ABSTRACT: With the advancement of our understanding of thermodynamics of non-equilibrium quantum processes, there has been an ever-increasing interest in utilizing quantum systems as media to generate, store, and extract work. Nevertheless, all these tasks require certain degree of control over the manipulated quantum systems, in order to minimize the effects of irreversibility due to fast driving or spoiling of quantum properties due to interaction with the environment, to name a few. In this talk, spanning a series of different works, we will first explore how to devise more efficient quantum control techniques in the context of manipulating quantum heat engine cycles. We will then address the topic of how we learned to stop worrying and love the finite-temperature baths when charging quantum batteries built from ensembles of qubits.