The term Digital Nomad was first used in 1997 and described people who worked remotely from any part of the world with a single requirement - uninterrupted Internet access. Throughout the years, this concept became more and more popular allowing millions of people around the world to find the right work-life balance, discover new cultures, and make friends.
The professional life of digital nomads is contained in laptops and to be successful, they often use different instruments to manage tasks, schedule meetings, track time, and share files. In this article, we discuss the future of remote work and tools that boost your productivity, concentration, and efficiency no matter where you are.
Remote work: statistics & trends
Working remotely is a dream coming true for many people. You don’t waste time on the commute and can save money on eating out. In 2023, 16% of companies globally are fully remote and over 50% allow their employees to work from home. Two out of three people say that they are more productive when at home and a chance to work remotely is one of the biggest reasons to stay with a company.
This means that within the next few years, more and more companies will switch to a part or a fully remote model. They will be able to cut costs and make the lives of their employees better. And people will travel the world discovering all of its beauties.
Productivity tools for any task
Even when working from a paradise island, you need to remain focused and productive. Fortunately, there are lots of tools and applications and we are happy to enumerate the best ones. Before we get started, let us remind you to clean up junk files regularly, as they occupy gigabytes of your storage space. Use them as described and within minutes get a fresh and spacious laptop for new projects and achievements.
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Focus apps
Concentrating on work while travelling might be a challenging task. Many people work not from a cosy and calm office but from a co-working space, café, or even beach. For this reason, they often use applications that help to avoid distractions. Some of the most common features of focus apps are blocking certain websites, setting power sessions, silencing your phone, and switching concentration music on. Apart from standard focus apps like Serene and Freedom, there are tools like Forest where you need to plant a seed. The longer you focus on the task without distractions, the faster your tree grows.
Team communication
While working from any place in the world gives you lots of freedom, there is still a need to communicate with other team members on a regular basis. Yes, you can stick to standard programs like Skype and Zoom but it is more efficient to choose all-in-one tools. There, managers can assign tasks and follow their progress. You can leave comments, communicate with coworkers, and get timely feedback. The best programs for team communication are Slack, MS Teams, and Trello. Remember about time zones and Internet quality. These two factors may significantly complicate team communication.
Project management
Project management is an essential part of any successful product or task. PM is a person who makes sure that everything goes as planned and is ready to solve even the most difficult tasks. But it is much harder to do if the team is located all over the world. Luckily, there are lots of effective PM tools in the modern market. For example, Asana, SmartTask, and EngageBay. There, project managers can create tasks, track progress, complete reports, and communicate them to stakeholders. They also have built-in chats for productive and timely discussions.
Schedule meetings
Working remotely, especially in different time zones, makes it quite difficult to gather the team in one place or to reach potential clients. To make sure that everyone remembers about the meeting and will be there on time, you need such programs as Calendly, Doodle, and StrawPoll Meetings. With their help, you can see the availability times of team members, organise one-to-one sessions, and set notifications. There are both free and paid versions, so you will surely find a program that suits your needs and budget.
Video calls
Another useful type of productivity tool for remote work concern video calls between colleagues, partners, and clients. It is much faster to communicate problems and find solutions during a video session compared to emails and text messages. And the market of video call tools is more than broad: Google Meet, Zoom, Ring Central, and others. You can connect tens or even hundreds of participants, share screens, and encrypt data to brainstorm, communicate, and organize workshops for people from all parts of the world.
To-do lists apps
We often struggle with a large number of tasks and worry that might miss something. Not to let that happen, travellers use applications that help with tracking tasks and ensuring their timely completion. Such tools allow controlling the things you need to do and generate reports to see whether you are productive enough. Our all-time favourite apps for to-do lists are Todoist, MS To Do, and Any.do. All of them have mobile apps, so you can easily switch from laptops and smartphones to add tasks and mark those there were already completed.
Time-tracking
Not depending on whether you work on your own or in a team, time-tracking tools are irreplaceable for productivity and efficiency. With such software as Apploye, TimeDoctor, and Kickidler users create timesheets, reports, and remote trackers. Some of the most common features include Pomodoro timers, project progress reports, GPS and Geofencing attendance, distraction alerts and much more. Subscriptions for time-tracking programs are affordable and always have corporate packages for larger teams.
Collaboration and sharing documents
It is easy to share documents when you are in the office. But for remote teams, this process sometimes becomes a challenge, especially if you are located in different time zones. Sending files and editing them can take a while. Fortunately, with the help of Google Docs and OneDrive, the process can go as smoothly as possible. You can create files, tables, and presentations on a virtual server and share them with other team members or clients. They, in turn, can edit files and leave comments if necessary. Just imagine how productive and effective you can be when several people are working on the same doc in a real-time!
Screen sharing
The last type of tool that remote workers might need is screen-sharing programs. They are used to show others what is happening on your screen. These tools are utilised by software developers, designers, and lots of other remote teams. Apart from sharing your screen, such instruments as TeamViewer and AnyDesk allow editing, leaving comments, and recording screens. They also have solid encryption and data security, as well as remote printing and file transfers.
Wrap-up
Working while travelling might first seem a challenging task but it surely pays off. Especially when you find the right tools to create lists and set notifications, share files, communicate with the team, and focus on the things that matter. We hope that the tools discussed in this article will make you more productive and effective.
