4 Free Apps a SmartWorker Can’t Live Without

Today, Tamara Sredojevic, a digital nomad working with everywoman shares her positive experiences with the digital aspect of SmartWorking 🙂 

I like to think of technology as the XXI century version of medieval magic. Some won’t trust it. Some will embrace it. I am definitely going for the latter. When you’re working remotely or hiring remote talent, tech is here to make your dreams come true. As the first Smart Worker in my company, I had to find solutions to make this work for everybody.

4 Free Apps (I like to think as my tech magical wands)

1. WhatsApp – Catch-up with your colleagues

When I was discussing flexible working with my manager, he raised a few concerns. One of them being that I would miss on the informal conversations that happen in the office. And that is very true, the casual chat in the office can be important. This is when people can flag issues, or brainstorm and also, build trust with each other. How would it work without me in the room? Well, we’ve set-up informal catch-ups with colleagues I would have once shared a
coffee with. Now, we’re talking every 2 weeks between 10 and 30 minutes for a catch-up. We talk about what we’re working on and identify where we can help each other. We also use it for office gossip or brainstorming. Either way, we’re maintaining the relationship. Now. How can you easily catch-up with a colleague? The same way you do with your friends and family: WhatsApp. Everybody has the app on their phone, it’s super easy to use and it does the job, so why over-complicate it?

2. Google Hangouts – Set up proper meetings

At everywoman, we have a monthly meeting to update other teams on our projects. We usually have sweets in the room, we present a few slides and we take questions. Working remotely, I didn’t escape it. How do we do this? Easy. Google Hangout lets you invite up to 50 attendees and share your screen with them. All you need is their email address. There isn’t any complicated registration form that keeps you out of the meeting before someone tech-savvy comes at your rescue. The only thing we haven’t figured out is how to pass the sweets over.

3. Asana – Project planning and management

I used to work for a company where spreadsheets were ruling the whole business and it made my life a nightmare. I was organising complex events abroad and managing the production of print magazines. All that, with only my brain to remember to do things on time. Needless to say, many things were skipped and it was almost impossible to flag
upcoming issues. All I would have needed back then is a project management solution.

Asana does that. You can create projects, manage your to-do list, assign tasks, exchange files and ask questions to people involved. Every day, I know exactly what I have to do to deliver my projects on time thanks to Asana. They have an app you can use offline, it will then sync as soon as you’re connected again. It’s so user-friendly that I’ve used it to plan personal projects like my latest trip across South-East Asia.

4. Slack – Listen to what the world is saying

Earlier this year, my new boss asked me who was in charge of monitoring business trends in the news. Short answer: no one was nor had the time to read about it every day. everywoman advances women in business. So we work on diversity & inclusion, the gender pay gap and female entrepreneurs. So we have to be aware of what’s happening out there around these topics.

That is when we discovered the wonderful world of Slack. Potentially, this could replace most of the solutions I presented above. You can use Slack to keep track of what’s being said in the news, about your company or certain topics. You can create channels where people discuss certain projects. And you can also use it to talk to your work BFF. Like I do. (Hi Adrian!).

Hope you found these free tools useful. It can take time to get used to them all but it’ll be worth it!

Guest Blogger Bio:

Tamara is a multi-hyphenate digital nomad and a photographer. Disruptive digital marketer by day, she likes to think about new ways to use the Internet.

At everywoman, Tamara manages the engagement strategy of an L&D platform for women in business.

The rest of her time is spent travelling around the world, which has inspired several photo series and exhibitions in Europe.

You can connect with Tamara on LinkedIn, Twitter and on her own website here 🙂