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.

The modern art of project management has evolved from its pioneer stages, and the various processes have become widely implemented across assorted industries. Numerous methods, techniques, and frameworks have since been developed to solve specific problems while others primarily serve as an alternative visual presentation to ease and facilitate workflow, collaboration, and delivery.

Digital task and project management tools like Zenkit offer Kanban, Wiki, Mind Map, Gantt, and more views to suit the individual’s or team’s interests and needs. We’d like to introduce to you another model and visual presentation used in software development: the Feature Model!

Betcha you didn’t think of using Zenkit to create a Feature Model! In this article, we’ll show you how. 

But first things first…

What Is a Feature Model?

A Feature Model (sometimes also known as a Feature Tree or Feature Diagram) is a simple, hierarchical diagram that visually illustrates the features, and their dependencies, of a solution in a production line. 

The model was introduced in 1990 by Kyo C. Kang, a professor at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and author of Applied Software Product Line Engineering, in the Feature-Oriented Domain Analysis (FODA) feasibility study for software product lines. It was originally developed as a solution to an increasing need in software development to create a visual representation of multiple, similar software products. 

Since then, Feature Models or Feature Diagrams have become an established routine in software development and are used during the whole product line development process. Due to the complexity of the process of data modelling, software engineers use specialized tools such as Eclipse’s EMF Feature Model or IBM’s InfoSphere Data Architect to create feature models.

In short, Feature Models are hierarchical models that display the commonalities and variabilities of product variants in a Product Line. 

Key Features of a Feature Model

• Each Feature Model contains a root feature
• Feature Models contain mandatory, optional, and alternative ‘or’ variables (as shown in the diagram above)
• There is no single standard for the graphical notation of a Feature Model

Take note:

It is important that Feature Models are organized in such a way that you can present what is common and what differs between the desired range of applications and their inter-dependencies in a simple visual manner. 

Even though Feature Models tend to have a distinct look, there is no defined standard for visual presentation. This means that there is room for creativity and flexibility to use different tools for the same function (psst! like Zenkit).

When mapping out the model, it is vital to specify which features are to be included and label each variant according to its feature groups. Because not every project or team is the same, the terms used are subject to the scope and goal of the product and project. 

How to Make a Feature Model in Zenkit

Zenkit is a project management tool that allows you to view your information in multiple views – 8 different views to be exact (for now!). To make a feature model in Zenkit, we recommend using the mind map view. You can create the diagram with either existing data or you can create a new collection from scratch. Alternatively, you can use the hierarchy view to help structure your map.

Need a little help getting started? 

Use our article on how to create a mind map in Zenkit as a reference to get you started. If you are wanting to start with a more condensed visual presentation, you can read through our article on how to use subitems and hierarchy in Zenkit to start building your  feature model . 

Want to get started right away with a step-by-step guide? 

Tutorial videos are great resources, but sometimes it is also nice to have text-based guides too. Check out the Knowledge Base for detailed guides to mind map and hierarchy view to help you create and manage feature models in Zenkit. 

Need separate functions to help map out the product features and modifications for a more complex project? For projects with a bigger database, we recommend using the subitems and reference field features to break down larger tasks and to connect items and tasks in the same or in separate collections. These features make it easier to organize tasks and features into categories and display product variations and modifications. 

Other helpful articles:

• A Beginner’s Guide to Mind Mapping in Zenkit
• How to Make a Mind Map
• Introducing Subitems and Hierarchy View in Zenkit

Image Credits: Morning Brew via Unsplash, Journal of Information Technology

Final Thoughts

We hope you enjoy learning about different formats to help you and your team in your workflow as much as we do! There’s no limit to creativity when it comes to thinking and working ‘agile’. 

The world has steadily been moving away from single-use gadgets to multifunctional technology. This is also our passion and with Zenkit we aim to provide a multifunctional tool suited for, well… everyone! Be it the biggest companies, rising startups, high school students, or stay-at-home mothers. 

Have you been using a specific tool or format for your business or just for your personal tasks? I would love to hear about them!  

Cheers,

Jessica and the Zenkit Team

The post How to Make a Feature Model in Zenkit appeared first on Zenkit.

A user manual, or user guide, is a technical communication document that is designed to educate users on a particular product. Produced in print or digitally, they can be written about almost any product, but are most common with computer software and hardware, electronic devices, and video games.

Usually written by technical writers or product designers, its purpose is to inform users and help them solve any problems pertaining to the product. As a vital component of product distribution, the quality of your manual can heavily impact the overall customer experience, which is why you want to get it right!

In this article, I’ll share tips on how to write a user manual that conveys information to your customers clearly, and show you how you can organize the writing process in Zenkit.

Tips for How to Write a User Manual

There’s a lot that goes into writing a user manual. From feature descriptions, to repair instructions, to all the legal details and safety warnings. Here are some tips to keep in mind when it comes to writing it:

1. Know your objective

Every user manual should have a purpose. Commonly, it’s to help users resolve issues concerning your product, but with that, you should also decide how you want to help them. Once you’ve decided on the angle you want to take, break down the information into sections and step-by-step instructions that are straightforward enough to follow.

2. Determine the user

It’s imperative to know the kind of audience that will read your user manual as it will influence how you write it. Knowing your average user can give you an idea of the language you should use when writing the user manual, the format, and overall style. For instance, writing for tech-savvy IT specialists will be very different to writing for parents with young families.

3. Use accessible language

Regardless of who your audience is, the language of the user manual text should be accessible to even the most non-technical person. You have to assume the reader has zero knowledge about your product, so it should be comprehensible, clear, and concise. It should address the reader and the use of jargon should be limited.

