There are all kinds of productivity apps out there. Apps to improve your writing. Apps to help with automation. Apps to develop easy-to-read charts. But perhaps the most quintessential productivity apps are those that help you save precious, precious time. Imagine saving even just 20 to 30 minutes each day. Maybe you’d have more time to work on long-term projects or bounce creative ideas off co-workers.
Transformational apps often make incremental productivity improvements that have a massive impact when taken cumulatively. For example, spelling and grammar checkers in Microsoft Word are pretty good but Grammarly’s superior ability to catch typos and bad grammar can save you dozens of minutes each day that you’d otherwise spend proofreading everything.
In the same vein, searching through Google Workspace doesn’t take up hours of your workday, but using Teamstand can easily save you dozens of minutes each day. The productivity apps listed below are transformational in the way they can augment your capability at work and help you succeed.
Rather than simply supplying a platform for communication (like Slack) or collaboration (like Zoom), these apps represent a subtle paradigm shift. Depending on the nature of your job, you will find some more useful than others. But all of them deserve your consideration.
Grammarly
Spelling and grammar checkers are everywhere these days. You probably can’t type more than a sentence or two in any app without seeing little red squiggles everywhere. But Grammarly goes above and beyond by being an automated writer’s assistant. Yes, it does check for spelling and grammatical errors, but it also checks for things like language clarity. You can also set up Grammarly to provide support for different types of writing.
If you’re someone who writes technical or academic content, Grammarly can be configured to accept common things in technical writing like passive voice and lengthy sentences. On the other hand, if you write blog posts for a company website, Grammarly can be configured to accept informal language and structure. With its simple features, Grammarly is a cool behind-the-scenes assistant that gives you an automated eye for detail.
IFTTT
If you've ever been annoyed by going back and forth from one app to another and thought, “Somebody should automate this!”— that somebody could be you. IFTTT is a free service that lets you create automated “applets” that are capable of handling simple tasks that involve going between apps you already use. For example, Trello users can leverage IFTTT to create a log of completed tasks in Google Drive, while Slack users can use IFTTT to automatically share tweets from the company’s official Twitter profile. From tracking your progress to sending out notifications, IFTTT automation cuts down on the productivity drain that comes from switching tasks.
Zapier
Zapier is another app that allows you to create custom animations, but it has a strong business focus, making it particularly relevant for productivity. Like with IFTTT, Zapier lets you automate connections among other productivity apps, with up to 100 actions possible for a single automation, or “Zap.” You can unfurl an entire automated process with just a single trigger event. For example, if a customer buys something from your e-commerce platform, Zapier can create a fulfillment task in Trello, add the customer’s email address to a mailing list, and then send a purchase confirmation email.
By giving the power of automation and connecting business-specific apps, Zapier helps you communicate faster, collaborate more effectively, and become more organized.
Caveday
If you’ve waited years to be able to work remotely, you probably went through a period where you loved not having your boss or coworkers looking over your shoulder. However, being able to work without anyone watching can lead to a lack of personal accountability. If you can regularly getup to wash dishes or do laundry instead of grinding out numbers for a report, who’s going to stop you from taking those little bits of procrastination?
Caveday is a productivity app designed to bring back a bit of personal accountability by having many people together on the same video conference call. Like a virtual spinning session, there’s a facilitator on the call who helps people share what they’re trying to accomplish and keeps everyone focused on the task at hand. After a small adjustment period, remote workers say Caveday is a great way to hold yourself accountable by engineering a bit of peer pressure.
Lucidchart
As anyone with meeting fatigue knows, sometimes the best way to communicate effectively is through the use of visual aids. With that notion at its core, Lucidchart lets you quickly create stylized charts and diagrams. The platform comes with an entire library of professional-quality shapes and templates, making it easy for you to convey information authoritatively.
Lucid chart also supports collaboration by allowing multiple team members to edit a diagram simultaneously. Teams can quickly develop anything from an emergency exit plan to an org chart, and with everyone having a chance to provide input, it creates a greater sense of ownership over the finished product.
Teamstand
Some people use their Gmail inbox as an informal to-do list. Some use their inbox to preserve important email attachments until they are no longer needed. For these folks, Teamstand is a powerful productivity app that automatically organizes and presents valuable assets in Gmail. Like IFTTT, Teamstand cuts down on the productivity drain that comes from switching tasks.
Available as a Chrome extension, Teamstand can reduce the amount of time you spend searching for important files by presenting them in a collapsible panel within the apps you already use. Teamstand brings critical assets to where you’re already working. Like the best apps, it’s intuitive and simple. Best of all, it’s free.
Contact us today to get early access to Teamstand’s automated digital filing finding cabinet.
