Yesterday I did a meandering intro to the series for this week on personal growth and development and the tools that I use. I’m starting with communication in all of the forms that I have it, though some organization tools will creep in as well.

Email

I handle most of my email through the AirMail App (OSX). It allows me to connect a variety of accounts, has a clean interface that I can modify, exists outside of my browser, and has a few features like snooze and unified inbox that I really like.

The tool isn’t the important part though, it’s how I handle it. I’ve begun limiting my email hours when I’m in heavy tasks, shutting down AirMail with dedicated check and response times at 10AM and 3PM. I’m taking baby steps on this, and again am only doing that while I’m in the middle of large work, though the intent is to build that into a daily habit.

I don’t check email on my phone, and I’ve turned off all notifications for email across all devices. I stay near inbox zero daily, as even double digit inboxes scare me. I’ve not yet outgrown using my inbox as a to-do list, but I’ve been saved tremendously by Unroll.Me, a free service that allows me to bulk unsubscribe from email lists, as well as put unimportant emails into a “rollup”, which I can view at my leisure. This makes my inbox look less chaotic, and if I did have notifications on, I’d get far fewer in the day. This service is absolutely free. Use it and be amazed.

Chat Communications

I live in Slack most of the day. Their tagline is “Be Less Busy”, but the amount of communication that it gives me certainly expands the conversations that I have. That said, clarifications are more easily made, and communication is easier when it can be asynchronous but not tied to the formality that people expect of email.

Social Media

I spend too much time on social media. I don’t keep up with them very much, and I basically only have two active profiles, mainly Twitter. The reason I feel that I spend too much time on them is how ingrained they’ve become as habits, to the point that I don’t even think before opening a new tab and hitting “f” or “t” then enter.

I don’t currently use any apps to manage posting, though I’m trying to get into HootSuite. I don’t use anything but the web apps to access either of these sites, though I do use Twitter on mobile frequently. I try to keep my following list down enough that I keep a semi-diverse but interesting feed, without having too many people that I have a very light touch on.

Project Management

I’ve tried at various times BaseCamp, Do, Podio, Asana, and probably others for project management. Each has pros and cons, but none really stuck with me. BaseCamp is the strongest contender for unused tools, though the monthly cost made it less appealing to me. Now that they’ve changed billing, we might start using it as a team.

For now, the tool that I’ve stuck with and enjoyed the most is Trello. The card system puts everything in front of me in a visual manner that I enjoy, and I don’t feel bad spinning up a new board (Trello’s structure for projects) for new ideas. Trello is another tool that is free and has changed up something fundamental in how I work, and I highly recommend you look into it even for organizing your personal life, as I do with a few boards. Pairing it with Google Now lets me add cards to my to-do list with voice commands, which is the only way I’ve kept from forgetting so many tasks.

Document Management

Document management is a simple decision process for me. Is this a text document or spreadsheet? It goes into Google Drive, so I can edit it online from any device. Any other file goes into Dropbox, so I can be sure that I’ve got some backed up copies of it. Both tools I use the free versions of, though I also use paid Google Apps for the business. Dropbox for Business may be a purchase this year, as sharing specific folders with clients would be great. I prefer this to a service like Drive or Basecamp for individual files, because I get to skip the step of having to download the file and move it somewhere, as it’ll be automatically synced to my device. This is especially useful for code and the like, especially if it’s something that I haven’t made a git repository for on GitHub or BitBucket.

Conclusion

That’s my list, which I’m sure will be different from yours. Is there a communication tool that you’re really passionate about or that you think would save me time or mental energy? Please let me know in the comments!

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