4. Make it visual

Humans are known to process visual data 60,000 times faster than text, which is why you want your user manual to include images. User manuals almost always include relevant images with the text. Some products even share screenshot images of step-by-step instructions or are just purely images (IKEA manuals are famously text-free). Images can really help to convey the message you want to communicate to your reader.

5. Enhance findability 

Face it, nobody’s going to read the entire user manual, so for readers to find value in it, you have to make it simple enough for people to skim through and find what they’re looking for. Give it a clean format by having a consistent layout from page to page and make sure there is a lot of space between chunks of text. Use familiar keywords related to the product and make sure the font is simple and readable.

How to Plan Your User Manual

Zenkit is a great tool for planning a user manual. The project management tool is packed with features that enable you to collect data and then structure it to create an optimized workflow. Here are the steps to organize your user manual writing process.

Step 1:

Sign up for a free Zenkit account and log in.

Step 2:

Once you’ve customized your profile, click on “new collection”, give your collection a name, and hit enter or “create”. You will be directed to the default Kanban view.

You can give your collection a little character by customizing an icon for it. To do this, click on the collection title, select “customization”, and pick the colours and icon logo that you want.

I’m personally a fan of using a Kanban board to visually map out a project plan. The visual scheduling system is great for identifying bottlenecks and issues that may arise during the planning process. It can also give you a crystal clear overview of how your project progresses.

The Kanban view presents you with three default columns labelled as “To-Do, In Progress, and Done”. You can rename the columns by simply clicking on one of the label names and going to the name section in the menu box that appears. To add more stages to your workflow, all you have to do is click on “+ Add Stage”, give the column a label, and either click on “create” or hit enter.

Of course you can select as many stages as you want for your workflow and label them whatever you see fit. The stages I went for are the following:

• Info & Resources
• Feedback & Instructions
• Sections
• Drafts

Step 3: 

Once the structure of your workflow has been determined, you can start adding other elements as items under each column.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, a project like writing a user manual involves a lot of content; content that needs to be broken down into various chapters and sections, and sections of sections.

Zenkit’s subitems are the perfect feature for breaking down bigger tasks into smaller ones. One of our project management tool’s 12 custom fields presents all your items in a structured way so you’re able to work with a manageable timeline.

To add a subitem to one of your items, simply click on the item to open it. Then click on the “+” sign which is located above the comment section, then select “custom field”. Under the “Type” section, scroll down and select the “subitems” field. Don’t forget to give the field a name!

Step 4:

To add further structure to your workflow, you can use Zenkit’s hierarchy view. To activate this view in your collection, click on “Kanban” (or the name of whichever view you happen to be in) which you will find in the top-right hand corner and select “New View”. A menu extension should pop up and simply select “Hierarchy”.

Step 5:

When you first use the hierarchy view, you will find that your items are unconnected. You can connect them by dragging and dropping each item onto the main hierarchy panel. If you drag a parent item, you will find that the subitems will come along with it.

The hierarchy allocated to an item depends on where you place it. For instance, items dragged to the top will have a level one hierarchy and items that are dragged underneath another will turn into a subitem of that item.

The hierarchy view shows you every single item you’ve added to the hierarchy of your items by using indentations to indicate when an item becomes a subitem. You can get an overview of top tasks only or see everything in your project at once by collapsing or opening the items.

Planning Other Kinds of Text Documents and Materials

Just like planning a user manual, Zenkit can be used to plan other text-heavy documents or materials. The hierarchy view and subitem feature are perfect for planning any project that requires organizing a large amount of content that needs to be broken down into different sections, such as a novel or a college thesis.

Novel writing plan

Writing a novel can take years to complete, which is why it’s a good idea to have somewhere to note it all down. Using a similar template to the user manual guide, you can structure your novel chapter by chapter and keep track of all the characters, plot, and theme details in one platform.

Thesis/dissertation plan

From topic ideas to research to collecting data, writing a thesis or dissertation requires a lot of planning. Using Zenkit to manage it all can help you to get your thesis done on time and ensure you won’t overlook something important!

Click here to use our Thesis/Dissertation Planning template.

Final Thoughts

A great user manual communicates information clearly to the reader so that they are able to overcome any issues that may arise with the product. Using Zenkit to plan the writing process, and taking advantage of the hierarchy view and subitem feature, can help you to produce a quality user manual that can give your customers the best possible experience.

Which was the last user manual you found to be helpful?

Cheers,

Dinnie and the Zenkit Team

The post How to Write a User Manual appeared first on Zenkit.

You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world, but it requires people to make the dream a reality – Walt Disney

The hiring process, or recruitment process, you implement can have a great impact on the future success of your small business.

Your employees are a valuable asset to your company so you need the right people on board to influence your business’s performance and prosperity. This is why it’s essential to have an efficient and effective hiring process in place.

In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of maximizing your hiring process and how to do so using Zenkit.

The Importance of an Efficient and Effective Hiring Process

Hiring new employees can sometimes be a long and tedious process, and it’s not every manager’s favourite thing to do, however, it’s a significant procedure that can affect the direction of where your small business goes. The result of an efficient and effective hiring process can mean lower costs involved, saved time, and higher quality candidates.

The purpose of a hiring process is to find the most suitable candidate for a vacant position in your business. Not only do you want someone who is qualified for the position, but you also want someone who is reliable and has the right attitude.

Think about your current group of employees and the kind of person that will gel with them. If you truly want the best fit, you have to look beyond qualifications and consider the personality traits and characteristics that will fit well with your current staff.

A strong hiring process can also result in a higher retention rate. High turnover rates can be damaging to a company. It can lower morale and prolong the vacancy of a position. An efficient and effective hiring process will ensure the right person is hired the first time around.

