12 Awesome apps for productivity and project management

For me as a creative entrepreneur, picking the right app can be a daunting task.

First of all, I’m the only one person who’s already wearing 15 different hats, so carving out time to look for productivity software is difficult for me.

Secondly, once I figure out a system that works, I’m kind of set. I move on and turn my attention to the things that need fixing.

And there’s no one looking over my shoulder saying, “wow, I just use <insert software> and that takes me half the time it takes you.”

Finally, I’m a bit frugal. While I like things that save me time and money, I don’t like to sign up for a monthly bill, especially if I fall off the bandwagon 2 months later.

I’m skeptical, too. Because anyone can say anything on a website, having a referral from a trusted peer (or blog) makes all the difference for me.

So, one of the unexpected ways having 2 part-time jobs has made me a better entrepreneur is getting to use all of these really awesome apps I’d have never discovered – out of lack of need or just being out of touch – on my own.

Here are my favorites (listed alphabetically):

Note: Except for Hectic, I’m not getting paid to endorse any of these. I just think they’re good enough to be endorsed!

Athtek Skype Recorder

Cost: $15 for Lite Version or $29.95 Pro Version (10-minute free trial)
Platforms: Windows

Just like the name implies, this app records Skype conversations, which is super-helpful for things like:

• Client meetings
• Interviews
• Subcontracting meetings / remote team meetings
• Training or tutorials

You can record audio and/or screen capture, saved as an mp3. Then edit (if necessary) in your favorite audio or video software.

Bonus! For audio editing, my favorite is Audacity (which is free!).

Basecamp

Cost: $20-150/month (2-month free trial)
Platforms: All (online app)

Basecamp is a project management tool designed for group collaboration (but it would also work well for individuals). The more active projects you have, the more indispensable it becomes.

Incredibly detailed, Basecamp gives you amazing flexibility to create unique project flows (and templates!) that work for almost any type of project.

Some perks include:

• To-do lists that can be categorized into groups
• “Discussion” threads on the various aspects of your projects
• The ability to tag certain people on your comments (which triggers an email being sent to them)
• File attachment to projects and comments
• A robust calendar for project scheduling
• The ability to add people to every project or project-by-project
• Client access restriction to certain threads (and clear privacy notations)
• Text documents for quick project notes (which you can view without having to open
• A running log of project updates and who triggered the update

Overall, Basecamp is a fabulous project management system. I can’t imagine the headache work would be without it.

Of course, there are lots of other Basecamp alternatives that vary in feature offering and price.

CoSchedule

Cost: $10-299/month (14-day free trial)
Platforms: All (online app)

CoSchedule is a marketing management calendar to help you plan and publish your blog, content marketing, and social media.

Designed with the group publishing team in mind (but also very handy solo), CoSchedule offers a robust amount of features and a central calendar that helps you utilize a ton of other apps to effectively and efficiently publish content.

Here’s what rocks about CoSchedule:

• Integrates very well with WordPress, Evernote, Google Analytics / Calendar/docs, Buffer, and social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Google+)
• Assigned to-do lists and to-do list templates
• Tiers of users with differing capabilities
• At-a-glance publishing schedule and task due dates
• Automatic email reminders
• The ability to schedule social media per blog post
• Users can integrate their own private social media scheduling and publishing (as well as company-wide social media)
• Top post analytics, and per-post sharing analytics

This app replaces about 4 separate, independent documents for me and does so in style. I’ve used this for less than one month and already I’m in love. I’m at least twice as productive as I was before.

Bonus! Their customer support and feedback support is also fantastic.

HelpScout

Cost: Free lite version or $15/user/month (15-day free trial)
Platforms: All (online app)

HelpScout is an email management tool designed to help you provide delightful customer support. Created for help desks and customer support teams (but applicable to other areas of business), this software allows your entire team to review and handle incoming emails efficiently and quickly.

So much more than just a place where all of your emails is contained in threads, HelpScout’s features include:

• Traffic cop, which prevents you from sending a reply if another member has already responded or your client has sent another email while you were writing
• Leave notes for other team members
• Save email templates for common email replies
• Tag emails to categorize conversations and monitor trends
• Lots of reports (like the busiest time of day, usage of tags and saved replies, most active customers, first response time, replies to resolve, etc.)
• Assign conversations to team members
• Bulk replies
• Set email status

Probably my favorite feature is the saved replies, where I quickly pop off an email without having to type the same exact thing over and over (and over).

