To run our app design and development business effectively, we use a variety of tools to streamline our operations, facilitate communication, and make basic business processes easier. Within this blog we will share the top ten software applications that we use to run our business.

Our Top Ten Apps Ranked

1. Google Workspace (Email, Drive, Sheets, Docs, etc.)
2. Slack
3. Miro
4. Figma
5. Asana
6. Harvest
7. Quickbooks
8. Gusto
9. Zoom
10. 1Password

Google Workspace (Email, Drive, Sheets, Docs, etc.)

Google Workspace is a broad set of tools that includes Google Email, Drive, Sheets, Docs, and other productivity apps. Lithios actively uses Google Workspace over its competitor Microsoft Office 365 because we have found that the ecosystem of products is better integrated, simpler, and provides strong collaboration tools. Microsoft Office 365 has arguably more features than the Google Workspace but the experience of the Google Workspace is more streamlined for our needs.

Slack

The communication platform Slack is a messaging application that facilitates rapid text, audio, and video communication between both internal and external teams. Slack aims to replace basic day-to-day business communication typically handled through email with a more simplistic two-way instant messaging platform. Lithios uses Slack to organize company communication internally and externally with our clients. Slack fits our needs by allowing us to organize communication in specified channels, create integrations to receive communications from our other software tools, and it facilitates rapid conversation and decision making between team members.

Miro

Miro describes itself as a “collaborative whiteboard platform.” The application provides product teams with a space to work together to ideate, organize and diagram information. Lithios uses Miro within the discovery and design phase of engagements to carefully map out the foundation of a new application. When engaging with a client it is important that we take a funnel approach to gather and store all information initially as we seek to then organize and highlight only pertinent information when transitioning into design and development. We use Miro in this process to create comprehensive UX flows and brainstorming documents that we then use as a blueprint for our UI work.

Figma

Figma’s goal is to become the design collaboration tool of the future. Just as Google Workspace re-imagined how people work and organize business information, Figma aims to be the one-stop application for design organizations to collaborate and create new products. Figma is a tool that we have recently adopted to streamline our design process. Lithios utilizes Figma in our discovery and design process to create both simple UI Concepts and complex clickable prototypes for web and mobile. Previously, we utilized Sketch+Invision as our primary prototyping tools but this year we transitioned to Figma for all of our UI design needs.

Asana

Asana is one application within the Atlassian suite of product management tools. Asana aims to organize tasks for collaborative teams to work more efficiently together. Through Asana, teams can create projects, tasks, and sub-tasks while assigning ownership to directly responsible individuals. Lithios uses Asana to manage all of our tasks. Whether we are organizing internal projects (blogs, documentation, or tools) or working on client project engagements, Asana helps keep us organized and more effectively track potential blockers and individual execution items.

Harvest

Harvest is a time tracking and invoicing tool. Through this application, teams can track individual employee hours worked towards a particular project, establish budgets, and send invoices for work completed. Lithios uses Harvest as a platform to understand direct employee costs as they relate to varying discovery, design, and development engagements. By tracking the hourly cost rates and work allocations against the total project budget, we can get a clear perspective of our project efficiency and adjust our rates accordingly for future engagements. Harvest also provides a streamlined system for invoicing our clients and integrates with Stripe as a payment processor.

Quickbooks

When it comes to managing finances, Quickbooks is the go-to tool for small businesses across the United States. As a subsidiary of Intuit, Quickbooks is a robust platform that supports the financial record keeping and reporting for organizations. Lithios uses Quickbooks to track basic financial reports (Cash Flow, Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss, etc.) while also actively managing expenses and monitoring activity across accounts. We also leverage Quickbooks as the foundational tool for interfacing with our accounting team to file yearly tax returns.

Gusto

Gusto is an all-in-one payroll tool for small businesses. This application helps organizations manage pay for employees and contractors while allocating taxes to the appropriate government agencies. The system is purposefully simple which makes it easy to onboard employees and keep a record of employee payroll over time. Lithios uses Gusto to pay employees, contractors, and international contractors. We particularly like the simple monthly task dashboard that makes it easy to remit payroll and to track other necessary employee tasks to be in compliance with varying agencies. It also integrates well with our Quickbooks financial system and accounting structures.

Zoom

Zoom saw a massive rise during COVID when all work became remote. Zoom offers a video conferencing platform for organizations in place of face-to-face discussions. Lithios uses Zoom to schedule both individual and group meetings with our clients. Having a reliable video service allows us to gather the information we need from our clients to better complete our work.

1Password

With the rising need for applications and online tools, 1Password is an application that gives organizations an easy way to maintain their security standards through the storage of lengthy and differentiated passwords all in one vault. Lithios uses 1Password to create, store, and permission passwords for our staff across the organization. Since we use hundreds of integrated software services within the applications we build, it is essential that we keep our accounts organized and accessible.

Conclusion

Each of these tools has been critical in ensuring that we communicate effectively, store and report pertinent data, and guide our future improvement. There are thousands of productivity tools that exist for organizations of all sizes but these are the top ten that we use the most. 

If you ever want to learn more about how we operate or want to build an application of your own, drop us a line here!