Great article on productivity

I came across a great article this week: Lessons Learned: Productivity Tips For Running A Web Design Business. The title suggests it's geared towards web design businesses (which is why it caught my eye) but the advice can absolutely be applied to any small business. So, if you're running your own business and would like some inspiration for improving your productivity I would highly recommend reading this article.

The software recommended in the article is mostly Mac software, which is great if you're running a Mac, but we're mostly PC-based. For suggestions for equivalent PC software read the comments at the end of the article. There are two which I'm trying out:

Evernote

A cross-platform (meaning it will run on almost anything) note-taking application. You can use it through your web browser, on your desktop or on your mobile and synchronise so that you can access your notes wherever you are. For example, I can write a note on my laptop at home and it will be available to me when I'm on my computer at work. Now, I can definitely see that improving my productivity as I'm forever moving documents between work and home.

Oh, and before I forget, one feature is that if you've got it running on your mobile you can take photos of things and store those as visual notes - and if the photo has words on it (for example a menu) it will try to read the words for you so that it can be searched. Sounds cool, will have to see if I make use of that. I'm one of those odd people who doesn't use a mobile very much ... maybe this will help boost me into the 21st century (why does that still sound like it's in the future?).

Wunderlist

If you know me you'll know how excited I am about this one. It's an application for managing your to-do list. Ah ... lists ... I do love a good list. Again, you can have it running on your various devices - web browser, desktop, mobile etc. and synchronise them so that you can access the up-to-date list wherever you are.

But the article isn't just about software - the applications suggested are ways of implementing the recommended strategies. Read the article and see what inspiration it gives you.