For decades, remote work has been a concept reserved for freelancers, creatives, and tech professionals. Although companies allowing home offices for their employees was not a novel phenomenon, it wasn’t mainstream. A paradigm shift came with the pandemic, making working from home a necessity rather than just a benefit of the workplace. 

This rapid shift showed the benefits and challenges of remote working, affecting team communication and project collaboration. Nevertheless, it is safe to say that the home office is here to stay and many companies are adopting hybrid models. Upwork predicts that 73% of teams will have remote workers by 2028.

Digital collaboration tools (like the Zenkit Suite!) that promise better teamwork despite the distance compete for the limelight. With much software to choose from, it’s important for teams and companies to adopt tools that will complement team productivity, supporting their workflow within these new standard work models.

What’s the deal with New Work & Industry 4.0?

We live in the age of New Work and Industry 4.0. New Work defines today’s working society in the global and digital age. The integration of intelligent technologies under the term Industry 4.0 promotes a whole new concept of productivity and efficient systems. But what does all this have to do with remote work?

Well, depending on how you look at it, a little or a lot. The publication of the New York Times bestseller “The 4-Hour Workweek” by Tim Ferriss is a good place to start making the connection. By demonstrating in his book how individuals can be just as productive in less time through process optimization, a stark contrast was created to the entrenched norm of the 40-hour workweek, initially created for production lines.

The appeal of flexible work hours and the nomadic freedom to prioritize work-life balance has only grown. Remote work and home office are the results of technological development enabling and demonstrating that work can be executed successfully without co-location. Flexjobs estimates that 4.7 million people were already working remotely before the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Collaboration tools support this type of lifestyle, where professionals work outside of a traditional office environment, yet going fully digital isn’t as simple as it seems. Besides the fact that having a stable internet connection is an imperative requirement, remote work complicates the integration of corporate culture, as well as team communication, and engagement within tasks and projects.

Whether working in an office or remotely, the art of effective team management and the importance of good workplace communication are key elements and indicators for successful team collaboration. 

Types of work models

With an increasing number of modern variations of working models, we’ve described a few of the most common types:

1. 40-Hour-Workweek, or, the classic 9-to-5

Initially instigated in the 19th century, from workers protesting against gruelling long hours and requesting a reduction, the 40-hour-workweek was created to regulate the working hours of the working class. Ford Motor Company advanced the idea in 1914, which led to increased productivity in the production line. Many companies soon followed suit and the popularized phrase of “8 hours for work, 8 hours for rest, and 8 hours for what we will” was born.  

Today, most companies and organizations run on the 40-hour-workweek. Albeit, more out of tradition and habit rather than a deliberate decision based on employee productivity. With this knowledge and recent technological developments, individuals and organizations are reexamining the classic 9-to-5 working model. 

2. Hybrid Model, where Home Office is part of the deal

Hybrid models are usually known to be the best of both worlds. Organizations that have adopted hybrid working models allow employees the freedom to work remote or from home, and at times even to manage flexible working hours. This working model has become more popular in recent years as company infrastructure has developed. Owl Labs estimate that 52% of global employees work remotely once a week, and 68% do so at least once per month. Though hybrid models seem to be the answer for the future of work, only a selected range of job sectors can take advantage of these benefits, particularly due to job requirements and tasks.

3. Remote Work, work without co-location

Working with a view of the Swiss Alps in February, at a seaside hotel in Los Angeles in July, and from a coffee shop in downtown Sydney in October, is a dream come true for some. As much as this idealized version of remote work appeals to many, this type of work model is not exempt from challenges, particularly for the self-employed.

Working remotely gives employees the freedom to answer emails and write up project proposals from any given location, yet being able to support this lifestyle can often be quite challenging when working as a freelancer rather than being directly employed by a private company. Creative freelancers often work on a project-basis, which means that their professional and financial security is deadline-reliant. 

Employees working for fully-remote companies like Zapier and Buffer however, receive the benefits of working remotely while being fully integrated in a company. Although working with peace of mind of receiving monthly paychecks, working for fully-remote companies include challenges too. 

That being said, there’s always a list of advantages and disadvantages. What’s important is finding a style and process that fits and suits your needs best. 

4. 4-Day-Workweek, popular work-life-balance model

In short, the 4-day-workweek model is about reducing working hours from a standard 40 hours to just 32 hours for the same pay and benefits. This work model, adopted by various companies worldwide, focuses on achieving the same output as a 40h week, but in a shorter amount of time. Proven by employees and employers to be successful in optimizing use of time in correlation to productivity, the 4-day-workweek offers flexibility and enables individuals to concentrate on what’s important in their lives.

5. Coworking Spaces, the office alternative for professionals

Considering the progression of work models, there’s a good chance that there’s at least one coworking space in every major city. As hubs of productivity, community, and technology, coworking spaces offer an out-of-home office atmosphere and networking opportunities with others who work in a multitude of industries. 

Fun fact: The first official coworking space appeared in 2005 in San Francisco, USA.

6. Work & Travel, the best of both worlds

Desk jobs aren’t your thing and travelling the world has always been but a mere daydream for you? The work and travel model operates on short-term contract work often based on seasonal work such as during harvest time. Adventurers who enjoy taking each day at a time move location to where the work is. In this case, location is the objective and the type of work is the dynamic subjective.

7. Workation, let’s combine work and leisure

The terms ‘workation’ and ‘bleisure’ gained significant traction as a new market trend in light of the pandemic. A concept for travelling workers or working travellers, where work and vacation were combined in a single location. According to Dr Hayley Stainton, “A workation can be defined as a holiday, during which a substantial amount of time is dedicated to work.”

In Japan, the model was originally a way to realize a variety of work styles and promote creativity and networking opportunities in locations outside of the home and office. Today, various travel and tourism organizations offer workation packages for individuals as well as families. 

Currently, travel restrictions and guidelines are subject to constant change. This in-depth guide on how to practice responsible tourism during COVID-19, prepares any traveller for the journey, whether for travelling to holiday destinations or for business trips.

How have things changed?

Before the pandemic, the office was where millions of us spent about a third of our time. With the range of working models already being implemented by organizations worldwide, why would the pandemic be considered a compelling driver to advance the standardization of home office or remote work? 

Simply put, the conditions of Covid-19 affirmed the urgency of digital transformation in business, and brought an unprecedented shift, designating hybrid working conditions a necessity rather than a benefit. 

The mentality of remote working previously highlighted the benefits for individual employees. Today, home office and remote work is considered an asset for individuals as well as an advantage for company productivity and collaboration. 

From one day to the next, the world was required to adjust. Arguably, the potential of remote work has been realized. At the same time, the challenges and conditions in terms of the privilege interlaced with the arrangement were revealed.

Benefits and challenges at a glance 

+ Remote work is reshaping a future new world of work, popularizing modern working habits while disproving old ideas that working from home leads to low productivity with limited opportunity for collaboration. 

+ The office-to-home transition caused a breakdown of emotional and professional barriers, allowing colleagues and clients a more intimate view into each others’ personal lives.

+ Importance of soft skills have increased as working remotely solicits more intentional interpersonal interactions.

– The potential for remote work is determined by tasks and activities, not occupations. 

– Working from home draws a fine line in an individual’s work-life balance. A heightened level of responsibility and trust is required from managers and employees.

– Affecting more than just personal factors, remote work affects engagement, performance management, means less office space, and more.

Benefits of remote working

Workplace values have been redefined: the future of work is remote. Instead of planning activities in life around working hours, remote working enables individuals to incorporate the necessities of their life and work. 

