Software I use, gadgets I love, and other things I recommend.

I get asked a lot about the things I use to build software, stay productive, or buy to fool myself into thinking I’m being productive when I’m really just procrastinating. Here’s a big list of all of my favorite stuff.

Workstation

  • 16” MacBook Pro, M1 Pro, 32GB RAM (2021)

    I was using an Intel-based 16” MacBook Pro prior to this and the difference is night and day. I’ve never heard the fans turn on a single time, even under the incredibly heavy loads I put it through with our various launch simulations.

  • Dell S2721QS Display (Average monitor)

    I need to upgrade my monitor because when you’re working at planetary scale, every pixel you can get counts.

  • Apple Magic Keyboard (ISO)

    They don’t make keyboards the way they used to. I buy these any time I see them go up for sale and keep them in storage in case I need parts or need to retire my main.

  • Apple Magic Mouse

    Something about all the gestures makes me feel like a wizard with special powers. I really like feeling like a wizard with special powers.

  • Herman Miller Aeron Chair (Soon)

    If I’m going to slouch in the worst ergonomic position imaginable all day, I might as well do it in an expensive chair.

Development tools

  • Visual Studio Code

    I don’t care if it’s missing all of the fancy IDE features everyone else relies on, Sublime Text is still the best text editor ever made.

  • iTerm2

    I’m honestly not even sure what features I get with this that aren’t just part of the macOS Terminal but it’s what I use.

Design

  • Figma

    We started using Figma as just a design tool but now it’s become our virtual whiteboard for the entire company. Never would have expected the collaboration features to be the real hook.

  • Adobe Creative Suite

    Adobe has been part of my journey since I can remember. My first Adobe Photoshop installation was about 13 floppy disks. My Adobe usage has decreased but it’s the defacto for professional design.

Productivity

  • Asana

    Productivity starts with orgnaization. Asana has helped me stay organized and keeps my mind in order. Unfortunately, until this day, Asana does not offer a solo license.

  • Notion

    Using a daily notes system instead of trying to keep things organized by topics has been super powerful for me. And with Notion, it’s still easy for me to keep all of that stuff discoverable by topic even though all of my writing happens in the daily note.

  • Jira

    There really is nothing better than Jira, when it comes to Agile methodology. The Atlassian company really has done a great job on their family of products. Using Jira Work Management, Confluence, and Bitbucket for our DesignOps.

  • Toggl

    Keeping track of time spent is critical in our field. I just migrated my time tracking to Toggl. Simple tool for tracking my hours on client tasks, projects, and administrative duties.