Slacker Manager hits one out of the park again.  He has a list of "Context Agnostic" tools that every manager needs.  I thought I'd include a quick rundown of what I use, and the capacity I use these tools in.
  • Communication Skills How do I judge this? No idea.  I guess my wife would be a much better person to judge my communication skills than I. 
  • Text Editor Vim.  Vim is the upgrade to the famous Vi text editor on Unix.  I've used Vim for approximately 3 years now.  I am just starting to get the hang of it, but it improves my workflow considerably.  If you're planning on looking into Vim, be sure to snag a book that will help you along the way.
  • SQL Being a web programmer, I eat, sleep and breathe SQL.  Enough said.  (I work mainly with MySQL)
  • Excel Pivot Tables I don't think I've ever used these.  I know what they are, but haven't really found uses for them in my work.  This is going on the todo list to take a look at.
  • GTD Ahh, GTD.  I love you, I hate you.  Once you realize the benefits of GTD you can never go back.  Yet, once you realize the benefits of GTD, making it work every day until you get a consistent workflow can be a huge hurdle.  My poisen of choice, switching apps all the time.  Note to self, don't do that anymore.
  • Datebook/PDA I use a Treo 600.  I LOVE my Treo 600.  It is amazing.  I unfortunately use Sprint, but I get decent connectivity anywhere I go.  I love writing little programs to utilize my "always-on" connectivity.  Sadly, the syncing utility doesn't work that well on Windows in my opinion.  Thus, I don't use it to it's full capability.
  • ActiveWords I've never used Active Words.  Looking at their website it seems to be something similar to QuickSilver for the Mac.  This seems like something to look into.
  • Shortcut Keys Working mostly on the Unix commandline, I am spoiled.  There are times I don't have to lift my hands from the keyboard for 20 minutes.  This is great because it really cuts town on wrist strain.  When I am not on the command line, I utilize a number of Windows Shortcut keys and Firefox Shortcut Keys.
  • Screen Capture I don't do many screen captures, and simply using the Windows "Print Screen" key, then pasting the image into Word usually does it for me.  I'll have to look into this little utility.
That's it!  Looks like my toolkit needs to be filled out a little bit. Via Slacker Manager
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