The advent of the smart phone has been a game-changer for anybody who values their productivity. People use productivity apps constantly, including to-do lists, timers and alarms, organization apps, and even apps that can lock or limit some of your phone’s less productive features, like social media or games.
As our world becomes increasingly fast-paced, the value of productivity becomes increasingly important. For anybody who works, studies, or takes care of a complicated schedule, increasing productivity is a great step towards accomplishment. For business owners, time is money – and thus productivity can also be monetized.
So what exactly does it mean to be productive, and how can it be quantifiably improved? Merriam Webster defines productive as “effective in bringing about,” or “yielding results, benefits, or profits.” More technically, productivity can be defined as “the effectiveness of productive effort, especially in industry, as measured in terms of the rate of output per unit of input.” In simple terms, this means that the investment of your time and energy leads to larger results.
For some people, productivity is all about time. Some people religiously time their tasks and projects, set very specific time goals, and try to keep to them. Here’s where our phones’ little timers and stopwatches come in handy, especially for people who are prone to distraction. In this sense, productivity becomes about time limitations, and achieving goals within certain timeframes.
Other productivity apps focus on, well, focus. These apps can be designed very simply, such as the Chrome extension pictured here, called Momentum. Momentum has one very simple function: When you open up a new tab, it defaults by showing your own home page, where you can set your daily goal, and be reminded of it each time you go to open a new page. It’s a one-and-done wonder solution for anybody prone to just wandering around the web for no good reason.
And, of course, custom mobile app design for productivity can also emphasize structural organization. This can be something basic, and thus under-considered, like folders for the pictures that your camera takes. Advances in both android app development and iOs app development, as well as certain Google products, are starting to be able to do this for you. Organization can also be more technical, like a file management app. This type of custom programming allows you to have choices about how you’d like the files on your phone to be viewed, stored, and most importantly, accessed. Increasing your data organization means you will spend less time searching for what you need.
Structure is important, but thought organization is equally so. Custom software design leads to custom application development for tools that help you organize your thoughts, in all areas of your life. This can be simple – like being able to snap a photo of something that you have a question about, and then being able to type your question right beneath it. Apple’s Notes app is great for this. Or, you can get more complicated with an application like Google Keep or Evernote which allows for many areas of your life to be organized both hierarchically and intuitively. Think of it as project management, with a very easy interface – where the “project” you are managing is essentially different parts of your life that all vie for your attention.
One of the most interesting advances in custom mobile app development are productivity measurement apps, like the upcoming, highly-anticipated Sparction. This is custom software design that is made to quantify your productivity. In their newest update, Apple introduced a feature that shows you (an individual user) how much time you spend a week on things like email, social media, YouTube, and more. But in a corporate setting, a productivity measurement app will help you see where, in your own workflow (or your employees’ workflows, for that matter) you end up wasting, losing, or otherwise mismanaging time. Currently, industry depends on productivity – factories, for example, are increasingly choosing automation because even small amounts of time saved can yield much higher profits. For those working desk jobs, a productivity measurement app is just as important for your “soft skills” – after all, time is money, no matter what kind of uniform you wear.