September 2016 Summaries

The Trello team, like its users, is highly diverse and uses the tool in a multitude of ways to manage their day-to-day work. The team relies on over 150 Trello boards to grow the product and support users worldwide, with each board serving a specific purpose, such as project management, content strategy, or customer feedback. Team members use Trello boards to structure projects and tasks, track short-term projects, gather content ideas, run meetings, manage notifications, and maximize their schedules. The team also uses Zapier integrations to automate processes, such as sending new form entries to Trello, creating Trello cards from Google Forms responses, or translating emails to English. As the product grows, so will the way the team uses its own product to collaborate and run the business efficiently.

Meetings can be a great way to get everyone on the same page, discuss ideas, and plan for the future, but they can also be a waste of time if not well-planned and executed. To turn meetings into productive sessions, it's essential to have tools that help you fit everyone's schedules, are well-planned, and include actionable minutes so the meeting isn't forgotten as soon as it's finished. There are various apps available that cater to different needs, such as scheduling meetings, creating agendas, taking notes, and calculating a meeting's ROI. Some popular options include Meetin.gs, Minute, Solid, MeetingKing, Minutes.io, Agenda Maker, Less Meeting, Minute-it, Lucid Meeting, Meeting Ticker, Meeting Calculator, Team Meeting Checklist, and Team Meeting Timer. These tools can help make meetings more efficient, productive, and effective by providing features such as shared workspaces, countdown timers, action item tracking, and personalized meeting insights.

Google Docs is a popular collaborative writing app that offers robust collaboration features, including real-time commenting, version history, and exporting options. It's free and integrates well with other Google apps. Microsoft Word Online is another option that excels in compatibility with other Microsoft Office files and quick document formatting. Dropbox Paper offers a clean, clutter-free design and rich media support, while Etherpad provides a plain-text-like interface and open-source features for developers. Quip combines text documents, spreadsheets, and checklists in a central place, making it ideal for teams. Hackpad is a living document or online notebook for co-editing notes, with document moderation and organization tools. Other collaborative writing apps include Zoho Writer, Penflip, Notion.so, and GatherContent, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

I used to read a lot of articles about productivity, seeking any trick or technique that could help me get more done, but it didn't make a difference in my actual productivity, and I realized that the problem wasn't with productivity apps or systems, but rather with underlying issues such as procrastination, uncertainty about what to work on, and lack of motivation. To overcome these challenges, one can focus on making tasks less uncomfortable by finding ways to enjoy them, piling up a long to-do list to avoid decision fatigue, using a schedule instead of a task list, increasing motivation through external rewards or putting something at risk, and cultivating internal motivation by providing autonomy, mastery, and purpose. By addressing the root cause of the problem rather than just trying new productivity hacks, individuals can increase their productivity and achieve more.

Motivation is a complex and multifaceted concept that can be influenced by various factors, including intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, autonomy, mastery, purpose, knowing one's work makes a difference to others, loss aversion, and external motivators. Understanding these principles can help individuals tailor their approach to boost motivation and improve productivity, particularly when tackling creative or simple tasks. By focusing on choice, skill-building, and the impact of one's work, individuals can tap into intrinsic motivation, while using extrinsic motivators like rewards and consequences to supplement their efforts. Additionally, recognizing the power of external motivators, such as loss aversion, can help individuals create a more effective plan to stay motivated and focused on their goals.