The popular concept of leading a work-life balance lifestyle advocates for similar objectives, but with different intentions. Work-life balance is a concept referring to the level of prioritization between personal and professional activities in an individual’s life. What many early adopters have come to realize is that the work-life balance lifestyle is a cycle rather than a destination or an achievement. 

1. Flexibility: Remote work grants individuals the opportunity to develop a work-life balance due to the flexibility offered through the working model. 

Remote working or working from home grants employees flexibility where it matters, whether that is picking up the children from school on time or allowing the laundry to dry in the sunlight rather than using the dryer. At best, working from home should reinforce an individual’s work-life balance. 

2. A Healthy Balance: Employees are able to manage their health, tasks, and responsibilities better. Eliminating the commute and rigid routines can alleviate stress to allow individuals to do deep work and grow their creativity. 

The flexible lifestyle isn’t the only thing proving beneficial to remote workers’ mental health and likelihood of company loyalty. Working from home simultaneously requires and fosters individual time and task management, and responsibility. 

Cutting travel time and other forms of mundanity from life, employees are able to focus on work. With less time spent commuting for example, employees are able to manage their health, tasks, and responsibilities better. As a result, a silent expectation for employees to rise to the occasion by living up to their potential is present. 

Despite the expectation, swapping out the busyness of crowded train stations for a 30-minute walk in the neighbourhood park with the dog can cause significant changes to an individual’s health. Now, instead of attending company-run in-person team-building activities, some companies set aside time in the week to encourage employees to engage in activities that inspire and empower them for work and life. 

3. Time Management: Remote work possibly requires more management, however simultaneously allows an increase in creative flow and productive output.

What remote work advocates promote, such as Laurel Farrer in her working remote article, is that “work is something you do, not somewhere you go… For knowledge workers whose roles rely on mobile tools, location should be a daily choice, not a lifestyle commitment.” With the right tools and circumstances, work doesn’t need to be chained to an office desk. 

Granted, working remotely makes employee and task supervision more complex. But with less time lost moving from one office room to another for meetings, and no more lines for afternoon coffee, more time can be invested in getting work done.

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4. Cost-saving (for businesses): Reducing the need for office space enables companies to invest in other things, preferably to the benefit of employees.

With fewer employees in the office, businesses need less office space, decreasing rent cost exponentially. Instead, companies can opt to invest in supplying employees with the necessary work equipment or offering other benefits as an alternative to the cost of the canteen upkeep.

Challenges of remote working

While eliminating location from the equation brings flexibility, certain concerns are also key variables when considering if and how to implement remote work at a company. Working remotely requires high self-management, time management, and team management. 

Engagement is usually what suffers first due to the distance. Managers and colleagues working from home can’t simply walk over to ask a question about the financial proposal or spend time catching up with their morning brew in the office kitchen on Mondays. Instead, an increase of chat notifications, forwarded emails and dedicated meetings to discuss workflow best describe the workday. 

1. Team Culture: The objective to encourage teamwork and cultivate a team and company spirit remains, although the method to achieve this may have changed.

Team meetings over Zoom or Skype are certainly different from those held in the office meeting room. When working with distributed teams, distance should merely be considered a factor rather than an obstacle for team integration. 

The method for scheduling and conducting meetings may have changed, but the objective to encourage teamwork and team spirit remains. Managers as well as coworkers require and should actively seek interpersonal relationships within the workplace. Just like work isn’t tied to a location, company culture isn’t contained in a building. Rather, corporate culture is cultivated by the individuals that make up the company.

The responsibility and journey for cultivating a strong and effective team and company culture is an individual process. That being said, there are ways and certain remote team management mistakes to avoid to make the process easier.

2. Management: Using productivity tools to manage and regulate team, task, and time management is the answer.

Every company uses software for everyday business operations. With oodles to choose from, it’s the team and company’s responsibility to evaluate which tools best support both internal and external business operations. Some companies use Suites, while others mix & match; some even create their own apps for internal processes.

Either way, when it comes down to the wire, productivity tools and team management software is a growing billion dollar business with a mixture of advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, team management software can build stronger teams. At the same time, it’s vital to analyze whether a productivity tool is actually enabling team productivity or not at all.   

3. Party for the privileged? Remote work is only available for those working in sectors or jobs that are primarily made up of online tasks and activities.

Praised for all of the benefits, working remotely isn’t available as a viable option for everyone. Hospitals, supermarkets, hairdressers, and other services will necessarily continue to be in-person. Although technology has certainly enabled medical consultations and other services to be handled online, not everything can be solved digitally. Even with advancements in machine learning and robotics, it’s hard to envision massage parlours or operating rooms to switch to robot-only employees. 

Research into the future of remote work from McKinsey Global Institute indicates that the potential for work is determined by tasks and activities, not occupations. Professionals able to avail of remote work fall into categories of highly skilled, highly educated workers in various industries, occupations, and geographies. For those already working with digital and mobile tools, like those working in the IT, communications, and marketing sector, the option of home office is often already included in the contract.

Collaboration tools for the workplace: the tools that keep employees productive despite distance

One of the most impactful changes the pandemic brought was to the way humans work. Businesses switched to digital collaboration tools for team communication, project management, and more. The best collaboration tools facilitate effective teamwork for tasks and projects, primarily in a streamlined manner.

In this case, there is no ‘one software fits all’, since the tools companies require should strengthen and support individual business operations and the organizational structures.  A countless list of applications and their alternatives are available for any type of work and team size. We’ve listed a few categories essential for remote teams: 

Chat Apps

The most widely used mobile apps are chat apps, because communication is necessary to get any work done. Originally created to replace email conversations, enterprise chat apps are essential internal communication platforms for teams today. Every company uses enterprise messaging applications to facilitate and boost teamwork, communication, and collaboration. 

The most popular enterprise chat apps allow teams to not only communicate with one another but also on specific topics, projects, and tasks. Depending on the interface, chat apps for business include features allowing teams to create channels, categorize topics, use quick edits, manage tasks, share files, conduct export functions, and more.

Top 4 Chat Apps for Business:

1. 1. Zenchat
   2. Slack
   3. Chanty
   4. Yammer

Video Conferencing Tools

Remote teams don’t have the option of organizing a team meeting in the boardroom on a Wednesday morning. Instead, video conferencing tools are used for coaching sessions, the quarterly report, team-building activities like Friday mocktail hour, and the company Christmas party.

The pandemic certainly accelerated the future of video communication. Microsoft Teams received an increase of 55 million users within a 5-month period and the latest report of the conference call company, Zoom, shows an 88% year-over-year jump in revenue.  

But it’s not just the conferencing tool companies who have realized the advantages and profits video communication brings to teams. Switching to video conferencing tools allows individuals to participate in meetings from the convenience of their own home, supports the flexible schedules of working parents and ultimately influences company culture. Significant features of such tools include screen sharing, presentation mode, meeting annotation, and creating subgroups within a meeting.

Top 4 Video Conferencing Tools for Business:

1. 1. Zoom
   2. Skype
   3. Microsoft Teams
   4. GoTo Meeting 

Project Management Software

Managing projects is no simple job. Tracking deadlines, updating task iterations, and communicating the project status to stakeholders are tasks project managers need to handle on a daily basis. 

Project management software enables teams to manage individual tasks and resources within projects.  Built for agile teams, project management tools include features such as tracking project progress, task management, project view switching, and plenty of other collaboration features.      

