How to become more efficient with Plaky, while working remotely

Businesses these days strive to improve their level of productivity because many of them transitioned to a remote work environment. 

These teams rely on technology and project management tools to collaborate and stay connected with their team members, clients, and customers, and Plaky is one of them. 

In this guide we’ll help you get familiar with our tool along with its main features that can improve the work of remote teams across different industries.

Remote work advantages & concerns

Besides the obvious advantages of remote work, such as: reduced costs, more flexibility, minimized environmental impact and access to a wider talent pool, this type of work comes with its own set of challenges. Communication & collaboration, employee engagement & motivation as well as security are among the biggest concerns for businesses that have adopted the remote work model.

Let’s go through the benefits that Plaky has to offer to remote teams and how it can assist them in addressing their challenges.

Organized task management

Plaky provides a clear and organized view of tasks, allowing remote teams to plan and manage their work effectively. These are the main features that prove to be more than useful while delegating work remotely.

Tasks

Tasks are the main building blocks in Plaky and they allow users and teams to create and organize their work.

Item represents any type of task, assignment or responsibility that is part of the project and should be completed. They can be either to-dos, clients, employees, or any other task unit. Tasks help to provide visibility into the work that team members are doing, making it easier for managers to monitor progress and identify any issues or roadblocks that may arise. This way all team member stay aligned around the same goals, no matter where they are.

Assignee

Plaky offers a person column which allows users to add assignees and to assign tasks to specific individuals or whole teams. This feature ensures that specific team members are responsible for completing certain tasks within a project.

Assigning tasks to team members means that everyone has a clear understanding of what is expected of them and who is responsible for each task. It strengthens accountability and efficiency by distributing work evenly across teams.

Due dates

Date column in Plaky allows users to add dates to tasks as deadlines or other time specific elements ensuring that tasks are completed on time. The date column helps remote teams to stay organized and prioritize tasks based on their due dates. Project managers can see at a glance when tasks are due and can adjust schedules as needed.

Status column

In Plaky, the status column is another useful feature when talking about remote work. It helps project managers and their teams to track progress, prioritize tasks, and collaborate more effectively.

The status column provides transparency into the project status, so it’s much easier for team members to see the progress of individual tasks and the project as a whole. It prevents misunderstandings and improves communication on projects in general. The status column is highly customizable, allowing users to create their own labels that reflect their specific workflow and project needs. This helps to ensure that the status labels are aligned with the project goals and objectives.

It can be used to prioritize tasks based on their current stage in the project, such as “In Progress” can be given higher priority than tasks that are marked as “Review” or “On Hold.”

Centralized communication & collaboration

Plaky provides a centralized location for team communication, allowing remote teams to communicate more effectively and reduce miscommunication even when working remotely. Besides the messaging options, Plaky gives you the options to share unlimited number of files.. 

These are some of the features that can help remote teams stay connected:

Comments

It’s important more than ever, while working remotely, to be able to text your teammates anytime, and to discuss tasks, share files, and provide feedback without having to switch to another communication platform. The comment feature in Plaky allows you to do exactly that, resulting in more effective collaboration in real-time.

Simply discuss tasks and share ideas within the platform, and improve communication by preventing misunderstandings and endless email tracking.

Mention

Mention feature in Plaky allow users to directly tag or notify team members within the platform. When a team member is mentioned, they receive a notification, within the app or through email, indicating that they have been mentioned in a task.

By tagging specific people, the @ button (mention feature) can ensure that any messages or questions are seen and responded to more quickly, speeding up the communication process and the overall workflow.

Notifications

Notifications in Plaky enhance communication and collaboration, improve accountability, and boost efficiency, by providing users with timely updates and information regarding tasks, projects, and team communication. This way team members are informed in real-time about all project-related activities.

Through the use of notifications, team members are able to receive personalized updates that are relevant to their role and responsibilities. This personalized approach ensures that team members are not overwhelmed by unnecessary information or distractions, ultimately improving focus and productivity. This notification can be set through the notification center.

Files

When working remotely is absolutely crucial to have the possibility to share files and documents. You will want to make it easy for you and your team to collaborate in real-time. The Plaky file sharing option allows you to do exactly that.

It offers users a secure, centralized platform for file sharing. By streamlining workflow and ensuring secure access to files, this feature is essential for promoting efficient collaboration and driving overall productivity among remote teams.

Files can be uploaded, downloaded, opened, searched and deleted. There is also the option to play video and audio files and see the preview of files in PDF.

Progress tracking

Stay in the know of what team members are working on, how much time they spend on a task and monitor their activity across tasks.

Time tracking

Plaky integration with Clockify enables you to track time on your tasks in Plaky with just one click and then run time reports. This feature allows remote teams to track the time they spend on each task and can help them manage their time more effectively and ensure that they are meeting deadlines.

You just need to install browser extension for time tracking (get extension for Chrome of Firefox) and the Clockify timer button will automatically appear in all Plaky tasks.

Kanban view

Besides the table view, Plaky offers a Kanban view which is a visual representation of tasks and projects It uses cards or boards to display information. Kanban boards in Plaky offer a clear visual representation of tasks in different stages of completion, allowing team members to easily visualize the status of each task and the progress of the project.

Kanban boards can be customized to fit the needs of the project, allowing team members to filter and add or remove stages or other task information as necessary.

Activity log

With Activity Log, you can track your team’s tasks and keep up with the activities on board or item.

There are several types of activity logs available in Plaky that provide a detailed record of changes made, updates, when and by whom were they seen, and other relevant information, offering team members a comprehensive overview of project progress.

• Board Activity Log
• Item Activity Log
• Last Seen

Activity log fosters accountability, transparency, and collaboration among team members. By tracking and displaying all project-related activity, it provides team members with a clear understanding of the progress being made and who is responsible for each task.

Flexibility & access

Remote work allows employees to work from anywhere with an internet connection, providing greater flexibility and work-life balance. Plaky is ideal project management tool because it can be accessed by its users through a web-based as well as iOS & Android platforms.

Web platform

Plaky is cloud-based, which means that remote teams can access the app from anywhere with an internet connection.

iOS & Android apps

Plaky mobile apps allows users to access their project management tool from anywhere, at any time. This provides greater flexibility and mobility for users, enabling them to work on projects on the go or from remote locations.

Plaky mobile apps provide real-time updates and notifications about project progress, deadlines, and task assignments which is super useful for keeping users informed and up-to-date, even when they are not at their desk.

Conclusion

To sum up, working remotely can provide many benefits for businesses, but it also requires careful planning and effective communication and collaboration tools to ensure success. Plaky is definitely the project management platform that can give you the tools to organize your workflow and unite your team around the same goals.