May 2026

Most productivity apps are designed for people who like productivity apps. They reward you for setting up the system, not for getting work done. You spend an hour configuring tags, color codes, and database views — and at the end of it, you’ve planned nothing and built a museum exhibit about how organized you could be. Business professionals don’t have time for this. You have meetings stacked back-to-back, deliverables with real consequences, and a calendar that fills up faster than…

Most “best iPad apps” lists read like a sponsored catalog. Forty apps, no opinions, every one of them a 5-star miracle. That’s not useful. Here are five apps I actually recommend — the ones that justify owning an iPad in the first place. If your iPad mostly sits on the kitchen counter playing YouTube, this is the list that gets it off the counter. Full disclosure: I make one of the apps on this list. I’ll tell you which one…

There’s a quiet argument that’s been circulating for years: handwritten planners are inefficient. They’re slow. They don’t sync. You can’t search them. You can’t back them up. If you drop one in a puddle, your entire third quarter is gone. Apps, the argument goes, are simply better tools for getting things done. If you’ve ever stood in a stationery aisle holding a beautiful Hobonichi or Moleskine and felt a small wave of guilt — like you were about to choose…