Top 5 Project Management Tools for Business:

1. 1. Projects
   2. Asana
   3. Wrike
   4. Basecamp
   5. Zoho Projects

Knowledge Management Software

Knowledge management software are excellent tools for teams to manage everything from internal company processes such as onboarding information to managing a customer database. Primarily focused on the collection, storage, and organization of data and information, these tools help teams with all sorts of administrative tasks.

Top 4 Knowledge Management Tools for Business:

1. 1. Hypernotes
   2. Base
   3. Salesforce
   4. Pipedrive

Learn about the different types of knowledge management processes and find more alternatives in Knowledge Management Tools 2021.

Tools for Centralized Storage 

Shoot for the stars, but keep your files secure in the Cloud. Cloud file storage is a necessity for remote teams, permitting file access to team members, whether they live a 30-minute drive from the office or working remotely in another country. The best tools for centralized storage support all file types, sync across multiple devices, track document changes, and integrate well with other applications. 

Top 4 Business Tools for Centralized Storage:

1. 1. Microsoft Sharepoint
   2. Google Drive
   3. Dropbox
   4. Box

We’ve only listed a few tools useful for teams working remotely. Find more alternatives in 50 Must-Have Remote Working Tools And Apps.

Practical tips for a balanced home office routine

The right tools certainly help get the job done, but even with advanced tech running on artificial intelligence, humans still have to put in the work. These are our tips for a balanced home office routine: 

Get dressed

Overcoming the notion to stay in your pajamas all day is a good tangible step that helps you mentally prepare for the workday. Select a few outfits that are both presentable and comfortable, so you are prepared for the odd-chance when your boss unexpectedly calls for a meeting.

Establish boundaries

Distractions are bound to happen. To best navigate such situations, establish boundaries, whether that may be to set specific times to go on breaks, schedule packages to arrive only at certain times, or communicate your availability to your children and spouse. 

Tip: Turn off desktop notifications when doing deep work and set all applications settings on silent, especially when in meetings.

Stick to routines

The urgency of staying online and always being available increases when working from home. Just do as you would in the office: take time to get your coffee, spend a few minutes catching up with a colleague via chat, and respond to emails when you normally do. 

Home office allows more flexibility, however routines help in more than just sticking to a daily schedule. Some things to remember: Make sure to stick to your standard work hours, don’t skip the lunch break, and try not to work overtime.

Tip: Even with boundaries and routines, remember to stay flexible when things don’t go as planned. Humans aren’t robots and that’s a good thing. 

Get out and about (unless self-isolating)

Without the commute, we might spend most of our days enclosed in our houses. Make time for walks around the block, trips to nature parks, or even a quick drive to a local bakery for the morning coffee and breakfast fix. 

Additionally, fresh air and sunshine are great for both the mind and soul. Taking care of one’s health with enough physical activity and time for relaxation is perhaps even more necessary now when most of our daily interactions happen online.

Take regular breaks

Downtime is necessary for technology devices; the same goes for humans. Research states that brief diversions from a task can improve an individual’s ability to focus. When we take a short break from hours of deep work, we essentially reward our brain with a downtime. 

There are various techniques and systems on how to train yourself to focus. And though daily to-do lists are great, the essence of time blocking is to produce high-quality output within a specific amount of time. 

Check in with colleagues regularly

Because it’s not just always about work. Cultivating relationships help any employee to feel at ease and accepted within a company. Most of the time, we may not know what challenges our neighbor may be going through, even more so when we don’t work in back-to-back cubicles or a shared office space.

Even more reason to make it a habit to type your colleagues some greetings every now and then, or send them encouraging messages to make their day. That said, I hope you have a great day!

All remote work statistics are sourced from Review24’s Remote Work Statistics for 2021.

Image credits from Andrew Neel, Daria Shevtsova, Sarah Chai from Pexels;  AltumCode, Sigmund, and ThisisEngineering RAEng from Unsplash; and Giphy.

That’s a wrap! It’s exciting to see how much has changed in a short amount of time. What are your thoughts on the variety of modern working models? Our team has run on a hybrid model within the last year and have experienced the impact that digital collaboration tools have on team productivity and collaboration. We hope, as probably most other companies do too, to navigate back to more in-person meetings and workshops soon. How has your team navigated teamwork this past year? 

Cheers,

Jessica and the Zenkit Team

The post Home Office and Remote Work: How to Improve Team Collaboration appeared first on Zenkit.

Are there just too many tasks to do in a short amount of time? Don’t even know where to begin, how to organize it all, or what to prioritize first? Find yourself working at a clean desk, but with a cluttered mind? You’re definitely not alone. 

We live in an information overload society that is riddled with people, information, and tasks competing for our attention, making it extremely difficult to eliminate distractions and noise from our daily routine. 

Prioritization is the key. The answer to doing more better lies in how we design our time. 

Time management solutions are efficient tools to measure and foster productivity. And because we can’t make more time, we need to learn how to make better use of it. Instead of focusing on the number of tasks completed in a day, start prioritizing those that matter.

There are countless time and project management methods and techniques to boost your productivity and help you do your job more efficiently. A simple, yet powerful tool that does just that is the Eisenhower Matrix. The Eisenhower Matrix is an excellent task prioritization matrix for practising better time management. Even if you’ve never heard of the term, you have probably been using the method. 

It goes without saying that most successful people are adept time and project managers. As key skills in any industry, time and task management require focus, prioritization, and planning to increase productivity and achieve your goals. 

However, if we’re honest, staying organized and on top of deadlines isn’t always that simple. Keep reading to learn about how the Eisenhower Matrix can help you get things done…

What Is the Eisenhower Matrix?

The Eisenhower Matrix (also known as the Urgent-Important Matrix, Eisenhower Box, Eisenhower Method, and Time Management Matrix) is a decision-making method that helps you sort out tasks based on the criteria of urgency and importance. 

Although simple in its makeup, this prioritization matrix is powerful. Use it to eliminate the noise and time-wasting activities in your life, help you combat the “mere-urgency” effect (more on this later), and increase your mental legroom to make progress on your long-term goals.

This method is particularly useful for people who:

• Find themselves merely running around handling daily crises 
• Are busy but feel inefficient and ineffective
• Have long-term goals but no time or energy to make progress on them
• Have trouble delegating tasks or saying ‘no’

With oodles of time management strategies and tools to choose from, what makes the Eisenhower Matrix so noteworthy? It is remarkable because, despite its simplicity, it has outlived the trends (having often been repackaged and sold as new!) and continues to produce results.

Where Does the Term Come from? 

For those of us more familiar with US History, the name Eisenhower probably rings a bell. The term does indeed derive from the 34th president of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Having served as a five-star general in the United States Army, better known as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during World War II, Eisenhower had to continuously make tough decisions due to the nature of his job and responsibilities. 

“I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

Fun fact: the method first became popular through its appearance in the genre-defining self-help book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The author, Stephen Covey, repackaged Eisenhower’s decision-making principles into a template to prioritize tasks, now known as the Eisenhower Matrix. 

How Does It Work? The Eisenhower Matrix Explained

The Eisenhower Matrix is an extremely effective way to prioritize and manage both your time and your tasks. Arranged into four categories, the decision-making method is based on two simple criteria: urgency and importance. 

The matrix is systematized with four quadrants, structured according to urgency on the x-axis and by importance on the y-axis. According to priority and urgency levels, the user organizes their tasks and activities into the following categories:

• Quadrant 1: Do first – get it done now
• Quadrant 2: Decide when – make a schedule, set a deadline 
• Quadrant 3: Delegate to – divide the workload 
• Quadrant 4: Delete it – eliminate unnecessary elements 

Why Everything We Know About Productivity Is Wrong: How to Decipher the Urgent from the Important

Being able to categorize your daily and weekly tasks into these four quadrants is a challenge and arguably the fundamental and most complex skill for utilizing this prioritization matrix. 

