Slack, Evernote, Microsoft Office, Google Suite.
Those are a few of the most popular apps that the busy executives featured in our Working Geek series use to stay organized. With the rate at which new apps and software tools are deployed, it can be hard to keep up. That’s why each week we ask our Working Geeks what they’re using to stay focused.
Continue reading to find out why Bonanza CEO Bill Harding is still obsessed with Microsoft Word and why Peach COO Gary Cowan has a love-hate relationship with Google. For more tips and advice from the working world, click on any person’s name to read their full Working Geek profile.
Eric Dillon, Chief Technology Officer of LiveStories:
iPhone’s weather app (every morning), Google Calendar and Google Maps and reluctantly Slack (which I hate, but can’t seem to get away from).
Jennifer Chao, VP of Engineering at Redfin:
Google Apps (especially Hangouts!), Evernote, Slack, Flipboard, WhatsApp, and Redfin of course.
Bill Harding, CEO of Bonanza:
I love software that can obsess over details without tripping up essentials (e.g., Evernote) or becoming cluttered (e.g., Word). Slack is the best recent example. Rare is the company that can perfectly toe the line between robust functionality and great UI.
Gary Cowan, Chief Operating Officer at Peach:
Most of the apps I use are pretty boring and practical: Audible, Lyft/Uber, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. Since I operate more on the business side rather than the dev front, the tools I use most are focused on analysis and communication. While the company as a whole uses Google Apps to a large extent, I still find that I spend most of my time (apart from email) in Office 365 (Excel, Word, and Powerpoint) — there are still a lot of rough edges in Google Apps that are particularly frustrating if you are familiar with the shortcuts in the Office suite.
Amy Bohutinsky, Chief Operating Officer at Zillow:
Zillow, Trulia, Uber, Google Maps, Spotify, Alaska Airlines app, Fitbit, Bar Method scheduling app. Sonos, Nest, Apple TV and Netflix at home.
Steven Sinofsky, Partner at Andreessen Horowitz:
Most used include: Slack, Evernote, Messenger, LinkedIn, Google Maps, Twitter, Mindbody, Outlook.
Peter Hamilton, CEO of Tune:
Clash Royale is consuming too much of my time right now, ha. They built incredible mechanics for a mobile game. If you look at my home screen you’ll find the usual social networks; I’m working hard to participate more on Snapchat these days. You’ll also find Uber and Lyft, Pedometer, authentication apps, and a folder full of music apps. Oh, and I travel quite a bit. The Delta app is my happy place.
Elissa Fink, Chief Marketing Officer at Tableau:
Well of course, I could not live without Tableau — even before I joined the company. Evernote. Jump. Dropbox. Waze. Hootsuite. Excel. Sonos. Spotify. New York Times. Kindle the app. My 9-year-old’s games. My 3-year-old’s games.
Julie Larson-Green, Chief Experience Officer at Microsoft:
For work, Office 365 is my favorite productivity service (yes, I know I’m biased). I use Word often and Outlook for email and calendar. I use Skype to keep in touch with our teams in India and China. I also save everything to OneDrive. I really appreciate having everything in the cloud so I can access it on all of my devices. This way I can focus on the task at hand, not which particular device I need to use to get things done.
