Designers work to create awesome things that solve problems for people. With the onslaught of distraction we face each day, its important to stay productive. Productivity is all about creating bigger impact with our time. If we learn to maximize how we use our time, we can create awesome things and still have time to do a little break dancing.
Here are a some techniques we use at ZURB to get the most impact out of our work:
- Keeping lists to free our minds for the more important jobs of solving client problems and designing awesome things.
- Planning 5-day outlooks to help us stop thinking about tomorrow all the time.
- Timeboxing our tasks to put a fire under our bellies.
These things go really far to help us get the most out of each day. There's no better feeling than ending the day knowing that you got everything done and have a game plan for what you'll be tackling tomorrow.
Productivity Applications
People are always developing new techniques or applications that help us smoothly sail the seas of this fast-paced, slam-bang, get-it-done world we live in. Humans have an innate ability to quickly learn something new, especially if there is an incentive like saving time so there's more time for the important things.
Here are a few applications we think you should check out that will help you get more done each day:
- ClipMenu or Jumpcut- We're constantly copying text or images from one document to another and these apps extend the power of the ol' copy and paste. Everything you copy is stored within a menu that can be accessed by using a simple shortcut (I have mine set to Shift+cmd+V). ClipMenu can even remember images that get copied.
- Cloud App- We love to use Dropbox like a lot of other people, but nothing is easier for sharing a quick screenshot over chat or for storing files in the cloud. You can even set it up to auto upload screenshots that you take on your Mac!
- TotalFinder- This nifty little app takes the finder window to the ultimate extreme. We open so many windows as we work each day, it's awesome to be able to cut down that number. With TotalFinder, we're able to open new finder instances within tabs or even see tabs side-by-side by pressing cmd+U!
If you haven't given any of these apps a try, you really should. These are a few great examples of how technology and innovation can help designers (and everyone else) create impact each day. What are your favorite productivity apps? We love hearing about the new hotness and what we're missing out on.