According to the Pareto-Principle, 80% of the planned results can be achieved with 20% of the total effort. Problem: most people often invest more of their time in miscellaneous activities rather than focusing on tasks that will produce the best results with the least amount of effort.

This is a consequence of “present shock” – a condition in which we lose our sense of the long-term narrative and direction, because of living in a continuous, always-on, ‘now’ moment. Research shows that we live in a pattern, dubbed the “Mere-Urgency Effect”, where we tend to prioritize tasks with deadlines over tasks without one regardless of the impact they can make in the long run.

It is, therefore, pertinent to be able to distinguish the urgent tasks and activities from those that are important. Urgent tasks are things that require an immediate attentive response such as a tax deadline, health scare, or scheduled parent-teacher meeting. According to Brett McKay, founder and editor-in-chief of the Art of Manliness, “Important tasks are things that contribute to our long-term mission, values, and goals.” Deciding which tasks you should or should not do becomes much easier when you are certain about what is important to you.

Rory Vaden, author and Self-Discipline Strategist explains that most people are trading their to-do lists for emergencies. In Procrastinate on Purpose, he describes most successful people as “time multipliers” who begin their day by posing the question: “What are the most important things that I can do today that would free up more time tomorrow?”

So instead of continuing your tiresome and likely unhealthy cycle of decision-making, begin making truly smarter, more conscious choices today.  Stop hustling without purpose.

Popular Youtuber John Green comments on productivity: “I would argue life is not about becoming the most efficient, problem-solving, value-creation machine you can become. To me, productivity is mostly a matter of recognizing that time is what we have and that it is imperative to be a steward of our most precious resource: time.” 

Start Doing What Matters Using the Eisenhower Matrix

1. Do first – Get it done now: Tasks that are urgent and important

Quadrant 1 tasks are inevitable, and characterized as urgent and important; they require direct and immediate attention. These tasks have a tendency to be more tedious and challenging consequently requiring more time and attention to complete.

Tasks that land in the first quadrant are often the direct result of procrastination. They should, however, be tackled first and completed as soon as possible.

Use Mark Twain’s Eat the Frog principle to master possible task paralysis. The term ‘eat that frog’ refers to getting your worst task out of the way first. Eating the frog implies you finish a task you don’t want to do, but know you have to do. These tasks ultimately give you a strong feeling of accomplishment once completed.

For those of us who work best under pressure or with clear deadlines, you can use the Pomodoro technique to help you focus on the task.

Types of Quadrant 1 Tasks include:

• Review a document for your manager
• Finalize the employee payslips
• Pick up the dry cleaning on Friday afternoon for the weekend event

2. Decide when – Make a schedule, and set a deadline: Tasks that are important, but not urgent

Not every important task has to be finished in one day. Tasks that are important, but not urgent are generally long-term projects or assignments that require sufficient planning and a certain amount of time to be executed properly.

Termed the sweet spot of personal time management, the second quadrant is the spot focused on personal improvement in terms of opportunities and growth. Quadrant 2 is the perfect location to write down a list of your meaningful goals. Remember to set realistic deadlines even for tasks that aren’t urgent.

Types of Quadrant 2 Tasks:

• Set up a marketing budget for the following year
• A restart of your fitness regimen
• Update your will

3. Delegate to – Divide the workload: Tasks that are urgent, but not important

Quadrant 3 is where the mere-urgency effect affects lives. Even if you and I were the best multi-taskers and extremely efficient in our jobs, we have to face the fact that we aren’t Superman.

The common phrase, “teamwork makes the dream work” isn’t famous just because it is catchy, but because it is true.

Good leaders and managers know when to do a task themselves and when to delegate the work to someone else. Sometimes it’s best to delegate a task you could do yourself to a co-worker knowing they might be the better person to complete the job.

Types of Quadrant 3 Tasks:

• Schedule a job interview
• Go food shopping
• Book flights for vacation

4. Delete it – Eliminate unnecessary elements: Tasks that are neither urgent nor important

Quadrant 4 is the quadrant of excess and immediate gratification. Tasks that are neither urgent nor important are to be placed in the trash, out of sight and out of mind. Depending on the situation, such tasks could reappear on your to-do list in a week’s time but do not need to be done yet and may even be considered a waste of time.

Types of Quadrant 4 Tasks:

• Buy a new coffee machine
• Renew magazine subscription
• Sort through junk mail

Best Practice Tips for Using the Eisenhower Matrix

• Add a splash of colour! Colour-coding helps give an overview of the categories and quadrants at a glance.
• Do not mix business with leisure! Create separate lists for your professional and personal tasks. This makes it easier to stay organized because you aren’t having to decide between scheduling a doctor’s appointment and booking an important business trip.
• Make it visual! Not a fan of the square layout? Why not organize the matrix Kanban-style! There are plenty of great tools you can use to do this. Here’s a template for implementing the prioritization matrix in Zenkit:

• Put a label on it! Labels are great ways to stay organized. This technique works especially well for tasks or activities that might fall in more than one category for a period of time. Alternatively, you can organize your tasks into the four categories using labels in the Kanban layout.
• Be environmentally friendly! Save paper. Go online! There are many online task and time management tools available nowadays that can help you to track your progress, whether for personal or professional use as a team. (psst! Zenkit!)

Convinced That the Eisenhower Matrix Is for You? Here Are Some Things to Consider

Advantages of the time management matrix:

• It’s free! It’s easily one of, if not the cheapest technique to use. The Eisenhower Matrix is a free resource and you need no special software or tools to get started. 
• UX approved! The method requires no previous knowledge or experience to use either. Since there are no predefined rules telling you what is urgent and what is important, you are free to decide which tasks go into which quadrant according to your preference. So, what are you waiting for? Give the method a try. 
• Designed for decisions! You will become better at making split-second decisions naturally because the method makes you consider the importance of your tasks and reevaluate what is urgent and what isn’t. 
• Review it! Tracking and analyzing your progress and habits after using the matrix helps you practice self-analysis and teaches better self-awareness.

Disadvantages of the Eisenhower Matrix:

• You only have two choices. The matrix is systematized based on two criteria: urgency and importance. It doesn’t take external factors like resources, complexity, or level of effort into account. 
• Not so easy does it. Like all good things, using the matrix takes work. On a daily basis, it can be difficult and time-consuming to categorize your tasks. The matrix serves as an aid to help you start each day with an action plan. Make sure that organizing your tasks doesn’t become the focus.
• No flex room. The grid can easily become overwhelming and quickly generate task paralysis when too many tasks are present. Limiting the number of tasks in each quadrant will keep the chaos contained.

Key Takeaways on the Eisenhower Matrix, Time Management, and the Universe

Staying organized in this time-pressured world can prove challenging due to overlapping commitments and spontaneous ‘urgent’ meetings. A recurring false pretence of urgency can also cloud one’s understanding or definition of an ‘urgent matter’. 

A common cause of stress and job burnout is improper time management. Utilizing this method helps you learn key principles of planning, prioritizing, delegating, and scheduling. The Eisenhower Matrix is a simple aid to help you increase productivity and complete tasks that matter. 

This prioritization matrix may not work for all, but it’s a great starting point. You can use it as a stepping stone to finding a more personalized, better-suited technique. So, what are you waiting for? 