While it’s important to optimize efficiency in the hiring process, you also have to be careful that you’re not compromising on quality when trying to speed things up. You need to find a harmonious balance between the two. 

7 Tips to Maximize Your Hiring Process

Hiring someone can get expensive, so it’s crucial to get it right the first time around. Here are some tips that could help you maximize your process:

1. Produce great job ads
Be specific with what you’re looking for when writing the criteria for the position. Use concise and inclusive language and stick to traditional job titles—don’t fluff around with imaginative titles.

2. Embrace social media
Sharing your job ad on social media demonstrates you’re a company that is willing to work with new technology to promote your brand. This can attract a group of tech-savvy candidates and widen your reach to a bigger audience. 

3. Scale back on resources
Minimize the resources required for the early stages of the hiring process. You could do this by conducting phone or video interviews as the first step of the process instead of jumping straight into a face-to-face interview. A phone or video call can last 15 minutes, whereas a face-to-face interview can be about an hour commitment.

4. Create checklists
Checklists are a great way to ensure the required steps for a standard process are being met. Creating one for the hiring process can improve productivity and make sure that no detail has been overlooked.

5. Visualize progress
Being the visual creatures that we are, the option to visualize anything makes it ten times better to follow. Being able to track a candidate’s development throughout the hiring process will let you know how things are progressing overall. You’ll know how close you are to finding the right person.

6. Ask for feedback
At the end of each interview, ask the candidates to fill in a short survey about their experience. Include questions that cover what they thought about the interview process and the things they would change. This is a great way to know the areas that need improvement. Speaking of improvement…

7. Review your process
Regularly reviewing your hiring process enables you to further improve as you’ll be able to see what works and what doesn’t. It can bring to your attention any parts that could be outsourced or automated. It can ensure you’re not working with a process that is outdated and ineffective.

How to Keep Track of Your Applicants

Keeping track of the hiring process ensures you don’t overlook an important detail. The easiest way to use Zenkit to streamline your hiring process is to create a collection to monitor the applicants. Here’s how:

Step 1:

Create a free Zenkit account by signing up here.

Step 2:

Once you’ve signed in and customized your profile, click on new collection (this will be your applicant tracking process), give your collection a name, and hit “create”.

Step 3:

The Kanban board view will automatically appear, which is what you want for creating your hiring process. The Kanban method is ideal for your process as it allows you to visualize a candidate’s progress. Moving each item on the board to its respective list will map out the development of each item.

By following Kanban’s “to-do, doing, and done” principle, create a number of lists that will represent the different stages of your hiring process and label them accordingly.

To rename the lists from the existing “To-Do, In Progress, Done”, simply click on one of the labels and go to the list name section in the menu box that appears. To add more stages to your workflow, all you have to do is click on “+ Add Stage”, give the list a label, and either click on “create” or hit enter – pretty self-explanatory, right?

To give you an idea of how you can map out your hiring process, we’ve gone with the following stages:

• Applied
• Interviewing
• Evaluating
• Rejected
• Offered
• Accepted
• Declined
• Reference check
• Hired

Step 4:

Next, you want to add some custom fields to give more context to a task or item. Every field in Zenkit includes 12 options which enable you to add extra information such as the applicant’s contact details, the position they’re applying for, and the date of their interview.

To add a custom field to an item, click on an item to open it. Then click on the “+” sign which is located above the comment section, and then select “custom field”.

Give your custom field a name, select what type it will be (label, text, number), and fill in the other details required.

The following are the custom fields we’ve added:

• Email
• Phone number
• Role/position applying for
• Files/documents (CV, portfolio, images)
• Phone interview date
• Phone interview notes
• Phone interview score
• In-person interview date
• In-person interview notes
• In-person interview score

Step 5:

To add an applicant to your new visualized hiring process, hover your mouse over the right side of your first list’s (should be the “Applied list”) label and a “+” should appear. Click on it, name the item after the candidate’s name, and fit create. Click on the newly created item and fill in the details in the column that appears on the right-hand side of your collection.

Tip: If you have images of the applicants that you want to add to the item, a good tip is to position the image on the top. This will make it bigger and allow it to stand out. To do this, click on “Kanban” on the top, right-hand side of your collection and click on “edit” that appears on the Kanban option in the menu. Then scroll down to “Image Position”, select “Top”, and voila!

What your visualized hiring process should look like once you start adding the applicants to it:

Of course, if you don’t want to start from scratch, you can head to Zenkit’s template page and use the recruiting template. It provides a ready-made workflow structure that you can still customize.

Final Thoughts

An efficient and effective hiring process can do wonders for your small business. It can lower costs, save time, and attract qualified, reliable, and approachable candidates.

Having your process mapped out visually can help maximize it as it allows you to keep track of an applicant’s progress and notifies you of the status of the overall process.

Remember, although you want it to be efficient, it’s important to tread through the process carefully so you get it right the first time around.

What key qualities do you look for in a good employee?

Cheers,

Dinnie and the Zenkit Team

The post How to Maximize Your Hiring Process to Attract Top Talent appeared first on Zenkit.

It’s no secret that your small business’s web presence plays an important part in its success.

Having a website is a given, but if you’re looking to further your online visibility, then creating a blog is a step in the right direction.

This article will tackle the reasons why it makes sense for your small business to have a blog and includes a step-by-step guide on how to create one.

Why Your Small Business Needs a Blog

Short for “weblog”, a blog is an online platform that provides information on a specific topic. The information is shown in reverse chronological order where the most recent piece is always first. It can either be written by one or more contributors.

