It can be dizzying to keep up with all new productivity technology, but it’s worth getting to know a few of the platforms that are upending everything from Microsoft Office to Adobe Illustrator to Twitter.
Because older employees face bias that they are uncomfortable with technology, I believe it’s important to demonstrate curiosity and comfort as new tools settle into mainstream use. Most of the tools I’ve cataloged below are easy to test via a free version or trial. No need to even use them at work: Dive into one for planning your vacation, or jump in on a free trial to see what the fuss is about.
Email gets a refresh
We love to hate email, and a couple of newcomers have taken that old and annoying staple up a notch. (Did you know 50% of email now is sent via Gmail?) Fair warning, though: There’s a price (literally).
Hey was released last week by the folks behind Basecamp and amid quite a dustup with Apple. It has all the bells and whistles you wish for in managing your email, with a focus on protecting you from the barrage of incoming. It also has a privacy focus and won’t show senders that you’ve opened an email (note the opposite equation from Superhuman below).
Superhuman has been around a while but still requires an invitation. It’s for email power users and boasts deep keystroke shortcuts for quickly getting to inbox zero. A feature that has been well publicized (with pros and cons) is that you can see when your email has been opened.
Newsletters made easy
Substack may be the next great publishing tool, ousting tried-and-true Mailchimp and Medium. Purpose-built specifically for blog posts and newsletters, Substack is free and makes it simple to start building a mailing list, without the hassle.
Project management takes center stage
This year is all about collaboration tools. These have been around a while, but they’re on the list because of newfound importance with most companies moving to remote. Even if your company doesn’t use these tools, chances are you’ll work with an outside contractor or agency that does. And then you will, too.
Trello is easy to try out with a free account (plan your weekly tasks here, for example) and works as a kanban board. The tiles are easy to drag between columns and it’s one of the most versatile tools out there. It’s probably the most straight-forward of the three here.
Asana, like Basecamp, has been holding steady as a gold standard. It’s relatively easy to use and you can go deep and use all the features or just work the basics.
Basecamp has held a solid seat in the project management world for years now. If you can get past the extensive campfire symbolism, you’re good to go.
Go to the whiteboard
Miro converts your screen to a whiteboard, with an assortment of tools for you to write and draw anywhere on it. Handy formats like mindmap, kanban and user stories map get you started. Invite others to join and you can all brainstorm in real-time.
Take note
Notion gained a lot of steam last year and has expanded what they offer for free. They bill the tool as for “writing, collaborating and planning,” but Notion’s roots were in note-taking.
No coding necessary
No-code tools are all the buzz. Functionality may differ, but what they share is an easy user-interface for doing what previously required coding. With no-code tools, a minimum viable product (MVP) can be created and tested inexpensively before investing in custom code. Besides those lumped together below, others are listed here.
Airtable may just unseat Microsoft’s Excel as one of the best spreadsheet tools out there. But it’s so much more. Technically, it’s a relational database, so you can link all sorts of data. But the even-a-beginner-can-do-it interface makes it accessible to all.
Coda was one of the first no-code tools to arrive on the scene, and it shows no signs of stopping. It’s now positioning itself as a collaboration tool of sorts.
Canva made its inroads with simple graphic creation, but as its functionality increases so does its applications. It’s a quick way to make a social media graphic or even a logo.
Figma is in position to overtake Adobe Illustrator as the darling of designers. The super-easy user interface means little training is necessary to create website designs, for example.
VIP social media
Clubhouse is currently by invitation only, and tech execs are drooling over social media on reports of what’s going on there. The audio-only social network puts participants in conversation rooms, and they’re often populated by heavy-hitters. Recently San Francisco’s mayor, London Breed, was in the house. Another day, Oprah! Just how exclusive is it? No website yet.