Nexonic

Working from home can feel nice initially. That feeling soon fades as the dishes pile up, the dog needs attention every 20 minutes, and it’s too easy to fall into a YouTube wormhole. While there is a lot to love about the flexibility of remote work, without the right tools, your productivity will disappear. Luckily, optimizing your remote work setup is easy, and there are a lot of apps that can help. The following are 5 apps that can help boost your remote work productivity.

APP 1: Controlio — Know Exactly Where Your Time Is Going

Controlio is a productivity tracking software that will help you break down your productivity problems. Controlio goes beyond simple time entries and tracks down to the individual applications and web pages open. If you are a remote worker, Controlio will help you capture the low-value activities that you do not realize are consuming your time. Think of Controlio like a fitness tracker; rather than tracking your steps, it’s tracking your working habits.

Controlio highlights this situation without passing judgment and provides the tools to address it. Whether you are a solo freelancer trying to achieve client billing goals or you are part of a distributed team where managers request transparency on output without micromanaging. There are two scenarios where Controlio fits well. Set it and forget it and in a matter of days you will have an outline of where your productive efforts are and where they are not.

APP 2: Slack — Bring Structure to Team Communication

Email threads are where productivity goes to die. You can end up taking 25 minutes just to sift through 40 replies looking for the one piece of information you need. Slack fixes this problem by separating discussions into different channels — one for project updates, one for quick questions, one for the team to share GIFs, and so on. Each discussion stays on topic, and it stays separate from the many unrelated threads around it.

This is especially true for remote teams working at different times. The Slack format enables this type of communication really well, because you can leave a detailed message, mention the appropriate person, and trust that they will read it without having to set a meeting.

The free tier addresses most of the needs of individuals and small teams, while the paid plans offer additional features such as the full message history and advanced Google Drive and project management tool integrations.

APP 3: Trello — Transform Overwhelming To-Do Lists Into Visual Clarity

There’s no doubt about the popularity of Trello as a remote-working tool. It makes managing tasks a straightforward and enjoyable experience. The board and card system allows you to move tasks to various states of completion, be it ‘To Do,’ ‘In Progress,’ or ‘Done,’ at the click of a mouse, a pleasure that a simple checkbox cannot offer.

Whether you’re coordinating a solo content calendar or a complex multi-person product launch, Trello can cater for you. This project management tool allows you to have checklists, due dates, color labels, and various other attachments to each card and manage it all in one place to be viewed and worked on by the whole team. Surprisingly, the free plan is very good, but teams wanting automation, such as cards being auto-moved when a checklist is completed, will find the paid tiers great value for money.

APP 4: Focus@Will—Block Out Distractions With Evidence-Based Music

When working from home, background noise can help or hinder your productivity.

Near total silence becomes a void that feels heavy, and the wrong playlist can even be distracting. Focus@Will is different, offering music and soundscapes that are specifically designed by neuroscientists to help you focus. Instead of competing for your attention, these tracks are designed to work with your brain’s attention systems, so you can focus.

You can select your preferred genre from a list that includes classical, lo-fi, uptempo, and ambient, as well as others. Additionally, the app includes timers to help you establish a more structured routine. While it is a paid service, the trial period is long enough to test focus improvement. For people working from home and needing to block household noise and distractions, the service is underappreciated.

App 5: Zoom-Make Remote Meetings Feel Human Again

Zoom is the go-to video platform for remote working. In addition to virtual meetings, Zoom offers breakout rooms for small group activities, screen sharing for collaborative tasks, and even a mobile app for when your home internet is unreliable.

The free plan should cover most needs, but if your plan is to base your client presentation on the group call feature, keep in mind the group call time limit. Paid plans will give you unlimited group call time as well as cloud recording, which is a valuable resource for those teams needing to track action items from meetings and share recaps of those meetings.

Q: How can I actually tell if I’m being productive while working from home?

It’s natural to mistake the two, especially in your home office, but feeling busy and being productive are different. An excellent way to get a more definitive explanation is to use a productivity tracking application, such as Controlio. The application will monitor and alert you to time slipped away while your computer was idle, as well as the programs you’ve used and the websites you’ve visited. Controlio will generate a report of information that you’ve accumulated, which will give you patterns to analyze that you won’t recognize and most likely won’t have the willpower to change. Use the report to focus on specific issues instead of trying to do more in general.

Q: Do I really need all five of these apps, or should I start with just one?

Begin with one, and that relates to the most significant pain you are currently experiencing.

Implementing a productivity tracker could be a good first step for you; if you have trouble with communication, fix it with Slack; if you have a long list of tasks you need to complete, then Trello is a good starting point. Having too many tools is more confusing than helpful. Once you used the first app long enough to get used to it, other ones will come more easily.

Q: Are these tools meant for corporate teams, or can freelancers also use them?

All five tools can be used by independent freelancers, possibly even more so by them, as they do not have the external accountability of a team. With Controlio, freelancers can see where they may be losing non-billable time, making it easier to manage their billable hours. Trello is great for personal use, as is Slack for communication with a client or a few collaborators. Zoom is a personal tool, as is Focus@Will. You do not need a corporate account to leverage the benefits of these tools.

Final Note: Build Your Remote Setup Intentionally

Making your workspace more productive is typically a matter of optimizing your systems, rather than relying solely on your willpower. Remote workers experience distractions that decrease productivity, like mismanaged time, scattering communication, poorly organized tasks, interruptions, and lack of social interaction with coworkers. Five tools that can help solve these productivity challenges are Controlio, Slack, Trello, Focus@Will, and Zoom. Start with one tool that solves your biggest problem, and build your habit with that. With the right tools, you can make your home office one of your most productive working environments.