As a very techy lot, our IT support team often come across interesting apps and websites that make our lives easier or just more entertaining. We did not want to keep those to ourselves so we decided to start a series of ‘Things we like’ blog posts. Some of the positions that we want to write about are useful for business, some of them are great to take a look at in your spare time, and some are very versatile helpers for any kinds of situations.
‘The collaboration hub that moves work forward’
A brilliant cloud-based tool that allows private and group communications within a workspace. You can create channels for themed conversations that different users can join and leave as needed. Slack is a great alternative to emails and shouting across the office. You get to not disrupt your colleagues’ workflow, at the same time making sure that your message will not disappear in their overflowing inbox. Slack allows you to share files, make calls, organize channels by pinning posts or creating threads within channels. You can integrate Slack with over 1,500 different apps (such as Dropbox or Google Drive) and all content within the tool is searchable. The best part? Slack’s basic version is free to use.
‘Discover your mind’
We all know that clear mind allows us to work more efficiently, without sabotaging our dreams and goals. Meditation is a great way to relax, soothe your emotions and replace the chaos of anxious thoughts with focus and tranquility. However, if you’ve never done it before, it may be a bit tricky to start to meditate. Luckily, there are multiple mobile apps that could help. Waking up with Sam Harris (neuroscientist, philosopher, writer) is a course that will teach you to meditate and provide insight into how your mind works. The first 5 guided sessions are free to try!
‘Information at a glance’
An online project management tool that allows you to create boards and checklists shared with any amount of users. You can add attachments, comments to every task card, as well as subtasks, due dates, names of assignees etc. The free version of Trello gives you a very flexible work tool with very few restrictions (attachment file size/only one integration per board). Trello may not allow you to track time but it works just fine if you want to keep all your ‘to do’ lists in one place.
‘Stop being distracted by your phone’
We mentioned this one before in one of our #Geekabytes. Freedom eliminates the online distractions (and helps you focus on your work tasks) by blocking appointed apps and websites. Start sessions immediately or schedule in advance. You can plan daily or weekly recurring times of freedom from social media and other addictive pages. Rebooting your computer will not help, only a clean install could override Freedom. You can even sync the app across your devices to avoid cheating and checking Facebook on your phone!
ALL ARTICLES