A blog for your small business is a crucial digital marketing tool. It can help with audience outreach and steer traffic to your website. According to WordPress, over 409 million people view more than 20 billion pages each month – that’s a whole lotta readers!

Having a blog for your small business can increase brand awareness as they’re a great communication tool. They can help keep customers and potential customers updated on the ongoings of your business, and they’re an ideal platform for making announcements and updates, and also teaching your audience about your product.

Another great reason why having a blog for your small business is worthwhile is that it can widen your social media presence, help your business to engage with its community, and separate you from your competitors.

Questions to Ask Yourself Before Creating Your Small Business Blog

1. Why are you blogging?

There are several reasons why you might have decided to take the plunge and create a small business blog. Maybe you wanted to drive more traffic to your website or perhaps you wanted to boost your brand’s visibility.

The reason for doing so can determine the kind of blog you will write. It will help you decide on which topics to write about, the style and language of the articles, and how to visually represent all the information.

2. What will your blog offer?

Your blog needs to provide some kind of value to your readers or else no one will read it. Whether it’s tips and tutorials on a popular topic or covering a niche market, you have to ensure that what you publish offers something to an audience. Speaking of audiences…

3. Who is your target audience?

Your small business blog needs to have a target audience. Doing so can help determine what kind of content you will write about and how you will write it. For instance, a blog whose target audience is corporate Generation X will read differently from a blog that is aimed at university students.

4. What is your call-to-action?

A call-to-action (CTA) helps you to achieve the goals you have for your blog. It brings your reader’s attention to an action you want them to take. To optimize the effectiveness of your CTA you need to pinpoint exactly what it is and what purpose it will serve. It can be anything from promoting an upcoming event and boosting sign-ups to directing the reader to a partner’s page.

5 Steps to Create Your Small Business Blog

Step 1: Select a platform

The very first step is to select a platform to create your blog in. There are lots of blogging platforms to choose from and deciding on which to go for can get a little overwhelming. However, it’s always worth the effort of doing a bit of research and comparing the platforms so you end up with the one most suited for your small business. Many platforms have a free plan option, but these are often limited in the features they offer.

Your best bet is to go for a platform that is simple to set up and easy to use. Something that doesn’t require any coding skills and is easy to customize. Even if you have a web developer whizz at your disposal, using something uncomplicated to start off with is recommended. If you think you want to eventually grow your blog into something bigger, then select a platform that is flexible enough to meet future requirements.

Step 2: Get it online

Your next step is to get your blog online. To do this, you need to register a domain name and purchase web hosting.

The domain name is your blog’s online identity. You can have your own domain name or you can have a subdomain of a provider company. The former looks more professional but it usually comes at a cost.

To have a blog up and running, you need to have a blog host. A blog host is a company that equips you with space on its servers which allows you to store files and deliver them to users online. Some blog host providers give you a discount on domains.

Step 3: Plan a blog strategy

Having a blog strategy is essential for any small business looking to start one. To be successful, or at least keep up with your competitors, you need to be able to publish content regularly and strategize on how you’re going to do it.

An editorial calendar can help you stay on track. It can monitor what you want to write, who will write it, when it will be published, and where the content will be shared. Here’s how to create an editorial calendar in Zenkit:

1. Sign up to Zenkit and create a free account.
2. Once you’ve signed in and customized your profile, click on New Collection, give your collection a name, and hit create.

3. You will see that it automatically takes you to the Kanban board view – which is perfect for the editorial calendar. Following the Kanban method of labelling columns as “to-do”, “doing”, and “done” is the ideal structure you want for an editorial calendar. It visualizes the progress of each piece of content from coming up with the idea all the way ‘til it’s published online.

Label the first column “Ideas”, then the next one “To Do”, the third column should be titled “In Progress”, and then finally, create a fourth column and label it “Online”.

(Of course, you can label your columns whatever you’d like and you can add/remove however many columns you see fit – this is just a general guideline.)

4. What makes Zenkit great for building an editorial calendar for your small business blog is our custom fields. Custom fields add more context to a task and can optimize your workflow. Every field in Zenkit is a custom field that comes with 12 options that allow you to include additional information such as deadlines and contributor names at no extra cost.

To add a custom field to a task click on a task to open it. Click on the “+” sign located on top of the comment section, then select “custom field”.

Give it a name, select its type, and fill in the other details.

Tip: Use the Description to explain to team members how that particular field should be used. It’s a great way to get your message across and ensures the field is being used correctly.

Recommended fields you should include:

• Assigned to
• Due date
• Link
• File
• Language
• Type (of content)

Alternatively, you can head to Zenkit’s template page and use the blog planner template.

Step 4: Start writing

Before you can go ahead and start writing, you need to have topics to write about.

Think of your target audience and consider the kind of things they’d enjoy reading. Your target audience will almost always be your customers and potential customers. Think of subjects related to your product and issues your audience may experience and want to resolve. This can help to build trust in your brand.

A good way to do this is to hold a brainstorming session with your appointed content or marketing team. Then record the ideas on your editorial calendar. You could also open up the ideas and suggestions to other employees within the business. Maybe someone in a different department may have a great idea for a blog topic, customer service teams are usually familiar with what customers are seeking.

Another way to come up with article ideas is to scope the competition to see what they’re doing and create content similar—and better—to theirs.

Blogging best practice is to plan your posts in advance which means you need a few topics confirmed before you start writing. By planning ahead you’ll ensure that your content team doesn’t run out of topics and can continue to publish articles regularly.

