Productivity Software: Does it Actually Make You More Productive?
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The idea of becoming more productive has captivated people all over the world and in just about every industry. One popular way of trying to boost productivity levels is with special software that has been designed for this purpose. Do these things actually work? Does productivity software make you productive? Or should you be looking for alternative ways of getting through your tasks more quickly?
What Is Productivity and How to Ensure Its Growth?
This is a good moment to consider what productivity really means in your business. The general definition is that it is the efficiency with which you produce goods or services, is a ratio of output to input. Imagine you run a factory that produces physical products. This would be the rate at which you can get new items produced, packaged, and sent out.
This could be the rate at which you are able to deal with customer requests, send messages, or do whatever it is that you do in your business. This is a key factor that defines the income and growth of the company. It shows the rate at which you can earn money.
Business leaders have been trying to boost productivity levels throughout history. Major developments like the introduction of machinery in the Industrial Revolution and the arrival of computers have caused giant leaps in productivity in the past.
These days, the switch to home working is one of the major factors. Remote teams need to be provided with new ways of working efficiently and producing the same or higher level of output than they would have done if all were located in the same building.
What is Productivity Software?
There is no single type of productivity software that you can use. This term covers a fairly wide range of different kinds of software. It is anything that helps you to do your job more quickly and efficiently.
You will sometimes see productivity software broken down into the following categories:
- Office suites. The top names here include Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace. These are collections of different tools such as word processors, spreadsheets, and the other things most businesses use on a daily basis. The idea is that by packaging all of these things together, you don’t need to move in and out of different stand-alone tools and can also collaborate more easily with colleagues.
- Project management/Task management apps. This is an area where you can control your projects and your tasks all in one place. While the exact functions vary according to the software you use, they typically let you track tasks, view your calendar, communicate with the team, and control the team’s timesheets.
- Time tracking software. In this case, you can monitor the work going on in your team and seeing whether the work is progressing at the expected speed. You can also use this sort of tool to make your payroll management simpler.
- Portfolio management tools. Use this kind of productivity software to better manage the range of products or services that you offer. This can help to reduce your pipeline times and increase the value of the pipeline while making your team more efficient. Track your business goals and see what enhancements you can make to your products.
How Exactly Does Productivity Software Help to Increase Productivity?
The use of the right kind of software can boost your company’s performance in several ways. The first thing to look at is how it affects individual productivity. There are lots of tips to be found online to be more productive on an individual basis.
- Productivity tools can help you in different ways. For example, to make it easier to be highly organized and allowing you to focus on what needs to be done. The best software in this category will let you work more efficiently on your daily tasks.
- It also gives teams a chance to work together more closely, avoiding the need to move between different programs to get things done. You can boost productivity in the way that teams are able to collaborate more closely and smoothly. It happens when you let everyone in the team get involved and see the big picture at all times.
- The final benefit lies in the overall organization’s productivity. With each team pulling its weight and contributing, it should be no surprise to find that this helps the company to reach its targets more easily by allowing each team within it to improve the way that they work.
Common Myths about Productivity Software and Productivity
A few of the common myths about productivity include the idea that being organized takes away creativity and that putting a system in place causes your working day to become too rigid and inflexible.
In terms of using software, perhaps the biggest myth is that all you need to do is download an app and it will do all of the work for you. However, to get the full range of benefits from productivity software you need to put some time and effort into defining your goal, choosing the right piece of software, and then making it work for you.
Another myth to be aware of is that having a to-do list is enough to get you fully organized. While a list like this can help you to focus on your tasks for short periods of time, you need a suitable tool to let you see the bigger picture.
Some people also think that being busy means being productive. Yet, the definition of productivity is as a ratio of output to input. If you do too much you get tired, your output level drops, and you become less productive.
You might also have heard that getting things done more quickly is the best measure of productivity. Yet, the key here is in doing the tasks well, rather than just speedily. The concept of Just In Time in manufacturing workflows tells us that it is best to complete a task when the result is needed. Doing something rapidly is only a good thing if it’s also done in time.
How Kanbanchi Fits into All This Productivity Improvement?
We have seen that the right productivity software and the right approach can help the company and everyone who works in it to be more efficient. Kanbanchi can be an important element in getting this done. This task/project management app complements Google Workspace, which is one of the biggest and most important suites of tools.
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Kanbanchi supports you as you look to move toward your productivity goals on an individual, team, and organizational level. You won’t fall for some of the most common myths about working more productively. Instead, you will work out your current productivity level and then find fresh new ways of increasing it.
Find out how Kanbanchi can help you and move your company’s productivity to the next level. Use it together with Google Workspace, and you will get a fully integrated solution that lets everyone in the company work more efficiently on all of their tasks.