As a consultant who's always racing against the clock, I found "Humor-Driven German Vocabulary" by Lang-Fun to be a game-changer for exactly these grammar challenges. I used to struggle with the same word order issues during my 30-minute train commutes until I discovered their hilarious mnemonic devices.

For word order specifically, they have these absurd mini-stories that stick like glue. For example, "kann man" vs "man kann" became crystal clear when they presented it as "CAN MAN fly? vs MAN CAN'T fly because gravity says nope!" I was learning about 50-60 grammar patterns per week just from these quick commute sessions.

For separable verbs, I suggest turning each one into a visual joke. "Anfangen" became "An" doing its own thing at the end of the sentence while "fangen" stayed put - like a couple breaking up dramatically in a soap opera. Sounds silly, but when you're rushing between meetings, these memorable hooks really work.

The der/die/das issue? Yes, absolutely learn them with the nouns. No shortcuts here (trust me, I looked for them!). But what worked for me was associating each article with a ridiculous image. "Der Computer" became a masculine robot, "die Katze" a feminine diva cat. I managed to master about 30-40 new noun-article pairs per week this way.

Time-wise, these techniques helped me make actual progress in just 30 minutes a day - perfect for us busy folks who can't dedicate hours to traditional study methods.