Some writing tips to keep in mind:

• Have an attention-grabbing (but not clickbait) headline
• Create constructive and valuable content
• Include images, graphics, and videos in your articles to make them more engaging for the reader

Step 5: Keep up the momentum

While a very satisfying feeling, hitting the publish button on your article doesn’t mean the work ends there. There are various steps to take after you’ve published your content, such as…

• Encourage your readers to give feedback by adding a comment section at the bottom of the blog pages. And, of course, respond to every comment—even the negative ones. Make sure you maintain a level of class and etiquette in your responses. This will create a dialogue that can attract more traffic to your blog and eventually to your website.
• Share your blog article on your business’s social media channels. Sharing content on social media increases its exposure and further promotes your business and your brand. Urge your employees to share it on their social media channels too.
• After you’ve published a few articles, it’s a good idea to start analyzing your blog’s performance. Knowing details such as how many visits and shares one of your articles gets can help to improve future content.

Final Thoughts

Establishing your online presence is essential for any small business wanting to succeed, and creating a blog is a great way to do it.

Not only can it increase your web visibility and build brand awareness, but it can also drive traffic to your website, help you engage with customers, and make you stand out from the competition.

Remember, in order to keep your blog going, you have to think of topics that will be of value to your readers, share your content on social media, manage feedback from readers, and examine your blog’s performance.

What topics will you cover in your small business’s blog?

Cheers,

Dinnie and the Zenkit Team

The post How to Create a Blog for Your Small Business appeared first on Zenkit.

Mind maps can be an effective tool for organizing information. Most commonly known for chronicle brainstorming sessions, there are other perks to be enjoyed when using them such as improved learning and clearer thinking.

In this article, we’ll not only explain how to make a mind map, but we’ll also discuss techniques and best practices so you can get the most out of them.

What Is a Mind Map?

The term “mind map” was first used and made popular by Tony Buzan in the 1970s. Although, prior to that, the use of diagrams that follow a similar structure dates back centuries.

It is essentially a visual representation of organized information formatted into a hierarchical diagram. Each idea or theme is connected to one another and the relationship between them is explored. The format of the diagram gives you a clear visualization of the data, which makes it easier to process, memorize, and organize it.

Key Features of a Mind Map

• The main idea should be represented with an image or title at the centre of the page. This is where associated ideas with branch out from.
• A branch is what connects one idea to another. It’s recommended to stick to one keyword per branch.
• Once the information is outlined, you will have what is known as a “nodal structure”. Each idea is considered a “node” and how they’re all related to each other should be prevalent.
• Associated concepts should be grouped together with similar colours. The use of colours, images, and symbols can encourage visual stimulation by giving you a more straightforward outlook of the information.

How to Make a Mind Map

There are fancy tools and software that are designed especially for mind map making. But essentially, all you need to create a mind map is a piece of paper and a pen.

There are arguments for creating mind maps both digitally and in the old school way. Both carry benefits and downfalls, and what it comes down to is a personal preference. 

While some people like the benefits that come with actually writing things down such as memory and learning boosts, others may prefer the bells and whistles that come with using a mind mapping app.

Creating a mind map is a pretty straightforward exercise that can be enhanced with certain mind map ideas and guidelines. To get the most out of your diagram, Buzan recommends the following guidelines:

1. Begin your mind map with an image of your topic at the centre. Use at least three different colours.
2. Mix it up and use a variety of images, symbols, codes and dimensions throughout your mind map.
3. Think of keywords and write them in upper or lower case letters.
4. Select only one word or image per idea and let it sit on its own line.
5. The lines must be connected, all stemming from the image in the centre. The lines should become thinner as they branch out from the centre.
6. Ensure the lines are the same length as the word or image they support.
7. To encourage visual stimulation, use various colours throughout the mind map. It can also help for encoding or grouping.
8. Develop your own personal style of mind mapping.
9. Highlight associations and use emphasis in your mind map.
10. Use radial hierarchy or outlines to encompass your branches. This will ensure your mind map stays clear.

How to Make a Mind Map in Zenkit

Zenkit is a tool that allows you to view your information in multiple views, with one of them being a mind map view. It’s a simple tool you can use to create mind maps with either existing data or you can create a new collection from scratch.

Here are the steps to take for creating a mind map in Zenkit.

1. Create a new collection and give it a name. You will be presented with the default Kanban view and to get your mind map, all you have to do is click on “Kanban” in the top right-hand corner, and then select the “Mind Map” view.
2. At the centre, you will see the instruction “Please select a hierarchy field in the view settings”, so what you want to do is to follow it. Click on the view settings (“Mind Map” at the top right-hand corner), and click on “Edit”. Select “Hierarchy Field” and then click on “Hierarchy”.

You should now see this at the centre:

This is where your mind map starts, it’s your central image/text.

3. To add your next item, click and drag the plus icon which you will see in the bottom left corner of your root item. Alternatively, you can click on the item (it should turn blue) and then hit the spacebar. You’ll see a colored line moving out from the root item. Once you let go, a new item is created and you can give it a name.

4. You can then continue to set up branches from the root item or build smaller branches from your new item.

How to Add Existing Items to Your Mind Map

The great thing about creating a mind map in Zenkit is that you can use items that already exist in your collection.

The items will be visible in the “Unconnected” panel on the left-hand side. To add an existing item as an attachment to an item in your mind map, simply drag and drop it onto the item.

Moving Items

To navigate around your mind map, you have the option to move around the items. Click and drag an item to move it around. Any descendant items will stay in the same configuration and move along with the item you’re moving.

Collapsible Branches

As the nature of mind maps is limitless, your diagram can get a little busy. With Zenkit, you have the option to hide branches on your map. All you have to do is click on the small folder icon to “collapse” all the branches that appear after that item. Click on the folder to make the branches appear again.

For everything that you need to know about creating and using mind maps in Zenkit, check out the Knowledge Base.

