5 apps for on-the-go workflow
Maintaining a good workflow on the road is by no means easy. It requires some proper thought and planning, not to mention the right tools to do the job. When travelling in challenging environments, such as the African continent, the demand is of course even bigger and so we have spent a great deal of time collecting the best tools to assist us in our work and play around this continent and the world. Here are five of our favourite go-to apps for a seamless, efficient workflow.
Scrivener
We are constantly working on new stories, and for our longer, more complicated projects, such as our books, we have been using Scrivener for a long time. It is a very intuitive software designed specifically for professional writers, providing us with all the tools we need to keep track of research, notes and various chapters and sections in our manuscripts. We were very happy when the developer, Literature&Latte, released the iOS version of its desktop program, which meant that we always have our synced projects and manuscripts at hand, even when travelling without a laptop.
Lightroom
This one probably doesn’t need much introduction. Lightroom and its sister PhotoShop have been most professional photographers’ go-to software for a very long time. Today there is quite a bit of a competition in this field and some strong contenders are popping up. In our opinion though, Adobe still comes out on top. The Lightroom family includes a simple but functional mobile app that we use to keep our ongoing photo projects synced and accessible. We also use it for simple editing jobs, such as preparing pictures for Instagram, and to catalogue all our mobile pictures.
Instapaper
We read a lot for both work and pleasure and while we try to keep things as digital as possible, it is sometimes a challenge to collect all our favourite articles, including our own notes and comments, neatly accessible in one archive. For this we use Instapaper, a web-based service with an easy-to-use app that saves articles in a simple, read-friendly format, either for offline use or for online syncing. It will also allow you to save comments, notes and highlighted sections on the go.
CamScanner
Not all articles and work material we want to keep are in digital format. And we also often find ourselves in situations where we need to make backup copies of important documents and save them to a cloud service, so we know they are kept safe. For this we use the no-fuzz CamScanner app that is easy to use and well-integrated with various cloud services and apps for organising documents, such as OneNote and Evernote.
Trello
Almost every aspect of our lives can be described as projects, in one form or another. It can be broken down into categories, tasks, sub-tasks and assigned with due dates and checklists. Sometimes you co-operate with others within the same project and need to keep track of who does what, sometimes it’s just a question of managing your own to-dos, making sure you don’t miss a deadline. To keep things structured we use the project management tool Trello (desktop and mobile app). We have a project board for major clients, for upcoming trips, for this blog, and for servicing and upgrading our travel equipment (perhaps most importantly our beloved Land Rover which often need some TLC). It allows us to share projects and sync everything with our calendars.
