Hello and welcome to our guide on Monday.com, one of the most popular online project management tools available.
Are you thinking about switching from plain old Excel or Google Docs to a more dynamic and trendy tool? Perhaps you’re coming from Asana, Trello, Slack, Zapier, or the like and want to try something new.
Then, you’re probably curious about Monday.com.
If you read this article to the end, you will know your way around Monday project management functionalities, how to use the site, and things to consider when deciding about the big switch.
Now, let’s get this show on the road and figure out if Monday is the best project management tool for you and the team you lead!
What is Monday.com?
Monday.com is a web-based project management software.
According to its product overview, its design philosophy is about being a visual and intuitive user-friendly experience for team members.
From leads to specialists to interns, they envision Monday.com used by real teams who will pick up the project management tool from the get-go.
What are the key features of Monday?
Managers of various kinds of projects are swimming in a sea of tools. What does Monday bring to the table that sets it apart from its competitors?
Intuitive Interface
“Easy onboarding” Monday.com’s promise to people migrating to the platform for the first time. It features a user interface with a customizable smart-sheet that encourages team collaboration.
From simple calculations to time tracking columns, it’s a team management tool that helps the individual member figure out where they are in the project with just a few clicks.
Visual Tables
Lines of text are broken up into a more dynamic spreadsheet that uses colors and categories. You can see your team member’s profiles and track their progress, all in one glace.
Monday provides guides and a webinar to help you make the most of your new project and team management hub.
Data Visualization
This is the power of using the Monday platform – you can see your simple task tracking table into something more dynamic and valuable without starting from scratch.
The built-in views of the tables can help you with your project planning visualization. You can move from calendar view to chart view to other timeline views to see different sides to the project.
You can turn your table in a kanban board or a Gantt chart with dependencies and return it to standard view with a simple click.
iOS and Android Applications
As everyone goes mobile, phones as work tools are also essential. Thankfully, you can bring your project management app around with you.
Monday has a robust version of their tool as a mobile app. While you’re on the go, you can see your project boards and any changes and notifications that you have received.
Automation
With such a robust management system made available, there are more ways to cut down on busy work. Never again do you have to slave away line by line on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
You can set up recurring data and notification reminders that will help you free some headspace for more important matters and cut downtime in your routine.
Integrations
It’s a headache to juggle so many tools used for work. Monday is a work management system that will help you connect to other programs your team requires.
Typical apps like Dropbox and Jira integrate beautifully with Monday, so you don’t need to go back and forth between programs to sort related activities out. You can leave the software to communicate with each other.
Customer Service
You didn’t build the Monday app, so your inexperience with the suite will inevitably lead you to some questions.
Thankfully Monday has a reliable customer service support line to help you answer your queries as best as possible. The live support can address your concerns quickly and accurately so your project management isn’t cut off by technical issues.
They’ll also help you with use cases to help you maximize the use of the platform, helping you widen your knowledge base on the app.
Security Services
As more businesses avail of online services like Monday, the security of their confidential data and communications is becoming more critical.
Weak systems that malicious hackers can break into will have extremely valuable information at their hands. With the caliber of companies that use Monday, you can be assured your data is safe and have control over permissions on who is seeing your dashboards.
How do you use Monday?
While there are many ways to use Monday, as well as several templates available for your perusal, it can still be intimidating for the new user.
Here is a walkthrough on how to use Monday for project management, based on the site’s beginner suggestions that might make your transition a little bit easier.
Pick a Template
Monday has over 200+ templates available for your project. Some templates get very specific about the project boards’ industry, task, and team size, so you are sure to find one that will suit your needs.
Customize the Template
Maybe you have chosen a template, but you find it needs a few more tweaks to be helpful for your team.
Customizing the template is easy as adding columns, team member assignments, automation, and integrations will make it your own work OS.
Invite Your Team to the Monday Workspace
The only thing your team members need to do is to make an account, and they are ready to start using Monday. They can easily collaborate on the project and track their progress on the app.
Go through the Different Views
Now that you have your upgraded spreadsheet, you can also play around with the visualization modes, which was challenging to do in plain old Excel.
Different views are available for all members – from the typical Monday dashboard, the data is compiled and visualized in other methods. You can now see your list in Gantt Chart, Timeline, Map, Workload, and different kinds of view modes.
You can revert just as quickly, too!
Plan Your Project Timelines and Track Your Progress
With the customizations out of the way, you can sit back and experience assigning tasks, managing deadlines, exchanging files and feedback via the Monday platform.
What are the benefits of using Monday?
What are the main reasons your team should move to Monday?
Very intuitive and collaborative interface
The Monday task management interface feels like a leveled-up version of a spreadsheet. Everyone on your team should be familiar with working with spreadsheets, so it’s no surprise when they pick up the logic and functionalities of the platform.
