Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Shutterstock/Have a nice day Photo
make this one change

Feel like work is taking over your home life? Try streamlining your apps

If you find your job reaching into your life at all times of the day and night, you might benefit from a tactical app cull.

ONCE UPON A time having a Filofax and a Rolodex was the only way to organise your work life. And some people still prefer to stick to a trusty notebook and pen.

But the vast majority of workers nowadays use a range of apps and programmes to keep tabs on their every waking minute and make sure they are performing to maximum efficiency.

Not only are you readily available over email – and let’s face it, who actually disables their work email account after 6pm? – there’s also your Google calendar, office Whatsapp group, Trello, texts, Twitter, Hootsuite, Excel sheets… the list of organisational tools we use to try to streamline our workdays has (perhaps ironically) gotten out of control.

So how can you take back your day and regain control over your schedule, calendar and to-do lists? By having one central organisational tool that will take care of your diary, to-do lists, priorities, communication – and maybe even a little project management too.

We road-tested a few organisational apps to see which tools might make your life a little easier.

1. Wrike

A good tool if part of your day involves overseeing multiple projects. There is good email integration and the mobile app is clean and easy to use, but the overall tool can be a bit clunky and difficult to structure unless you invest a few hours in learning about it. Too over-the-top for keeping track of personal projects, to do lists and calendars. (Find out more here.)

2. Slack

Featuring hashtagging, @ tagging and direct messaging, Slack is very much based on the social media platforms we’ve all come to know so well. Great for communicating quickly and informally with your team and its ability to sync with your Google Drive and calendar is handy. (Find out more here.)

3. ToDoist

Great for individual and small team task management. It’s intuitive, available on lots of operating systems and it’s free. Probably a bit basic if you need to manage large teams, but for getting your worklife organised and streamlined, ToDoist does the job. (Find out more here.)

Your Voice
Readers Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

    Leave a commentcancel