is intentional: you own and control your data and manipulate it directly, without sharing it or pulling updates from social networks.

    • Flexibility

    It is very flexible and customizable. You can turn on and off almost every field, you can add more, and the default choices can all be modified, which is a great point in favor.

    • Cost

    You can deploy it on Heroku for free and have full access to all features.

    The hosted version has a very limited free plan and a premium option that costs $9/month or $90/year to access all features.

    Conclusion

    The lack of integrations to pull data from other services and the mobile experience are why I won’t use it today, but I’ll surely keep monitoring the project as I love the idea of an open-source PRM.

  • What am I looking for in a Personal Relationship Management app?

    Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

    I am testing 10 PRM apps to become a better friend.

    I am not performing super exhaustive reviews or following a very scientific method. However, I still want to remove biases by using the same criteria for the apps in the test. Some are blockers, and I’ll stop my test if I encounter any, but most won’t be.

    I am a flexible user.

    I want an app pleasant to use.

    Extremely subjective, of course.

    I need to use it daily to be effective, which translates into the following:

    • Design. Clarity and readability come first: lots of negative space, fonts easy on the eyes, great interaction feedback—bonus points for respecting interface norms proper to each platform.
    • Performance. It must be snappy! I have no tolerance for waiting once I click on something.

    I don’t want to be locked into a platform.

    This one is easy.

    I use iOS most of the time, but occasionally I’ll switch to an Android phone or use both simultaneously. I only use apps that work on both platforms. If the mobile web experience is great, that’s fine.

    I don’t care particularly about native apps.

    Integrations FTW

    The more, the better!

    I hate entering data manually; therefore, I value the ability to import new data from emails, calendars, address books, messaging apps, and social networks. Most of my social interactions are in Telegram, Slack, and Signal. I also use Zoom, but those calls are generally in my calendar.

    I want automation but also control over what to import or not.

    Flexibility

    I don’t like constraints.

    I need to store my contacts, with some metadata and their relationships with me and among them. I want to set reminders to get in touch at selected intervals and record interactions and notes.

    I am happy with an app that can do more if it doesn’t force a rigid workflow or requires strict data entry.

    Cost

    I don’t mind paying.