Developer productivity is not just about maximizing your speed in editor. It also includes additional software to help you be more productive. Below is some of my favorite Windows software that I use.

Password Management

  • LastPass - Password Manager. Remembers passwords so you don’t have to. Auto log you into web sites, store secure notes, wifi passwords, etc. Web interface and desktop is free. Mobile device application is premium version at $12 per year.

Readers

  • Pocket - Save web pages/rss feed articles for later and view when ready including offline. Way better than keeping a ton of bookmarks around that you never get back to.
  • Feedly - RSS Feed Reader with Pocket integration.

Editors

  • Linqpad - Scratchpad for .NET. Rich formatted output. Intellisense. If you are a .NET program this is a much have application. Well worth the small amount of money to get the license to use the Intellisense.
  • Visual Studio Code - great all around text editor and development environment. Focused on code first.

Planning

  • Kanban Flow / Pomodoro - I used Kanban Flow to plan my week and use the Pomodoro technique to work on my tasks. I use the setup that John Sonmez talks about at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9k0OhJkjQ0
  • Todoist - Todo Tasks list. Quick and easy way to add tasks from Chrome or mobile device. Ultimately I import move these into Kanban Flow but it is much quicker on a mobile device to use Todoist.

Utilities

  • Chocolatey - Install Windows software the easy way. Take the guess work out of where to download software and how to get it installed.
  • Dropbox - sync directories and files between machines. Can either sync all or selectively sync file.
  • Greenshot - free utility to take and edit screenshots. has a basic built-in editor, can copy to clipboard or open an office product (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, outlook) if installed.
  • Launchy - Forget about the start menu. Launch programs with a few keystrokes. Setup shortcuts for common web sites you use.
  • Vagrant - Easily create lightweight and reproducible virtual machines. If you are using virtual machines on your Windows machine, let Vagrant manage the configurations of it. No longer will it only work on your machine. I have a blog series on using Vagrant and Chocolatey together at [{{ “/vagrant-overview” | prepend: site.baseurl | prepend: site.url }}]({{ “/vagrant-overview” | prepend: site.baseurl | prepend: site.url }})