How to Manage Repeatable and Unique Work with Templates in KanBo

Organizations undertake a wide variety of projects and tasks on a daily basis that differ in terms of complexity and scope.

There is usual operational work that’s quite frequent and simple and then there is work that has to go through multiple processes as it is far more complicated. In order to stay productive, organizations need to ensure that they understand the different types of work they have to deal with and come up with a robust work management strategy that enables them to organize and manage everything in a productive manner.

One of the major challenges that companies often have to face is that they need to go through identical processes repetitively which results in both loss of time and financial resources. Over the course of months and years, this excess wastage of resources racks up quickly and has a substantial impact on expenditure management, overall productivity, operational efficiency, and the company’s bottom line. This is an essential reason why most organizations are now attempting to identify different types of work so they can develop and deploy effective work management strategies.

Regardless of the industry and the niche you are operating in, KanBo provides you with all the useful tools you need to categorize, manage, and organize different types of work while reducing the burden of repetitive tasks to save time and company resources.

Repeatable Versus Unique Work

Repeatable work involves those tasks and projects that your organization has to accomplish on a rather regular basis. There are certain types of tasks that are repeatable for almost all organizations, for instance, hiring new candidates across different teams and departments. On the other hand, some repeatable tasks and projects could be unique to your organization such as running print marketing campaigns every month.

Now, the repeatable work can either be simple or complex depending on the scope and nature of the processes involved. For example, if you are a design agency then creating logos could be a simple repeatable task. However, if your organization conducts workshops and seminars across the country, then you have to manage a multitude of aspects including sourcing, logistics, planning, data analytics, and more. This can be categorized as complex repeatable work.

Unique work includes tasks, assignments, and projects that are only done every once in a while and are usually quite different from each other. For instance, if your organization wants to create and implement a new security policy that would only be done once every few years as companies don’t change such policies on a regular basis.

Once again, unique tasks can vary from organization to organization and what qualifies unique work for one company might be repeatable work for another. It depends on the industry and business you are in.

Most organizations are searching for an effective way to manage and complete repeatable work so they can stay on top of their productivity goals. The best way to do so is by developing and following standards and processes which can be tweaked along the way. KanBo enables organizations to accomplish exactly that through a diverse range of card and board templates.

Let’s dive into the details of how managers and team leaders can stay ahead of the curve using KanBo templates for managing repeatable and unique work.

Managing Frequent and Simple Work in KanBo

As we discussed above, frequent and simple work includes those tasks and projects that your organization undertakes on a regular basis and they don’t require the involvement of multiple teams. For example, when you need simple design elements such as creating an icon, all you need to do is create a card on the Creative or Design team’s board. That card will now move through different statuses of the board as work progresses and gets to the finish line.

In KanBo, you can accomplish frequent and simple work using Card Templates. They allow you to create work almost instantly without requiring you to enter all the details again and again. Here’s what you need to do in KanBo:

• Let’s assume that you run webinars on a regular basis and have to send invitations to your guests every time you conduct a webinar.
• You can create a basic card for sending invitations which can include the to-do list such as compiling a contact list from CRM, having the contact list approved, writing an invitation email, and sending out those emails.
• Once you have created a basic card or if you already have such a card, go to the menu and click on “Create template”. You will have to type in the name of the template and once you’re done, click on “Create”.
• You will now see a preview of the card template and it will have an icon on the top to reflect that.
• If you want to make any further changes to bring the card to a more neutral level, you can do so at this point. For instance, you might want to remove the assignees who may change in the future depending on the work. Similarly, you can delete the start and due dates as those will be different every time.

Now when you have to do that simple and repeatable task the next time, click on the “+” icon on the list, select your card template, enter the name, and click on “Add”. The card will be prepopulated with all the default information and you won’t have to start from scratch.

The card template in KanBo enables organizations to refine and streamline their processes of accomplishing a diverse variety of simple and repeatable tasks which leads to work efficiency and enhanced collaboration.

Managing Frequent and Complex Work in KanBo

Frequent and complex work often includes any tasks, projects, or ventures that are far more long-term, feature different types of processes, and require the involvement of multiple teams or departments. For example, if your company participates in trade fairs on a regular basis and organizes everything on its own, that would be classified as frequent and complex work as it will be a complicated undertaking including planning, logistics, budgeting, the collaboration between teams, and coordination with third parties.

Just like you can manage frequent and simple work in KanBo using card templates, you can also handle frequent and complex work – except you will be relying on board templates. A board template allows you to create work, processes, and other components instantly and invite external users whose involvement is required for the accomplishment of the project. There are two different types of board templates in KanBo for managing complex and frequent work:

Processual Board Template

As the name suggests, this type of board template is used to manage work which usually has to go through multiple stages to be completed. For example, vacancy and issue management are two types of work that are handled through processes. If you are trying to fill in a vacancy, candidates will go through screening, technical interviews, HR interviews, and other phases.

This type of board template will contain all the processes but not the actual work since it can be different from one task to another. Here’s what you need to do to create a processual board template in KanBo:

• Create a basic board that contains all the processes. For instance, if you are managing vacancies on a regular basis, the board will contain different lists that reflect multiple stages of the entire work process. These could be Open Positions, New CVs, Phone Interviews, Interviews, HR Interviews, Final Decisions, and Archives.
• It is also important to create labels so you can tag the right team so they get notified in a timely manner.
• Now to create a new board after your template, go to “Departments” in the left pane and click on the “+” sign. Then tap on the “Add new board” button.
• A new window will pop up where you can select the right board template from the list and enter the name of your new board. Choose the board color and click on “Add”. This will now create a new board that will have all the elements that you included when finalizing the template.

Keep in mind that the board template will import everything from the original board so you will get all the right views, card templates, lists, calendar, and other components that provide you with the ability to monitor work from different perspectives.

Work Board Template

This is the second type of board template that you can use for managing frequent and complex work. This board template is prepopulated with all the work, processes, and information that are required to get the job done. Once again, everything from the original board will be imported including views like By Teams, Where we stand, Calendar, and Gantt.

Since the work has already been created, all you need to do is assign every task to the right person and set start and due dates. You can use different views to track the status of every aspect of the project and monitor which teams are delivering and which aren’t. Again, you won’t have to create everything from scratch and it will be easier for your organization to manage and monitor frequent and complex work.

One of the best features about board templates is that you can continue to update and tweak them as your organizational work processes and culture evolves. For instance, you can add information based on your previous similar complex work experiences that can provide insight to your team members and external parties.

Managing Infrequent and Simple Work in KanBo

This is the type of work that is only done every once in a while and doesn’t require large-scale involvement of other teams and external parties. An example of this type of work is when your organization’s IT team wants to put a communication plan in place for security changes. The draft is prepared which is then discussed for further changes and adjustments before the final message is communicated to the rest of the organization.

Infrequent and simple work can be managed in KanBo quite easily using cards and child or subcards. Simply add a card and include all the points that need to be completed or debated upon. After a card is created, go to the menu in the right pane and click on “Child card group”. This will enable you to create sub-tasks and complete them in an efficient manner while allowing seamless coordination and collaboration between involved team members.

Conclusion

Twenty-first-century organizations want to be operationally efficient so they can enhance productivity, reduce expenditure, and increase their bottom line, especially in a pandemic-ridden world. To accomplish that, they need to come up with a robust work management strategy that enables them to identify repeatable and unique work and further categorize it so they can design and implement adequate business processes.

KanBo provides organizations with all the features they need to handle different types of work including frequent and simple work and frequent and complex work. With KanBo, organizations can rely on board and card templates to create effective processes that enable them to manage all kinds of work in a resource-efficient way.