Performance matters more than presence, so here are the best tools for remote work to get a lot more done in a lot less time.
As remote work grows in popularity, the need for remote work tools becomes more apparent when you are working from home. How can your team maintain communication, manage projects effectively, and share work quickly when each staffer is located in a different timezone?
The answer is remote work tools.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the must-have tools for remote work. Our list includes communication apps, project management solutions, file sharing tools, and more.
Do you want to know how to start work from home? here are some tips to start.
We have a lot of software goodness to get to so let’s get started.
1. Slack
Free version (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android & web)
Slack calls itself a “collaboration hub”, but it’s basically a chat platform for teams and individuals. It’s one of the most popular team communication tools nowadays, and it also has video calling, file sharing, and integrations with other tools like Google Calendar and Jira. But, at its core, it’s a simple way to talk in groups or one-on-one in real-time.
2. Trello
Free version (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android & web)
Where Slack recreates the feeling of turning to a colleague for a quick chat that’s as much personal as professional, Trello is more like your boss walking over to “just check on how you’re doing”.
The project management software lets teams arrange and assign tasks, track wider project progress, and build workflows for repeated jobs – perfect for day four or five of working from home, when you might start to wonder if your boss has forgotten you exist.
3. Google Drive
Free version (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android & web)
I probably don’t need to say a great deal about Google Drive; it’s that cloud alternative to Microsoft Office that simply works much better for remote and collaborative teams than the MS alternative suite of tools.
Sure, Microsoft Office’s suite of looks like Word and Excel are somewhat better in terms of features but Google Drive is far more capable as a cloud storage and collaboration tool. I constantly have problems with Drive crashing, Word freezing (on Mac) and lag getting in the way of real-time collaboration within files.I’ve experienced none of these problems with Google Drive and I consider these deal-breakers as part of a distributed remote team.
4. Spark
Free version (Mac, iOS, Android)
Spark is an intelligent email client that stops inboxes from being a productivity killer. Better yet, it turns them into an asset for distributed remote teams. Spark’s Smart Inbox automatically categorizes your emails from every account and allows you to prioritize the emails that matter most while filtering out the ones that don’t.
5. Zoom
Free (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android & web)
Zoom is a suite of video conferencing and communication tools designed for remote teams, virtual business conferences, webinars, and other corporate purposes. We use Zoom for our virtual meetings, which we can use to run video and voice calls, but it’s capable of much more than this.
Key features
- Video meetings: Remote teams can run video meetings and one-to-one video calls.
- Voice calls: You can also run a group or one-to-one voice calls when face-to-face meetings aren’t necessary.
- Webinars: You can also use Zoom to host webinars.
- Messaging: Team members can send messages using Zoom.
- File sharing: Share files during and outside of video/voice chats for collaboration between members.
Zoom is a feature-rich communication tool for remote teams and its pricing is very reasonable. For group calls, you’ll need to pay for one of its plans, which start from £11.99/mo but this fee is paid per host rather than per user.
A host is someone who invites people team members to join meetings but up to 100 participants can join before a host needs to upgrade to a more expensive plan.
Other options:
Skype (FREE plan available)
6. Microsoft Teams
Free version (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android & web)
Microsoft Teams can be thought of as a Slack alternative. It provides similar chat and file sharing features especially for remote work and allows remote teams to easily organize conversations.
But it also has a bit of Highfive in it as well. Folks can use Microsoft Teams to host audio and video meetings, web conferences, and even live events for up to 10,000 people. We should also mention that each of these can be recorded for future playback as well.
One of the best things about Microsoft teams is its compatibility with Office 365. If your team uses Office on a regular basis then you’ll love how seamlessly all of your tools work together.
7. Tomates
(Mac, iOS)
Just as important as making sure you work well at home is making sure you take breaks from work at home. The Pomodoro method, a well-known approach to focus management that lets you break the day into 20-minute chunks with five-minute rests, is one such approach.
Tomates, a simple and cheap Mac app, helps you to automate those timers – although any similar app will work too, or a simple physical timer like the tomato alarms the method is named after.
8. Every Time Zone
Free version (web)
Speaking of communicating in real time. It’s tough to know who’s awake and who’s asleep when you work with a large team that’s spread across the globe.
Make things easier on yourself, and eliminate the need to do the math, by referencing Every Time Zone before you chat it up with someone. Check out the time zones of fellow remote employees and see who is awake and available to talk.
Though this might seem insignificant, there will be times when you need to get ahold of someone right away. If that person is 12 hours ahead of you, and fast asleep, you can easily redirect your efforts to someone else closer to your time zone and discuss the issue with them instead.
9. Toggl
Premium version (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Chrome, Firefox)
Toggl is a time tracking app that runs in the background while users work on tasks. Essentially, it’s designed to accurately track how long it takes to complete tasks and this was originally intended for freelancers to make sure they were invoicing accurately and getting paid fairly.
Now, Toggl is a productivity app designed for teams and individual members to maximise productivity. Above all, its data visualisations help you compare profits against time spent on tasks and labor costs so you can see which projects and clients are most profitable.
You can also see how much time team members are spending on individual tasks to monitor productivity and see if anyone’s taking on too much/too little work.
On the face of things, Toggl is about a simple as it gets in terms of productivity software but it can be an invaluable tool for making sure tasks are being completed quickly enough and that projects are generating enough revenue for the time (and other resources) being spent on them.
10. Grammarly
Free version (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android & web)
Grammarly is an online “writing assistant” that will take your writing to the next level. Of course it verifies that your spelling and grammar are on point, but it also does a style check by analyzing the tone and clarity of your writing.
We find Grammarly helpful for all kinds of writing here at Skillcrush—lessons, emails, website copy, support replies, and even social media posts. You can also get their mobile or desktop app to make it even easier to write well on any device.
Other tools for writing and editing:
Evernote note-taking app (FREE plan available)
TextExpander writing tool to save keystrokes
WorkFlowly outlining tool (FREE plan available)
Final Thoughts
Productivity tools are important for every business but they’re, quite literally, the only connection distributed teams have to rely on – so you better make sure you choose the right ones. All of the tools we’ve looked at in this article serve different purposes but each one of them is crucial for establishing a collaborative workflow and maximising productivity.
I can confidently recommend all ten of the tools in this list as a starter kit for distributed teams to hit targets, no matter how far spread out team members might be.
