Productivity - 2024 Edition

3 minutes read
productivity • tools

Goals/Principles

  • Use existing applications where possible
  • Build tools around your workflow. Not the other way around
  • Prefer applications with a simple UI unless they are my own

Alfred

This is one of my most used applications.

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All of my workflows and snippets are here https://github.com/namuan/namuan/tree/main/alfred

Some of the non-standard way I use Alfred:

. Opening a bunch of websites in the morning using a keyword.

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. Snippets for storing GPT/LLM prompts

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I also love using Quick action to opening up a file in Zed or a folder in ITerm among other things.

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Trello

For longer projects

Apple Reminders

Started using Reminders for todo list and bookmarks.

To add stuff into Reminders, I set up a couple of shortcuts to make it easy.

  • Set up a Reminder from any content from the Share Sheet

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  • Shortcut to quickly add a bookmark

The bookmarks are stored in a different “List” to avoid clutter in the main list. I like that I get reminded of the bookmark unlike a lot of other tools where you don’t get back to it. And it forces me to either push it back or look at it.

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I have also started keeping a weekly journal of all the links saved in reminders along with a short summary to search later if needed.

Here is an example: https://www.deskriders.dev/posts/1727117710-linklist-2024-09-23/

I use a script with Pythonista (on iPhone) to export weekly reminders. Here is the script for reference. https://github.com/namuan/py-ios-scripts/blob/main/reminder-markdown.py

Apple Notes

Keep notes here for long term and share with Family.

HeyNote for scratchpad

I was looking for a scratchpad where it forces my to use a single sheet. Initially I developed one for myself but then found this application which seems more capable and rich. And all in a single tab.

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IntelliJ IDEA

All my software developments. Perhaps I write a separate post on how I use it and the plugins.

Zed for quick editing

Mainly for read only mode where I don’t want to start up IntelliJ.

ClearShot for screenshots

The best tool for screenshots IMO. It does a few other things like gradients background, OCR, so I don’t need to look for additional applications.

ScreenFlow for demo videos and editing

I bought the license a while back so still using it. Otherwise, Screen Studio looks like a better option these days.

Poe for GenAI

Same subscription price as others but get access to almost all the major LLMs out there.

SetApp subscription

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ITerm and zsh

More details on how iTerm and zsh is set up here https://github.com/namuan/namuan

I do keep trying other interesting application but try to not depend on them so won’t miss them if they disappear

Own applications

I also made quite a few applications over the year to support my workflow where appropriate. The main principle is to build one to support my workflow until I find one which it can be replaced with.

Some noteable ones are here

  • HttpRider Built is to replace Postman and to avoid pain using another tool and see it becoming useless as it keep adding bloat. Added some cool code generation features which helped me a lot across different client engagements .

Although I recently started using IntelliJ built in support for HTTP requests

  • OnePage Single page very simple scratchpad which is now replaced with HeyNote

  • DevRider Collection of small utilities under a single interface. Replaced with DevUtils

  • Chat Circuit An experimental UI to explore ideas and conversations with local LLMs

  • MirrOllama Comparing local LLMs which I run using Ollama

  • bin-utils A lot of scripts under bin-utils to support my workflow where needed

  • tele-muninn A number of telegram bots mainly related to investing / trading