My Productivity Toolbox

I have read a couple of interesting lists of startup founders/small-business owners running through their toolbox of applications and tools that make their productivity possible. So without further adieu, here’s what we use at LandlordStation and our other companies to keep things moving.

1. Google Business Apps: Despite my continued misgivings about Google and their control over people’s private information, nothing I have seen comes close enough to the functionality of Google Apps to make me actually not use it. Gmail based email, calendar etc along with Google Drive storage, quick task lists and enterprise-esque user and security controls make this a no-brainer. Google still struggles with how to let people use multiple logins simultaneously (if you have two companies or for personal and business gmails)but once you have sorted that out (see tips on that here), $5 per user per month is a bargain. Our companies are also generally remote so we use the Hangouts chat feature as one of our primary communications tools.
2. Dropbox: Google drive comes with free storage which we use too, mostly for sharing actual google docs with multiple editors, but for good old-fashioned file storage, syncing, and backup, Dropbox is still king. I’ve used Dropbox since forever and the thing just works. Always. $10/mo for a Terabyte of storage, easy file sharing, apps for Mac and mobile.
3. Mailbox (mobile): Inbox zero has changed my work life forever and it was all thanks to Mailbox (now part of Dropbox). Mailbox is the best way I have seen to get to inbox zero on a regular basis by archiving and putting time delays on messages. Integration with Dropbox also a plus. The Mailbox Mac app is nice and pretty but for me the Gmail web interface offers the functionality that you really need when sitting at the desk, so Mailbox is mobile only for me right now. Free.
4. Asana: Shared task lists are tricky and people generally have a love/hate relationship with the services that provide them. We use Asana for its simple web interface and well-done apps. Easy to have multiple teams inside of a company or if like me you have more than one company, you can easily separate them but keep them in a single interface. Dropbox and other file services are easily integrated and tasks can be assigned to people, given due dates etc. Freemium. (Note: we use Codebase for development tasks, bug tracking etc, Asana is for “business” uses only).
5. Slack: Part of the new movement away from email based communication, Slack is a great tool for teams that IM a lot and want a searchable and subject-defined way to track all of the information in these IM conversations. We have relied heavily on Skype and Hangouts for this in the past (and still use Hangouts quite a lot), but the organizational features of Slack make it head and shoulders above those other services when you are trying to find a file or snippet of conversation from some point in the past. A nearly impossible task with Skype. I would imagine that within the next year or so Slack will have more or less replaced both Skype and Google Hangouts for us as far as IM’s go. Freemium.
6. Found: Found is a Mac app that is basically like Spotlight search on steroids. Hook Found up to your hard drive, Gmail, Evernote, Dropbox, Google Drive and more. Hit Command twice and you can search for file by name or parts of name on any of your services simultaneously. It even finds un-downloaded attachments in any previous email. Super handy when looking for that file that someone sent you ages ago that you never put in your Dropbox.
7. 1Password: Making unique passwords that are memorable and hard to break is impossible. Just forget about it. Download 1Password, let it generate and remember them for you. Great new integrations in iOS 8 with the fingerprint reader on the iPhone as well as browser extensions for your computer. You can even create shareable folders so your personal passwords stay personal and ones that are team oriented can be shared with your team. Costs $20–80 depending on how you are deploying but worth every penny.
8. Moleskine Notebook: Some things are just not replicable by technology and so far a good-old Moleskine notebook is one of those things. Never runs out of batteries, always there for jotting a quick idea, lasts forever (or until you fill it up), works great without Wi-Fi on an international flight. . .
9. Desk.com (CRM): I hesitate to put this one in the list because we are effectively grandfathered into Desk.com pre-Salesforce acquisition. So I am not 100% sure what we do is available any longer to a new user. Desk has served us well for years as a CRM tool for email, phone, and social customer service tickets and the like. I believe that many people are using Zendesk (which we have taken a look at) which seems to be a very robust tool as well.

That’s pretty much it. The total cost on all of thise productivity goodness is less that $300 a month. In the grand scheme of things that is a ridiculously small amount of money to enable productivity and communication among entire teams of people and frankly something that would not have been possible even a couple of years ago.