An Introduction to Our Industry’s Epoch
“Can someone get out of the spreadsheet?”
“Oh I forgot to update that from last week.”
“I need a new color code for these columns.”
Have you ever heard these during a group meeting about projects? Have you ever wondered if there was a better way of talking about and sharing workload? Did you think a better way involved another spreadsheet? You did, didn’t you? Welcome to our epoch. Our problem solving minds go straight to making a spreadsheet for everything. I grant that spreadsheets are wonderful. I’m sure that, if I sought it out, I would find that Excel is at least partially responsible for making the world go round. I do not mean to disqualify the tool from anyone’s toolbox nor do I think it to be a lesser tool than something else. I’d like to point out tools I’ve stumbled on in my travels that I’ve come to find are of equal worth to Excel.
Productivity Tools in the Digital Epoch
Digital task boards and wikis are, from my experience, the best way to keep up with workload and design documentation. Especially with hybrid and remote design teams, there is a need to manage work in a way that doesn’t involve constant, disruptive calls or hundreds of emails. Many try OneNote or some smart Excel spreadsheet but those are usually on the PM’s desktop or are inaccessible unless users have access to the network that houses them. OneNote is usually just an outdated bullet list and an Excel spreadsheet’s fate is an eye-squinting, color coded mess of information and I don’t think a fancy VBA code will improve that much. There is a need for tools that present information in a clear way, are open to all users in a group, and prevent workload distribution bottle necks.
Trello
Trello is an online tool that lets teams manage tasks, projects, and resources in a very clear, visual manner. It performs like a digital board where tasks made as cards which are organized under custom columns. The free version lets you invite up to 10 members who can all view and edit the board. A remote team member can go to the board, find a task, and can join it to let others know they’re working on it. A leader can assign certain tasks to individuals in a visual way to communicate to the whole team who is responsible for what.
I’ve had great experiences with working with hybrid coworkers in my office and even those out of state who are in a different time zone. Thanks to the task cards, we placed enough information in them that anyone can pick them up without needing to schedule a 30-minute briefing Teams call. We never had to play email hot potato and we never had a teammate who was out of the loop on where the project was. Give it a try! Here’s the link.
Notion
Notion is a similar tool that is also great at making project wiki pages. This tool is much more exhaustive than Trello. You can really build this out to be a treasure trove of knowledge for your job that you can take with you anywhere. It has a task board similar to Trello, but it differs with letting you have some ridiculous customization. This may be more suited for full remote teams and organizations that do not have their own intranet that hosts their internal guidelines. You should really check this one out!
I personally want to have my own knowledge base built into a wiki on Notion. The big challenge is the endless customization. I’ve spent more time in customizing than contributing useful information. Trello may be more helpful with team workload organization because the free version limits your options.
Try Them, Try Them, You Will See!
I’ve tried the Planner tool baked into Microsoft’s 365 Suite but I find it lacking compared to Notion and Trello. I won’t say that it can’t accomplish the job but it is very barebones and limiting.
Give these a try. They’re free anyhow. They are much better approaches compared to sticky notes on your monitor or sending an email to your entire team saying, “yeah we need to remember this after the submittal,” even though it will be buried under all the other emails everyone else is sending!