I also love the Traffic Cop, which has prevented me from sending multiple outdated emails where the client *just* updated me on what I was about to send.

And it’s super-handy to have multiple team members able to effortlessly (and flawlessly) manage the same inbox, so you don’t have to request clients to switch emails from new client outreach to project manager, for example.

Mockingbird

Cost: Free lite plan or $9-85/month (free demo)
Platforms: All (online app)

Mockingbird is a great wireframing app for websites, apps, or even documents. With a simple, easy-to-use interface, it makes creating wireframes a quick and painless process.

Benefits include:

• Active links to show the flow of the project
• Drag and drop UI elements
• Link sharing to clients and teammates with real-time editing
• Upload and use your own pictures or graphic elements

This software alone has revolutionized the way I create mockups. You can also see our full list of best wireframe tools here.

Momentum Chrome Extension

Cost: Free
Platforms: Chrome

Momentum is a Chrome extension that replaces the “new tab” screen with a productivity-inspired dashboard.

Neat aspects include:

• To-do list
• Motivational quote
• Cool photography
• The goal for the day
• Weather and time

It’s really awesome to open up a new window and see a pretty picture and today’s goal as well as a list of things you should be doing instead of browsing the internet like you’re about to do. 😀

Slack

Cost: Free – $40/user/month
Platforms: All (online app)

Slack is a messaging app for teams, helping remote teams improve cohesiveness and all teams quickly communicate with the people they need.

The best things about Slack include:

• Searchable messages
• Channels to separate out topics
• Direct messaging from person to person
• Private groups
• Animated gif integration (i.e. /giphy laugh will bring up a random gif tagged as a laugh)

Slack has greatly accelerated the “getting to know you” process of working with a team of people. And the giphy integration makes for some pretty hilarious outcomes.

TextExpander

Cost: $44.95 (30-day free trial)
Platforms: Mac (try Phrase Express for PC)

TextExpander is a shortcut typing tool designed to prevent you from typing the same thing over and over.

Cool features include:

• Suggests snippets from phrases you type often
• Plain text or rich-format text enabled
• Dynamic text insert (like name, date, URL, etc.)
• Organize snippets into groups
• Multiple language support

TextExpander has single-handedly revolutionized both my personal and professional typing. If I notice I’m repeating myself, I quickly set up a snippet.

Toggl

Cost: Free – $49/user/month
Platforms: All (online app)

Toggl is a time-tracking app for teams or individuals.

Features include:

• Organize your time by projects or tags
• Mark items billable
• Input time if you forget to switch it on
• Reporting features such as exportable timesheets, overviews of billable time, and weekly productivity
• Project color-coding
• Offline time-tracking syncs when you’re back online

Another one of those tools that are super simple for me to use (and hasn’t gotten increasingly cumbersome over time) and really effective.

FunctionFox

Cost: Starts at $5/user/month.

You can try the FunctionFox app free for 14 days and test out the project management dashboard for yourself! And if you want to step it up a notch, do check out FunctionFox lite which is specifically made for freelancers and solo business owners.

Platforms: All (online app)

FunctionFox’s goal is to help you stay organized, stay on budget, and stick to your deadlines—all while staying creative. They’ve built a really beautiful interface for to help improve project management for freelancers and the coolest feature has to be the customizable dashboard.

It’s the best project management software for freelancers who are picky about their reports… like me. 🙂

Here are the key features that FunctionFox offers its users:

• Timer or manual time entry methods
• Daily, weekly, or monthly timesheet views
• Billable and non-billable task tracking
• Project status overviews
• Graphical dashboard views
• Detailed standard reports
• Interactive charts and graphs
• Simple quotes and invoicing

Trello

Cost: Free – $3.75/user/month
Platforms: All (online app)

Trello is a free visual way to organize projects (and lots of other “stuff). Whether you use it as a personal to-do list or to keep team project flow organized, Trello gives you an at-a-glance view of each project’s status.

Why I love it:

• Separate projects or clients into color-coded Boards
• Include different people on different boards as needed
• Drag ‘n drop interface
• Visual customizable lists to show project stages (for example, to-do, approved, in-progress, review, completed)
• Ability to attach team members, due dates, and color-coding to items
• Each project has its own comment thread

The best thing about Trello is how quickly you can see the status of each project. And if you have a lot of Boards, you can star your most-used ones to quickly navigate around.

How about you?

What productivity and project management apps work best for you? Share them in the comments!

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