How I Use Productivity Apps to Organize My Digital Life

As a full-stack developer juggling multiple projects, clients, and deadlines, staying organized and productive is non-negotiable. But in an increasingly distracting digital world, that‘s easier said than done.

Consider this:

• The average knowledge worker spends just 2 hours and 48 minutes per day on productive tasks. The rest is wasted on distractions, unnecessary meetings, and busywork. (Source)
• Developers typically spend over 10 hours per week on "technical debt" – fixing issues caused by rushed or sloppy code. (Source)
• Context switching between tasks can cost as much as 40% of your productive time. (Source)

It‘s clear that as knowledge workers, we need intentional systems for focus and organization if we‘re to reach our full potential. Over the years I‘ve honed my personal productivity stack – a collection of apps, techniques and habits designed to help me accomplish more of my most important work.

In this post, I‘ll walk through the core pieces of that stack and provide an in-depth look at how I use them on a daily basis to keep my digital life running smoothly. Whether you‘re a fellow developer or simply someone searching for an organizational edge, I hope you‘ll pick up a few new tactics to experiment with.

Task and Project Management with Todoist

At the foundation of my productivity system is a robust task management app. After testing various options, I‘ve found Todoist to be the best fit for my developer workflow. A few key features that sold me on it:

• Ubiquitous capture via web, desktop and mobile apps
• Ability to organize tasks within nested projects and sub-projects
• Due dates, sub-tasks, priorities, labels and filters for maximum flexibility
• Task commenting and file attachments for collaboration
• Productivity reports to analyze your task completion trends

Here‘s a peek at my high-level project structure in Todoist:

Within each area of responsibility like Freelance Work and Side Projects, I create granular sub-projects to organize tasks into logical buckets. So under the Freelance Work project, I have sub-projects for each individual client and within those, a further breakdown by milestone or sprint.

Whenever a new to-do comes to mind, whether it‘s a big project deliverable or a small errand, I immediately capture it into the Todoist inbox via the Mac quick-add shortcut. This ensures no important tasks slip through the cracks.

From there, I clarify the task‘s desired outcome, assign it to a project, set a due date if applicable, and tag it for easy reference. I use tags like @next, @waiting and @someday to indicate tasks‘ statuses at a glance.

Each day, I start my morning by conducting a quick review of my task list and choosing 1-3 priority to-dos to focus on, using the Eisenhower Matrix to assess urgency and importance:

Then on Fridays, I perform a more comprehensive weekly review to tie up loose ends and set myself up for a productive week ahead. During the review, I:

• Check off completed tasks and review progress on projects
• Clarify and organize new tasks added to my inbox
• Delegate or delete tasks that are no longer relevant
• Set priorities and schedule tasks for the upcoming week

This weekly ritual helps me stay accountable to my commitments and maintain a high-level perspective even as I‘m knee-deep in code.

Information Capture and Retrieval with Evernote

As developers, we‘re constantly bombarded with information from a multitude of sources – documentation, tutorials, code snippets, bug reports, digital whiteboard brainstorms, and more. Without a centralized system for collecting and organizing it all, critical knowledge inevitably slips through the cracks.

That‘s where Evernote comes in. I use it as my digital memory, capturing everything from meeting notes to design docs to code reference materials. No more sifting through Slack conversations, email threads and Google Docs to find an important piece of info.

Within Evernote, I use a framework of Stacks, Notebooks, Notes and Tags to keep things orderly:

• Stacks are the highest level of organization, grouping related Notebooks. I have Stacks for areas like Work, Personal, and Side Projects.

• Notebooks are like file folders, holding collections of notes on a specific topic. For example, my Work Stack contains Notebooks like "1-1 Meetings", "Product Specs" and "Developer Docs".

• Notes are where the actual content lives. Whenever I come across a useful code snippet, receive meeting notes, or want to brainstorm a new feature idea, I create a new Note in the appropriate Notebook.

• Tags are like sticky notes that I attach to Notes for another dimension of organization. Tags allow me to link related notes across Notebooks. Some of my most-used tags include code, documentation, todos, and ideas.

With this organizational hierarchy in place, I can easily capture and retrieve information using Evernote‘s robust search functionality.

For instance, if I want to find all the meeting notes where we discussed the database schema, I can simply search for notebook:"1-1 Meetings" db schema and Evernote will surface the relevant notes. The more tags and metadata I add, the more powerful the search becomes.

I‘ve also made it a habit to regularly prune and archive my Evernote notes to keep the system lean. Once a quarter, I‘ll scan through my notebooks and tags, merging similar items, exporting anything that‘s no longer needed, and cross-linking related notes.

By centralizing all my reference materials in Evernote, I save countless hours that would otherwise be wasted hunting down information. And by keeping the system organized, I ensure I can always find what I need quickly.

Time Blocking and Deep Work

As any programmer knows, the deep work of writing complex code requires long stretches of uninterrupted focus. A 2018 study found that developers spend over 21 hours per week on activities that could have been avoided through better planning and organization. (Source)

To protect my focus time, I rely heavily on time blocking and task batching. Using my calendar, I proactively carve out blocks for different modes of work:

• Deep Work blocks (2-4 hours) are for cognitively demanding tasks like coding, debugging, and problem-solving. I schedule these when I have the most mental energy, usually in the morning.

• Shallow Work blocks (30-60 minutes) are for less intensive but still important tasks like code reviews, documentation, and testing. I batch these tasks together to avoid context switching.

