I’ve learned a lot of different techniques, tools, and processes over the years all designed for productivity or efficiency. Many of these I have picked up by working with specific teams, projects, or individuals or by trial and error. Not all of these may be useful or even beneficial to everyone, because everyone’s individual way of working is unique. However, hopefully these tips are also useful to others. Here we go!
Disclaimer
Your mileage may vary with the techniques outlined in this article. I make some assumptions about prerequisite knowledge and will do my best to explain and provide links for further reading. I mention a few apps by name where they’re relevant to the process; I generally use a Mac, but the ideas work with any board, capture tool, or timer that fits your environment.
Productivity Techniques & Process
Over the years, there have been many productivity techniques that I’ve been exposed to and attempted to integrate into my workflow. Many techniques exist out there and some are even supported with data supporting their viability. Since this is a fairly subjective and opinionated article, I’m not going to dive deep into the data points, for my own use or across industries. Plenty of resources are available online with some quick searches.
Kanban
One of the most effective and reliable methods I use to manage projects and tasks is Kanban, an agile system that originated in lean manufacturing at Toyota in the 1940s. Today, it’s widely used across various fields, including software development and personal productivity, to help streamline processes and keep work organized. The term “Kanban” translates from Japanese as “visual signal” or “signboard,” reflecting its purpose in visualizing workflow to improve efficiency and reduce waste. Managing Kanban can be done using physical cards or sticky notes, or a digital board such as Trello, Redmine, or Wekan.
What makes Kanban so powerful is its adaptability. For simple tasks, I keep boards straightforward, by organizing tasks into columns like “To Do,” “In Progress,” and “Done,” allowing for a clear, at-a-glance overview of work. But for more complex projects, I might add extra stages like “Discovery”, “Testing” or “Review.” This allows me to track progress accurately and quickly spot any bottlenecks that could slow down work. This process provides a clear, visual overview of all work in a project. Another great tool in Kanban is adding work-in-progress (WIP) limits to any particular column. By limiting the number of tasks in the “In Progress” column, for example, I can stay focused and avoid spreading myself too thin. It’s a dynamic, flexible system that evolves with the project, helping me maintain momentum and ensure that nothing falls through the cracks.
I’ve found Kanban to be most useful when pairing together with another engineer or designer, working with teams on larger projects, or generally when working effectively in groups matters. Cycle time and throughput are used to measure how long tasks take to complete and inform how long they should take in a given step. In addition to managing WIP limits and dependencies, tagging people, adding keywords, or color-coding cards can help keep a project organized and scope remains realistic and deliverable. Enabling individuals and teams to pull work, rather than push work from a queue, is also quite powerful in empowering teams to dictate their true bandwidth. This is further informed not just based on WIP limits, but on historical throughput for similarly sized units of work. Over time, the size and shape of work becomes clearer and enables leaders and the team to make adjustments to the scope of work or size of tasks.
GTD
Another process for managing project work is Getting Things Done®, but for the parts I use it’s really about helping organize thoughts or ideas into actionable work. If I have one common thread in my work or home projects it’s using GTD with todo lists to capture whatever is in my head for later prioritization. This simply helps me to remove distractions or tangental thoughts or ideas and focus on the task, collection of work, project, or whatever. I typically use the Things app to capture high- or low-level thoughts, ideas, or actionable tasks into pre-defined areas or ad hoc buckets. Really, any todo list app or even just a pencil and paper works fine. If I’ve jotted something down on a notepad or sticky note, I’ll transfer those over to my todo app at some point later. The ultimate goal here is to capture the information to process later.
After the capture step, I move into clarification and organizing. These are fairly self-explanatory, but the gist is to revisit your captured items and refine where required or necessary. The goal is to move any items into idea buckets, projects, or creative areas. Grouping the captured items into logical areas may seem obvious but the process of pooling notes together can help inspire additional thoughts to capture. Once clarified, there is natural progression to organizing items and iterating upon them in their respective areas. Once organized, I tend to reflect and iterate upon each item within its respective group. Sometimes I’ll do this as I am going along creating tasks, otherwise I’ll just do a quick reflection before getting started.
Which brings about the real benefit to taking the approach of a todo list to help get shit done: jumping in and getting started. Honestly, sometimes this is the part that I have trouble with if I don’t have a whole picture of the end goal or just vague idea of an outcome. This is why looping through the earlier steps can be helpful. It’s normal for me to run through the whole process a few times before really digging into deep work related to a project. The trap that is easy to fall into is spending too much time on the earlier steps before getting started. So, there’s a bit of nuance, but making a call to just jump in and get started sometimes helps feed into earlier steps. Rinse and repeat. Typically, the outcome is good enough. As we know, perfection is the enemy of good enough, and these steps tend to help at least keep things somewhat organized.
