Founders Series: 5 tools to help you organise your workflow

Welcome to our Founders Series, where we aim to give advice, answer questions and provide solutions for people starting their own businesses. If this sounds like you, read on! We've got plenty of content on a wide range of topics, all to help you grow and succeed as a founder.

Starting a business, no matter how much experience you may already have, comes with many tasks to check off the to-do list, and likely many people to organise. There’s so much to consider, so how do you organise it all?

In this blog, we’ll break down our 5 recommendations for tools to help you and your team organise and manage workflow. Of course, there are many other options available – these are just a few!

Trello

If you’re a fan of to-do lists, organisation and colour coding then Trello might be the answer to your prayers. Create and name each list and add as many cards as you need to, depending on how many tasks you have. And the best part – it’s free! There’s a paid option but with the free version you can create unlimited lists and cards and up to 10 workspaces.

You can also integrate other work tools that you might use, like Slack or Google Drive. Again, you can integrate as many as you like with the free plan.

Another great feature is that you can add labels to each of your cards and assign a different colour to each. This is a to-do list lover's dream tool. Move cards around between lists as and when you need to and delete cards if they’re no longer needed.

When you open a card, you can add a start and due date, include a checklist, add any notes or comments, assign tasks to members of your board and attach images or documents. 

So if you like to see all your jobs and tasks in one place, organised into labelled lists, Trello is a good choice.

Google Workspace

Calendars, chats, documents, spreadsheets, email – Google Workspace has got it all. And all under one roof. Perfect for larger businesses or a business that has collaboration at the heart of its operations, Google Workspace provides a tool for every occasion. 

View all of your team's calendars in one place, arrange meetings and send messages quickly, either individually or in ‘spaces’ (or group chats). Like with Trello, if you’re a colour-coding fan, Google calendar lets you pick and choose your palette and assign certain colours to different calendars.

Google Drive lets you store and create new documents, spreadsheets, slides and forms to either share with any member of your team with a Google account, or backup for your own use. It makes collaboration easy and anyone with access can edit, comment or suggest.

Monday

Usually the most hated day of the week, but this Monday is one we’re sure you’ll love. It’s a cloud-based platform, used for managing projects, tasks, marketing, design and so much more. It’s the whole package when it comes to business organisation. 

Create and customise your goals and objectives, prioritise tasks and assign work to specific members of your team. As with Trello, tasks can be organised into labelled to-do lists (also colour-coded!) and given priority tags so your team can see what to choose first. You can also add personal to-do lists if that’s more your thing.

Monday also allows for a custom project approval process to be implemented, so you can send requests via email when you need a task signed off by a specific person.

Build gantt charts, kanban boards and plan out your teams monthly or weekly agendas.

Jira

Jira connects all teams within your business via boards. So if someone from another team wants some work done, they can request a ticket. 

Like Monday, Jira gives you the option to create kanban boards to see the workflow and status of tasks. Plus, if a stakeholder doesn’t know how to structure a ticket or you and your team have a specific way you like to receive tasks, you can create a ticket template for them to follow.

You can also create a scrum board for those larger tasks that need a little more management and breaking down into smaller jobs. 

Jira promotes productivity and smooth workflow processes, with its multiple features and boards to help you keep your team on track.

Slack

Our final workflow tool is Slack – the self-proclaimed ‘world’s most beloved work operating system’. Slack combines chat, project management, integrated tools and AI all in one place. With Slack, you can:

• Open up conversations with both internal and external colleagues using the collaboration feature
• Create Slack channels for each team or project you’re working on
• Integrate over 2,600 apps, like Zoom, Canva, Google Drive and more
• Use AI to search through company history and conversations and get daily recaps of any missed messages

One thing to keep in mind before you begin using any of these tools, especially on your work laptop or device, is to get approval from management and your IT team. Unauthorised software can cause numerous security risks if not checked by the correct people. 

As well as this, you need to or have someone in your legal team check the terms and conditions and privacy policy of any of these tools before signing up. This is especially important if you’ll be paying for a monthly or yearly subscription.

Help is on hand

As a founder, you’ve likely got a lot on your plate. The tools listed in this blog are just a few of the many at your disposal that can help you and your business flourish. If you need any more help or guidance, head over to our Founders Hub, where you’ll find all the information and tips and tricks you’ll need as a new founder. 

Or if you’d rather have a chat, our team of experts are around 24/7 to answer any queries. Whether you’ve got a question about marketing, need some advice on websites or hosting, or are looking to get a professional email for your business, we can help. Give us a call on 0800 0612 153 or message us via live chat.