What tools do you use to stay productive?
Interview with Vaishali, a content marketer and a productivity tool expert
Time Doctor: I used to freelance before joining Time Doctor. However, I never used any productivity tools then. I was reluctant to use Time Doctor when I joined this company. Eventually, I found out that I was wasting so much time even on a short coffee break. So Time Doctor has proved to be a great productivity and time management tool for me.
Slack: Many believe that Slack is a productivity killer, but for me, it is an app that makes me work faster. I can set reminders, share docs with my co-workers, and take surveys and easy polls.
I also use various online collaboration tools like Google Docs, Skype and a few others to work efficiently. On the marketing tech side, I use apps like Buzzstream, Ahrefs, LinkedIn and Quuu which enable me to be productive.
Vaishali persevered until she found the right remote work job for her lifestyle—check out how she uses productivity tools and time management strategies to stay productive.
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Interview with Alaina, a nonprofit program state director
I like to keep it old school with written to-do notes in a notebook.
Something about physically writing tasks and adding sub-notes or crossing out completed tasks on paper is more gratifying than typing it up on the computer.
A very simple tool I use in my Gmail is the starred email feature. In Gmail settings, there is an option to have different color stars or markings like the red and yellow exclamation points. I use those stars to sort my inbox and keep track of emails I need to follow-up on.
If I have a task that is time sensitive, I will create a task on my calendar.
A habit I use to employ and need to get back to is time blocking my day on my calendar with events and using my Google Calendar as an extension of my to-do list. This method is also helpful for getting a visual layout of tasks for the day and seeing where your time is spent.
It takes a minute to find your rhythm in a new remote position—hear how Alaina organizes her time to hit the ground running in a new remote work job.
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Interview with Vivek, an entrepreneur building a virtual office for remote teams
RescueTime - a Desktop app that passively monitors the websites that you visit and gives analytics assessing how productive you've been for that week.
The first step to improving your productivity is acknowledging where you stand.
Be Focused - a Desktop app that sets alarms on a 30-minute cadence to remind you to take breaks. The app roughly follows the Pomodoro time management technique.
Asana - Project management website for organizing your tasks and tracking project completion
Pragli - (as described above) a Desktop app that provides a virtual office for your remote team. We use the product every day to facilitate quick audio/video communication and for team presence.
Calendly - Scheduling software that eliminates the painful back-and-forth of email scheduling. You just send a Calendly link to expose the times in your calendar that you're free. After using the product, I've reclaimed hours of time for coding and marketing.
The long San Francisco commute sent Vivek into remote work—hear about his three strategies for eliminating distractions & his must-have tools.
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Interview with Melissa, a co-founder and remote work champion
This has always been a challenge for me even before I started working remotely. I've purchased every brand of planner and platform there is.
Where I'm at now is a very simple Excel spreadsheet shared with my business partner in Google Drive.
We have three columns, my to-do's, her to-do's, and our "middle of night thoughts." The third column is critical for me because sometimes you don't know where to start with an idea so I just need to put it down in a list and then divvy it into actionable tasks at another time.
This works now because we are two people. As we grow, we will go back to using either Monday.com or Dubsado. For us, it wasn't worth the cost until we had more people's time to manage.
Another method I use is to chunk out the workday. I give myself deadlines because sometimes I can spend too much time on one thing. So I'll say, "You can work on that web site copy for 30 more minutes only."
If I don't pay attention to the clock I'll get lost in it and not get other tasks done.
I even have a penguin-shaped egg timer that I stole from my daughter. I know, very high tech over here!
Melissa started Work Well Wherever to help individuals & companies embrace remote work—see how she balances entrepreneurship, parenthood, & self-care.
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Interview with Marian, a nomadic social media manager and day trader
I don’t use any paid tools; I use popular ones, like Google Calendar, and Google Drive, which includes the sheet and document features. They are very useful, and I recommend it for new digital nomads/remote workers.
Day trading & virtual assisting has allowed Marian to see the world—in this interview, she lays out her routine and priorities for those thinking of traveling while working.
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Interview with Chloe, a customer support freelancer and multi-project expert
I have a MacBook, a Mac Desktop, a printer/scanner and my trusty pen, paper, highlighters, and binders for each project.
Chloe uses the flexibility of freelancing to her advantage—see how she successfully manages multiple projects at one time.
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Interview with Patric, a UX designer and usability engineer that works from home
I use Gmail and Skype or Hangouts for communication.