8 Mind Mapping Techniques

Mind maps are great for boosting memory, as well as improving critical thinking, creativity, and organization skills. Here are some mind-mapping examples you could try to help refine your skills:

1. Brainstorming Sessions

One of the more well-known mind-mapping techniques is brainstorming. The free-flowing nature of the diagram makes it ideal for conducting brainstorming sessions at work, school, or even at home. A mind map’s structure of starting with a focal point and expanding on it with associated concepts means there are no limits to the ideas you can come up with.

2. Decision-Making

When it comes to making important decisions, using a mind map can be really beneficial. The ability to visualize the different outcomes of your decision can provide you with clearer thinking that can help you to make the best decision possible. Examining the pros and cons can give you an overview of the bigger picture.

3. Problem-Solving

The structure of a mind map enables you to map out complex predicaments which will allow you to analyze the situation as a whole and understand where the issue lies. This can help you to come up with a solution.

4. Event Planning

Planning an event involves the coordination of various things such as guests, vendors, budget, and tasks. Using a mind map to present the information can make it easier to process as you can group the different things together.

5. Presentations

Using a mind map for a presentation is an effective way to convey a message. The option to use images as well as text will not only make for better-presented information, but can give your message a bigger emphasis.

6. Note-Taking

In comparison to traditional, linear note-taking techniques, a mind map design for taking notes can provide an effective way for learning. The visual technique offers a better way to memorize notes. It’s an ideal mind-mapping technique for students as well as workers taking notes during business meetings.

7. Strategic Thinking

Whether you’re solving an issue, planning a process, or developing tactics, using a mind map to outline the details is the perfect tool for strategic thinking. This makes it especially ideal for planning a business strategy.

8. Organization Structure

The hierarchical arrangement of a mind map makes it a great technique for organizing the employees of a company or other organization. From the top executives to the creative team, the structure can clearly display who reports to whom and what department everyone belongs in.

Final Thoughts

The visual nature of a mind map makes it an ideal choice for mapping out ideas and concepts, and for grouping together associated themes and topics. This is why the diagram can be a great option for things such as planning an event, problem-solving, and strategic thinking.

While creating a mind map isn’t necessarily rocket science, it does help to know a few things regarding techniques and best practices in order to get the best out of organizing data. And like the mind map itself, there are endless opportunities in how you can present your information.

Do you have further tips on how to make a mind map? Don’t forget to share them with us in the comment section below!

Cheers,

Dinnie and the Zenkit Team

The post How to Make a Mind Map appeared first on Zenkit.

Conventional wisdom asserts that the secret to success comes down to the amount of self-control you possess. Whether it’s to do with your health, wealth, or happiness, it is commonly believed that the more self-control you have, the higher your chances are of leading a happier and healthier life compared to those who don’t.

But what exactly is self-control and how does it work?

In this article, we’ll discuss what self-control is, the power it can have, and other notable factors that are outlined in Kelly McGonigal’s book, The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It.

What Is Self-Control?

You know that feeling when your alarm goes off at 6 am on a Monday and instead of getting up and going to work you’d rather stay in bed and continue sleeping, but then you realize that if you don’t go to work, you could be putting your job at risk, and if you lose your job you’ll no longer be able to pay the bills and you may get evicted, so you drag yourself out of bed and head into the office? That, ladies and gentlemen, is self-control.

Having self-control is what enables you to overcome impulses, temptation and emotions, as well as regulate your behaviour, in order to attain long-term goals. Established in the prefrontal cortex, it’s the reason why you’re able to consider alternative actions and keep away from things you may later regret, instead of responding to every urge that comes up. The ability to exercise self-control is known as willpower.

The Power of Willpower

Along with discipline, determination, and fortitude, willpower is regarded as a form of self-control. It’s what you apply when you decide to not eat a second serving of dinner despite the meal being incredibly appetizing or when you forgo the cigarette your friend has offered you because you made the decision to quit two weeks ago.

Dr. Kelly McGonigal describes willpower as the mind-body response that can influence all areas of your life, from physical health to relationships, to professional and educational success. A health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University, she wrote the international bestselling book, The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It.

Her book discusses self-control and willpower in detail, and their impact based on research and cutting-edge insights from psychology, economics, neuroscience, and medicine. It gives readers an understanding of the various facets of self-control and how it can be used to their benefit.

5 Lessons We Can Learn About Self-Control from “The Willpower Instinct”

1. Without self-awareness, self-control is useless

The first lesson we can learn about self-control from The Willpower Instinct is that a pivotal aspect of making a self-control system work is self-awareness. We should have the capacity to recognize what we’re doing while we’re doing it and comprehend why we’re doing it.

The ability to do so can help us anticipate what our likely actions would be before we actually do them, giving us enough time to reassess our options should we need to.

Imagine you were trying to save money for a vacation in Hawaii. By being aware of your goal you could prevent yourself from spending money on things you don’t need and instead put it towards your savings. Having self-awareness can make you more conscious of your finances and stop you from spending your money frivolously.

2. Self-control is like a muscle

The science behind willpower suggests that we only possess a limited amount of self-control and that it comes from a singular source of strength. That means that if you exert too much of it, you can become defenceless and disadvantaged against other impulses and areas of temptation.

“Because every act of willpower depletes willpower, using self-control can lead to losing control.”

In her book, Dr. McGonigal explains how Roy Baumeister, a psychologist at Florida State University, was one of the first to come to the conclusion of self-control comes from a singular source. His research and observations found that people who resisted sweets were more likely to procrastinate and people trying to control their emotions made them more eager to spend their money on things they didn’t need.

So, like a muscle, if you use your willpower too frequently without rest, it too will tire out. This can prove to be detrimental as you may find yourself losing control and giving in to temptation.

