Empower Your Leadership: Top Tools for a Startup Manager

The day-to-day of startup leaders can get overwhelming, so having tools that help smooth the workflow is a game changer. Here are Vinolers’ favorite softwares and why we love them so much: 

Project Management 

When it comes to boosting productivity, our go-to tools are Jira and Asana. They help everyone stay on top of their work because each team player can have a detailed view of their own progress and their project’s status. 

When do we use each? It depends on who we’re working with. Both tools are great to manage projects, plan sprints and keep track of issues and individual tasks, but Jira was designed for software development while Asana was made for business teams. 

Beyond productivity, a big part of management is also being organized, and for that, we recommend Notion. Instead of scattering your company’s work around many apps, this software allows you to streamline your processes in a space where all teams can connect by sharing, editing and storing docs, creating lists, reporting their progress, checking each others’ calendars, among other structural tasks.  

Teamwork Space

To foster our team spirit, we use Miro, a whiteboard. This software comes very handy when workshopping, strategy mapping, doing Agile ceremonies, researching and designing UX, developing products, conducting customer discovery and visualizing processes. Basically, it lets team members collaborate by drawing, writing and commenting on what they wish to understand or accomplish, giving everyone a shared vision.

Mural is also a super nice tool for that purpose, but we like to save it for the time we spend with our clients. We find it very important to understand their values, their goals and follow their work from start to finish, and this tool gives us the perfect space to do so. It has multiple different templates for each part of the process, allowing our startup leaders to better organize and express their ideas. 

Getting down to the basics, we use Lucid Chart for brainstorming. This tool is ideal because it makes it very easy to create flowcharts, organization charts, wireframes, UML and mind maps. This way, Vinolers’ ideas turn into actionable projects by getting them out of our heads and into the “paper”. 

Design

Now, how to make it real and pretty?

For all things social, we like Canva. It has multiple templates, visual elements (such as photos, illustrations, fonts…) and formats to choose from. Whether you want to present a slideshow or create social media graphics, Canva has your back. 

But when it comes to your actual products and projects, Figma can help you develop and design. It allows you to create visual prototypes, wireframe websites, mobile app interfaces and all other ideas you want to get out into the world. What we really like about it is that many people can collaborate on it at the same time, so the work gets more multidisciplinary. 

Communication

To help us schedule meetings, talk among each other and stay in touch with our clients, we have two favorite tools: Calendly and Slack.

The first one is an automated meeting scheduling app. Basically, it allows you to display your availability in a calendar and anyone who has access to your scheduling link can just go ahead and pick a time that also works for them. The app then automatically creates a meeting and sends all parties an invitation link, saving everyone lots of emails. 

The second one is a workspace where you can message your team in forums or in private chats. It makes both our communication and our exchange of files faster, as we can easily share documents and links through the software. 

Last, but not least, we love Loom. This app is a great time-saver for short presentations and explanations. Instead of scheduling an FYI meeting, Loom allows you to share your screen while recording yourself. Automatically, everyone in your workspace is able to access that video whenever it fits their schedule. This way, you can say things that are too long for an email, but too short for a call. 

If you are looking to step up your game, those tools will be of great help. At Vinoly, we specialize in strategies that can improve your business, products and projects. Don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions at hello@vinoly.tech!