There’s a lot about work and life that’s hard right now. So, Clockworkers took a moment to call out the things we love these days — things that make life and work easier, more effective, more enjoyable. You’ll find both professional and personal recommendations here — tools, sites, and culture — lovingly compiled by staff members from across the organization.

What we’re loving

Awesome Screenshot

This is a Chrome extension that ups your screenshot, screen recording, and annotations game. It has lots of features that simplify taking effective screenshots, which is so helpful when collaborating and testing.

— Courtney Miner, Client Strategist

Universal Design

Universal Design provides a framework for understanding how to build something that can be used by everyone, regardless of abilities. This applies to technical solutions as well as physical space, products, and experiences.

— Sean Hill, Software Engineer

Stuff Made Here

This inventor doesn’t skimp on the details when building some wacky inventions (hair-cutting robot, anyone?).

— Cassidy Nelemans, Operations Engineer

1Password

I’ve used 1Password for almost a decade now, and it’s one of the first things I install on every device I own. It allows me to have different and secure passwords for all my accounts. All I need to memorize is a single passphrase. Given that they have yet to suffer any data breaches since I started using it, I don’t lose sleep wondering if someone can get into my bank account. There are a lot of tools that solve this same problem, but the convenience of this one makes the yearly subscription invaluable. 

— Conner McCall, Principal Software Engineer

WebAIM annual screen reader user survey

This measures trends on how folks who use screen readers are using them and what they prefer. It’s a great resource to understand how to improve usability for screen reader users.

— Carly Nixon, Designer

Dancing with Ryan Heffington

Now more than ever, we are challenged to find the joy. His classes are accessible, fun, and often for a good cause. 

— Lexi Rose, Client Strategist

Keras

Keras is a machine learning framework. With its simple API, it makes picking up machine learning easy and fun. It also has lots of good documents that pull machine learning out of the realm of research and into the “tinkerer space.”

— Jed Anderson, Sr. Software Engineer

Toggl Track

Toggl Track is very helpful when tracking time spent on different projects. It helps you see where you’re spending your time and ensure you’re accounting for client work appropriately.

— Kasey Ross, Business Transformation Strategist

You Need a Budget

This tool changed my life and relationship with money. I feel a sense of peace with money that I have never had before. Over the past few years, it has helped me do big things that were once hard to imagine were even possible.

— Jessica Zehavi, Sr. Software Engineer

Miro

This tool has been incredible for collaboration as we have adjusted to remote work. Our team uses it for everything: digital whiteboarding, sprint retros, content audits, and quick wireframing.

— Kiell Kosberg, User Experience Architect

Kenji López-Alt’s YouTube channel

I love cooking even more now that Kenji explains the science behind cooking and his recipes.

— Chuck Hermes, Clockwork Co-Founder, UX Freak

Elgato Stream Deck

I thought this device was only for professional streamers, but it’s a productivity workhorse for anyone who spends a sizable amount of time on video calls. The Elgato Stream Deck is a small console with programmable buttons that connect to your computer. It gives me the ability to quickly toggle video or audio during a call without the work of finding a button on a software application. And, with a touch of a button, you can leave a video meeting without that awkward moment of being the last person on the call.

— Vince Cabansag, Director of Technology

Victor LaValle

I haven’t been this impressed with an author in years. Virtually every sentence he writes is compelling. Aside from fully original work, he also re-tells stories (some problematic like HP Lovecraft, and others that are just classic horror like Frankenstein) from the point of view of Black characters. It’s done in a way that’s not cheesy at all.

— Jon Tester, Executive Assistant