My fave productivity tools

Here's my home work station. I'm glad I was able to set this up before I started working from home. I sit next to the window so I can see the view and take my eyes off the monitor when I need to rest 'em.

And this is the view: I can see my office from my balcony, you know...

I like how the tables make everything organised immediately and how easy it is to personalise sheets according to how you want to use it. What's also nice about it is that you can share it with people and they can collaborate with you on the sheet in real-time, including tracking changes and comments. 

• Trello - ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you I am obsessed with Trello. Like Google Sheets, it is one of my most used productivity tools. Trello follows the Japanese concept of Kanban.  Developed by Taiichi Ohno, an industrial engineer at Toyota to improve work efficiency in the manufacturing company, it a visual work management system where you can track the progress of your work by moving them in columns. I can say that it works alongside my sheets very well. 

As a person who likes to make lists, Trello makes it easy to do so using cards, where you can also attach documents, add due dates, and make checklists. I love how it looks and look forward to moving my cards to the next column to see how far along I am in a project. Also, like the Google Sheets, you can share it with other people, so I use it for both my personal and work projects. 

• Notes - I think Apple's Notes app is so underrated, especially now that they have done a lot of changes with this tool. For quick notes and I only have my phone with me,  Notes has always been my trusty note-taking app. Since they started this app, it has gone through lots of improvements and has definitely caught up with other similar services. 

I like how you can organise your notes into folders, as well as format them using rich-text options. Notes also allows you to create a to-do list, add tables, and even sketch (works so well with Apple Pencil on iPad). Plus, if you're in the Apple ecosystem (yep, I am), syncing your notes on your iCloud account allows you to access your notes on your devices for seamless note-taking. 

Photo from Apple

• Eko - OK, you might think this is a shameless plug because I work for this company,  but remote work has been a breeze because of this app. For starters, Eko is a virtual workspace solution that allows team — big or small — to communicate and collaborate, ensuring productivity, connectivity, and engagement even when working remotely. 

Throughout the last months, I have seen how the app has improved. And has tremendously helped us in the company, as well as our clients ensure business continuity even during the pandemic. Eko has a lot of cool functionalities, but I think my favourite would be Topics and Library. Topics help keep instant messaging organised by creating sub-topics within your chat. Library, on the otherhand, centralises all work-related document in one place, so it's easy for people to find them — saves a lot of time which I devote instead to working better and faster. 

• My trusty notebook and pen - this one is not really a tech tool, but ever since, I've always relied on my notebook and pen to write down my thoughts or sudden bursts of inspiration. No matter what new gadget or digital solution there will be, I will always, always, still go for my notebook and pen. Somehow for me, I always remember things better if I write them and this technique has worked for me since forever. 

I like to use Moleskine Classic notebook. I've used this brand for as long as I can remember, but have switched to using one with grid paper when I started to create chatbot scenarios and flows in my previous job. I've just gotten used to it now and prefer over blank or lined or dotted. As for the pen, I've discoverd Pilot Frixion Ball Slim 0.38 recently. I like Frixion pens because it's erasable (I hate using liquid eraser!), plus the ink is not as black or grey — reminds me so much of pencil.