I mostly try to stay away from mentioning specific tools, because I really think there are no perfect solutions and it is worthwhile to spend some time thinking through the software you use to work and be productive.

In that light, I still think sharing my list can be helpful. It might bring you new ideas and tools to check out to see if it helps you to be more efficient effective. So here it is:

  • Trello: At Blendle, we’re using Trello to keep track of what is in our sprints. It lacks a couple of features (like a burndown and storypoints) we’ve added via integrations or with plugins, but all in all Trello is the absolute best tool I’ve found to manage team progress. It’s fast, the apps are good, it has great shortcuts and there are hundreds of plugins available.
  • OmniFocus: Won’t dwell on this one too long as this it not the first time I’m writing about it. It’s a great, fast tool, with a bunch of powerful features which fit my workflow perfectly.
  • Reeder: If you’re following a bunch of blogs, the way you consume them can make the difference between you actually reading them or not. Reeder is pretty bare-bones, but the reading experience is great and it is super nice to be able to have all your sources in one place. I’m using it to keep up with both my blogs via Feedly and saved articles via Instapaper.
  • Gmail: I’m a huge fan of the Gmail interface for web. It is super fast, there is no service or application that can do search as good as Google’s, shortcuts are great and there are all kinds of plugins to make emailing easier. I’m using Boomerang and Giphy (can’t live without). Offline Gmail works awesome as well.
  • Google Docs: I can’t remember the last time I used Pages or Word to write. Google Docs works well offline, it is fast and collaboration features are unmatched. If no collaboration is required (like for DailyPM) I'm using IA Writer.
  • Google Calendar: Syncing is hard and that is the reason I switched from the default calendar app on the Mac to Google Calendar. Scheduling meetings with coworkers is really easy with Google Calendar and I never have to worry it is not up to date. You have to use the notification-instead-of-alerts setting to make it usable though. That one should be the default setting.

What are your favorite and go-to apps?