Freelancers and contractors often have to juggle the details of multiple projects for multiple clients simultaneously.
Of course, there are a growing number of productivity tools, project management tools, organizers, and to-do apps available to help all types of workers stay on task. I've tested paid and free versions of most of them. The reality is, as standalone apps, they all require inputting content to and working in a separate app.
The other constant is we all use email, and despite the negative view of email by some, it's not going anywhere anytime soon. Improving the email experience solves many other problems for freelancers and on-demand professionals.
That's what attracted me to Superhuman. A major goal of Superhuman is to help users get to a zero inbox daily. The interface is clean and minimalistic design. The "reward" for achieving zero inbox is always an incredible landscape, architecture, or nature photograph.
The benefit comes in how the app achieves that while eliminating the need for many other tools. I've tried many tools and apps that try to replicate the Superhuman experience, including add-ons to Google and Apple Mail, but they all lacked at least one function vital to me.
The key to Superhuman is learning the list of most used shortcuts. After a week or so, all functions can be navigated without using a mouse. Your hands never need to leave the keyboard.
While nothing is ever perfect, here are the pros and cons after using the platform for well over a year.
PROs
Email Triage. Most other platforms require you to delete or file messages to achieve zero inboxes. Superhuman includes a "mark as done" feature that quickly removes messages from your inbox but doesn't delete them.
Labeling. Superhuman includes standard "folder" capability and offers an improved "labeling" feature that will essentially tag a message with a word of choice.
Searching. Both marking as done and labeling benefit from an enhanced search experience that is faster and easier than trying to remember what folder a message was filed.
Reminders, Snippets, and Tracking are the Big Three differentiators for me.
Reminders. Reminders is probably the greatest feature developed to improve the email experience. Not every email requires immediate follow-up. With reminders, click "h" and enter a time or date you want to see the message again. Reminders is now my default to-do list.
Snippets. Certain professions require the same email or similar version of the email to multiple people. With Superhuman, simply create a snippet with the core content of the email and click Command and ; to use it. For specific projects, Snippets can save hours of work.
Tracking. This isn't your typical return receipt. The Tracking feature tells you the exact time and each time the sender opens a message. It helps prevent unnecessary follow-up to assure someone received an important message.
Cons
Price. At $30 a month, Superhuman isn't cheap. Over a couple of years, it can add up. However, it does eliminate the need for other apps, including some fee-based apps.
Availability. Right now, Superhuman is only available for Gmail users.
Mobile App. The mobile app can be cumbersome, especially when using multiple email accounts. On a mobile device, I usually default to Apple Mail.
Lack of Unified Inbox. By far, this is the biggest con. Right now, I manage four email accounts. It has been as many as six. Superhuman requires a tab to be open for each account. When working in one account, it's easy to miss important messages sent to another account. For that reason, I usually keep Apple Mail's unified inbox open on another screen.
Superhuman isn't perfect, but it's a solid offering to quickly triage and manage email while also eliminating the need for additional productivity or workflow apps.
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