Professional hacks we love from our productivity hall of fame

We deftly swing from crisis to collaboration, page plans to final proofs, research deep-dives to report presentations — but, at times, even we harness the powers of popular (and unsung) tools to stay on top of our game. 

From our shared utility belt, we’ve assembled a league of all-star tips and tricks to help you protect your productivity and put your talents to best use. 

 

Shared To-Do Lists Across Multiple Devices:

“I keep a tally of my ‘To Dos’ in my notes app, which carries across multiple devices so I’ve always got a record. I’m also a sucker for being able to ‘tick’ something off the list so the tick functionality is very satisfying.”  — Adam

 

Eye-Spy, Designers! Easy Identification of Graphic Elements:

“The Google Chrome plugin, CSS Peeper, is a must-have for designers and visual creatives. It tells you the fonts, colours and images used on any webpage.” — Bella

 

Established E-Rules to Efficiently Sort Emails

“I have Outlook rules set up for emails – CCs go into a folder, I get reminders if I’ve not had a reply from a key email after four days and I have folders for each element of the business, so my inbox does not get crowded. I have a rule that I can’t have more than 10 emails in my inbox when I leave for the day.” — DK

 

Real-Time Recording for Easy Transcription 

“For super swift note-taking when I’m talking an idea through faster than my fingers can follow, Otter transcribes your audio notes while you talk. Key points aren’t lost when you’re trying to record that thought, note, or conversation.” — James 

 

Integrated Time-Zoning for International Clients 

“Borderless working and time zone meeting scheduling with Time Zone Wizard because my brain doesn’t understand ‘we are two hours forward/behind’.” — Nicole

 

Grammatical Riddles… Solved in One Place

“Install Grammarly. Not only is the program a superior and comprehensive final check for spelling and grammar but its blog is the definitive word on common grammar questions and punctuation quandaries.” — Bel

 

One-Stop Global News for On-The-Pulse Overviews

“Collating all my relevant news in one place. Hello, Feedly.” — Katie

 

Terrific Turnarounds on Post Meeting Note-taking

“Journalists love TapeACall. It’s an incredible phone app that you can use to record a meeting with a client, and it’ll take the notes for you. Then when you’re done, it sends you a full transcription of the meeting for you to keep.” — Tracy 

 

Influencer Insights in the Blink of an Eye

“I use Upfluence – a Google Chrome plugin – for a quick sweep of influencer vitals.” — Nicole

 

And… well, the most important hot tip, if you ask us… 

“A bit boring but my must-haves are a full bottle of water and a good instrumental playlist to keep me focused.” — Anna

 

TL;DR: Aruga HQ is powered by curated digital tools and Destiny’s Child. Consider our secrets revealed.