Steve Dotto here.
Today, I want to talk about task automation.
This is a class of service that I am really excited about.
Task automation is just basically a simple script that we create that runs that performs
a repeating task for us.
Now we’ve had them for a long time on our computer where we could actually write scripts
that do repeating processes for us.
That was for real geeks.
We also have task automation in a lot of our applications.
For example in our email application, if you have a filter set up that when an email comes
in from a certain person, to color code it or to move it into a folder.
That is a task automation process.
The email come in, the email soft ware recognizes that it’s from this person and they change
the color to blue so you could identify it.
See in the past, what you would have done is you would have highlighted that email and
then turned it to blue yourself or moved it into the folder that tasks automation takes
that over.
But most task automation that we have is limited to the application that we’re running in.
These new automation services will allow one application to create an action that is then
reflected in another application and acted upon by that second application.
So it becomes far more valuable to us by extending its reach.
Now there are two sites that I want to show you today and talk about.
The first is still in beta.
It’s called IFTTT which stands for “if this, then that,” which is really the process
that we go through.
If this happens, then I want that to happen.
They’ve got a series of things called “triggers” and responses.
So if a trigger happens, then I want this response in an entirely different application.
It’s really profound.
It’s really very effective.
Now IFTTT, I get a feel that it’s really designed for personal use.
It’s got that feel of being very personal.
The other one–and there are many others out there that do this sort of service–is
called Zapier.
Zapier I feel is a little more corporate.
It’s got a few more hooks into accounting software and that sort of stuff and it’s
also got a little bit of a slightly different structure to their website.
I like their website for this reason.
They really explain the process very easily just by interacting with the website.
Let me show you what I mean.
If I move my mouse over top of say the Gmail app here, it shows me right away what the
available triggers are.
Remember, I have triggers and then actions or triggers and responses.
So if I have a new email or a new thread is created, then this action can occur in another
app.
As we go through all of these different apps that they have, we can see the different triggers
or actions.
So the trigger’s the front side, if the trigger is what creates an action in another
app, and the available action is what it can do when a different app creates a trigger.
So as we go through it, we can see all of these different triggers and actions that
are available to us.
Now Zapier is a paid service.
It’s a typical web 2.0 program that costs I think about a hundred dollars a year to
use and they’ve got all of these different triggers or relationships with these different
applications.
So you can see that there’s a wide variety.
Now if you want to just dip your toe in the water, they do have a 14-day free trial so
you can certainly try that on Zapier but If This and That, while it’s still on beta,
it’s still free.
I don’t know if their premium service is going to charge ultimately and as I say, it
feels like it’s a little bit more designed for personal use.
Now they call their scripts, recipes, and I’m going to run through the process of
creating a recipe.
So I’ve just started with this, started playing with it, got a feel for it so I’m
going to show you how I created my first recipe.
So what you do is you click on and you say ‘Create a recipe.’
Now the recipe that I wanted to create is to help me find a new computer.
So I start by going ‘if this’’— I just click on the big ‘this’; it’s hard
to miss.
Click on ‘This,’ and then it shows me my different trigger channels.
There are seven pages of these trigger channels.
So if something happens in one of these apps, it’s going to be reflected in another app.
So I use Craig’s List to shop a lot, and I need to find a new Mac Book Pro.
I’m looking for a new 13-inch Mac Book Pro but I want a fairly new model.
I want one with the i7 processor.
So I can go to Craig’s List on a regular basis and type in a search but I’m going
to see if I can create an IFTTT script or recipe that will do that for me.
So I click on Craig’s List and it tells me right away what option I have to create
a trigger and for as far as Craig’s List is concerned, there’s not a lot of options.
All it is a search from the URL.
So it tells me I have to go into Craig’s List, which I’ve got right here, I have
to do the search for the Mac Book Pro, I’m going to enter search and when I do that search,
up it comes, I need to copy this text string that’s created which is basically the search
criteria that Craig’s List has created to find this Mac Book Pro.
Now when I go back to If This, Then That, then I then post that search criteria into
the window here and that creates a trigger.
Now, I’ve created the trigger.
So if this happens, then what?
So here are my options of things to happen: I can send it to Evernote, I can send it to
Facebook.
I’m going to send it to my Gmail account.
Now this application needs permission to talk to your other applications.
So the first time that I click on Gmail, it says, “Do I have permission to use Gmail?”
I had to give it permission.
Once it was given permission then, it then creates this action which is send an email.
That’s exactly that I want to do.
I want to send an email.
Now, it gives me the rest of the criteria.
Who’s it going to be sent to?
I can put in my name.
What information is being included?
In this drop down window here, I can just include the URL.
I can include just the title, or I can include the whole post.
If I put it in the post, we can see all of the different content that’s going to appear
in the email that’s sent to me.
So then I create this recipe then I enact the recipe, and if I head back in into the–lets’
go back into the homepage here and then I’ll leave this page because I’ve already created
this recipe.
I don’t want to do t twice–you can see that I have this recipe now.
It’s turned on and ready to run.
So if I click on My Personal Recipes, I can see that I have a Craig’s List, Map Book
Pro search which is what I’ve named it.
If something happens in Craig’s List, then a Gmail response is what is created.
This is a really compelling class of software.
Where it goes?
Who knows.
I look at some very, very simple processes that I can think of right off the top of my
head.
But if you go into here into the browse area, you can see there are a lot of different recipes
that people have created.
You go through probably hundreds of different recipes that people have created.
I mean some of the interesting ones I saw is people have created ones that says, “Send
the weather to my calendar every day.”
I thought why would you want to do that?
Then I realize, well, if you’re a journaler–I don’t remember what the weather was like
last Wednesday but if it was sent to my calendar, just a little rainy, this temperature, that
may be something I’m interested in having especially if I’m a journaler or a blogger
and keeping track of what the weather is like in my neighborhood.
So all of these little simple processes, they’ve got 2000 pages worth of these processes that
you can browse through.
I don’t recommend you go through them all but as you start to play with this software,
it’s sure worthwhile to spend a little bit of time roving through it to see the ideas
that other people have for task automation.
I hope that you found this video to be useful.
If you have, please give us some props.
Give us a like.
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Don’t forget you can subscribe to all our Dotto Tech videos.
We appreciate the time you spend with us.
Have a good day.
I am Steve Dotto.
[END OF VIDEO] Steve Dotto0Automating Tasks0November 12,
2012
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