MeisterTask Best Practices: Collaboration 101

In this best practices article, we’ll share how you can collaborate effectively to get the most out of MeisterTask.

Collaboration 101:

Establish Team Norms
Create Tasks that Optimize Collaboration
Get your Team on Board - Proper Project Setup

Establish Team Norms

Online task management tools have many well-known benefits: they streamline information, keep everything in one place, and increase transparency. But in order to take full advantage of these benefits and to maintain clarity amongst your team, it’s important to establish some expectations for online collaboration. Let’s take a look at how you can be clear when communicating through MeisterTask.

Let your team know what you expect when assigning tasks.

While it's nice to have knowledge of a task prior to being assigned it, there isn’t always time to fit in a meeting. If you do need to assign a task to somebody without discussing it with them beforehand, make sure that the resources necessary to complete the task are attached. This way, assignees will have all the relevant context readily available in MeisterTask.
Keep task-related communication in one place.

MeisterTask centralizes communication, so instead of sending emails or direct messages you can leave comments to update stakeholders on task progress. Centralizing communication will ensure that no important updates fall through the cracks. Plus, your team will appreciate being able to see task progress without having to reach out to stakeholders individually.
Notify your colleagues of changes.

Bring all relevant stakeholders on board by adding them as watchers. Those who are added as watchers to tasks or projects will be notified of any changes and updates as they happen. If you'd like to grab a specific colleague's attention, mention them using the @ symbol in the comments section. Alternatively, for big updates, use @here to notify everybody involved in the task.

Be careful when adding watchers!

Only add those for whom the task is relevant - nobody wants to receive daily notifications about something that doesn’t concern them.
Centralize resources with attachments.

Attach files to tasks to ensure that assignees have all the necessary resources when tackling something new. Draw your colleague's attention to a specific attachment by using the "/" key to link directly to an attached file.
Make sure tasks aren’t overlooked with automations.

Utilize the "Assign Task" automation to automatically assign a task to a chosen colleague when the task is moved to a specific section. For example, if your workflow requires tasks to be reviewed by your supervisor, just add the "Assign Task" automation to ensure all tasks moved to the "Review" section are assigned to him/her. This streamlines the process and ensures important steps aren’t missed.

You can also use the "Send Email" automation to improve collaboration. This will automatically send an email to project members or task assignees when a task is moved. As a result, colleagues who don’t regularly check MeisterTask will stay up to date on progress.
Connect MeisterTask with Slack.

Use our Slack integration to streamline your team's communication and turn Slack conversations into actionable tasks. With the integration, you’re less likely to have to chase your colleagues for tasks to get completed. The Slack integration notifies stakeholders whenever changes are made to tasks, keeping everybody on the same page, automatically.

Create Tasks that Optimize Collaboration

Ultimately, your tasks will only get completed if your team members complete them. But we’ve found that by taking certain steps, you can increase the chance that things run smoothly and make effective collaboration simpler. So, aside from noting vital information in the task name and adding context in the description box, which steps can you take to optimize collaboration?

Add Custom Fields to ensure important aspects of your tasks are defined. As a result, assignees can easily view key information and complete tasks to a higher standard.
Insert checklists to add structure to tasks and ensure everything you need done gets done. Assignees will appreciate guidance and reminders on how to complete tasks, and tasks will be completed more accurately.
Set due dates to help assignees prioritize. Even if a due date isn’t absolutely final, it’s useful to put one so that your team can organize their schedule and workload accordingly. If you’re reluctant to set a due date, remember it’s easy to adjust it in response to changes in workload. Plus, it’s more pleasant to make adjustments to dates than disappoint stakeholders because you’ve taken on more than you should have.

Get your Team on Board - Proper Project Setup

While there’s no real right or wrong when it comes to setting up a project, some teams appreciate a bit of guidance. To help you and your team make the right decision, we’ve collected some key questions and answers to help.

Should you create a team project or a private project?

This depends on a few things, including:

The confidentiality of the project.
Your company policy on transparency.
Your MeisterTask subscription (only Pro and Business users can create private projects).

All users can make team projects which are immediately visible to everyone within their organization. If your company strives for transparency and the contents of the project are not confidential, you might want to create a team project. Team projects quickly allow all stakeholders immediate access to a project. Comparatively, if your project deals with sensitive information, you might prefer to create a private project to which you invite relevant individuals. However, the option to create private projects is only available to Pro and Business users.

How can you ensure that the purpose and context of your project is clear?

The project name and description are important to the overall clarity of your project. When deciding on your project’s name:

Keep it short but cover all the key bases so your colleagues know what the project is about, at a glance.
Try to use searchable terms so your team can find the project easily.
Don’t use complicated language.

When writing the project description, build on the title:

Add the most important details of the project and provide necessary context. Will your colleagues immediately understand the purpose of your project?
State whether it’s an ongoing project or will be closed at a defined point.
Note which departments will be involved and whether the project is open to externals.

How should you manage your project members?

Assign roles and permissions wisely. When you add a colleague to a project, you can assign one of four roles: Project Member, Guest, Commenter, Viewer. Each of these has slightly different permissions. For example, Commenters can view projects and comment on tasks, but not modify either. This is ideal for when you’re sharing a project with a big team and want their input, but don’t want to risk unwanted changes being made to the project you’ve created.
Keep data security in mind when assigning roles, especially to those who aren’t part of your team. Use the guest role for projects which should remain private. Guests can only access and edit tasks which have been assigned to them or on which they have been added as watchers. Guest roles allow you to work with external collaborators while protecting sensitive project data.