Building workflows | monday.com webinars

Introduction

In this section, the speaker introduces the topic of building workflows in monday.com and outlines what will be covered in the webinar.

Building Workflows in Monday.com

• The webinar is about building workflows or use cases in monday.com.

• The speaker will guide viewers through considerations and questions to ask before starting to build boards.

• There are no right or wrong answers, only suggestions of best practices.

Overview of Monday.com

This section provides an overview of what monday.com is and its main building blocks.

What is Monday.com?

• Monday.com is a work operating system that powers team projects and workflows with confidence.

• It's a customizable platform that can fit any needs, whether managing a recruitment pipeline or a PMO team.

• The main building blocks are called boards.

Components of a Board

• Boards have a title, groups to organize items, and items with columns tracking data points against them.

• Columns can be added as needed for specific use cases.

Goals for Today

This section outlines the goals for the webinar.

Goals for Today

• Minimize learning curve on monday.com

• Provide framework for building in monday.com

• Save time by enabling viewers to build their boards right the first time.

Key Terms

This section defines key terms used throughout the webinar.

Use Case

• A usage scenario for a piece of software.

• Common use cases include data repository, asset management, and project management.

Data Repository Use Case

This section explains what a data repository use case is and how it can be used in monday.com.

Data Repository Use Case

• A board used to track a list of vendors or other information.

• Nothing is happening in the board, it's just a repository of information.

Asset Management Use Case

This section explains what an asset management use case is and how it can be used in monday.com.

Asset Management Use Case

• A board used to house completed or available assets for easy access.

• Nothing is happening with the assets in the board.

Components of a Board

This section provides a more detailed explanation of the components of a board.

Components of a Board

• Boards have a title, groups to organize items, and items with columns tracking data points against them.

• Columns can be added as needed for specific use cases.

Best Practices for Grouping Items

This section provides best practices for grouping items within boards.

Best Practices for Grouping Items

• Common groupings include not started, in progress, complete, or by quarter.

• Groupings can also be unique to specific teams if there are buckets of categories within their use case or projects.

Adding Columns to Track Data Points

This section explains how columns can be added to track data points against items in boards.

Adding Columns to Track Data Points

• Additional columns can be added as needed for specific use cases.

• Columns help capture key data points and keep teams aligned.

Basic Webinar Recommendation

This section recommends watching a basic webinar before going through this content if viewers are new to monday.com.

Basic Webinar Recommendation

• Watching a basic webinar before going through this content will set viewers up for better success in digesting the content.

Workflows: Process and Project

In this section, the speaker explains what workflows are and distinguishes between process and project workflows.

What is a Workflow?

• A workflow is a sequence of tasks that describes how something goes from being undone to being done.

• Examples of workflows include recruitment pipelines, legal request systems, or any system of working that needs to be accomplished with a sequence of tasks.

What is an Instance?

• An instance is the piece of work you are tracking within a given use case. It refers to the specific item or task that needs to be completed within a workflow.

• Examples of instances include candidates in recruitment pipelines, projects in project management, or contracts in legal contract review.

Process Workflow

• A process workflow has predictable and repetitive sets of tasks that follow a template or process to fulfill the use case.

• These workflows often handle many instances because they have become more efficient over time through repetition.

Project Workflow

• A project workflow has structured paths similar to process workflows but each project may vary in the steps required as each project has unique goals.

• The nature of projects is such that there may be 50 unique tasks required for one goal and another 50 completely separate tasks for another goal.

Understanding Use Cases and Workflows

In this section, the speaker introduces the concept of use cases and workflows. They also provide a knowledge check to help participants identify different types of use cases.

Identifying Use Cases

• The speaker presents a scenario where a sales team is using a contacts board to log information related to their contacts. This is an example of a data repository.

• The speaker presents another scenario where a creative team is using monday.com to track the steps of creating a unique advertising campaign for an upcoming product launch. This is an example of a project workflow.

• The speaker presents another scenario where recruiters are using monday.com to track candidates as they pass through each stage of the recruitment process. This is an example of a process workflow.

Five Must-Ask Questions

• The first question that needs to be asked when building boards on monday.com is what your workflow or use case is.

• The second question that needs to be asked is what instance corresponds to your use case.

• The third question that needs to be asked is how many instances are you managing.

• The fourth question that needs to be asked is how complex your workflow is.

