Ten productivity tools that NPA members shared in during the Summit
This article was produced as part of the NPA Summit 2022 student newsroom. Learn more about this year’s students and the event.
What runs the (news product) world? Tools.
Ask most news product nerds about what their favorite tools are, and you might hear an enthusiastic rundown of their latest tech stack. During the News Product Alliance, enthusiasts from newsrooms all over the world shared their personal favorite productivity tools.
Here is a curated list of some of the ones recommended.
Monday.com
Monday.com is a program that allows you to manage information technology, development, marketing, product management, sales, task management and human resources. There are free and paid subscription options.
Clover
Clover is a digital notebook that blends notes, tasks, whiteboards and a daily planner in an all-encompassing app available on most major platforms. In addition to its daily to-do lists and notetaking, the app offers a blank canvas mode for visual brainstorming that functions similarly to creative tools like Figma. There are free and paid subscription options.
Todoist
Todoist is a powerful and multiplatform to-do list software. It allows quick adds, recurring due dates and sections and subtasks. You can further divide these features into different priority levels, favorites and reminders. You can also share your to-do list with others in your organization and assign them tasks for a more collaborative process. There are free and paid subscription options.
Airtable
Airtable, widely used among news organizations, is a fluid database and spreadsheet web app. It can also be used as a CRM and has a product catalog template to keep product information, vendors and orders easily organized. There are many other templates and room for powerful customization. There are free and paid subscription options.
TextSniper
TextSniper allows users to quickly extract non-selectable text from images and other digital documents. The app supports extracting text from YouTube videos, PDFs, images, online courses, screencasts, presentations, web pages, video tutorials, photos and more. There is a free trial available, but paid licenses must be purchased for long-term use.
Nucleo
Nucleo is a global conflict monitoring web app that tracks trusted social media accounts in times of war and misinformation and is supported by the International Center for Journalists. The tool monitors a list of Twitter accounts in order to increase the search of reliable and actionable social media information, particularly about the war in Ukraine right now. The list filters out disinformation, misinformation, memes and plagiarism. It is available to use for free.
Lightshot
Lightshot is a free tool that allows you to take customizable screenshots. You can select specifically which part of your screen you want to screenshot and generate links to your image.
Loom
Loom allows you to record short and simple videos of your screen and your camera. This tool is especially useful in hybrid workplaces, and you can use it on Mac, Windows, iOS and Android devices. It is commonly used as a meeting replacement or for demonstrations. There are free and paid subscriptions available.
Descript
Descript is a collaborative multimedia editing program that makes quick edits easier and quicker. Users can cut audio or video as easily as deleting text off a document. This program is ideal for podcasting, video editing, screen recording and transcriptions. There are free and paid subscriptions available.