Streamline Your Workflow: Top 5 Productivity Tools for Software Engineers

Software engineers are constantly looking for ways to improve productivity and streamline workflow. One way to do this is by using tools that automate repetitive tasks, help with organization and collaboration, and provide easy access to important information. In this blog post, we will be discussing five of the best tools for software engineers that can help boost your productivity.

💡 This list is based on my personal opinion, with tools that help me everyday to save some precious time. Feel free to drop your personal recommendations on the comments.

5. Cron Calendar (Free — Mac/Windows/iOS)

In fifth place we have an essential tool for time management. Cron is a calendar management tool that helps you to stay on top of your schedule by syncing Google and iCal calendars, and automatically scheduling meetings based on your availability.

Source: https://cron.com/

Cron Calendar also allows you to easily share your calendar with others, ensuring that everyone is on the same page.

Another great feature is that Cron let you share availability, just select some time slots and it will create a link for you to share with others so they can pick whenever is best for both of you.

4. Notion (Free — Mac/Windows/Web/iOS/Android)

Notion is a productivity and organization tool that allows users to create customized pages and databases for tasks, projects, notes, and more. It is designed to help users stay organized and on top of their work, by providing a central location for all information related to a project or task.

Source: https://notion.so (Media Kit)

I know that at this point this sound like an obvious recommendation to make and you are probably already using it, but let me tell you some ways to use Notion as a software engineer:

• Knowledge base: Store information on different topics, such as coding standards, best practices, troubleshooting tips and guides that you usually refer to.
• Learning roadmap: Create a database to keep track of the content you want to learn on specific topics like "NextJS roadmap". Then you can create status, reference external links, courses and use the calendar view to log you progress throughout the month.
• Meeting notes: As engineers we may go to a lot of important meetings, planning, architecture discussion and so on. So is important to dump all that information from that meeting to a central source of information, so that you can refer later, take action and keep you brain free to concentrate.

3. Zapier (Paid — Web)

This is an automation tool that enables you to connect various online services, such as Google Calendar, Trello, Github, Jira and Slack, and automate repetitive tasks. Zapier allows you to create “Zaps” which are simple automation that help you to automate tasks such as creating calendar events from Trello cards, or sending notifications to Slack when a new email arrives.

Source: https://zapier.com/press

I know is a paid tool, but I think it's totally worth it, you can do a lot with it and that will save you a lot of time. I personally use Zapier for invoice automation, Google play & Apple store offer code generation from a google sheets file, processing Google forms and creating Jira tickets based on the answers, just to name a few examples.

2. Fig (Free — Mac only)

This is a command-line interface (CLI) tool that helps software engineers to manage their development environments. Fig is the next-generation command line, it has autocompletion with steroids, makes storing credentials/secret tokens easy, and you can find a lot of useful plugins, all of that synced with your account.

Source: https://fig.io

But for me the best feature is scripts, with that you can create your own private automations with bash, python or NodeJS. You can add inputs, steps, and conditional operations easy. With that you can save a lot of time, running commands that you commonly use, such as deploy scripts, creating changelogs, and run all tests.

1. Raycast (Free — Mac only)

This is a fast and efficient launcher for Mac that enables software engineers to access the applications, files, and online resources they need quickly and easily. Raycast uses a powerful search algorithm to display the most relevant results, making it easy to find what you need without having to navigate through multiple menus and windows.

Source: Raycast press kit

In the past I used Alfred a lot, but Raycast is something more. It comes with stunning UI, is fast and you can tweak basically everything. You can create new shortcuts, quicklinks, access system commands, manage windows, create snippets and scripts, and install other extensions from the store. The extension store has tons of great add-ons to customize your experience, such as: Spotify player commands, Chat GPT, Github, Timers, Slack, 1password and much much more. This app is the first I always install when I get a new Macbook.

So, these are five of the best tools(in my opinion) for software engineers that can help boost productivity and streamline workflow. From automating repetitive tasks, to storing knowledge, and manage your time, these tools can give engineers more time to focus on what they do best: coding.