Ask HN: What do you use as your personal CRM?

I pay for Monica, and use it heavily for managing personal relationships. Have an issue or PR open for the API docs deficiency you mention?

Also, keep in mind there are some pitfalls when using CardDav with Google Contacts.

https://evertpot.com/google-carddav-issues/

I use Google Contacts, which syncs with the Contacts apps on my macOS and iOS. There are fields for contact info, and important dates. If there is any other important info, I add a note.

Monica user here as well. Would be nice to get some syncing. Though as you said. It seems like it’ll take quite a bit of work and isn’t on the road map.

Thanks for mentioning Monica. It looks a lot more polished than the last time I took a look at it.

I've been toying with the idea of making my own crm, but always put it off hoping someone else will do it better.

Other than syncing contacts, are you happy with Monicahq?

Sidenote: does anyone know of good books, blog posts, or videos on how to use a personal CRM effectively? What I’m really asking is: How can I learn to be better at the administrivia involved in maintaining personal relationships?

I had been using Google Contacts with a minor "hack" of using the "file as" field as a three digit priority field, but still with the person's name and leading zeros. So a contact record looks like this "095. John Smith". Then when I come across a contact record I change that number, almost whimsically which makes it kind of like a bubble sort. As the same time, I made effective use of labels (tags). I have, however, recently switched to Nimble which I like, but am still getting used to. Syncing with Google Contacts is a mandatory feature for me, and Nimble allows 2000 syncs without additional charge via a third party.

Sidenote: What would someone think if I used personal CRM to record down small details. I have heard some found it touching, that you actually spend time to do this with CRM or Pen and Paper. Some found it gross, as if you were tracking them.

Other than that, most of people uses are simply Contract Apps, which I wouldn't really call it a CRM.

I always wanted a personal CRM that reminded me when it was a good time to reach out to someone, and where I could read about past conversations.

At that time there weren’t a lot of these apps/services, so I created a simple app that did just that. Keep notes of conversations per day per contact, set a (recurring) reminder, organize with tags and have birthdays reminders and suggestions.

Since I use iOS it’s currently for iOS only. And most focus went to iPhone. The iPad version is a bit rough.

I’ll be monitoring this thread for most requested features, and learn more about what people look for in such an app/service. And of course reach out to me of you’d like to talk more!

Feel free to give it a try if you’re on iOS. Social Contact Journal: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/social-contact-journal/id118...

Having some structure and more than anything, intention and persistence is key.

IMO most people blame the lack of the Personal CRM, but really the bottleneck is they're not recording information they want to remember about people.

I personally just use Google Keep to store notes I want to remember on people close to me. As for acquaintances, I just respond to Facebook updates and prompts as they happen.

I put birthdays, other important dates, and short notes in a contact in Contacts.app.

But, I can't help but think if I'm looking for a CRM for personal use, I'm doing something wrong.