Reduce the DM's workload - let someone else track initiative

The dungeon master is often the busiest person at the table. You can help the DM by handling some of his tasks. At our sessions, we let one of the players keep track of initiative. We have a spreadsheet with every character's name and we type in the initiative for each, then sort. Our spreadsheet contains an additional column with each character's dexterity as the secondary sort.
Obviously we don't need the spreadsheet to tell us the sequence, but it is easier to manage than scribbling the numbers on a piece a paper. We also write the initiative order on a white board for everyone to refer to. This helps the players waiting their turn to know when they are coming up; and hopefully be prepared.
Of course we don't always know when the bad guys will take their turn, at least not in the first round. But once we do know, we list then on the white board as well.