Smart working: Useful tools to organize work

Smart working

Try to organize your day based on your work and your and your family’s needs to avoid having to stop your business perhaps to hang out laundry or to walk the dog. These types of tasks will have to be understood when you are smart working : not available / available / operational.

Compile a To-Do List with the projects and deadlines to be respected, then dividing it into the various small steps necessary to achieve the main goals. This will help you keep focused on things to do.

In addition, by passing and deleting the minor points from time to time, you will always have the general situation under control and you will be gratified and motivated to continue. In this way, finally, you can report to collaborators or your customers at any time on the progress of the work.

A precious resource is undoubtedly the Guide to Productivity and Time Management where you will find many tips for …

  • Priority management
  • The organization of work
  • Time management

When working on files that are continuously updated or revised, archiving and sharing them in the right way can make the difference.

Continuing, for example, to exchange, the same file via email or chat, changing it every time, may not guarantee that everyone has received the most updated version. To avoid a carousel of emails with the subject “replaces the previous version”, it is better to keep the file on a common platform, accessible to all, and edit it directly from there. In this way, moreover, every modification will be automatically notified to all the people who share that file.

Among the most used cloud platforms, there is certainly Google Drive, the web service, in the cloud computing, storage and online synchronization environment of Google. It includes file hosting, file sharing and collaborative editing of documents up to 15 GB free (including Gmail and Google+ photos storage space).

It can be used via the Web, uploading and viewing files via the web browser, or through the application installed on a computer / tablet / smartphone, which automatically synchronizes a local folder of the file system with the shared one.

Google Drive is natively connected to all the apps of the Google Suite, such as Google Docs and Google Calendar, therefore it allows you to create, edit, archive and share any type of document (texts, presentations, spreadsheets, tables …) even without having specific software installed on your pc or mobile device.

Work planning and useful tools

Working from home you will need to plan both office work and your non-work activities. Once your program is set up, share it with your collaborators, so that they know when you are available and when you will not be able to work because they are busy with your personal commitments.

It is essential that everyone – colleagues, customers, but also roommates, cohabitants and family members – understand your program and respect it.

Set limits and expectations by letting them know that working remotely doesn’t mean being available to everyone 24/7.

The network offers various tools, very often also free of charge, useful for better organizing work and increasing daily productivity. Almost all project / task management apps combine design, communication, personal chat, calendar, appointments, messages, surveys, e-mail, and other functions, all managed from a single platform.

Here are the tools most used by professionals and SMEs …

  • Trello: Structured as a “Kanban board”, Trello offers a sort of blackboard on which to view the flow of processes. Posts, projects, discussions, conversations, chats, and so on are inserted in dedicated tabs, which can be moved in drag & drop mode from one list to another on the dashboard. The various cards can then be divided into categories, representing the work flow in a simple and intuitive way. The highly interactive structure allows you to connect team members to a board and make them participate in actions, thanks also to the possibility of inserting content such as texts, images, discussions and links to the most important functions. The free version of Trello allows you to activate only one integration, significantly limiting the functionality of the web tool.
  • Asana: Among the best known and most used platforms in the world, it is characterized by an uncluttered design that makes assigning tasks particularly simple and intuitive. For this reason, it is a tool particularly suitable for beginners, who are introduced to the project management application by a practical guide. The working environment created by Asana is absolutely open, so each team member can modify all the information and content of the projects and activities. This obviously makes it necessary to establish clear rules, because freedom of use can always lead to errors, such as loss of data due to bad communication. The tool is therefore ideal for non-hierarchically managed work groups that collaborate openly,
  • Basecamp: This platform presents itself as a complete solution for companies. Despite an orderly and intuitive user interface such as that of Trello, it entails much more detailed single functions, thus making it less easy for beginners to use. Its wide range of functions in fact involves a certain commitment for an efficient use of the platform, but it is undoubtedly a powerful application for project management by teams of any size.

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Author: Sam Owens

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