We've asked our friends in the tech industry to share their go-to tools and resources, and why they love them so much. From team scheduling and tackling time zones to code troubleshooting, these tools can help you be more efficient, creative and well-organised.

Also in the 'We asked friends in tech' series: best work-related advice and top hiring tips.

What is your favourite tool or resource, and why?

StaffEng is a great resource for supporting senior engineers, the guides and featured stories give great insight into the broad possibilities for technical contributor roles. - Cathy Lill

We have a Slack channel where we post interesting links and I joke that I’ve just become a Lenny bot as I link to a lot of his writing. Lenny is the most amazing resource for product people, as is First Round Review. I adore the stories from Growth.Design. as they unpack the psychology behind specific product designs.  I’m not particularly wedded to any tools, most of them have their advantages and their faults. - Cheryl Gledhill

Atlassian Cloud products - mostly because I lead the team that created the very first version of them back in 2008. I have worked with them at every subsequent company, and therefore know them like the back of my hand. - Ted Tencza

Harvest Forecast for team scheduling, Every Time Zone because timezones, and FontAwesome for everything. - Andrea Lau

That's an easy one — Screen Studio is hands-down one of the best pieces of software I've ever used. I use it to communicate everything now. Video is a much more engaging medium than text. I use Screen Studio to record explanations for complex problems, briefs for contractors, product feature walkthroughs for customers, etc.  - Hayden Bleasel

I’d say StackOverflow, lol, since it’s always there to help me out, in case I’m stuck technically. Don’t know what’d I be doing without it! - Anmol Deora

Notion. I’ve built the whole back end of my coaching business using Notion. I don’t know what I’d do without it! - Hannah Field

Given the sheer number, I can’t choose one. I like Todoist to organise my thoughts and a good old pad of butcher's paper to scribble over. - Dave McPherson

Currently OpenAI's platform (both ChatGPT and their various APIs). I genuinely believe large language models and generative AI will have a profoundly transformative impact on, well pretty much everything. Whether or not OpenAI will be the ultimate winner in this, their platform makes it really easy and inexpensive to experiment – which everyone regardless of their role should be doing. Seriously, drop everything and start experimenting if you haven't already. - John Allsopp

I’m known for my weird fascination with DuckDB. Yet to use it for anything in production, I love analysing local data with it and generally hold them as an example of what open source should be. - Mike Gouline. Check out out interview with Mike here.

Right now I’m really enjoying the Epic React course by Kent C Dodds. I’m doing it with a friend, which makes it even better. Even if you know React, you can still pick up some great tips. Frontend Masters has also been invaluable. - Jo Montanari

ChatGPT has become a helpful tool for a lot of things, writing unit tests and code documentation, to name a couple, but everyone is using it, right? I've been using Twine recently, an open-source interactive storytelling engine to create training simulations to encourage correct behaviour in open-source communities. - Justin Mclean

My favourite tool for work is a pencil or marker. Work too often involves people unproductively throwing words back and forth, to try and come to a shared understanding, but often a picture, even a basic one, is all that’s needed to bridge that gap instantly. In that sense, and with so much remote work, Miro has become a really important communication tool. - Nathan McGinnes

There are a few tools that have really made a difference in my productivity. Calendly has been a game changer for scheduling meetings and appointments. Instead of going back and forth trying to find the perfect time, people can just pick from my available slots. It's a real time-saver and keeps everything neat in my calendar. Then there's Spark. It's this awesome email client that helps me stay on top of my inbox like a pro. With smart sorting, quick replies, and even the option to snooze emails for later, I can focus on what matters and not drown in an email avalanche. And ChatGPT. It's been a lifesaver when it comes to writing and editing content, brainstorming, or even breaking through writer's block. As an AI language model, it helps me whip up text based on what I need, making writing tasks a breeze. It's like having a super-smart writing buddy on standby whenever I need a hand. All of these tools have been fantastic for boosting my productivity. They help me keep things running smoothly and make my work life a whole lot easier. - Huanhuan Huang

It’s hard to go past the humble text editor, whether I’m capturing thoughts, developing ideas, or coding small prototypes. - Anson Parker

From Lookahead team

Calendly is a real time saver for booking interviews - I’ve got a few different calendars for various time lengths and formats and the links I’ve saved in Text Expander. I also use Notion templates heavily for my interview notes. I’ve just recently been using Apple Shortcuts to open various dual screens on my iPad. - Debbie Teakle

Rectangle is a great tool that allows me to easily resize my windows so that I don’t have to constantly flick between screens on my laptop. - Sarah Jacob‍

Calendly for booking in meetings. Rocket - a free Mac app that makes typing emoji faster and easier using Slack-style shortcuts (cos emojis are very important 😛). Find My - I often use it to find where my Airpods are by using the Play Sound function.- Fiona Chan

Fathom for note-taking and recording of meetings. It integrates easily with video conferencing platforms such as Meet and Zoom. Grammarly for spell-check and grammar check, but mostly for enhanced writing clarity. ChatGPT has also been a go-to tool lately as it provides quick and consolidated information for certain topics — quite helpful if you’re in a rush or just when you want to be pointed in a direction. - Arriane de Villa

Notion for content planning, dumping ideas and collaborating; Canva for creative assets; and Arefs for all things SEO, site auditing, competitor and market research -  I live in this tool 50% of the day. - Irena Macri

Not a tool per-se, but I have gained a lot from separating work and personal tools. Safari / Apple Notes / Apple Reminders for personal. Chrome / Wruddle / Omni Focus for work. Helps me stayed focus at work, and lowers the chance work bleeds into the weekend. - Steve Gilles

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