1. Set yourself up for success.
2. Stop hustling without purpose.
3. Switch to prioritizing long-term goals over shallow task wins.
4. Start working on what matters.

Final Thoughts

We know that habits don’t happen overnight. Just like in sports, practice makes perfect. Sometimes it takes a little (or a lot!) of experimenting to find what system works best for you and your team. But the reward for finding the system that fits you best, whether for personal or business use, is incomparable. I think it’s safe to say that it’s more effective to invest enough time for the important but not urgent things now, rather than waiting until the frog has doubled in size. What type of productivity tools and time-saving methods are you using? 

Cheers, 

Jessica and the Zenkit Team

Image Credits: Carl Heyerdahl via Unsplash, fotografierende via Pexels, JESHOOTS.com via Pexels

The post The Eisenhower Matrix: A Task Prioritization Method appeared first on Zenkit.

It’s no secret that project management tools are an asset to many companies. Since their emergence in the 1960s, they’ve helped businesses across an array of industries achieve quality results by facilitating the planning, delivering, and administering of the project management process.

We at Zenkit are, of course, one of these companies. Not only is it our bread and butter, but as a team, we’ve found great value in using project management tools as part of our daily repertoire and for bigger projects as well.

In this article, we’ll be discussing what project management tools are and how they can be beneficial to the teams and people who use them.

What Are Project Management Tools?

Project management tools are resources that help project managers and teams deliver projects from implementation to completion. They assist in organizing and simplifying processes, which allows you to optimize productivity and achieve maximum results.

While you can consider anything that helps execute a project as a project management tool (even a piece of paper and pen!), it commonly refers to the software and applications that allow you to schedule tasks and provide a database for information. They can also refer to the resources and processes that help to execute a project.

You can get the tools as SaaS products, on-premise, and open-source project management tools. The features offered depend on the product’s level of sophistication, but common features of project management tools include the following:

• Planning and scheduling
• Activity monitoring
• Cost control and budget management
• Resource allocation
• Report generator
• Collaboration and communication apps
• Mobile ability
• Integration

Popular Project Management Tools and Processes

Kanban

Kanban is a scheduling system popularly used by many project teams as it provides a visualization of the workflow process.

The way it works is that you have a Kanban board with columns that represent the various stages of the project process such as “to-do, doing, done”. You then use Kanban cards which represent items or tasks and move them along the columns depending on which stage of the process they are up to.

The benefit of using a Kanban project management tool is that the transparency it provides of the project details makes it an efficient way for members of your project team to communicate and work well with each other. This fosters collaboration and can reduce the time spent on face-to-face meetings. The highly visual method is also great for identifying bottlenecks early on in the process, which can allow teams to deliver a higher-quality product.

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Gantt Chart

A Gantt chart is another project management tool widely used within project teams. It is a bar chart that represents your project schedule by using a vertical task list against a horizontal timescale design to showcase the broken-down structure of the project work and the relationship between the activities.

The reason why Gantt charts are so commonly used for managing projects is that they can help project managers work out all aspects of the project, from how long a task will take to who’s accountable for it, to evaluating how much the project will cost. As well as planning the project, Gantt charts are also great for tracking a project’s progress. Its visualized structure makes it ideal for reporting information to stakeholders and customers.

Gantt chart project management tools come as specialized software products or all-in-one solutions. You can even create your own Gantt chart using spreadsheet-like applications such as Excel.

Work Breakdown Structure

A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a visual project management tool that highlights all the deliverables of the project arranged in order of priority.

The Project Management Institute defines it as “a hierarchical decomposition of the total scope of work to be carried out by the project team to accomplish the project objectives and create the required deliverables.”

It serves as the foundation for planning and scheduling and outlines all the “what” of a project while prioritizing the deliverables. It allows project managers to break down the scope of the project into manageable and actionable chunks.

A benefit of having a work breakdown structure as part of your project management workflow is that it can help alleviate uncertainty amongst the project manager, team, and stakeholders as they’re all involved in the production. It also helps set the basis for the project schedule as once all the deliverables are established, it makes it easier to allocate deadlines and resources.

Project Roadmap

The project roadmap is a visual overview of the project scope which includes its goals, initiatives, milestones, and deliverables. Usually presented on a timeline, it’s information that the project manager can refer to as a guide throughout the duration of the project to ensure everything is on track.

This project management tool is useful for communicating project details to current and potential stakeholders. It can ensure everyone is on the same page and that expectations are understood and are being met.

Unlike a project plan which covers the details of everything involved in the project planning process from resource to risk management, a project roadmap displays information simply and without specifics so you can have an overview at a quick glance.

The Perks of Using Project Management Tools

Project management tools aim to help project teams achieve the best results possible. They do so by assisting with the following:

Progress Tracking

Tracking the activity of a project is simplified when using a project management tool. Having the details of each task, including what’s involved, the resources needed, and who’s accountable provided in a structured way can help you assess the likelihood of whether the project will meet its deadline and what measures to take in case it looks like it’s going to fall short.

Communication & Collaboration

Project management tools offer your project team a centralized platform where project details can be announced, shared, and updated on. This type of access to information makes it easier for team members to communicate with each other. Documents and files concerning the project can also be kept on the project management tool, which makes team collaboration more effortless as well.

Budget Control

One of the biggest concerns for a project manager is ensuring everything stays within budget. Using a project management tool can help manage and monitor all costs relating to the project. It can provide an overview of where the money is going, enabling you to analyze and cut costs if and when necessary to ensure you don’t go over budget.

Time Management

Meeting deadlines and milestones are important aspects of the project management process, and using a project management tool can help achieve them. The tool can help you prioritize tasks, estimate how much time it will take to complete them, and keep an eye on what causes delays.

Decision-Making

The transparency provided in project management tools can enhance decision-making. Because you have all the project details and information in one place, it can allow you to evaluate things easier and help make better decisions.

Client Satisfaction

Project management tools can bridge the gap between your client’s expectations and your team meeting them. These tools offer a more organized and methodical way of working which can help mitigate risk. Working with a more efficient process can increase your chances of client satisfaction.

Final Thoughts

While you don’t need the best project management tools of 2019 in order to produce the best results, having some sort of project management tool implemented is the best thing you could do for your project. It provides structure and can facilitate the project management process.

What kind of project management tool has worked favourably for you or your business? We always enjoy hearing from our readers, so don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comment section.

Cheers,

Dinnie and the Zenkit Team

The post Project Management Tools 101: From Planning to the Perks appeared first on Zenkit.

Zenkit is used by many types of teams working on projects ranging from building projects and app development to filmmaking, running charities, classrooms, and events. This week, we’re looking at how Zenkit can help web developers manage their projects and businesses.

Zenkit for Web Developers

Aside from the obvious benefits of using an online project management tool in general, Zenkit is an excellent tool specifically for web developers. I spoke with Jesse and Lucas from our developer team about how they use Zenkit to build Zenkit and manage our website development.

According to Jesse, “As a web developer, using a tool like Zenkit is great because it relieves you of some of the cognitive load involved in a complex project. You might be working on multiple features or different versions of the same page in different code branches. By tracking the progress in Zenkit, you can think more about the actual work, rather than trying to remember which branch to check out for which version of the project.”

For example, when designing a web page and preparing multiple alternatives, the Zenkit items related to that project may hold screenshots of the page, the branch name, a checklist on what’s still to do, and maybe even comments by the customer.

Lucas suggested several concrete ways you can integrate Zenkit with the tools you already use. For example, a GitHub integration via Zapier can help you automatically create Pull Requests from items, or mark items as ‘Done’ when a pull request is merged with the main branch.

