What tools do you use to stay productive?

Interview with Lily, an entrepreneur building VR conferencing for remote teams

My favorite tools are:

My laptop

Work cell phone seamlessly integrated with the apps on my laptop. I like a work cell phone separate from a personal one so that I can turn it off, setting a clear delineation between work hours and personal time. Also, you don’t accidentally risk sending something to a co-worker you didn’t mean to.

HTC Vive VR headset for immersive meetings

A good old-fashioned pen and notebook for taking notes and writing down ideas.

Lily has almost a decade of remote work experience, now she's building the team collaboration tool of the future with Virtual Reality

Read full interview from Interview with Lily, an entrepreneur building VR conferencing for remote teams.

Interview with Laurel about helping companies transition to remote work

Zoom for video calls (the bulk of my day), Asana for task management, Slack for team/community collaboration, and Google Calendar for Scheduling.

Offline, my "portable office" includes my Fitbit for activity tracking and top-of-the-hour reminders (nudge to wrap up meetings), glasses, water bottle, earbuds, wireless mouse, chargers, and my faithful Chromebook.

I keep all of these packed in a bag that I can take anywhere I feel like working from that day (which has included hotels, trains, the library, mountain tops, the gym, or even my kids' school).

Laurel is an advocate for remote work and helps companies learn how to work remotely through her consulting and writing.

Read full interview from Interview with Laurel about helping companies transition to remote work.

Interview with Dani and Luca, digital nomads who have mastered work and travel

We schedule our work using Trello and ClickUp (which is a sort of a Trello with superpowers), but we also use GitLab.

The Pomodoro technique helps too to improve the time, making it easier for us to avoid distractions. And Spotify, of course, which has our favorite playlists that bring us into "the focus".

Dani and Luca have mastered the art of traveling while working—see their hacks & tips for thriving as digital nomads.

Read full interview from Interview with Dani and Luca, digital nomads who have mastered work and travel.

Interview with Liz, a UI/UX designer and cowork advocate

I have several Trello boards going at one time, and I use Asana to keep track of my freelance work projects. I’m also an avid user of team chat software Slack and Flowdock. They are both integral to being able to communicate effectively with a fully remote team.

Liz is a traveling UI/UX designer—see her strategy for thriving as a digital nomad and her efforts to promote coworking.

Read full interview from Interview with Liz, a UI/UX designer and cowork advocate.

Interview with Betsy, a head of content and remote work routine expert

I like to keep things pretty simple so I only use a few tools.

In terms of organizing tasks and ideas, I think that my paper planner is still my #1 way of staying productive but I also really like Evernote and Trello. Since I work with so many different teams, I find that Evernote is great for keeping each of my separate projects organized.

For my blog, I love using Trello to organize my editorial calendar and brainstorm new ideas.

For communication, I use Zoom for meetings and conference calls and Slack for updates and quick messaging.

Betsy Ramser is a content manager, blogger, and teacher who helps other remote workers thrive while creating a daily routine that works.

Read full interview from Interview with Betsy, a head of content and remote work routine expert.

Interview with Ayush, a CEO and avid remote team builder

Slack, emails, and shared docs are the primary tools. Nothing fancy.

As an organization, we work on monthly goals.

Every month we have our company’s goals defined. The company goals then transcend into individual objectives.

Eventually, at the end of the month, one gets measured on goals that they were able to accomplish.

Ayush is a CEO that is committed to helping companies build successful remote teams—see his process and tips for developing location independent teams that thrive.

Read full interview from Interview with Ayush, a CEO and avid remote team builder.

Interview with Alexandra Cote, a remote digital marketer and freelancer

I'm going to be boring here and tell you I've nailed productivity back in school, so I don't have any issues staying focused. I'm also the exact opposite of a procrastinator.

In time, I've come to realize I need to take care of important tasks firsts if I want to achieve my top goals. This is why I always try to finish ALL of my work first and then just take a larger break. Works for me, might not work for you. Always remember to take breaks though!

