8 IT Productivity Tips for Busy Techies Pros

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In the high-tech world, innovation is practically a job requirement. Unless you have a few side projects going on, it's easy to feel like you're not doing enough, even if you're working long hours.

But how do you manage your ever-increasing workload without becoming overwhelmed by the number of things you need to do?



To help you out, I spoke to a handful of tech enthusiasts about how they stay on top of their jobs. Below are eight tips for improving IT productivity from the pros in the field.

1. Know exactly what you should do and when
Almost every one of our experts said that the first step features of our advertising database to becoming more productive is to write down your tasks. That way, everything is laid out in front of you. And once you've completed a task, you can move on to the next one.

Getting things out of your head and onto paper (or into your favorite task management system ) leaves you with more brain space for the things that really matter. Instead of trying to remember what your next step is in developing your latest app, for example, you can write that step down and think about all the ways you're going to make your app awesome.

What the experts say

Lucas Lambertini, CEO and founder of StarOfService , which helps you find professionals for freelance projects in your area, advises: “Don’t try to remember every little detail or meeting. Free your brain from reminders, ideas, tasks, and meetings so you can focus on what’s important.”

Lambertini's tools for documenting these details are Evernote and Google Calendar.

But writing everything down isn't always enough, especially when you're working on multiple projects at once. You need to know what's most important and what can wait until later.

You can do it every day, like Gene Caballero, co-founder of GreenPal, the "Uber for lawn care" app:

"When I enter the office, I make a handwritten list of the five most important things I need to do today. Writing these tasks by hand allows me to erase them and gives me a sense of accomplishment when they are completed."

Or, you can take an overall approach, starting with all your projects as a whole and breaking them down into smaller and smaller pieces. Terry Kim, founder and CEO of NexGenT , which provides training to fill skill gaps in the tech industry, offers advice on this prioritization method: “I use a Trello board to map out my priorities at a high level to figure out what my quarterly goals are. I basically plan out my year; break it down into quarters and then months.”

QUICK TAKEAWAY: Starting big and working small will allow you to work backwards from the end product you have in mind to the first steps you need to take to begin achieving your end goals.

Whatever method you choose, start by getting everything out of your head so you can focus on doing good work.