Additionally, you can create separate collections to cover different aspects of your business. Sure, web development projects are the obvious use case, but Zenkit is also a great tool to manage your client database, and documents needed for work, calculate invoices or timesheets, and much more.

3 Key Reasons to Use Zenkit as a Project Management Tool

Although this week’s blog focuses on web development, these three key reasons to use Zenkit extend to all project types and teams.

1. 1. Clarity – get things out of your head and into a single source of truth that helps you plan and track your projects as they progress, regardless of how complex they get!
   2. Flexibility – match the workflows that you and your team already use. From scrum and Agile project management to GTD or simple list-making, tools like Zenkit support a range of work styles.
   3. Collaboration – work with your team, wherever they’re based. From small teams to large organizations, Zenkit helps you share resources, assign responsibility, and track all activities and comments in one place.

Regardless of the type of project you and your team are working on, Zenkit can help you to cut down on the busy work involved in running your project so that you can focus on the project tasks themselves. There’s nothing worse than trying to get some work done than having to put it aside because you’re missing an important document or need to trawl through your inbox for the latest feedback from your client!

This week I had the pleasure of sitting down for an interview with Richard Pearce, the founder of Site Skills, which publishes courses and information to help you build better websites and grow your own web design business. We covered everything from the 3 key benefits using Zenkit provides for web developers, to where you can get ideas and inspiration for using Zenkit in your own business.

Learn More with Site Skills

At Zenkit, we’re always on the lookout for ways to improve your results and this week we have secured a resource for those of you who operate a web design/development business. As we’ve discussed, it’s easy to fall into the trap of spending all your time working in your business and no time working on the business. Even when you do have time, it’s often difficult to know where to start.

That’s why we’ve partnered with Richard to teach you what it takes to grow your web design business profits by 61%. This easy-to-understand online course walks you through the five factors that drive your business profits. You can then make small improvements to each factor that collectively adds up to a big improvement in your business profits.

The course is normally $100, but Zenkit users can get the course for free.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s deep dive into using Zenkit for web development! Will any of you be taking Richard’s course?

Cheers,

Siobhan and the Zenkit Team

The post Zenkit for Web Developers appeared first on Zenkit.

We’ve all experienced bad days at work. From missing your train connection which results in being late to the office, to an unhappy customer, to running out of your favourite tea, experiencing even a slight misfortune at work can really put a damper on your entire day.

But what if someone told you that these bad days were something you had control over?

In this article, we’ll take a look at how science-based solutions can help you alter your approach and make decisions that can improve the quality of your work day, every day.

Having a bad day at work can impact every area of your life. Things like a slow computer or an unreasonable client are commonplace occurrences that can happen to anyone that has a regular 9 to 5. And the worst thing about these crummy experiences at work is that they don’t just stay there. They can build up and persist in your personal life.

Wouldn’t it be great if you had control over how your day pans out?

Well, according to Caroline Webb and her book, How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life, you do.

The Power You Possess to Have a Good Day

“If there are days when you are at your best, what would it take to recreate those days more often?”

Caroline Webb is an economist, former partner at management consultancy McKinsey, and author of How to Have a Good Day: Harness the Power of Behavioral Science to Transform Your Working Life. Through her work, she’s helped companies increase employee productivity and welfare by showing them how their lives can be transformed for the better by applying insights from behavioural economics, psychology, and neuroscience.

In her book, she explains that we have more control than we think with shaping our day and that we possess the power to ensure that every day we have at work can be a good day. Webb highlights this belief with science-based solutions. Using research and real-life examples, she illustrates how you can develop certain routines and habits which you can implement when confronted with challenges during the working day, and which will help with reducing the chances of a bad day.

So, how can we exert this apparent power we have?

5 Tips on How to Have a Good Day at Work

1. Avoid Email Grazing

Emails can be a major distraction in the workplace. Even if you’ve switched off notifications, it can still be tempting to check your inbox every so often. Switching from one task to another can disrupt your concentration and diminish your focus which is why Webb advises avoiding email grazing.

Research has found that it can take up to 20 minutes to regain your focus, so to avoid aimlessly checking your inbox throughout the day, instead, what you can do is establish a time where you tackle all your emails in one go. Depending on the number of emails you receive, you could even do this twice a day. Not only can this stop you from task switching, but it also limits distractions which can ensure you get more tasks done so that you’re able to achieve your goals for the day.

2. Set Your Intentions

Defining your intentions for the day can play a huge role in how you can make yourself have a better day. It helps you decide where you want to focus your attention. Your intentions should be framed in positive language. For example, if your goal was to increase business revenue, opt for something like “make my product exciting” instead of “stop losing money”.

Setting intentions provides you with direction. For instance, one of Webb’s clients, a strategic director of an aircraft manufacturer realized the value of setting intentions. He explained that he manages to sit on the board of several technology companies alongside his role because he learned to be as strategic about his daily personal intentions as he is about his work. He used to suffer from a lack of concentration, but one day he wrote down why he was doing what he was doing, and how he wanted to do it. This gave him clarification and a sense of purpose which enabled him to establish an intention-setting routine and avoid the distractions that used to plague him.

Our attitude can also have an effect. A study on how mood affects person-perception judgements conducted by Joseph Forgas and Gordon Bower, professors at the University of New South Wales and Stanford, found that participants who were happier could perceive subjects in a more positive light compared to participants who were intentionally put into a funk. So, if we approach the day with good intentions and a positive attitude, then it can influence our day favourably.

3. Connect with Your Co-Workers

Another way to increase the likelihood of having a good day every day at work is to connect with your co-workers. Your co-workers are the people you spend the majority of your waking hours with, so it makes sense to know them beyond a superficial level. It can create a sense of collaboration and trust, which can also be economically beneficial.

Invest some time and make the effort to really get to know them. Ask about their weekend, their hobbies, and whether or not they have any vacations planned. By having a genuine interest in what they do and who they are as a person, you may find commonalities and shared interests, which can only elevate your relationship.

Building rapport between co-workers is an important part of having a good day. Not only does working in a comfortable environment make for a more pleasant day-to-day experience, but the nature of your relationships with the people around you can greatly affect your mood and overall happiness.

4. Have a Plan for Managing Challenges

No matter how much we plan and approach the day with good intentions, sometimes things just don’t work out the way we want them to. While we can’t control the subway system or a client’s mood, we can control our reaction towards them. Planning for challenges that may arise during the work day is another way to have a better quality day. Webb recommends recalling past problems that you overcame and assessing how you overcame them. Not only will the reminder of how you prevailed give you a confidence boost, but it can make any difficult or stressful situation seem like a piece of cake.

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Of course, situations will differ, but you can still create a basic structure of how to overcome common problems when confronted with them. Here are some examples of what can go into your plan for managing challenges:

• Co-worker/client challenge
  If it’s an issue with a co-worker or a client you’re facing, talk about it with them. Addressing the problem and resolving the tension is a far better solution than keeping quiet. When addressing the issue, you should be firm but also polite. Hear out their point of view as well, you may find something that you didn’t know before.
• Commute challenge
  While there isn’t much we can do when it comes to the public transport system, we can still find ways to get through our commutes. Find an alternative route to work or home should your initial transport option fail you. Download a podcast or bring along a book that you enjoy so that when you do experience delays, you have something pleasant to fill your time while you wait.
• Work challenge
  A work challenge can be anything from an undesired project outcome to being assigned a task that seems near impossible to complete. Chances are you would have experienced a similar issue in the past, even if it’s not within the same context, there can still be factors that parallel. Think about the resources you used to overcome the past issue and see if the same or similar things can be applied to your current one.

