Productivity Tools: The Best Apps for Work

Productivity tools fall into several key categories:

Task management: Apps like Todoist, Things, and Microsoft To Do help individuals and teams organize and track work.

Project management: Platforms like Asana, Trello, Monday.com, and Monton provide structure for complex projects with multiple stakeholders.

Communication: Tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams centralize messaging, reducing email overload.

Documentation: Notion, Confluence, and similar tools create shared knowledge bases.

Time tracking: Applications that help understand where time goes, essential for agencies and anyone billing hours.

Focus tools: Apps that block distractions, manage attention, and encourage deep work.

With countless options available, selection matters:

Start with problems: Identify specific pain points before shopping for solutions.

Consider integration: Tools that work together provide more value than isolated applications.

Evaluate adoption: The best tool is useless if people don't use it. Simplicity often wins.

Watch for tool overload: Too many apps create their own productivity drain. Consolidate where possible.

Account for cost: Per-seat pricing adds up. Consider total cost across your team.

Test before committing: Most tools offer trials. Use them to validate fit with your workflow.

Agencies have unique productivity requirements:

Client context switching: Creative teams move between different clients and projects constantly. Tools must support this.

Creative review workflows: Design and content require specific review and approval processes.

Profitability awareness: Productivity means nothing if you're efficiently losing money. Connect activity to financial outcomes.

Resource visibility: Know who's working on what across all projects and clients.

Monton is designed as an all-in-one productivity platform for agencies, combining project management, time tracking, resource planning, and profitability analysis in a single integrated experience—reducing tool sprawl while addressing agency-specific needs.