6 Pro Tips and Tricks For Managing Projects In monday.com
So, you just started using monday.com to manage your projects. Or, maybe you’re still trying to decide if it’s the right project management software for you. Either way, you’re in the right place.
monday.com is packed with useful tools that can help you effectively manage projects. But we get it—you're busy. Finding all those juicy hacks, and learning how to use them, can take loads of time. We’ve done the heavy lifting for you by uncovering some of the most useful monday.com tips and tricks to help you get the most out of the tool.
What is monday.com?
monday.com is a work management platform known for its visually appealing and highly customizable interface. Designed to facilitate seamless coordination and communication within teams, this tool is a favorite for tracking projects across various scales and industries.
One of the features that makes monday.com unique is its flexibility. For example, team members can choose between many different views, like Gantt charts, Kanban boards, timelines, calendars, and more. It also has features like time tracking, automated workflows, and integration capabilities with tools like Slack and Google Suite.
Still exploring your tool options? Start with the definition of project management software to understand how it works and what it can do for you.
monday.com Tips and Tricks
There is so much to uncover when it comes to monday.com. To help us dig deeper, we asked Fred Baker, a Sr. Program Manager and monday.com consultant at Integrated Human Consulting, to share his pro tips for using the platform.
Before you even think about diving into the tips below, he suggests taking some time to consider what you want to accomplish using the tool.
I compare monday.com to a box of Legos because it’s so adaptable and easy to figure out the basic functionality. Just like Legos though, it’s hard to build a system that produces a specific desired outcome without a detailed plan. Where people get into trouble is trying to build functional workflows in monday.com that they haven’t mapped out first. Any tool is only as good as your processes.
1. Streamline your projects with templates.
monday.com makes it super easy for beginners to get started. Of course, you can design your own workspaces and boards, but the platform also offers a variety of templates to choose from. There are templates available for single projects, project portfolio management, request approval workflows, and more. If you’re moving to monday.com from another platform, they make that easy too. You can choose to import a new board from Excel, Google Sheets, Trello, and other tools.
You don’t have to build everything yourself; monday.com has a wide range of templates that can be used to jump-start your operation. From CRM, to project tracking, to IT ticketing, and beyond, monday.com has something for your workflow.
2. Automate everything.
monday.com also offers some helpful automations that can be used to streamline repetitive tasks like reminders, time tracking, reviews, and more. These automations allow you to set up different rules and triggers to perform tasks automatically, saving you tons of time. For example, you can create automations to send an email when a due date is approaching, get notifications when tasks are completed, or stop tracking time when a task’s status is updated.
While most automations can be built from scratch, there is also a whole library of templates in monday.com and even some pre-built automations that cover areas that regular automations can’t. There are even cross-board automations, meaning when you take an action on one board, it can trigger an action on a different board.
3. Try out different views.
Another powerful feature in monday.com is the ability to view your existing boards in a variety of different ways. Some of the views you can access include calendar, chart, files, workload, Kanban, map, and timeline views. These views can come in handy when it comes to managing complex projects, tracking project progress, and reporting out to stakeholders. You can add a view to any of your boards by clicking the “Add View” button at the top of the board.
Keep in mind that certain views, along with features like being able to lock a view, are only available depending on your monday.com plan.
You can also leverage views to create distinct perspectives of your data, such as hiding columns, filtering certain criteria, highlighting rows with upcoming due dates or statuses, or quickly finding things assigned to certain people. This is especially useful where multiple teams are working on the same boards, or when a board has multiple workflows and a lot of columns.
4. Easily review data with dashboards.
monday.com’s dashboard feature can be incredibly helpful because it allows you to view data across your projects all in one place. You can choose from more than 30 different widgets to better understand progress, budgets, workload, and more across your projects. Dashboards also make it easier to create and share reports.
To create a new dashboard within a workspace, you simply click "+" below the name of the workspace and select "New Dashboard." You can choose whether a dashboard is private or public, and any boards can be added to the dashboard.
monday.com gives you real-time data on your projects and resources through convenient dashboards, Gantt charts, work capacity boards, time tracking features, and more. It’s easy to get a quick handle on your data and leverage it to drive decision-making to improve performance and build momentum.
5. Create a private board for your personal to-dos.
If you have a Pro or Enterprise plan with monday.com, you can create an unlimited number of boards in your company’s workspace. So, in addition to the main and shareable boards you use to communicate with your team and external stakeholders, you can create a private board to help keep track of your individual tasks. Private boards won’t show up in search results in your company’s workspace. But keep in mind that your company can still get access to private boards in your workspace if they export your entire account's data.
If creating your own personal board sounds like too much, monday.com also has a place to track your personal to-dos on your home screen.
With Monday.com, you can implement effective project management strategies that enhance task delegation and tracking, no matter how you prefer to work.
Many organizations use monday.com for all types of workflows and project management systems (such as sales processes, project management, creative workflows, event planning, social media marketing, and more). But you can also make an outstanding personal to-do system with it. I have a GTD (Getting Things Done) system with recurring tasks, automations to change statuses, notify me of dates, move items to different groups, and snooze things until a follow up date before returning it to my board.
6. Stay updated on new features.
You can stay up-to-date on monday.com by visiting their “What’s New” page. You can scroll through recent updates or even sort new features by which plan they’re available under, what types of teams are most likely to benefit from the upgrade, and what process will be improved by the new feature.
The team at monday.com is constantly making new features and updates, so if you run into something you wish was different, there is a good chance they are working on it. Some recent features I’m pretty excited about are the expansion of AI integration into things like the formula builder and generating tasks for workflows. a workflow automation builder that enables leveraging if/else statements, and the development of their new platforms focused on Sales CRM and Dev work.
Looking for Alternatives to monday.com?
Not sure if monday.com is the right solution for you and your team? We’ve tested, reviewed, and evaluated the most popular project management software to help you find the best tools to manage and control projects and teams more effectively.
Want hacks for other popular project management software? Try these Airtable tips and tricks.
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