If you need motivation, just think of your higher targets. Then, make decisions based on how each action of yours will help you get towards your main goal.

This is really the only secret you need: only do things that will help you with your key life goals. All else can wait.

I do use certain small tools and Chrome extensions that have honestly become a part of my life, so I see them as essentials, not just tools. Google Docs, Hootsuite, TweetDeck, Canva [I'll count it as a productivity tool because I also use Affinity Designer for complex work, but Canva just makes it all faster.], Grammarly, and MozBar.

These essentially save your life so many times.

Alexandra juggles freelancing, a full-time remote job, YouTube, and Skillshare instructing. How does she manage it all? Find out in her interview.

Read full interview from Interview with Alexandra Cote, a remote digital marketer and freelancer.

Interview with Digital Nomad Sage, an entrepreneur and UX consultant

I use a ton of tools to stay productive. Here are a few:

• Microsoft Office for when I do benchmarks on companies or write UX reports.

• Hootsuite for social media marketing.

• Canva for creating social media posts quickly!

• Survey Monkey for when I reach out to users when I conduct UX Research via surveys.

• Adobe Creative Cloud for when I need to make graphics and edit videos. This software suite is amazing!

• Publisher Rocket for when I need to do keyword research for my ebooks.

• Divi for when I need to create new websites quickly. No need to code!

• Udemy to learn new skill sets. Super cost-effective way to invest in yourself! You can often find discount coupons on the internet to where you can get courses for only $9.99

• Balsamiq Wireframes for when I need to make Wireframes of apps or websites.

• Amazon Advertising for running Sponsored Ads for my ebooks.

From e-books to blogging, Digital Nomad Sage has become an expert on making money online—see his advice for developing an online business.

Read full interview from Interview with Digital Nomad Sage, an entrepreneur and UX consultant.

Interview with Gregory, a Senior Software Developer

A comfortable and ergonomic desk and chair setup is key. I have a stand for 3 monitors that keeps them at a good height, and a good comfortable chair that fits me well.

A good headset and camera are always a huge plus as well.

Communication is extremely important when working remotely, so having a good quality microphone - so you can be heard - and speakers or headphones - so you can hear well - is very helpful.

I use a "gaming" headset, because I like it to be wireless (and I can't find any half decent "business" wireless headsets with a boom mic for under $700), but I'm able to turn off all the flashing colors in it with a companion app on the computer, so I'm pretty happy with it.

A whiteboard is a huge help for me when I'm brainstorming or designing a new system, and getting up to walk over to it is always a good idea to stop from sitting in your chair for several hours straight.

I actually have a smaller whiteboard that I replaced a while ago that sits under my desk, and sometimes I'll pull it out to draw or sketch something up while sitting at the PC.

I also use site blocker extensions for my browser to limit my time on sites like Twitter, Hacker News, or other timewasters. Even if it's super easy for me to turn off, the big red warning screen it shows when I go to one of those sites is normally enough for me to realize that it's probably not a good idea.

Finally, a good timer/alarm/calendar system. I live and die by my calendar, so I've set up an old tablet in a stand under my right monitor, and have it displaying my calendar so I always know what is coming up.

I also use a Google Home to set reminders and alarms for different times as I need to. Being able to just tell the oval on my desk to remind me to take out the trash at like 6pm tonight is really nice, and keeps me focused without just ignoring things that I might need to do or remember.

Gregory is a senior software developer working from home - learn how he finds the balance between lack of focus and hyperfocus.

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Interview with Harry, an IT Architect who works from home

My 13" Macbook Pro is my workhorse. I like the size as it's small enough to remain portable and still have enough juice to run my multitasking universe.

My iPhone keeps me connected while I'm on the go—I'm constantly tethering my laptop to it while mobile. My 100 Mbs connection keeps me wired at home.

Email and Cisco Jabber for keeping in touch with coworkers and Citrix for connecting to the office in NYC.

Harry has worked remotely for almost 10 years as a senior mobile, web and desktop developer—learn how he balances work with family.

Read full interview from Interview with Harry, an IT Architect who works from home.