You probably know by now that we’re tech agnostic here at Echo; we firmly believe that no tool is going to be 100% perfect for 100% of teams 100% of the time. But like any team that manages multiple projects at once, we appreciate a well-made piece of software. And when we find a good tool we like to spread the word.
Enter, Monday.com.
Monday.com provides an intuitive platform to help streamline project management and improve communication among team members. Its design is user-friendly, packed with features, and their tech support is top notch. Plus – in our humble opinion – they just seem nice. The Monday.com brand has positioned itself as approachable, practical, and unpretentious. Quite a feat for a highly modern, powerful piece of project management software!
So if you’re looking for a tool that supports your team or organization's growth, Monday.com is definitely one to consider. We have a couple of suggestions on where to begin, and best practices for setting up a PMO or work management solution in Monday.com. Below you’ll find three of our best tips for building out your PMO in Monday.com.
Tip #1: Evaluate and define your intake process.
This is more of a general PMO tip than specific to Monday.com, but we can’t stress this enough: one of the best ways to streamline communications and improve workflow is to start at the beginning.
An intake process is the way new ideas and projects are identified, reviewed, and approved within your team or organization. Not only is it the quickest way to get organized (How are new projects selected? Who owns the approval process?), it’s also essential to ensure that project ideas are aligned with your team’s strategic goals and resources.
You can establish a clear intake process within Monday.com – in fact, the software has some fantastic pre-built templates to help get started. But even if you establish your intake process with a paper and pen, it’s worthwhile to plan or diagram out how new project ideas are presented, selected, and approved.
Tip #2: Use Templates.
Okay – we spilled the beans on this one already. But this tip really does deserve its own section. When we work with clients to implement a PMO, we never recommend starting from scratch.
Using templates allows you to see practical examples of how your team might set up a PMO, and can spark ideas on how you want to customize the template to match your needs. The more you work within a template, the more you’ll likely realize what it has that you want to use, and what it’s missing that you need to add. In Monday.com, try searching for templates with the terms Project Portfolio Management (PPM), Project Management, and Work Management.
Our team really likes the Project Portfolio Management template in Monday.com. It's the one our Founder, Molly Yanus, used when demonstrating how to set up a PMO in Monday.com for a recent webinar.
Tip #3: Integrate the tools you already have.
When you’re adopting a new tool on your team or organization, it’s important to recognize that while you might really love the tool, it’s a big change for everyone else. And using the tool effectively – really making the most of it – is about more than just training your team. Your team has to be willing and interested in using the software you’re rolling. Our best advice to increase buy-in is to integrate tools you already use into the new software.
Fortunately, Monday.com has tons of integrations with other tools. including Google Drive, Dropbox, Trello, Slack, and more. You can also create custom integrations using Monday.com's API. Integrating the tools you already have can make the transition to Monday.com seamless and increase team adoption.
Remember: there’s no one perfect tool, and the tool that is the best for your team is the one that WORKS. If you think Monday.com might be a good fit for your team or organization, make a free account and start to explore the software. We also recommend doing a free trial to access their premium features – that way you can begin to see how the tool might be useful in building more complex workflows.
Think you'd like to see Monday.com in action? Join us for our next webinar on May 18th, and learn how to manage risks, actions, and decisions in Monday.com!
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