3. Our future selves = Our present selves

We always think of our future selves as having more time, more energy, and more willpower to do the things our present selves don’t want to do. That’s why we’re perfectly okay with skipping the gym today as we feel our future selves will just work out twice as hard tomorrow.

The reason for this, explains Dr. McGonigal, is because many of us have the misjudgement where we think of our future selves as different people from our present selves. It’s the reason why although the decisions we make now may have a heavier impact on our future selves if it alleviates us from stress today, we are still inclined to go along with it.

Of course, all of this would be fine if our future selves would behave accordingly, however, the reality isn’t likely. This ideal future self that’s supposed to have more drive and dedication rarely comes to fruition. The stress and lack of motivation we feel today is probably going to be the same feelings our future self will also feel when it’s time to do the task. Therefore, instead of putting off something that seems too arduous to do today, tap into that self-control and do it today. Your future self will thank you for it!

4. You can catch self-control

Like the common cold or yawning, willpower is contagious. The book includes research that has demonstrated how easy it can be to be influenced by someone else’s behaviour in a way that can alter yours. This means that if you surround yourself with people who have the ability to go against their impulses without a hitch, then the chances of your self-control improving are promising.

Bear in mind that the effect works in both ways. This means if you see someone who lacks self-control and gives in to their urges, then you may find yours declining as well. An interesting finding by researchers at the University of Groningen is that sometimes you don’t even need to see people in the act of giving in to their impulses, that seeing evidence is enough for their actions to pass on to us.

So, in order to keep up the momentum and achieve your long-term goal, it’s best to stick with people who exert the same degree of self-control—if not better—like you.

5. The more you resist something, the more likely you are to do it

The Willpower Instinct discusses Daniel Wegner’s theory of ‘Ironic Rebound’ to explain why a thought comes back to us, despite pushing it away and how that can affect our feeling of self-control.

Daniel Wegner was a psychology professor at Harvard University who discovered that the more we attempted to suppress a thought, the more it will backfire and come back. Like when you try so hard to fall asleep but end up more awake, or when you try to get a catchy song out of your head but it won’t go away.

The solution? Don’t attempt to suppress your thoughts. Let yourself think the thought and embrace it. Just remember that although you’ve allowed yourself to think about it, it doesn’t mean you have to act on it. Exercise your self-control and ensure you don’t follow through, i.e. think about dessert, just make sure you don’t eat it!

How to Strengthen Self-Control

Self-control can play an imperative role in transforming your life for the better. In fact, research has found that many people cite a lack of self-control as the number one barrier to change. So, to ensure you aren’t hindering your chances, here are some tips on how you can strengthen your self-control:

• Set a clear goal: having a vague objective gives you a higher chance of failure. Be as specific as possible, so instead of “lose weight”, set your goal as “lose 5kg by cutting out dessert and sweets.”
• Focus on one goal: having more than one goal can increase your chances of willpower depletion which can cause you to not reach any goal at all. Prioritize and stick to one goal at a time.
• Monitor progress: by tracking your progress you are keeping an eye on the actions that take you closer to achieving your goal.
• Plan ahead: planning in advance and knowing what to do in case you fall into temptation will give you a better chance of improving your willpower.

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• Practise self-control exercises: if you continue to regularly exert self-control practices, you will find that, like a muscle, it will grow stronger and stronger. The Willpower Instinct includes practical strategies called “Willpower Experiments” that you can use to strengthen your self-control.

Final Thoughts

Self-control is something that doesn’t come naturally to many of us, but understanding what it is and how it works is key to strengthening it and improving our tendencies and behaviour. Dr. Kelly McGonigal’s The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It offers readers insight into how you can fully grasp the concept to help you get closer to attaining your long-term goals.

Have you exercised self-control recently? Share your experiences in the comment section below.

Cheers,

Dinnie and the Zenkit Team

The post 5 Lessons We Can Learn About Self-Control appeared first on Zenkit.

We wanted to end the year with a bit of a bang, so we’re really proud to announce the release of user roles for Zenkit!

With this latest release, Plus users will be able to assign one of 5 different user roles to people collaborating inside teams and collections, and control how much others are able to change in existing structures. Controlling the level of access that someone has to your work is helpful for a number of reasons:

• It enhances security. Restricting access to certain features, such as creating collections, modifying fields, or deleting items, to certain users ensures that people are only able to view and perform actions that they are allowed to. The general idea is that each user has just enough access to do what they need to do, but not enough that would allow them to cause any harm (mistakenly or otherwise).
• It enhances productivity. Users with limited access don’t need to learn a whole bunch of functions and features – they can just use the features that are specific to their role. This means that they can focus on the collections, items, and features that are specific to their job, without distraction.
• It better protects your data. When administrators are able to exercise certain security precautions, the organization as a whole has the ability to better meet data security compliance requirements.

New Zenkit User Roles

Owner: 

A team owner or collection owner is the user who created the team or collection. This user has full permissions within the team or collection, including being able to delete it and move collections to other teams. Full collection permissions include creating new collections within a team, creating, deleting, or editing fields, and changing the background of collections. Owners can also add and remove users to a team or collection, and re-assign user roles. There can only be one collection owner.

Member: 

A member has full permissions within a team or collection and can also re-assign user roles that are lower than ‘Owner’. A member cannot delete a collection or team, nor can they move collections to another team.

Editor: 

Editors can create and archive items, and add information to items e.g. by adding labels, text, dates, or numbers, but they can’t add, remove, or make changes to fields. Editors are also unable to change how a certain view appears, and cannot create or edit saved filters and views. Editors may not add or remove members, change member roles, or change collection backgrounds.

