The truth is, most of us could be more productive. As our to do lists grow, it’s easy to get disorganized and start to feel overwhelmed, especially when balancing more than one project at once. Without clear direction, the average work day can feel unproductive as we jump from one task to the next, never quite finishing each item. Here are some of the tools we use at Zivtech to help us stay on track with projects.
JIRA
JIRA keeps us organized and productive with features like tickets and Kanban boards.
Tickets and Time Tracking
Jira is a great tool for development projects because you can create a ticket for each individual task within a project. You can also group tasks into broader epics for better organization and track the time you spend on each task.
Create a to do list at the beginning of each day and estimate how much time each task will take. As the day progresses, use the time tracker to make sure you’re staying on track. If you find that you spend a lot of time on tasks other than your tickets, it might be time to re-evaluate your habits.
Kanban Boards
Kanban boards add an extra degree of organization and are customizable to fit your project. You can group tasks by epic and include swim lane columns that show the status of the task, e.g., To Do, In Progress, Needs Reviewing, In Review, or Done.
As you work toward completing each task, drag and drop the tickets to move them through the columns. This creates a visual representation of your to do list with details on exactly where each task stands. Compare this to where each task should be to stay on track throughout the day, week, or month.
LastPass
LastPass stores all of your usernames and passwords in one place so you never have to struggle to remember your login credentials again. As long as you remember your master password, LastPass does the rest. You can even securely share vaults among team members so that every team member has access to all the sites they need. Rather than spending time resetting passwords or trying to remember each one, you can log in quickly and get to work.
Buffer
Buffer makes social media teams more productive. We use Buffer to schedule social media posts for the month on each of our social media platforms. Rather than posting directly on each platform daily, Buffer allows us to schedule all in one place and in advance so that posts are automatically published.
Trello
Trello helps users stay organized with a visual to do list. It allows you to add descriptions and attachments to tasks and prioritize each one. A traditional pen and paper to do list might work well for some, but sticky notes all over your desk can get disorganized or look overwhelming. Trello keeps everything digital and organized.
Self-Control
Self-Control is an app that allows you to choose sites to block access to as well as a time period for the block. Have a blog post to write but keep getting distracted by other tasks? Set a reasonable amount of time on the timer, block those sites, and get to writing. It might surprise you how much you can get done when you can no longer access that site you keep visiting as a comfortable distraction.
Prioritizing your tasks and using tools to stay organized helps ensure you’re staying on top of all of your projects and completing each step of the process on time. Which productivity tools do you use to stay on track?