5. Take Breaks

Taking regular breaks at work is imperative for your health and general wellbeing. This is especially important for people who work in front of a computer as they are leading sedentary lifestyles. Not only is taking regular breaks crucial for maintaining health, but it plays an important part in keeping up energy and productivity levels.

As focus starts to waver after 90 minutes, it’s a good idea to take a small break every 90 minutes or so. You can get up to grab a beverage, take a bathroom break, or stretch your body. There are even plug-in apps that you can install into your browser so that you are reminded regularly to look away from your screen.

Psychologist K. Anders Ericsson studied elite performers in various fields such as music, sports, and chess, and found what they all had in common was that they practised in 90-minute intervals with short breaks in between. Doing so optimized their productivity and minimized fatigue levels.

Final Thoughts

Having a good day at work doesn’t necessarily mean that everything is going to be peachy from the moment you leave your house in the morning to the moment you step back inside at the end of the day. (I mean if it does then great, but let’s be a little realistic here). What it means is that you’re aware that you have some control of how things shape around you and that you know how to exert that control to have a better day.

From forming closer relationships with your co-workers to having a challenge-managing plan, Webb’s book provides examples of how your behaviour can alter situations that can impact the quality of your day. By making the right decisions and proceeding towards a positive outlook, you’ll realize that you have more control than you thought on how to have a good day.

How do you overcome challenges to have a good day at work? Share your experiences in the comment section below.

Cheers,

Dinnie and the Zenkit Team

The post 5 Tips on How to Have a Good Day at Work appeared first on Zenkit.

For many of us, December can be an awfully busy month. With so many things to celebrate, it can get a little chaotic trying to keep on top of everything. In this article, I’ll show you how you can organize a few festivities using Zenkit.

DIY Advent Calendar

Advent calendars are a great holiday novelty that helps you count down the days in anticipation of Christmas. With modern-day calendars offering a treat for each passing day, it’s no wonder they’ve become a staple in Christmas-celebrating households.

Being in Germany this time of year has given me a newfound appreciation for Advent calendars (fun fact: the first calendar was used by German Lutherans in the 19th and 20th centuries). Each and every store is stocked with an assortment of calendars, from chocolate to beauty products, to craft beer to muesli—there is an Advent calendar for everyone!

Although I have a smorgasbord to select from, this year I’ve decided to tap into my crafty skills and create a DIY Advent calendar for my household to share. But before I gather together all the colored envelopes, ribbons, and glitter, I’ll need a place to record all the gift ideas.

This is where Zenkit’s calendar view comes in handy. The great thing about using this feature is that it gives me a complete overview of the month which helps me to plan out when each gift should be given.

Remember, a DIY Advent calendar involves coming up with 24 gifts, so they needn’t be too extravagant. A good tip is to think of a couple of main gifts that you can divide into smaller gifts to give throughout the month. Glühwein (mulled wine) and Lebkuchen (German gingerbread) are great examples as they involve several ingredients that you can include in your calendar. Plus they’re ideal for making with a group of people and keeping within the holiday theme.

As avid readers and loyal users know, Zenkit has different views that can be accessed in every collection in one simple click. Look for the icon of your collection type on the top right-hand corner, in this instance it’s a calendar, click on it, and voila, you’ll see the other options.

The option of being able to switch collection views so easily is useful for my DIY endeavour. Because I have a list of items to buy, switching to the list view lets me keep track of it all.

The beauty of Zenkit’s list feature is that once you’re done with buying or making a particular gift, you can tick it as done and the list will rearrange the items so that the ones that still require action are prioritized to the top.

Creating a Gift Plan

It’s always nice treating loved ones, but it can get expensive. Planning ahead can ensure you keep within budget while also making sure that you don’t miss out on giving a gift to a friend or family member.

Zenkit’s Kanban board is the best view for gift planning. It enables you to visualize who you’re buying for, what you plan on getting them, where to get the items, and how much they will cost. The gifts can be divided up into categories of what type they are or where you can get them.

Rearranging the Kanban cards are simple with the drag-and-drop feature. This allows you to easily switch up things up and adjust if need be. It can also help with separating the gifts that have been bought or made from the ones that haven’t. By creating a ‘Done’ column, you can shift all the items that have been taken care of into it, and it can help you focus on the items that still require your attention.

Office Christmas Party Planning

For anyone who’s ever had to plan an office Christmas party, you know what a daunting task it can be. There are resources to organize, a budget to adhere to, fierce competition to beat for venues, and a plethora of personalities to satisfy. But if it’s your job to make it all happen, then using a project management tool can be your best bet for a successful event.

Using a Kanban board is a great way to party plan as it provides you with a visualization of your process and workflow, making it a great tool for documenting tasks, ideas, and activities.

When using Zenkit’s Kanban view, to add more context and function to each item, you can include a custom field option (there are 11 to choose from!). For instance, you can add the contact details and website link for each venue idea, or you can add people’s dietary requirements on their item card.

Just like the DIY Advent calendar and gift plans, you can utilize the switch views feature or add a ‘Done’ column to your office Christmas party Kanban board to help you with checking things off and distinguishing the completed tasks and items from the uncompleted ones.

Final Thoughts

If you’re stuck on gift ideas, why not give the gift of organization and productivity and treat your loved ones to a Zenkit Plus account this Christmas? A subscription to the Plus account will give you access to more features and more storage space as well as other extra delights.

Cheers,

Dinnie and the Zenkit Team

The post How to Stay Organized this Festive Season with Zenkit appeared first on Zenkit.

Hosting the perfect Thanksgiving dinner is a monumental task, and if you don’t have a few miracles up your sleeves, then you’ll have to make do with a bunch of planning and preparation. And being the planning aficionados that we are, in this article, I’ll show you how it can all get done with Zenkit by your side.

As you all know, our project management tool is not only great for managing team projects and day-to-day business operations, but it’s also superb for meal planning. The visual aspect of the different views on offer makes it ideal for organizing recipes and putting together shopping lists. And since the food is Thanksgiving’s main attraction, it makes sense to coordinate it all with Zenkit. Here’s how you can do it.

Creating Your Schedule

Your first step is to create a game plan that includes all the tasks you need to do before the big day. Getting as much done as possible prior will not only alleviate stress on the day but will also enable you to actually spend time with family and friends instead of being stuck in the kitchen.

The perks of planning include being able to make well-informed decisions and preventing unwanted predicaments from happening. For example, the last thing you want to happen is to show up to the grocery store the night before only to find out that they’ve run out of cranberries. And what is Thanksgiving without cranberries? Planning ahead will allow you to come up with a list of backup stores so that you don’t miss out on any ingredients.

Having a calendar schedule will allow you to visualize the days you planned out. It can also serve as a countdown, notifying you on what things are left to do as you get nearer to the day. Zenkit’s My Calendar feature is great for this. Not only can you customize it to your liking, but it can also be integrated with familiar apps such as Google Calendar so that you can sync it with your regular tasks and appointments.

And Now, the Menu…

Because Thanksgiving is a holiday full of traditions, you won’t have to do much recipe research as you’ll already have an idea of the kind of dishes you are going to serve. My recommendation is to stick to the classics—especially if this is your first time hosting—and the recipes that have been tried and tested. Save the experimentation for another dinner party.

