The (almost) perfect working environment

I’ve been asked by a couple of my colleagues and a few people who read my blog to let them know how I run my online and offline computer universe. What’s my workflow?

Well, I think I’ve got it down to a bit of a fine art now. I’ve done a lot of research, testing, evaluation and experimentation, and I think I’ve come up with what is for me, right now, the virtually perfect combination of machinery, software and interconnectedness that lets me do things the way I want to do them.

So what follows are the 25 pieces of software I’m using in order to make my computer-mediated life an absolute and near-total joy…

But first - the hardware:

1. iMac 24″ desktop machine
This does the heavy lifting. It’s new, superfast and I love it to bits. It has all of the stored documents, music and other media.

2. MacBook (the black one)
This allows me to work anywhere. It’s not the latest model, but it’s a dream to use. I’m never seen without it.

3. Iomega 1TB external RAID drive
This is the backup. Everything gets copied to this for safekeeping.

4. USB pen
I hardly ever use it, but occasionally, when I want to transfer files to or from someone else’s computer, this can be easier than via the internet.

5. Cables
I always carry around an assortment of USB leads, projector adaptor for presentations, power supply for the laptop, a universal card reader and - for good measure - an ethernet cable. Never go anywhere without geek string.

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The software:

1. Firefox
I live in Firefox. I have a thing about Microsoft products, which will become increasingly apparent as this goes along, and I am particularly down on Internet Explorer. I am as much an advocate of the far superior alternative browser Firefox as I am an evangelist of the Mac hardware. Could not live without tabbed browsing and my favourite plugins: ScribeFire, Foxmarks, Greasemonkey, Flashgot, Better Gmail and Adblock Plus.

In my humble opinion, the fastest way to improve your computing life is to remove or bypass as much Microsoftware as possible.

2. iTunes
Let’s just say I have quite a lot of music. iTunes is the only piece of software I’ve found that I’m entirely happy with and that appeals to my desire to attend to and reorder my collection in the way that some people tend their gardens.

3. Skype
I have more and more conversations via Skype these days, especially as I start to do more and more international consultancy. I know people who still pay for toll calls, and they can’t even see the other person at the other end of the line!

4. Twhirl
This is a Twitter client. A reasonably recent thing for me - I’ve been on Twitter for less than a year, and only really using it daily for a few months. But I’m completely sold on it. Short, 140-character ‘what I’m doing now’ updates that you can send and receive from your phone - or, while you’re at your computer, using something like this. When you follow others, it’s kind of like having ESP. You can follow me on Twitter.

5. Mindjet Mindmanager
A mindmapping programme. I’ve tried them all, and this is the one that does it for me. It understands how I throw ideas down quickly and need to sort them out as I go. Really intuitive, and allows me to capture a one-hour seminar in detail on a single page, or come up with a new project idea as it occurs to me. Just brilliant.

6. BlogBridge
I’m a new convert, still getting used to the new way of working with RSS feeds in this environment after having been a Google Reader devotee for a long time. The thing that makes this valuable is the offline feed reading - which will be particularly good for me given the amount of travelling I do.

7. iPhoto
It comes with the Mac, and there are other pieces of software that do this sort of thing, but this is a really great interface - especially when you add the FlickrExport plugin. Shame you can’t easily synchronise between machines, but I run this on both the desktop and laptop. And I take a LOT of photos.

8. VLC
This is the Swiss Army Knife of media players. It’ll cope with pretty much any format you throw at it. I don’t own a television because of this bit of software. Between DVDs, the odd download and the BBC iPlayer, I have no need for a TV. It’ll also cope with FLAC files, which is where iTunes stumbles.

9. iCal
Again, another comes-in-the-box bit of software, but this is what’s so great about Macs. The thing that comes bundled is not only worth having, it wipes the floor with pretty much everything else around. I use Plaxo to synchronise it with the laptop so that my appointments are always up to date.

10. Address Book
Another out-of-the-box Mac programme that synchronises using Plaxo. Not only that, but this and iCal also do the clever trick of synchronising with my iPod via iTunes.

11. The Missing Sync
I have a Windows phone. I’m not a fan. But it’s on the Orange network, with whom the university have a contract, and the iPhone doesn’t support Orange in any legitimate way that I’m allowed to get involved with - so I use this clever bit of software to make my phone capable of comprehending all address book and calendar details.