Pomodoro
The Pomodoro® Technique is a time management practice that can be applied to daily work, projects, or even personal or home projects. The basic principles are that you have some sort of timer, in fact the concept started with a real physical kitchen timer, and you set increments of time to focus and work, then rest, and repeat. The general timeframe is usually around 25 minutes of work, followed by a short rest, with a longer break between sessions. Honestly, the focus time can be greater or smaller than 25 minutes. I don’t always use this technique, but I’ve found that when I do, I’ll adjust the time up or down depending on my mood or the work I’m doing. The general idea of Pomodoro is to help get into a flow state and encourage incremental breaks with periods of deep focused work.
If I hadn’t had a lot rest the night before, I might not be able to focus for longer periods. Sometimes I find myself in a flow state while I’m working and will disable the timer completely so I can remain focused. This has a downside, however, and as is outlined in the process, taking intermediate breaks helps us reset and create a sort of rhythm to whatever work we have in front of us. In general, having a set block of time helps to set some parameters and focus our attention to the tasks at hand. As for what timer to use, sometimes I’ll just set a timer on my phone by I also use Pomodoro Timer on my Mac. There are great other apps like Hey Focus, and many others that are web- or app-based.
Pomodoro is a great technique if you are receptive to working in bursts or need some sort of limiting factor such as a timebox for your efforts to help keep focus. The downside can be feeling overwhelmed or artificially pressured if you’re not producing in the time you’ve allotted. These are natural responses, I think, to setting some of these limits and this is why I don’t treat this process as a magic bullet for productivity and adjust the time or drop it entirely if it’s not working and move on to something else. In those times that I have an open-ended project and am not so worried about how long or how many Pomodoro I am working through to get to the end goal, then this can work great for me.
Tools in context
The specific apps I use for Kanban, capture, and timers change over time. What stays constant is the role they play: something to visualize work (a board), something to capture ideas and tasks (a list or notebook), and something to timebox focus when I need it (a timer). I’ve name-checked a few options in the sections above; if you’re looking for alternatives, AlternativeTo and your team’s existing stack are good places to start. The goal isn’t to adopt my stack. It’s to pick one or two things that support your process and stick with them long enough to see if they help.
Everyday tools
My everyday stack maps straight onto the three process roles. For capture I use Things, it’s where the GTD flow lives. For visualization I use a board, usually Trello or Wekan depending on whether I’m solo or with a team. For timeboxing I use a Pomodoro-style timer (phone or a Mac app like Pomodoro Timer or Hey Focus) when I need to lock in. I also lean on Alfred to add tasks or open the board without leaving what I’m doing, and 1Password so logins and context-switching don’t eat into focus time (not to mention a security-first approach). The point isn’t this exact list. It’s having one place to capture, one place to see work, and one way to timebox when it helps, and keeping that set consistent so you’re not constantly re-deciding.
Situational tools
I add or swap tools when the context changes. When the work is code and the team lives in GitHub, GitHub Projects or Issues can be the Kanban board so work stays in one place. When coordination matters more, Slack (or whatever the team uses) is where requests and updates live; I might add a “Waiting on” or “Blocked” column on the board to reflect that. For my calendar, I lean on Fantastical to see when I have focus blocks and when I don’t. Sometimes the right move to remain agile is an extra column in my Kanban tool such as “Review” or “Discovery”, rather than a new app. The idea is to adapt the system to the situation without turning it into a tool collection.
Taking breaks and mental agility
Process and tools only get you so far if you’re burned out or can’t switch context. Rest isn’t a reward for working hard, it’s what makes work sustainable. I’m not talking about a five-minute pause between tasks or meetings. I mean real breaks: a walk or bike ride outside, doing yoga or practicing mindfulness, time with family or friends, playing a video game or reading a book, or making art or building something with your hands. Or, here’s a wild thought: actually taking your PTO. Even a day or two away helps. Your brain needs time to process offline, and the best ideas often show up when you’re not staring at the task list.
All of these processes and tools are great, but what good are we unless we regularly take breaks and recharge. Even if you don’t want to take a big trip, just spending some time away from your work or tasks can have a tremendous benefit to your physical and mental well being.
A better board or a timer can fix some things. Expectations, boundaries, saying no, or stepping away fix others. Often it’s both. So, use a process that fits you, keep your everyday tools simple and consistent, add situationally when it helps, and protect the rest and reflection that make it all possible.