Every menu will slightly differ depending on family and regional recipes. However, traditionally speaking, it will generally consist of the turkey as the pièce de résistance, a few favourite sides, and pie for dessert. Once you have your guest list numbers and dietary requirements confirmed, it’s time to plan your menu.

The most practical way to manage your recipes and plan the big meal is to use Zenkit’s Kanban view. This feature will allow you to visualize which dishes are served and when, and give you easy access to the recipes.

The beauty of using Zenkit is that you get to take advantage of its Custom Fields. These are features that add a new level of function, formality, and context to your tasks which range from text to labels to checklists. For instance, when putting together the recipes for your menu, you can add information that highlights who is responsible for making which dish, as well as outline the ingredients and method.

A great hack is to delegate a few dishes to some family and friends. Just because you’re hosting, there’s no rule that states you can’t ask for a bit of help. Besides, most people would be more than happy to contribute to the dinner.

Don’t Forget Your Shopping List!

No matter how photographic your memory might be, when it comes to shopping for Thanksgiving dinner, you’re bound to forget something. As this is definitely not the time to be doing that, creating a shopping list is a must.

A common approach is to create two shopping lists, one for a list of non-perishable items that you can buy days in advance and then a list of perishable items which you purchase a day or so before Thanksgiving. When creating your shopping list with Zenkit’s list view, you can use the Custom Field label feature to categorize your grocery items which saves you from having to create two lists. Custom Fields can also be used to identify where each item can be purchased and which dish they belong to.

The best thing about using this task list feature is that once you tick an item off your list, the list rearranges itself so that the items that require action are shifted to the top.

Turkey Day Tips

1. Check that you have all the necessary equipment such as a thermometer, carving knives, and serving platters. If you fall short, ask your family and friends if you can borrow theirs before you go spend more money.
2. Before serving up the food, label each dish and utensil with the food they will be used for. This will help to ensure that you have a place for everything.
3. Be conscious of your kitchen space. If you have a small oven, opt for side dishes that you can either make on a stovetop or in advance and then reheat just before the meal.
4. When figuring out when to start defrosting your turkey, don’t forget that for every four pounds, you need a day’s worth of thawing. Also, don’t forget to add an extra day if you’re going to bring it.
5. While not every dish is doable days in advance, you can still prep for those that aren’t by peeling and chopping up the vegetables, and making broths and marinades the night before.

Final Thoughts

Despite having a foolproof plan of attack in place, just remember that things can still go wrong. C’est la vie. Try not to stress about it too much and keep in mind that the purpose of Thanksgiving is to spend time with loved ones and appreciate what you have. Your guests will be thankful for the effort you’ve gone through and so what difference does it really make if the gravy is served out of a beer stein instead of a gravy boat?

Cheers,

Dinnie and the Zenkit Team

The post How to Plan the Perfect Thanksgiving Feast with Zenkit appeared first on Zenkit.

Any project manager worth their weight in gold will tell you the importance of project planning. A crucial component in the project management process is how much time and effort you put into project planning can be what makes or breaks your project. In this article, I’ll talk about the importance of project planning, what it involves, and how to best create a project plan.

The Importance of Project Planning

It goes without saying that a well-planned out project has a higher chance of succeeding than one that doesn’t. That’s not to say, however, that just because you have a plan means your project is infallible. There are many complex reasons why projects fail, but having some kind of a game plan in place can be one less reason.

Project planning is the second phase of the project management life cycle. It takes place after the initiation phase which is where ideas are explored, preliminary research gets done, and the decision for the project to proceed has been made. The project planning phase involves discussing client requirements and stakeholder concerns, establishing project goals and objectives, assembling a team, and creating a project plan.

What Is a Project Plan?

Creating the project plan is perhaps the most important aspect of project planning. Projects come in all different shapes and sizes, from introducing new software into a company to a high scale corporate office relocation. But they all serve the same purpose — to deliver tasks and activities with the hope of achieving an end goal. In order to do this, the project is guided by a project plan.

The purpose of a project plan

Having a project plan in place ensures a smarter way of working. Sure, you can proceed with a project without a written strategy, but just how effective do you think that will be? The purpose of a project plan is to provide direction throughout the duration of the project. At the very least it should cover the why, what, who, and when details of the project.

The project planning document should detail both individual and group objectives and instructions. Having everything laid out on a written document will ensure everyone involved knows the purpose of what’s happening and have something to refer to throughout the project implementation. Another advantage of having everything written out on a document will highlight any anticipated roadblocks, hiccups, and hidden costs. It will prepare you for what’s to come and so the purpose of your project won’t be too affected negatively.

What goes into a project plan

Having a well-developed project plan is essential to a project’s success. Often mistaken for only outlining the project timeline, the project plan should contain everything involved in the project planning process. This includes the execution, management, and control of the project, which should cover details pertaining to goals, deadlines, timeframes, measurements, budget, staffing, and resources.

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Elements of a project plan:

• Scope management
• Requirements management
• Schedule management
• Financial management
• Quality management
• Resource management
• Stakeholder management
• Communications management
• Project change management
• Risk management

The project plan should not only aim to coordinate all of its components, but it should also foresee any challenges and risks associated.

10 Project Planning Best Practices

1. Be professional

   When persuading potential stakeholders to get behind your project, ensure the ‘business case’ you use is a formal, written document. This will solidify your ambition for the project, and also gives off a professional vibe.

2. Expect risks

   Don’t forget to do a risk assessment in your project plan. Project work can be precarious, and you’d be a fool not to expect risks. As part of your initial step, do a risk assessment to evaluate the provisions you may need to take for tasks that are a high-level risk. Make sure to include buffer time in your schedule.

3. Complete risky tasks first

   Speaking of high-level risk tasks, plan to work on tasks that have the highest level of risk first. Doing so will mitigate risk and can ensure that there’s enough time to sort things out should anything go wrong.

4. Control change

   Change is inevitable when it comes to delivering a project, however, that doesn’t mean it should turn your team off course. Having a change control process in place will prevent unexpected changes from taking over your project. It doesn’t have to be complex, all it has to include are the steps that should be taken when a proposed change is introduced.

5. Choose your team wisely

   Your project is only as good as the people executing it, so make sure you know the availability of your team members when you recruit them. Overlooking holidays or planned time off may result in project delays. Avoid hiccups by including this time in your project plan schedule, or by finding temporary relief options.

6. Invest in them also

   Don’t be adverse to upskilling your team when it comes to assembling them. Offering training and support may seem like extra work but it can bring loyalty to the project, as well as efficiency in the long run.

7. Develop a close team

   Once you’ve put together your perfect crew, break the ice by doing a couple of team-building activities. Not only is getting to know your colleagues a crucial aspect of teamwork but having trust and comfort will emphasize that cohesion.

8. Keep stakeholders connected

   Remember that stakeholders aren’t just people who have hired you to do the project. They are anyone who is affected by the outcome of the project. When convincing them of your vision in the initial step, or communicating changes and progress updates of the project plan, don’t forget to include all of the people who are invested.

9. Have the right tools

   A given, but it has to be said— use a cloud-based project management solution. Not only can it provide you with the tools you need to simplify the process, but it will equip your team to perform at maximum efficiency and productivity.

10. Make the plan accessible

    Sharing the project plan with team members not only allows clarity for everyone working on the project but it can produce a higher quality plan. It’s always better to have more than one pair of eyes on an important document as errors and inaccuracies can be better spotted and rectified.

Final Thoughts

How do you plan a project? If you have any project planning tips you feel will make the world of difference to someone else in a similar situation, go ahead and share them in the comment section below.

Cheers,

Dinnie and the Zenkit Team

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