Reviewing VIPOrbit was a difficult task and ironically, a key element of VIPOrbit is all about managing tasks. It was difficult because I’m clearly not in the cross-hairs of the user segment that this product seems ideally designed for.
I’m an outlier and I’ve said it many times here and over on Google+. I don’t perform tasks, maintain contacts, or manage my day with precision. I’m a real mess when it comes to picking a process or a task and contact manager and sticking with it. In fact, I’m always wasting significant time expploring new ways to elevate productivity and the outcome is typically, less productivity in the long run.
There are exceptions, of course. Timely (TimeplyApp) is a good one. It attempts to eliminate the concept of time-tracking by blending it into a calendar management process. I use it because it chips away at my disorganized outlier behavior. I’ve tried to employ VIPOrbit but it just hasn’t clicked – it’s not ringing the bell (so to speak) nor is it demonstrating a clear path that will help me in every day time, contact, and task management and fits into my process.
There’s Something Very Smart About This App
Setting aside by own bias for what may be a very poor work process, it’s obvious; VIPOrbit (available in the iTunes App Store) possess a number of personal productivity features that are aligned with a philosophical approach which is clearly far more intellectual than other tools available today. And this is especially apparent in the mobile apps sector. Contact management apps (by and large) seem to be seem to be stuck in a funk; a cesspool of sameness with little ongoing innovation or new ideas. VIPOrbit is an exception and deserves a close look by any iPad-toting executive.
The product design team comprised of Mike Muhney, Max Pucher, and Kristi Kuykendall, came together to elevate the craft of building and tracking relationships. These are each seasoned veterans in the contact management space with exceptional previous innovative successes in precisely this space.
It’s All About the Conversations
It’s no coincidence that the name contains the word “orbit” – that’s what this app is all about – the ability to carve out small(er), more manageable chunks of data about people related to a conversation or topic. VIPOrbit is more about managing conversations than the meta-data that represents each of the participants. Certainly, contact information is critical in any personal contact management approach, but by providing the glue to create orbits, Mike and his team have indeed created a new experience for busy executives and managers.
An orbit is simply a way to corral people around a specific topic or objective. You use orbits as a way to organize your most important ongoing discussions. This seems to be an ideal way to maintain focus on contact management activities that need to remain top-of-mind for you and the people in your orbits. Clever idea indeed.
This video describes the basics of VIPOrbit, specifically it’s ability to sync acorss Mac and iOS devices. It also indicates the syncing service is sold separately, however, this service was recently made free as indicated in this press release. Take a look – it’s a very compelling story especially if you’ve recently ditched your Windows PC and you’re pursuing your computing future in all things Apple.