• Reactive Work blocks (1-2 hours) are for unpredictable tasks like email, Slack, and impromptu meetings. I confine these activities to designated blocks to prevent them from bleeding into focus time.

During deep work blocks, I use the Pomodoro Technique to maintain my focus. This entails working in 25-minute sprints with short breaks in between. After 4 pomodoros, I take a longer break of 20-30 minutes.

Many studies have found the ideal work-to-break ratio to be around 52 minutes of work followed by 17 minutes of rest. (Source) I find this cadence helps me stay focused without burning out.

To track my pomodoros, I use the aptly-named Focus app. In addition to timing the work sprints, it also blocks distracting websites during the focus period, helping me stay on track.

I theme each workday around a different area of responsibility – Mondays for planning, Tuesdays for coding, Wednesdays for meetings, etc. I‘ve found this daily theming, coupled with time blocking and pomodoros, to be a potent combination for ensuring I make progress on the right things.

Automation and Workflow Optimization

As a developer, I‘m always looking for ways to streamline my workflows through automation. By offloading repeatable tasks to machines, I free up my human brainpower for higher-level work.

Two of my favorite tools for stitching together automated workflows are Zapier and Integromat. Both allow you to connect the APIs of various web apps to create custom automations without writing any code.

For instance, I have a Zapier automation that listens for starred emails in Gmail and automatically creates a task in Todoist with the email subject and link. This allows me to batch-process my inbox, starring any emails that require action and trusting that Zapier will route them to my task manager.

Another favorite is an Integromat scenario that monitors my Git repositories for new commits and pushes them to a Slack channel. This gives me a high-level view of all code activity without having to jump between repos or dig through logs.

On the desktop, I‘m a huge proponent of using a launcher like Alfred to access files and trigger workflows with just a few keystrokes. With Alfred, I can instantly search for and open any file on my machine, run pre-defined workflows, and even write custom scripts to extend its functionality.

Some of my most-used Alfred workflows include:

• Launching a set of apps and websites for different contexts (e.g. work, finance, side project)
• Searching Stack Overflow or GitHub for code snippets
• Creating time-stamped notes in Evernote
• Triggering various API calls and shell scripts

I‘m also religious about using keyboard shortcuts to navigate my most-used apps. The small bits of time saved by not reaching for the mouse really add up over the course of a day.

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Cmd + T for a new tab in Chrome
• Cmd + P for the quick switcher in VS Code and Slack
• Ctrl + Shift + M to trigger the quick-add task modal in Todoist
• Cmd + Shift + F to search in Evernote
• Cmd + Shift + L to activate LaunchBar

The key with automation is to start small and gradually build up a toolbox of workflows that save you time on a daily basis. Resist the urge to over-engineer or automate tasks that aren‘t actually repetitive. Set a reminder once a month to audit your automations and prune any that are no longer providing value.

Staying Focused and Preventing Distractions

Developers need large blocks of uninterrupted time to do their best work. But in the age of always-on connectivity, those blocks of focus are increasingly hard to come by.

A recent survey found that the average developer gets just 2 hours and 42 minutes of uninterrupted work time per day. The rest is eaten up by meetings, interruptions, and myriad distractions. (Source)

As someone who‘s inherently prone to distractions (hello ADHD!) I‘ve had to be extra intentional about creating an environment conducive to focus. Here are a few of the techniques that have worked for me:

• Silencing my phone and putting it in a drawer while working
• Turning off email, chat, and social media notifications on my computer
• Using a website blocker like Freedom to prevent access to off-task content
• Setting communication expectations with my team (no non-urgent interruptions during focus blocks)
• Scheduling dedicated time for deep work in my calendar
• Closing my email app and browser tabs when not in use
• Decluttering my physical and digital workspaces regularly
• Taking regular screen breaks to rest my eyes and mind

One of my favorite tools for reducing digital distractions is the RescueTime app. It runs in the background on my computer and tracks how I spend my time, categorizing activities as productive or distracting.

At the end of each week, I get a detailed report showing where my time went and highlighting areas for improvement. Simply knowing that RescueTime is watching has been a powerful motivator to stay on task.

When interruptions do arise, I try to capture them into my task manager as quickly as possible so I can deal with them later. I use the Todoist Mac app‘s quick-add shortcut to file away these would-be distractions without breaking my focus.

Maintaining focus in a world of constant pings is an ongoing challenge, but by being proactive about minimizing distractions, I‘m able to get into flow much more frequently and produce higher quality work in less time. The strategies above have helped me boost my productive time by over 30%.

Conclusion

Staying organized and productive as a developer requires a systematic approach. By leveraging the right tools and techniques – task management, information capture, time blocking, automation, and distraction control – we can optimize our workflows and free up more time for the work that matters most.

The system I‘ve laid out in this post is always evolving as I discover new tools and tactics. Productivity is a highly personal practice – what works for me may not be optimal for you. The key is to experiment with different approaches and build a toolkit that aligns with your working style and goals.

My challenge to you: Pick one technique or tool from this post and try implementing it in your own work this week. Start small, iterate often, and don‘t be afraid to make adjustments as you go.

With a commitment to continuous optimization and a bias toward action, we can all learn to work smarter, not harder. Here‘s to taking back control of our time and attention in an increasingly distracting world!

Additional Resources

• The Developer‘s Guide to Optimizing Your Day
• The Ultimate Guide to Personal Productivity Methods
• Productivity for Developers
• The Best Productivity Apps for Programmers