You think that productivity software is all about making you remember important stuff? Fine, that’s true. But only in some way. There’s so much more you can do with it! It can be a real game changer for you and for your team. Today, we’re going to show you exactly what apps such as Taskeo are good for.
When you first land in a project management platform or a productivity app, you may feel a little lost and confused. “What do I do with it now?”, is probably something that many users ask themselves. “How can I actually make the most of this platform?”
You shouldn’t worry about this too much – not in the beginning. You’ll need time to master even the simplest platform. Eventually, you’ll learn how to make the most of it. Why? Because you’ll find the way to use it exactly the way your team needs.
But there are several ways in which productivity software helps you right from the beginning.
Productivity software helps you create a structure for ANY process
Making a clear and straightforward structure for your company processes helps you in more ways than you can count. A Kanban view based apps are perfect for visualising the workflow of your team.
It is particularly useful if some events happening in your company follow the same process structures. Whether it’s crafting a piece of content that supports your marketing efforts or launching a side product – you won’t have to explain the process again and again.
The assignments will travel from one stage to another. Everybody will know where things stand. They’ll know when it’s their time to work and to whom deliver the outcome.
People are creatures of habits. Creating some in your team and visualising the processes help upkeep these action patterns. Your team will grow accustomed to them. Nobody will ever ask again: “What are we going to do with our product now?”
Minimise the work in progress with productivity software
One of the principles of the Kanban methodology is to reduce the work in progress. Your team shouldn’t be scattered around several different tasks that simultaneously draw their attention and drain their energy. Using productivity software is one of the ways of dealing with clogging your workflow.
When the given task lands in a project, is up to the team leader to prioritize it and give it a deadline. It’s their role to decide when the team will work the task and when will the work start. Frequently, the teams using Kanban method create a stage for those assignments. It gathers all tasks that await being started and pushed forward in the process.
Locate the weak spots, difficulties and bottlenecks
Productivity software not only allows you to assign tasks and visualise the progress, but it also helps you locate the problems within your team.
Whether it’s a stage that causes difficulties or a team member falling behind, an attentive team leader will notice instantly where the tasks sit excessively long.
You want to, after all, deliver your projects as soon as it possible. That’s why you avoid having items sit in the process for too long. Each and every one of them should move between the stages smoothly. And if they don’t – something isn’t right.
Locating the aching spot is the first step to solving the problem. When you know where the issues are happening, you can dig deeper and search for more clues. But to even begin your investigation, you need to know which stage of your process is the problematic one.
Good productivity software helps you exactly with that.
Discover the real role of your team members
Teamwork is a collective effort of every person on your team. While evaluating your team’s productivity, keep in mind that whether you deliver your projects depends on two things. First, it’s fluid collaboration. Second, it’s the individual employee productivity.
If you use it right, productivity software gives you a clear insight into the work of your individual team members. It will tell you who delivers work faster and who is having permanent troubles with everything they do.
For example, at Taskeo, our main goal is to improve the productivity of every individual user. We know these people are part of teams – but it’s the individuals that the collective work depends on. If you use productivity software, use it to get a better awareness of productivity levels among your team members.
This will also enable a whole new list of possibilities. You’ll know who can be trusted with emergency projects when such arise. You’ll discover who excels at the given task type and who can be relied on when it comes to tutoring new and less experienced teammates.
Simplify the process monitoring with productivity software
Last but not least – staying in touch with what’s happening in your team is crucial. Say you’ve got your process structure prepared and you know who’s the best to trust with given tasks.
What you need now, is a way to monitor the progress.
Productivity software is your way to go. Especially if you’re running a distributed team, you’re going to face a number of difficulties. Ideally, you should know exactly where things stand without even having to ask your people.
What does it mean? It means that only by looking at the stages in your projects you should know how much work’s been completed and how much is still left.
Emailing your people, reaching out to them with messengers or even posting comments on tasks means you’ve got to wait for the answer. That’s why good productivity software enables you to understand what’s happening without the need to asks these question. You should never walk around in search of information that by default should be within your productivity or project management platform.
Over to you
Productivity software is so much more than just writing down your tasks and delegating them to people. It’s the ability to analyse and improve who you are – as individuals and as a team. Spreading the workload evenly and always knowing what’s up, this is where it’s at. So find your right productivity software and make the most of it. Every day of every month.
Good luck! And don’t forget to tell us if you’ve got your own ideas on how productivity software makes your team better!
