We interviewed Tanaya, a Cornell University graduate student, and product manager. Watch and read about how Shift has changed her workflow for the better.
** Tanaya is using the old version of Shift (v7). Check out the new version of Shift (v9), here. **
The Need for Shift
Tanaya is an Engineering Management master's student based out of New York. We connected with Tanaya after she shared a blog post she wrote about Shift with our Customer Success team. You can check out her blog post here.
With starting grad school as a full-time student, working part-time as a product manager, and being the Vice President of a product management club at Cornell, Tanaya knew she needed a solution that would help her arrange her tools better and be more productive. She first discovered Shift in April 2021 through a product management blog that features new and trending products. After reading one of the posts Shift was featured in and jumping into the tool to try it for herself, she was hooked. Tanaya purchased a Shift subscription and immediately began to see the potential in how much cognitive load Shift could alleviate. For her, Shift eliminates issues and "uncertainties," as she calls them, that she wasn't even aware of. With many projects on the go, context switching is a constant struggle, bringing with it mental clutter.
"Before Shift, I don't know how I worked."
Tanaya's Favorite Shift Features
With Shift, Tanaya is able to reduce the time spent switching between apps and searching for information and what tools she needs, no matter what project she's working on. Shift offers her a better way to visualize her tools. Having everything side by side in the sidebar or contained within a Workspace allows her to focus more. In addition to adding her favorite apps like Medium and Notion to her setup, Tanaya has created a Workspace for both school and her product management work. She discovered Workspaces by following the in-app tooltips.
In addition to Workspaces, Tanaya relies on a few other power tools in Shift to help her focus. Epic Search allows her to find the resource she needs without needing to remember where it exists. This is especially important when working on multiple projects for school, and interacting with multiple departments and stakeholders working as a product manager.
Mute Notifications helps reduce context switching and the urge to instantly address new emails and other notifications when they come in. Before Shift, Tanaya was constantly getting notifications vying for her attention, which increased the context-switching problem, as she was always dropping tasks for new ones. This disruption to her train of thought was costing her hours of productive work. With Shift, Tanaya is now able to mute those desktop pop-ups, allowing her to focus on her task at hand, knowing that her notifications will be there when she’s ready to address them.
"You automatically understand how [Shift] declutters your life and does things so passively for you that it just makes everything easier."
Tanaya's Work Recommendations
Tanaya stresses the importance of creating a system that streamlines your work and allows you to focus on things that matter. For her, a Shift subscription is well worth the annual investment. She mentioned how so often as a society we'll spend the same amount or more money on other things like clothes without thinking twice. Investing in a tool to help with your mind and to help conquer the mental clutter is money well-spent.
"Shift is one of those products that you didn't know you needed until you have it."
Tanaya will be graduating from Cornell from the master’s program in Engineering Management in April 2022. Check out her LinkedIn profile here.
What's next?
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Find quick tips and best practices in our Getting Started section here.
Read about other Shift Case Studies here.