My projects and tasks are in Trello where I try to document every activity I do (Why?)
I had days where I could not remember what I actually got done in the last hours so for my own sanity I "log" almost everything...
Lately I started to use Dropbox Paper to structure my thoughts on projects. I really came to like it if you keep the documents as short as possible. I also had a good experience collaborating in Paper on the launch for Indie Ignitor - where I worked together with a partner for the first time.
I tried RescueTime - but it is not really useful if your days task vary and you cant compare them.
I had good experience blocking Facebook, Twitter and the likes to avoid "waking up in a social feed" from time to time.
Patric works on his own projects while also consulting for medium sized software companies, learn how he works remotely.
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Interview with Tyler, a director of customer success models how to start a remote work career
Physical hardware:
- Lots of screen space (27" iMac + 24" second screen);
- a studio headset and microphone plugged into a powered USB audio interface;
- a great webcam;
- and noise-canceling headphones for when others are in the house or when I'm traveling.
I can't say enough about taking charge of your environment and schedule.
As a customer-facing people leader, I highly recommend investing in your A/V setup. Every penny has been worth it for the increased bandwidth on video and audio calls.
Software tools: I have a typical stack.
Internal comms:
External comms:
- Calendly for scheduling;
- Zoom for calls;
- Gmail for email.
We use GSuite for internal documents, and our external knowledge base is built using WordPress.
Hubstaff runs on Hubstaff, so we track our time using our tool, and I really love Hubstaff Tasks for managing projects. Hubstaff Tasks is exactly what you would expect from a PM tool: project boards and task cards.
However, Tasks has an Agile layer of standups, sprints, epics, timelines, etc. that make it really great to break big tasks down into manageable chunks that really move the needle in a flexible and adaptable way. I've been exploring lots of other tools, but that's the core.
From networking to land a remote work gig, to building out an exceptional remote work tool stack, Tyler has quickly figured out how to thrive in remote work. See his tips for starting strong.
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Interview with Kay, an independent software consultant who found freedom in remote work
Email is the main tool, I think. I do "zero inbox" for 10 years now and it works like a nice todo list. I get a mail, look what I can do with it and when I did it, I simply archive the mail. Sometimes this is simply "answer the mail" sometimes it's more.
Next is Slack/WhatsApp, for fast small messages. German companies seem to prefer WhatsApp groups, non-German companies prefer Slack.
Personally I really hate synchronous communication.
It has its place, but some people using it as a way of supervision. "He's not online in Slack, so he's not working!" etc. Really bad.
Then there is GitHub Issues or JIRA for the day to day development work.
Also Google Hangouts/Skype, for some explanatory or exploratory meetings. If someone doesn't understand whats happening or the team doesn't know what to do next, this really speeds things up. Also, some people are unbearable on text media, so you have to do phone calls to keep them in line, haha.
Learn how Kay made the jump from full-time employee to full-time remote consultant
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Interview with Paul, a remote product designer who has found his zen
The main tools I use are the Bullet Journal, supported by Google Calendar and the Time Timer. In my search to find a way to take better notes and to-do lists, I discovered the Bullet Journal (BuJo). This brought order and structure to how I captured notes and to-do lists that had previously been random and sometimes chaotic.
It looks like just a regular dotted notebook, but it's actually an analog system that helps track the things I need to do, the things I have done, and schedule them.
The act of physically writing things down is quite mindful and helps me be more intentional about what I need to do.
I also use the BuJo to write my daily gratitude log. When I am in the flow of using the BuJo, I feel in control of things. When I fall out of the flow, I don't feel as in control.
I use Google Calendar to support entries in my notebook and block out time for things that are important to me. At a high level, this breaks down to Personal / Family Time, Laser Focus Time, and Open / Collaborative Work time.
This helps to balance my week and understand when I have time to focus on things. These tools also allow me to know when I can schedule meetings or collaborative work, and when I can be with my family or have some time out.
The Time Timer is a little clock that sits next to my monitor and helps create a sense of urgency for each task.
After that, it's GSuite for communicating and collaborating with colleagues, Figma for design work and Miro for virtual whiteboarding.
I wrote more detail about this approach in "Building Blocks of Time Creating Balance and Structure for Work & Life Under the Same Roof" published on Medium
The COVID-19 pandemic drove Paul to embrace remote work. See how he has adapted his routine to this new normal, and the one tool that keeps him organized.
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