• Finally, the fifth question that needs to be asked when building boards on monday.com is whether you're building for scale or just for the best working experience.

Board Structure

• When designing board structures, it's important to consider factors such as visibility, automation, and collaboration.

• Boards can be structured in different ways depending on the type of workflow being managed. For example, a project workflow may be structured as a Gantt chart, while a process workflow may be structured as a Kanban board.

• The speaker provides an overview of the different types of columns that can be used in monday.com boards, including status columns, people columns, and date columns.

Understanding Monday.com

In this section, the speaker discusses the importance of understanding resource allocation and reporting requirements when using Monday.com. They also introduce key terms such as use case, workflow, and instance.

Key Questions to Ask When Building a Workflow

• What are your reporting requirements?

• What are your resource allocation needs?

• These questions will help you structure your boards in a way that is most useful for your specific needs.

Best Practices for Board Building

The speaker introduces three ways to structure boards: vertical, horizontal, and hybrid. They then discuss the best ways to structure boards for managing projects and processes.

Three Ways to Structure Boards

• Vertical structure: tracking requirements vertically down the board.

• Horizontal structure: tracking instances horizontally across items.

• Hybrid structure: tracking data points horizontally but process vertically.

Managing Projects in Monday.com

The speaker recommends using a vertical structure when managing projects in Monday.com. They explain two options for structuring boards: vertical single group or vertical single board.

• Vertical single group option: one group per project.

• Vertical single board option: one board per project.

Managing Processes in Monday.com

The speaker recommends using a hybrid or horizontal structure when managing processes in Monday.com. They suggest creating separate groups or boards for each process step.

• Separate groups or boards can be used to track different process steps.

• A hybrid approach can be used to track data points horizontally but process vertically.

Project Management Workflow Structures

In this section, the speaker discusses two different project management workflow structures: vertical single group and vertical single board. The former is ideal for managing projects at scale, while the latter is more robust and intuitive for managing individual projects.

Vertical Single Group

• This structure is ideal for project management at scale.

• All projects are tracked on one board, making it more manageable for a large number of projects.

• Reporting is simpler since everything is in one place.

Vertical Single Board

• This structure is most robust and intuitive for managing individual projects.

• Ideal if you have a clear way of managing projects with clear phases.

• You'll have a board per project, and each project has its own item and board.

Elevating Workflow Structures

• All workflow structures can be elevated in some way.

• Great for robust project workflows where you can drill down on multiple levels.

• Good if you utilize the dependency function frequently.

Process Workflows

In this section, the speaker discusses process workflows and how they differ from project workflows.

Horizontal Structure

• Ideal when steps in a process are repetitive and repeatable.

• Scalable for a large number of instances.

• Avoid account clutter by having everything centralized on one board.

Vertical Structure

• Ideal when there are multiple data points to be tracked in a large number of steps to take.

• Good example: employee onboarding where an employee has many things to do in their first days or weeks.

Vertical, Horizontal and Hybrid Structures for Workflow Management

In this section, the speaker discusses three different structures for workflow management: vertical, horizontal, and hybrid. The speaker explains the advantages of each structure and provides examples of how they can be used.

Vertical Structure

• A vertical structure is best suited for project workflows or complex process workflows.

• Each item is a group name that represents a project or process.

• Columns represent high-level tasks that need to be completed.

• Sub-items represent the steps required to complete each task.

Horizontal Structure

• A horizontal structure is best suited for simple project workflows or process workflows.

• Each item represents an instance of a process or project.

• Columns represent the status of each instance at a high level.

• Sub-items represent the steps required to complete each instance.

Hybrid Structure

• A hybrid structure combines elements of both vertical and horizontal structures.

• It tracks certain points horizontally (usually instances) and vertically (usually sub-items).

• This structure is scalable and allows you to get the advantages of both vertical and horizontal structures.

Examples of Hybrid Boards

Managing Processes

• Campaign creation board where each item is a campaign.

• High-level tasks are tracked horizontally on the item level.

• Eight sub-items are tracked vertically for each campaign.

Managing Projects

• Each item represents a project with unique steps tracked in sub-items.

• Best suited for managing many projects (more than 50 per month).

Key Points

1. Categorize your workflow as either a project or process before creating boards.

2. Answer questions about your workflow to determine which structural option works best for you (vertical, horizontal, or hybrid).

3. Decide if a vertical, horizontal, or hybrid board works best based on your specific needs.