⚙️ #SHARE - Your Best Automation

Douglas Boyce
Douglas Boyce EN Basic, MT Tester Posts: 20 Star Contributor
edited August 2023 in Tips and Templates

I'm always looking for ideas to improve my productivity.

What is your Favorite, most Productive Automation ?

I'll go first - I have a Reoccurring Task with my Morning Routine in a Checlist that I have set to run each morning Mon - Fri.

This way, if I get busy, I can always return to make sure everything I need to do each morning gets done.

Comments

  • Admin BSF.company
    Admin BSF.company MT Tester, EN Pro, EN Business Posts: 481 Community Leader
    edited April 2023

    Hello @Douglas Boyce, "Recurring Tasks" is a feature I have yet to exploit in MeisterTask, thanks for sharing your ideas.

    The automations I use the most are:

    • Time tracking (start and stop depending on the columns)
    • Task assignment (specific people depending on the columns)
    • Task status (completed when dropped in a specific column, usually "Done")

    My workflow goes like this:

    • Column for "Pending" capture all incoming tasks with no people nor due date assigned yet
    • Column(s) for "Assigned Tasks" stop the time tracking and ensure certain people are assigned as responsible. Due date is a must in this column!
    • Column for "Ongoing" tasks start the time tracking and are reserved only for tasks being executed right now
    • Column for "Done" stops the time tracking and sets the status as "Completed"

    This way, the only thing team members have to do is:

    • Drag and drop tasks between columns
    • Leave feedback (comments) on each task

    That happens according to:

    • What's currently being done
    • Who's doing it
    • What comes next

    Sometimes, automatic checklists come handy as well in "Column Automations".

    This helps to minimize most of the cognitive load associated with "learning to use a new platform" because it doesn't get easier than drag-and-drop, right?

    Usually, the flow goes forward:

    Pending —> Assigned —> Ongoing —> Done

    And sometimes tasks that are "Ongoing" or have been "Completed" have to return to "Assignment" for some reason.

    One way or the other, automations take care of the most click-demanding settings each time.

    Additionally, I've set the Slack integration to get automatic notifications of Completed Tasks in all projects, each time a task lands in its respective "Done" column. Great for review and feedback.

    Best regards.
    Andrés D'Andrea

    Follow me on LinkedIn and:

    BSF.company - Digital Solutions For Your Business.

    Technopreneuring.Com - Optimize Resources. Maximize Results.

    GestionOperativa.Com - Optimiza Recursos. Maximiza Resultados.

  • Miša Hennin
    Miša Hennin Admin, MeisterLobster, EN Business Posts: 1,664 Community Admin

    Love this question @Douglas Boyce!

    Honestly I don't really take advantage of automations so I'm grateful for the inspiration here.

    At the moment, I only use the recurring task automation for pieces like Badge of the Month. I know I will post a BotM at the start of every month so I have an automation creating this task as a reminder.

    I think @Cathy Fanning might have a good insight here? Also @Rooster McNugget and @Joerg Koper!

    Best,

    Miša

  • Joerg Koper
    Joerg Koper MT Tester, DE Business Posts: 1,486 Community Leader

    Hi @Douglas Boyce 👋🙂

    My favorite automations are a combination of "Move task", "Update tags", "Add checklists", "Update status" and "Recurring task". That makes perfect workflows possible for me. But the fun really starts when I incorporate the power-up "Task Relationships"! Correctly coordinated, these make navigating through the various project boards a dream.

    Best, Jörg

    Als Experten-Partner von Meister führe ich in meiner Agentur u. a. Workshops für die Integration der Meister Software durch. Hier in der Community freue ich mich auf den Austausch mit Euch und helfe bei Fragen zu MeisterTask, MeisterNote und MindMeister gerne weiter.

    Weitere Informationen findest Du auf agenturkoper.de und LinkedIn.

  • Douglas Boyce
    Douglas Boyce EN Basic, MT Tester Posts: 20 Star Contributor

    @Joerg Koper I've started looking into the Add Checklist. Automation, do you have any examples of a checklist you add to help stir up my creative juices 😎

  • Miša Hennin
    Miša Hennin Admin, MeisterLobster, EN Business Posts: 1,664 Community Admin

    Hey @Douglas Boyce,

    I'm sure @Joerg Koper will be able to share his expertise but in the meantime, I found some resources on checklists to share!

    Some tips:

    Some templates which use checklists (might give some inspo):

    Hope this helps a bit!

    Best,

    Miša

  • Joerg Koper
    Joerg Koper MT Tester, DE Business Posts: 1,486 Community Leader

    Depends on what you plan to do, Douglas 😉

    I think, @Miša Hennin posted some very good sources for a good start with checklists. For me, it's important to create checklist templates that support my workflow. I guess, Recurring processes like questions, to-do's, reminders, work steps etc. are good examples.

    You surely have some workflows that can be shortened with this automation too 👍️

    Hope you're getting creative now. If so, tell us about your ideas or feel free to post some screenshots.

    Best, Jörg

    Als Experten-Partner von Meister führe ich in meiner Agentur u. a. Workshops für die Integration der Meister Software durch. Hier in der Community freue ich mich auf den Austausch mit Euch und helfe bei Fragen zu MeisterTask, MeisterNote und MindMeister gerne weiter.

    Weitere Informationen findest Du auf agenturkoper.de und LinkedIn.

  • Cathy Fanning
    Cathy Fanning MT Tester, EN Business Posts: 187 Mastermind

    Hi https://community.meister.co/profile/Douglas%20Boyce ,

    I’ve setup and rely heavily on many Automations to streamline work practices and make sure that nothing is overlooked or falls through the cracks. Particularly when swamped with work I need a robust fool proof system that just works. Missing a step can mean the difference between a happy or unhappy client and successful job.

    The training and consulting cycles are somewhat repetitive but unique for each client and software platform, I’ve found the Automations work really well and can be tweeked at any stage if there is change in process. I use them to move through the training and consulting cycles from the initial enquiry right through to post training and consulting support.

    Automations I’m using:

    Assigning Tasks

    Checklists

    Moving Tasks

    Update Status

    Update Due Date

    Send Email

    Notify Office365 Group

    Regards

    Cathy Fanning

    www.thetemporaryalternative.com.au