What tools do you use to manage your productivity?

I’ve been using the classic notebook to-do list, but I’m curious to hear what awesome tools are out there that I am not aware of. I’m always looking to improve my personal workflow to stay focused. Thanks!

2 Likes

I use a standard list too :nerd_face:

Here’s what I generally do (copied from @Exadra37’s thread about organising priorities)

2 Likes

I am building one that as a focus on the Tasks for Today, and while I am building it I am actively using it to plan my work day.

The plan is to integrate it with Gitlab, Github, Jira, etc., so that I can have a unified view of everything I want to get done today. It will have a tab for Professional and Personal life. It will support priorities, notes, comments, topics, groups, backlog, permalinks, realtime updates, etc.

If you are wondering what the copy button is for:

I can now select what I want to copy to the clipboard in html format, thus when I past it in my Gmails it will have the same look, but if I paste it in my editor I get only the text.

4 Likes

I am thinking in adding the Promodoro technique to my Tasks Todo project.

Do more and have fun with time management

Over 2 million people have already used the Pomodoro Technique to transform their lives, making them more productive, more focused and even smarter.

For many people, time is an enemy. We race against the clock to finish assignments and meet deadlines. The Pomodoro Technique teaches you to work with time, instead of struggling against it. A revolutionary time management system, it is at once deceptively simple to learn and life-changing to use.

4 Likes

Good old self-guilt-tripping and depression have always done the trick! :laughing:

(But I started writing stuff down in a paper notebook lately. It helps me keep track of my “wins” and it does help with motivation and self-esteem for sure.)

4 Likes

I use Trello for personal projects. At work, we currently use Jira but we’re planning a transition to Azure Boards. In any case, I typically take notes on paper or in a text document, then transcribe and track in the task tracker.

Heck yeah, this sounds amazing! I’ve been daydreaming about something like this for a while. Are you open-sourcing it? Are you looking for help with contributing and/or testing new providers?

4 Likes

I also have this in my thoughts for ages, but this year I decided to go ahead and build it while I learn Elixir.

Probably not, because this will be a commercial product.

Anyway I will have a free tier and I will give access for free to the premium tier for Open Source projects that are not commercial, and are a real project, not just some random repo.

Yes I will be looking for help in testing.

I will first open the project to Pioneers, aka the first users that will be accepted only by my direct invite, and that will have access to the premium tier forever for free with the condition that they will be willing to participate as beta testers. Each Pioneer will be able to invite friends until I decide that the product is stable for general usage.

4 Likes

Most definitely! I have found writing 3 tasks down in the morning / night before a day really help pumping those endorphins when you cross out that task. Similar sentiment to closing all your tabs after you’ve finished implementing a feature :laughing:

2 Likes

Have any of you heard of this notebook? https://bulletjournal.com/ Had someone at work say it really helped them. Curious to hear your thoughts!

2 Likes

What is the tldr Chase? Had a quick look on their website but not much info about what it is (least not on first glance).

1 Like

Took this snippet from the web:

"To save time, use rapid logging, the official language of bullet journaling where you trade full sentences for short phrases or keywords. Adopting this shorthand ensures peak efficiency and organization a.k.a. a prettier, more productive BuJo.

Every bullet journal should include these collections in the following order:

  • Index: This section is at the front of your notebook and serves as a table of contents with page numbers to different collections and a symbol key that you update as you go.
  • Future Log: This four-page spread is a year-at-a-glance calendar with future events, goals, and long-term tasks. Add birthdays, travel plans, and major holidays.
  • Monthly Log: This two-page spread includes a calendar with a bird’s-eye view of the month and a task page with things you want to tackle during the month. You can also add other monthly tracking pages (“modules”) including a food, fitness, finance, or book log.
  • Daily Log: This is your day-to-day to-do list."

TBH It kind of reminds me of an analog agile process :laughing: I see similarities between future/monthly logs and backlogs, daily logs with standups, and constant refinement with grooming / retrospectives. One of the aspects of bullet journaling that has peaked my interest is really being mindful of where I spend my time / thinking through my future plans and goals. It does, however, seem like quite a bit of work to keep up with everyday, which is why I ask if anyone has tried it and stuck to it.

3 Likes

The Frank Covey framework also makes you think where you are spending your time, and I like it’s simple approach, that is not a set of fixed rules but instead some guidelines that you need to apply to your situation. I describe how I am thinking in using it in another thread, that has already been mentioned in one of the above posts.

Quote from my other thread,:


I have never tried it, and I only came across it this week on Twitter, and someone mentioned the minimalist bullet journal in one of the comments, but I don’t remember the tweet. So this seems to be a simpler version of what you found :wink:

A Google search will return plenty of results for the minimalist bullet journal.

2 Likes