Best 2020 Tools to Boost Your Productivity Working Remotely

Who would’ve thought remote work will take over this year? Many of us have been working from our homes for many years, but now that most companies are facing the pandemic reality, the workforce panorama is changing. Atlassian, Twitter, and Square are some of the many companies that recently announced that their employees could work from home permanently if they want to. But working from home comes with distractions, especially if you have kids or pets. This is why having the right tools is a game-changer. But besides the common popular tools, most of us use or heard about like Basecamp, Trello, Asana, Zoom, or Slack; there are many others that change the way you work in a virtual setting. Here are the best 2020 tools to boost your productivity while working remotely:

1. Timely
2. Grammarly
3. Otter.ai
4. Krisp
5. Brain.fm
6. 10to8
7. Pomodoro Technique
8. Todoist

1. Track Your Time with Timely

   Many remote workers tend to work more than 8 hours a day, which is not healthy. It can lead to stress and burnout. This is why tracking how much time you work and the activities you do is a great way to have a panorama of your performance.

   With Timely, you’ll see all the things and tasks you do throughout the day. The web application not only groups tasks into projects but also shows you how you use your time. Whether you are a great time manager and you are handling your remote work tasks correctly, or you need to make a few shits because you waste too much time on small tasks.
   
   VISIT THE TIMELY WEBSITE

2. No More Grammar Mistakes with Grammarly

   Not all of us are excellent writers or have kick-ass grammar. Have you ever sent an important email and later realized that it has a terrible grammar mistake? Probably one of the worst feelings ever! With Grammarly, you won’t have to worry about this anymore.

   In the remote work environment, communication is everything. You’ll need to write many emails, that’s why this tool is so valuable. Instead of proofreading ten times to make sure everything is okay, with Grammarly, you upload the document, and this tool does an automatic check up to see if everything is written correctly. The best part is that it not only checks spelling and grammar. This tool also detects the tone of your text (if it’s friendly, formal, optimistic, etc.). And it makes suggestions to make your document even better.
   
   VISIT THE GRAMMARLY WEBSITE

3. Take Notes During Meetings with Otter.ai

   Otter.ai is a powerful tool that provides transcripts to users in real-time and after meetings. If you use Zoom, for example, you can integrate this tool, and on every meeting, you can view, highlight, and comment on the transcript.

   In case you get distracted during a call or need to stop your dog from destroying your pillow, this tool will take notes for you, and you’ll be able to review them later and see in detail the important aspects discussed. You can even see what each participant said during the meeting because Otter.ai identifies each member with a speaker ID.
   
   VISIT THE OTTER.AI WEBSITE

4. Cancel All Noise with Krisp

   Video calls with noise in the background and distractions are the worst. If you live with more people in your house and can’t go out because of the quarantine, you have no option to deal with annoying and distracting background noises. You might have to mute an unmute constantly in meetings because of all of these sounds.

   There are many solutions to this problem, such as noise-cancelling headphones or having a big house with an office. Yet if you are looking for cheaper alternatives, Krisp is perfect for you. This tool recognizes and removes any noise while making the voice of the speaker clear. It’s easy to install and has integrations with many video conferencing apps such as Zoom, Skype, Hangouts, among others.
   
   VISIT THE KRISP WEBSITE

5. Concentration Music with Brain.fm

   There are studies and many articles that prove that music is good for concentration. But, not all kinds of music. It’s not the same trying to focus on Guns n’ Roses than with science-based music that proves to help you concentrate. If you love music, and you feel it’s helpful for your concentration, definitely install Brain.fm.

   This application uses music that’s been proven to improve your brain activity, helping you focus and relax. The owners and creators of Brain.fm worked collaboratively with scientists and composers to create music that makes your brain be in the most productive state possible.
   
   VISIT THE BRAIN.FM WEBSITE

6. Get Work Finished with Pomodoro Technique

   Do you struggle with time management? If you do, like most of us, Pomodoro is a helpful tool for concentration. Many tools are using this technique that teaches how to work during specific time lapses. You set a task, you set the time you think you’ll be able to do those tasks, and the Pomodoro app starts counting.

   The innovative thing about this technique and application is that it teaches you to focus during determining lapses of time. It sets 25 minutes for you to be working on your tasks and 5 minutes break to relax. And it goes on and on until you finish the task. Many apps are using this technique helping remote workers be more productive.

   

   Note:

   There are many Pomodoro apps, but most of them have the same function and technique.

   
   VISIT THE POMODORO WEBSITE

7. Easily Schedule Remote Meetings with 10to8

   Nowadays that we are facing virtual reality, remote meetings are part of our daily basis. There are some weeks in which we have too many meetings that we might even forget some of them.

   10to8 is a useful scheduling software for remote teams. The tool will allow you to schedule meetings with your remote team and appointments with clients. It has integration with Zoom, which is even easier because you’ll be able to go on the calls from your calendar. It also lets you know about the time zones of the participants of the call. One of the best features is that it syncs with other calendar apps to make sure you don’t book meetings at the same time.
   
   VISIT THE 10TO8 WEBSITE

8. Prioritize Tasks with Todoist

   Many companies use project management tools with to-dos and due dates on it, helping teams boost their productivity. However, it’s always useful to have your own and personalized list with the tasks you need to do during the day.

   With Todoist, you can write down all of what you need to do, the most important tasks, and the ones that are not a priority, but you’ll like to finish (subtasks). Todoist also gives you the option of creating projects, adding notes, and setting reminders. Overall, you’ll be able to see a productivity chart to see how well (or bad) you are performing. This will help you identify the weak spots you need to improve to get your tasks finished.
   
   VISIT THE TODOIST WEBSITE

Final Word on Productivity on Remote Teams

I’ve worked remotely most of my life, and I’ve been managing remote teams for more than a decade. At first, it’s overwhelming, and you might feel the time is never enough, but when you distribute and prioritize your tasks efficiently, things change. You realize that sometimes it’s impossible to get so much work done on one day, and other times you’ll know you need to change the way you are managing your tasks. Thankfully there are many tools and apps, like the ones above, that is the best way to improve your productivity and manage remote work.