Applications and tools are constantly being updated and improved. In this publication, I have described nine tools that have been most useful to me this year. I hope you’ll discover something new.
Figma is a tool specially created for designers, particularly for UX designers. One of its advantages is the ability to work together in real-time. A few years ago, it was a unique feature in the UI design tool market.
But Figma isn’t just useful for the design team. Anyone who reviews a project can see the latest changes and their history. Figma brings everyone together in the design process so that teams can create better products in a faster time frame. Figma plugins can and should be used for this purpose. Here are the top 12 ones that are useful to me:
When I need to work with Strategy docs, PRDs, Roadmaps, I prefer to use Notion.
It’s a very comfortable space to think, write and plan for the long and short term. If you consider Notion as an editor, you can make notes with headings, create lists in different styles, insert quotations, make callouts and use delimiters. You can also work with text: format it, create a hyperlink, mark it as code. I like that it can be used to create mind-maps for projects.
Of course, Notion is not a text editor. It has considerably more features. You can learn more about how the app helps me be more productive here:
This is one of the team communication services I use most often. Meetings, webinars, and project discussions in Zoom have become commonplace. And for you?
Did you know that if you have too many chats and channels in your Zoom account, you can easily organize them with folders?
Zoom lets you create up to 200 folders. In each one, you can add up to 50 items like channels, group chats and individual chats. You can also drag and drop folders and everything in them for better organization.
To create a chat folder on your computer, open the Zoom app and click “Create Folder” in the “Chat” tab by clicking the arrow button on the left side of the screen. This will open a smaller window. You can enter a name for the folder in the text box.
You will then need to add contacts, chats or channels to the new folder.
If you’re creating a folder on mobile, tap Meet & Chat > Folders > + Icon > add Folder Name > Next > Add contacts and channels > Create.
When you organize everything in folders, you can prioritize them. Very handy!
Slack is another handy app for team collaboration and communication. If you want to make it even more helpful and make the most of it, here are a few integrations to add:
- Google Drive — for accessing the content you want to share with colleagues.
- Giphy for sending funny GIFs via Slack.
- Zoom — no need to make any comments here.
- Trivia — Games | Virtual Coffee is an excellent app for creating a friendly environment and mini-pause in your work.
- Simple Poll for creating different surveys.
- IFTTT to automate the connection of other Slack apps.
- Google Calendar for scheduling team meetings.
- Reacji Channeler for responding to messages.
- Evernote for creating notes.
- Asana for keeping track of project tasks.
And what apps have you improved your Slack workspace with?
To avoid wasting time in meetings and reduce their number, the Loom app is convenient.
No email? You can record Loom. Want to share an idea quickly without creating a conference? Record Loom.
How else do you use Loom?
- Create a welcome or introduction video for new employees or team members.
- For informal conversations.
- To record essential announcements for your team.
- For personalized feedback. You can add document links in the video discussing a specific project or task.
- For asynchronous communication and Zoom Burnout.
- For presentations.
Amplitude is one of the analytics tools that help increase the commercial value of projects and digital products.
Every time a new version is released or a new feature needs to be launched in an app; we use Amplitude to do A/B testing.
Linear is an app great for optimizing tasks, sprints and project planning. It can be used to create Tickets, and project managers choose to build Gantt charts to illustrate project work and progression.
Linear is often adopted after Jira. You can read a little more about it in the following publication:
Typeform is a godsend for designing surveys. You can create quizzes and polls that are visually appealing and enjoyable to answer.
Raycast is a fast, fully extensible launcher. It makes it easy to manage your tools and automates the process as much as possible.
It was one of my top productivity tools this year. And here, I share some tips on how to use it:
What are your favourite PM & UX designer tools, hands down, for 2022?
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