Commenter: 

Commenters can view a collection, use filters, and comment on items within it, but have no other permissions.

Guest: 

Essentially a ‘view only’ user. Guests can view a collection, use filters, and open items, but not interact with it in any way.

Users may also have different levels of permission in a team and collection, e.g. they are a ‘Member’ of a team, but may only have ‘Commenter’ access to certain collections.

How to Assign Roles

If you are an Owner or Member level user in a team or collection, you can assign user roles to other members of that team or collection.

• To assign a role, open the list of members, either by clicking on the member icon in a Collection or by clicking on the team/collection name, then on ‘Members’.
• Click on the name of the person whose role you want to assign.
• From the drop-down menu, select the collection or team role you want them to have.
• Done!

Currently, each type of role still needs to be a registered Zenkit user, and will still count towards your member quota, however, we plan to change that very shortly. We’re just getting started with these roles and permissions, so expect to see improvements and extended capabilities in the coming months! Please check out our documentation to get started using user roles in Zenkit.

We hope you enjoy using the roles as much as we’ve enjoyed developing them!

Cheers,

Siobhan and the Zenkit Team

The post New Feature: User Roles and Permissions appeared first on Zenkit.

Here at Zenkit, we’re all about minimal simplicity. Hiding away features till you need them. Smooth lines. Calm colours. Subtle animations. We love to think of your Zenkit workspace as the place you can go to simply focus and get stuff done without distraction.

However, there’s something to be said for a bright pop of colour or two. From creating a contrast to really bringing your attention to the things that need it, strong colours absolutely have their place in the productivity world. That’s why we’re super stoked to announce the release of the Coloured Items add-on for Plus users!

We get a lot of feedback from our users, and some of my personal favourites come in the form of feature requests. While we can’t always build everything you ask for, when you ask for it, we do collect all of this feedback and take time to figure out what we can feasibly create that will work for as many people as possible.

A lot of people have requested to be able to colour items. Whether it be through some sort of colour picker, an automated process, or matching an uploaded image, we’ve heard it all. In the end, we decided to go with a structure and palette we’ve already got: Labels! There’s no pleasing everyone (we’re not pizza!), but we hope that colouring items according to labels is a compromise that can work for everyone.

How to Enable Coloured Items

Like all collection-specific add-ons, you can find the Coloured Items settings in the ‘Add-ons’ section of your collection settings. To get there, click on the collection name, then on ‘Add-ons’. Click ‘Enable’ under Coloured Items, then in the small pop-up, choose the label field you want to colour the items by. That’s it!

The entire item will be coloured by the label it has applied to it. If you have multiple labels, the first label in the list will be the colour of the item. If there’s no label applied, the item will remain white or black (depending on your chosen Zenkit theme). It’s also important to note that the colour will change if you change the label / move it to a different Kanban list

To change the colour of a particular label, you need to go into your label field settings and change the colour there. This will also change the colour of items labelled with that label.

Ways to Use Coloured Items

Coloured items are like labels turned up to eleven. When an item is coloured, it’s hard to ignore! Just like labels, the best way to use them depends entirely on what you use Zenkit for. Since they make such a big impression, I like to use them when I need something really attention-grabbing:

• Marking bottlenecked tasks in red
• Highlighting high-priority customers with green
• If you view your kanban board by member, you can show progress with different coloured cards
• If multiple teams work on one collection, differentiate the teams with colours
• Use different colours to highlight task priority
• Etc, etc, etc…

There are as many ways to use this feature as there are to label, tag, and categorize items.

Final Thoughts

We’ve had lots of fun making our collections pop over the past couple of weeks, so we really hope you enjoy putting coloured items to use, too! How will you be using coloured items? Let us know in the comments below!

Cheers,

Siobhan and the Zenkit Team

The post Introducing Coloured Items! appeared first on Zenkit.

Beloved by power users the world over, keyboard shortcuts are a key feature for any good software. Accomplished shortcut users can make things happen semi-automatically, without really having to think about what they’re doing. Shortcuts help prevent repetitive strain injuries caused by using the mouse too much. They are also the fastest and easiest way to work with your data, boosting your efficiency and productivity, and helping you get more done with less effort. Case in point, good shortcuts are key (see what I did there?), especially for software you use all day!

That’s why we’re so stoked to announce that we’ve unleashed a whole slew of new shortcuts for everyone to use!

The new Zenkit shortcuts cover everything from navigating through items in different views, to adding new items and opening menus, and to saving or deleting data. Mind map users will be especially excited to see the range of shortcuts they can now use to quickly add new children or sibling items, navigate through their branches, and zoom in and out of the map.

See All the Shortcuts

You can find the list of available shortcuts from your profile menu. Click on your profile avatar in the top right-hand corner, then on ‘Help’ then ‘Shortcuts’. This will bring up a dialogue box containing a list of all the available shortcuts, modified slightly to show the ones compatible with your operating system (i.e. it will show Cmd for Mac and Ctrl for Windows & Linux). You can also use the search bar at the top to quickly find the shortcut you’re looking for.

Top 5 Shortcuts to Learn

Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Space – Quick-add an item to any collection

Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+F – Open the filter

Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+F – Open global search

L&R Arrows – Flip through items in the details pop up

Alt+Click – Select an item

Bonus: If you ever forget a shortcut, Ctrl/Cmd+K opens the keyboard shortcuts list

Now get out there and get typing!

We’re really excited about this release, as shortcuts make a huge difference to how an app feels. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Got any ideas for shortcuts you’d like to see? Let us know in the comments below.

Cheers,

Siobhan and the Zenkit Team

The post Shortcuts for All! appeared first on Zenkit.