Think about the tasks or goals you need to accomplish this weekend—that is, when you’re not on the clock. Maybe you’re planning a wedding or vacation? Writing a book or trying to shed 15 pounds? Coordinating an event or upcoming trip? Hitting the links? Or what about more mundane tasks, such as picking up groceries?

Years ago, you probably went old school with pen and paper. The truly tech-savvy among us might have gone the spreadsheet route. As for the completely obsessed, don’t ask.

New Tools for Old Activities

Today, Google Sheets isn’t so high-tech after all. In fact, it’s so 2012. There are new, far better arrows in our quivers. As Erin Griffith points out in her recent NY Times article, even non-techies are increasingly using Notion, Slack, Todoist, and Trello to do all sorts of decidedly personal things. In the extreme, some folks formally manage their romantic relationships in a very Salesforce-like way.

Notion Vacation Template

The gap between a business and personal app isn’t all that wide anymore.

Give the piece a read, and one theme emerges: The gap between business and personal use isn’t all that wide. In fact, the parallels between the two are significant. Case in point: If you regularly use Notion to manage key projects at work, is it that weird to use it to tackle a major home renovation? (Of course, the rub remains getting others to adopt that new tchotchke.)

It didn’t always used to be this way. In the 1990s, for instance, no one used PeopleSoft, Oracle, Siebel, or other enterprise systems for personal reasons. As I write in The New Small, the arrivals of SaaS, cloud computing, smartphones, and open-source software democratized app development ushered in this era. Today’s low-code/no-code apps represent its national extension—but that’s a post for another day.

Simon Says: Expect the virtuous cycle to continue.

Brass tacks: More people than ever are relying upon low-code/no-code tools at work—spawning increased use at home. Just as important, consider the converse. Say that Notion or Coda helps you successfully complete personal projects, take notes, and collect ideas. Why wouldn’t you use the very same application while at the office?

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