5 tools I actually use every day (out of 30+ tested)
I've tested over 30 tools in the past two years. Today, I actually use 5.
Why? Because at some point you realise that productivity is not about stacking tools. It's about removing friction.
👉 Here are the 5 tools that earned their place in my daily work.
🧠1. Obsidian — My second brain
👉 Notes, procedures, watch, content ideas, documentation: everything centralised in one place.
- Ultra-fast information retrieval
- Found in seconds, even months later
💻2. VS Code — My main work environment
👉 Markdown, YAML, Python, Bash, JSON: documentation, script or playbook, I stay in the same environment.
- Less context switching
- More focus
🔀3. GitHub — Much more than a code repo
👉 I store playbooks, templates, security policies and personal projects — all versioned, documented and reproducible.
- Traceability is not only a dev topic
- It's also a governance topic
✅4. Linear — Task management without the noise
👉 Most project-management tools were too complex. Linear gets to the essentials.
- Clear prioritisation and simple cycles
- Every morning, I know what to focus on
⚙️5. PolicyForge — Automate what creates no value
👉 Compliance is essential, but spending weeks writing a policy should not be the norm. PolicyForge generates structured, tailored documents (https://policyforge.fr).
- More time for analysis, risk and strategy
- Automation doesn't replace expertise — it frees it
🔗 What they have in common
None thinks or decides for me
These 5 tools have one thing in common: none thinks for me, none makes decisions for me. They simply let me spend less time on operations and more on the work that truly matters.
« Automation doesn't replace expertise. It simply lets expertise express itself where it adds the most value. »
- →Less operational work, more high-value thinking
- →Tools that reduce friction, not add complexity
- →It's probably what we all expect from a good tool
🧠 What about you?
The best stack isn't the largest: it's the one that saves you time without distracting you.
✔ Centralise knowledge (Obsidian)
✔ A single environment (VS Code)
✔ Version everything (GitHub)
✔ Prioritise without noise (Linear)
✔ Automate the no-value work (PolicyForge)
Which tool could you no longer do without today? I'm always curious to discover what saves time for other professionals.
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