Working with Projects in MeisterTask
You want your project management tool to be easy to use but you also need advanced features. Where is that middle ground?
Well, I think the answer is MeisterTask. In today's video, I'm giving you a full review and all of the features that I think set MeisterTask apart from other project management systems.
Hello, everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress. And let's dive in.
Here we are taking a look at a project within MeisterTask. And right off the bat, you'll probably notice that things are a lot more colorful.
I would argue maybe just a lot more beautiful, and that's something that I don't say a lot about a number of productivity apps. I think it's important that you like the tool that you're using and the members of your team actually want to be in here so you don't have to remind them to come in and log into that project management tool.
So right away, you'll notice that our different columns, our different lists are very colorful, very easy to read, and they're also customizable. So, for example, if I want my In Review to be more of a red color, make it stand out a bit more, I can do so.
It makes it easier for me and my team to see exactly where everything is. You'll also notice that MeisterTask makes it very easy for me to see how many tasks I have in each stage.
Yes, Trello, I'm looking at you. You haven't built this in just yet so I can quickly see a glance of what things are going on.
And you may be paying attention to these 3/3, 3/4. Yes, you can set limits for a certain list.
So if I drag this task over into my In Review, it's gonna give me a warning, "Hey, this is more than the number that you have set for this particular list." Now I don't need a limit for every single list, but this is a real nice to have for particular stages of your workflow or of your projects so that you can see what is going on.
Viewing your projects the way you want
On top of that, I can do other things such as, for example, maybe I want to collapse this list and maybe I don't really need to see the Done list. It's just taking away from my attention, taking away from my focus, so I can just focus on the lists that are important to me.
And they're still functional. So for example, if I need to drag this into the Done list, I can still do so, I just don't need to see everything that is going on within that particular list.
So I really like the layout of what is going on here within MeisterTask. A couple of other features to draw your attention to.
How about this? I need to edit this one and this one and this one.
Yes, that's right. You can multi-select all of your tasks here.
So if I need to come up here to the top and say that, you know what, I need to set a due date for all four of these tasks, it's gonna be next Friday. I'm gonna hit Done.
Boom, everything is done. I didn't have to go into each and every task and make the same change over and over again.
Key productivity features to stay on task
If we open up one of these cards, here's something that I think is fantastic to help you and your team stay on top of their tasks. At the very top of this task, you'll see that it is currently assigned to Vivian, but there's another section over here called Watching.
And you can see that both myself, and if I hover over here, we have Zoey, we're both watching this task. So what is the difference?
Well, at the moment, Vivian is the owner. Maybe she's the one who needs to do this, fill out the experiment document, right?
She's the one who is next in line for completing something here. But perhaps Zoey is the manager.
Maybe I have some other tasks on this. I just wanna keep an eye on what's going on, but there's a distinction between watching, those who are just watching this task and those to whom it is assigned.
Now watch what happens when it's my turn to take over this task. I'm gonna come up here and I'm going to select myself and… Oh, wait a minute.
Where did Vivian go? Well, Vivian automatically became a watcher.
Why? Because within MeisterTask, assignments are one-to-one.
You can only have one person assigned to a task at any given time. You can have as many watchers but only one assignment.
If I close down this task, you'll notice that it's very clean and simple. We only have one avatar.
We only have one profile picture on each and every one of these tasks. I don't know how many times I have been coaching and consulting my clients, telling them, "Please, just assign to one, maybe two people at the best."
Whether you use Trello or Asana or some other project management tool, I see teams assign so many different people to the same task and then people get confused. Well, who owns this?
Who should be working on this next? I love that this is built right in.
If I need to assign this to Jerry, for example, now I become a watcher down below. I'm still gonna receive updates and notifications, but Jerry is the one who is next in line.
Time tracking tools built-in
You also see that we have time tracking built right into our tasks. So if I start working on this, I can hit that play button regardless if I'm the one assigned to it.
Down here under the Activity section, you can see that Scott started working on this task. And when I close this particular task, I can see very clearly which task I am working on.
I can even see that total up here in the top right-hand corner. Maybe I switched gears and I need to start working on this project.
So I'm gonna hit play over here. Well, obviously I can't be working on two things at the exact same time, so I am no longer tracking down here.
I am tracking this project. And if I need to stop, I can just hit the stop button here and I can review that data later on.
So again, very thoughtful features here to make your life and to make your team that much more productive. Now, if you prefer to work within a Gantt chart or timeline view, you can do so right here.
I can click on any one of these tasks and go directly into the card and start editing that information and come back here. MeisterTask also allows you to see both at the same time.
So if you wanna see your board view but also see your timeline view, you can do so here as well.
Dashboard & Personal Agenda View
But let's jump outside of this project and let's go to the home screen because there's another area which I think really sets MeisterTask apart. First off, we have a dashboard, and this really isn't that unique.
Many project management tools have a place where it will summarize all of the tasks that are assigned to you across multiple projects. Here, you can see our time tracking is listed here and a few notifications on the right, but just below Dashboard, we have an area called Agenda.
And what I love about the Agenda is that this is a private place. This is a private workspace just for you.
No one else on your team can view this. You can now manage your tasks across multiple projects any way that you like.
So here on the left-hand side, I have a list of a number of things that are assigned to me, but on the right-hand side, I have my own personal customized board. So I can change all of these headings, I can add more, I can have as few as I like.
But now I can start to organize, I can start to drag things over here and work the way that I like to work. The way that I go about my day may be very different from the way that you go about your day.
And maybe you would like a certain heading or a certain column that doesn't even exist in one of your projects. No problem.
That's what the agenda area is for. And again, these cards are just like within the projects, we can open them up and continue to work as we go.
Let me jump into this editorial calendar project for just an example here. Now, all of the things that are assigned to me are going to be visible for me to add, but even if I'm not assigned.
Let's say that I want to keep an eye on this task here, all I need to do is select this push pin icon. And then I have the option to put it under the Upcoming.
Maybe it's something that I'm gonna be working on within the next week so I can select where it is going to be in my agenda. If I come back to my Agenda screen, here you see, now it appears here within my private agenda workspace.
So I think this is a great addition to help you stay productive. You can work and organize your tasks the way that you like.
Reporting and Custom Data
Now, another area where I feel many project management systems fall short has to do with reporting. And I think MeisterTask creates a nice balance between complexity of the numbers and the data that you can get, but also with the ease of use in creating and viewing these reports.
So for example, here, maybe I just want to see the things that have been completed. I just completed this this quarter, for example, and I want to group them by project in this particular case, so I can see that data quickly and easily.
I can manipulate these tasks if I want to click on them right here from within this reporting window. And last but not least, I can save them.
So if I want to repurpose or reuse this report in the future, MeisterTask makes it nice and easy. Now, if you'd like to try out MeisterTask for yourself, you can sign up for their free forever plan or use the special coupon code SIMPLETIVITY and receive 15% off any of their paid plans.
As always, thank you so much for watching. Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult.
In fact, it's very simple.
