Improving Work Flow & Results

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Case Study:

Five Tools for Better Work Flow Management

I managed a content team of interns with an editorial Kanban-style process board made on Trello.

I managed a content team of interns with an editorial Kanban-style process board made on Trello.

Work flow efficiency can make or break a project on deadline. Here are a few of my favorite tools for better project and work flow management based on past experience.

1. Trello Kanban board for editorial content management

Trello is one of the simplest tools for those who love Kanban method, and I’ve found it to be especially useful for building out team editorial content flow boards. As content manager supervising a team of two intern content producers, I needed a way to assign articles and track their status over time (screenshot above). In Trello, I accomplished this with lists for the following work flow: Assigned/Approved, Interviewing, Drafting, In Review with Editor, In Routing with Source, and Ready for Layout and Publication. Cards with article details are moved down the line as pieces progress and status is easy to visualize by all team members at any given moment.

2. Adobe Bridge for file management rescue

When your files are in disarray, it can cause serious disruption to work flow. This is particularly true when you have thousands of unlabelled, unnamed image files on hand. Adobe Bridge allows bulk tagging so that you can begin to create a searchable image bank for your team.

Bulk tagging images with the custom keyword “emerald ash borer” (as seen in panel to left of screen)

Bulk tagging images with the custom keyword “emerald ash borer” (as seen in panel to left of screen)

3. Slack for team collaboration and breaking down of silos

Slack is a hugely popular team chat tool that is great for staying in touch with team members remotely – something that can help prevent siloing in the workplace when face-to-face contact isn’t always possible. I like to use it for professional development, sharing and discussing interesting resources and blogs that I come across in my daily work.

4. Clockify for time tracking audit

Clockify is my favorite (free) billable hour tracking application, but you don’t necessarily need to be on a billable hour scheme to get great use out of it. I use it to audit my time management – tracking administrative tasks as ‘non-billable’ and labelling major projects in the ‘billable’ category. I can then look back and make sure I am not spending too much time on the wrong tasks and figure out how to better optimize my time going forward.

A screenshot of Clockify’s billable hour summary view for one week.

A screenshot of Clockify’s billable hour summary view for one week.

5. Calendly for booking meetings

In my current role, I am tasked with booking bi-annual check-ins with 20+ research teams, which can be made up of anywhere from 3-15 very busy scientists, and occasionally their equally busy external partners. To prevent headaches for everyone, I use a tool called Calendly – it’s simple enough to use that it requires no additional instruction to the scientists booking their meetings (very important), and offers me all the set-it-and-forget-it features I need – the ability to set long windows of booking time, fixed appointment slots with buffer time automatically set between appointments and email reminders and calendar alerts.