12. Ghost Action
This is what I use to Get Things Done. It’s a simple, clever bit of software that divides my To-Do lists up into projects and contexts, so that I can plan my week, then only ever see the part of the list that I can actually do something about, depending on where I happen to be, and what I have to hand. Indispensible. Even syncs tasks to iCal.

13. Mail
Again - out of the box, just works and integrates brilliantly. But here’s the trick with Mac Mail: you use it as a window into your Gmail account(s) via IMAP. Gmail is far and away the best mail platform around - especially when it comes to threading conversations and finding things again later - but for day-to-day use, the Mail software is lovely - and integrates brilliantly with your contacts in the Mac Address book which, remember, is synchronised to the phone and the laptop.

14. GSync
Another synchronisation workaround. This one connects iCal with Google Calendar so that people like Shelley, my PA - and Jez and Matt who do admin organisational stuff on the research projects - can check my availability and make appointments from anywhere on my behalf using Google Calendar, knowing that the appointment will immediately appear on my desktop, laptop, iPod and phone.

15. Speed Download
Download Manager for Mac. It’s a great way of organising and managing downloads of all sorts of files from all sorts of places. It’s also fast as all hell. Very cool.

16. Adium
A cross-platform chat programme. I can be logged into Adium and talk to people who use four different instant messaging clients. It just simplifies matters.

17. Last.fm
The software that pays attention to what I listen to, ’scrobbles’ it to the net, and makes recommendations based on what people who like what I like like - if you see what I mean.

18. Text Expander
For someone like me who writes a lot of email and a lot of marking feedback to a lot of people, this is a godsend. If there are phrases, sentences, paragraphs or entire letters that you end up writing on a regular basis, this allows you to type a shortcut, and that body of text will appear. Brilliant.

19. Cyberduck
This is my FTP client of choice. It works really well and it’s a rubber duck.

20. Transmission
This is the Torrent client. I almost never download things via torrent, just because there are quicker ways of doing things, usually. But sometimes, when you can’t find what you’re looking for in any other way, it’s good to have an intuitive and unfussy client like this on hand.

21. Photoshop
I don’t really use it. Jake does all the visual stuff in this house. He made the banners and buttons for this site and my other ones too. So I’m glad I have this piece of software.

22. Maintenance
This is a little Automator script that goes through your system, making sure that everything’s working okay and all of the referencing is fine and dandy. I run it every couple of weeks to be on the safe side.

23. SuperDuper!
A backup programme. Every morning at 2.30, my computer wakes up and copies the latest version of its hard drive to the 1TB external. Anything goes wrong, and I just boot from the other drive. I also use it to back up the laptop once a week. Been bitten by failed hard drives too often to not be careful here.

24. Max
The ‘convert (almost) any music format into any other’ software. Really quick, accurate and simple. The only thing it won’t handle is Windows Media Files - and I can sympathise with that.

25. iWork
This is where I do all my real work. Like Microsoft Office only good, iWork has a wordprocessing programme (Pages), a spreadsheet programme (Numbers) and a presentation programme (Keynote). I discovered Keynote first and when I realised how far back in the dark ages PowerPoint is, I made the switch to the whole package and there’s just no going back. When I finally realised I could be entirely free of MS Word, it was a Road to Damascus moment.

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Wonderful. But of course, nothing’s perfect. 98%’s pretty close - but I have a few niggles. Always good to have room for improvement…

I wish that I could synchronise the tasks in iCal so I’m showing the same To-Do list and the same Ghost Action data on both machines.

I wish that I iCal could sync with Google without having to use the intermediary programme GSync.

I wish that Google Reader and BlogBridge were interoperable so I could switch between them on a whim, and both would know what had been read and what hadn’t.

I wish iTunes could play and tag FLAC files.

I wish I knew how to use Photoshop a little better.

I wish that New Zealand had universally decent broadband so I could video Skype everyone there.

But by and large, this is the nearest I’ve come to the dream suite of computer assistance in my life. It’s taken me a long time toget here and I’ve worked on it - but the workflow integration system (which is how I’m thinking of this) helps me do more, know more, go more places, and stay on top of things when all around is chaos. And it lets me do it with style. The Mac kit is beautiful.

Of course, there’s a bunch of online services backing this up - and that’s another post for another time.

And so I have to ask the question: what am I missing? What do you swear by that makes your computing time far more satisfying, enjoyable and productive?

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