Crafting a productivity workflow that works for you

Surprise surprise this is on the topic of optimising your productivity toolset, because I just can’t help myself.

I’ve trialled many different to-do list, project management and productivity apps over the years – hello Basecamp, Wunderlist, Workflowy and Trello – and have come to understand there’s no single tool to rule them all. The trick is in finding the right combination for your project, your budget, and how you like to work.

This article walks through some things to keep in mind when curating your productivity system, with such wisdom as:

Choose fit for purpose
“One of the joys of building your own productivity dashboard is you don’t need to use the same setup for every project. Depending on what you’re working on (and with whom) you might need just a simple task list and digital notebook, or you might want a more elaborate set of spreadsheets with some automation built in.”

Take note of what upsets you
“Your frustrations with the tools you’re using now are your best indicators of what you need to build into your own custom dashboard, so start by jotting them down. Then evaluate the different DIY productivity platforms based on how easy they will make it for you to solve those particular problems.”

They reference specific platforms to try (including Notion and Airtable, which we’re using for various things at PG), but the advice is applicable to whatever tools you’re using.

Read the rest of the advice over at HBR.