Various flexible templates available to use
If you don’t know how you should design your project management spreadsheet, worry not. Before you, many project managers have figured that out – and provided their templates for free!
There are so many options to choose from, arranged by activities, industries, time scopes, and more. One of them is bound to be more or less suitable for the kind of project you are working on. It might need some adjustments here and there, but you don’t have to start from scratch.
Whether you are using it for task tracking, order tracking, database, or customer relationship management (CRM), some templates work for your scenario. You can also customize them further.
Views allow any team member to understand their progress
Having a visual way for all team members to visualize their progress and their workload in the team. This is helpful for the project manager, but this transparency is also a good exercise between team members.
This feature champions teamwork and allows people to see how much work they have done and who they can help out.
Accessible communication with the team
The tagging and the commenting system are efficient and work very well in the middle of the entire spreadsheet activity.
Team members can easily see their tasks and receive notifications for the urgent and vital messages for themselves.
What are the disadvantages of using Monday?
Not all platforms are perfect, of course. Here are some roadblocks you should think about before bringing your projects to the platform.
Not the best option for complex projects
Monday is essentially a simple spreadsheet with basic calculation and tracking functionalities. Many teams from different industries can get by on these features.
While it is robust, it can only go so far for complex projects requiring many subitems, collaborations, integrations, and even more. It can’t fully adapt to more complex requirements throughout the project.
Of course, most teams don’t need any complex capabilities and what Monday offers is likely enough for them. But there is still a small percentage of teams that would require customized software options that would make them more efficient, rather than an out-of-the-box platform like Monday.
Data visualization is good for the team, not so much for stakeholder reporting
The way Monday handles views is a win for transparency, which should be a standard for many corporate teams in this day and age.
However, using Monday’s visualization tricks is not enough for a project manager to create complete reports for the stakeholders.
Project stakeholders aren’t particularly interested in the day-to-day operations of the project. Instead, they want to learn about milestone completions, budget, delivery, and projections.
The project manager still needs to use another platform or tool to create reports that make sense to present to the upper management and stakeholders.
Filtering your tasks is tricky
While finding your assignments on Monday is not hard at all, it’s a bit difficult to wade through all of them if you have that many, which could be the case for some senior team members who are tagged in a lot of items.
The point of keeping the individual dashboard simple and clutter-free from other activities is a bit lost when you’re knee-deep in your task list. More robust filtering options might be a good way for everyone to focus on their project tasks and have the opportunity to look at the bigger picture a little later.
Is Monday the best project management software for your team?
Of all the available project management software online, whether for free or for a fee, would Monday.com be your best bet?
Team Size
Exactly how big is your team? You will want to know how many official team members and possibly even freelancers and consultants you want in your group. This will help you determine how many members you can have in your Monday team at a given time.
If you are a small business making the jump from a plain old spreadsheet, this solution may be for you. Small teams could benefit from the jump to this platform, especially if the team had difficulty with automated tracking and assignments.
The collaboration tools will also be a new way to connect the team and make them feel more united in one digital workspace, no matter how many members show up online.
Of course, bigger teams have had success with the Monday platform, especially on the communications side.
Industry of Your Company or Project
Perhaps just taking into account some simple checklist is enough for your project. There are no rough and complicated calculations to be made for your team’s workload or anything like that. Monday may be able to serve you just fine on a day-to-day basis.
More complex industries may need to look elsewhere for their projects. Monday might be able to serve their basic needs, but when they have to start jumping to other software for the functionality that they need,
They should also create their proprietary project management software if they want more integrations and features.
Tech-Savviness of the Team
Migrating to a new project management tool is not easy. There are a lot of pain points to address with this kind of move.
The most significant factor in training your team members who are less familiar with such platforms. Perhaps you’re of the generation where certain buttons, colors, and designs have an apparent reason. You might understand all of these symbols and concepts right off the bat. But not everyone is like you.
People from all walks of life in your team may not know about the newest user experience trends and don’t understand how Monday works for them and why it’s useful.
Of course, you can give it time to sink in, but time wasted on these little administrative tasks can be the reason for so much more stress.
All-in-all, whether or not Monday suits your project will ultimately depend on the kind of company and team you are running.
Conclusion
Like most project management software available, Monday.com offers excellent functionality and an intuitive way to manage your project cycles remotely – provided that you invest the time and effort to educate your less savvy teammates.
A project management app should cut down on your work – not add to it!
It’s always essential to upgrade your workspace in a way that will accommodate everyone and bring innovations that will save time, money, and effort.
Overall, Monday is a good start to having a more efficient project management system, and you should try it out for your team to get a feel for its usefulness.
FAQs
Here are some of the answers to your burning questions about the popular project management software.
