Is it just me or are things getting more complicated?

My son graduated from high school last week (😍😮🫠) and we’re in deep getting ready for college. There are the typical tasks like shopping and packing, but there are also SO many apps and portals to navigate.

Everything is in his name, under his own accounts (which I totally get), but I’d love to know when the bills are due, so I had him add me to the portal.

But it’s not just one portal. There’s the billing portal – delegate access, accept access, I’m in, whew. And then there’s another portal for some other things – delegate access, accept access, try to log in, it doesn’t work. Try again, doesn’t work. Call the next day. They say to have him remove me and add me again, which we do, and it doesn’t work. I call back, they send me to another department, they reset the wrong portal, I have to set up a new password there, but still can’t get into the new portal. They send me to another department, they say to try it again next week. I just tried it again, and guess what – it doesn’t work.

It was a similar experience with his college ID. We got several emails that he could upload a (very specific) photo to a new app. He did that, but the confirmation message he received did not match the one we were expecting. So he tried it again (and again and again). Then he saw he had five emails saying his photo was being reviewed.

It’s exhausting.

And I’m seeing this in my work with clients as well. More and more systems, apps and features.

So what can you do? How do you keep track of it all?

Start a list.

Regarding your website, I recommend the following in just a quick, simple Google Sheet:

• Login URL, admin username or email, 2FA status
• Website host information (company, maybe IP address)
• Domain information (company, what domains you own there)
• DNS information (if your DNS isn’t with your host or domain, but at a place like Cloudflare)
• Email provider
• WordPress theme
• Paid plugins (review this annually to make sure you’re using what you pay for!)
• All the rest – analytics, search console, website policies, email marketing, payments, recaptchas, email deliverability, etc.

And ask questions! If you’re not sure of something, ask someone. (I’d also be happy to help you put your list together.)

Regarding college, I’m working on my list. Orientation is next week and I’ve already been perusing the online materials and making some notes.

What about you? Do you feel like things are getting more complicated (or maybe it is just me 😆)?