Business Tool Tip: Why I Love Teamwork

As an OBM, a huge part of my job is keeping things organized in my clients’ businesses as well as my own.  

With all my clients, their projects, my projects, and several people on my team, there are a lot of moving parts to keep track of! Content creation, outreach, social media, research, tech stuff, graphics, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  

There are always so many tasks going on in my business that it’s impossible to keep up with them all without a robust project management program. I’ve tried several systems over the years I've been in business (don’t even get me started on the ones I don’t like…) but there’s one that stands out above the rest, that I absolutely LOVE: Teamwork. 

Teamwork helps me keep my own sh*t organized, communicate with my team, seamlessly delegate tasks, and see  at a glance what’s done and still needs to be done on any given project.  

Here’s why I love Teamwork and some of what I can do with it 

Delegate to my team.  

Teamwork makes it easy to assign tasks to my team members and include comments on information they might need to complete the tasks. We can also attach files to the tasks. This comes in handy when sharing articles or content for clients and my own business, and also when requesting graphics from my designer. Everyone on the task (me and whichever team members are doing the work) can add comments and keep each other updated.  

Updates on tasks can even go straight to team members’ email so they can get notifications even if they aren’t logged into Teamwork.  

I especially love the ability to duplicate tasks lists to any project, making activities like onboarding new clients and setting up their virtual offices a breeze! 

Time Tracking 

My team members can record the time they spend on client work right in Teamwork, which is handy when it comes time to bill clients for time used and making sure time is spent efficiently.  

Coordinate calendars 

Teamwork has its own calendar built right into the program, so all of us can see when projects are due, when team members will be unavailable, and when team meetings are scheduled.  

Communication 

Teamwork has its own chat system, which we use all the time to share interesting stuff we find on the internet, to bat ideas around, keep each other updated on tasks, and to just shoot the shit sometimes.  

You can even have different channels for different content and include only the people necessary to that conversation. It’s very similar to Slack, except you don’t have to sign up for a different program. It's built right into Teamwork and also has a mobile app so we can all stay connected, even if someone is away from their computer. (You can also turn notifications off, because sometimes you need to unplug!)  

Keep Client Projects Separate 

Work in Teamwork is divided into “projects” or big areas where smaller tasks are organized. I have a project for my own business and one for each of my clients’ businesses. Each project is broken down further into task lists for certain categories like onboarding, general tasks, content creation, graphics, website tasks, SOPs, etc.  

Notebook and Files 

If you like Basecamp, you’ll like this feature because it’s similar to the system of folders and documents. We can all share Notebooks, which are collections of documents. We use these to keep track of brainstorms, upload flow charts from LucidChart (another program I love), and generally just keep ideas in one place where we can all find them.  

How Teamwork has changed my business:   

• Less back and forth email, which means tasks aren't falling through the cracks!  
• Improved communication and collaboration between me and my team 
• Helps me organize my brain, my business, and client businesses 
• Shit gets done, and gets done faster
• Gives my team autonomy because they can manage their own tasks and easily communicate and collaborate with each other, even if I’m away.  

If you’re struggling to get all your ducks in a row so you can get your projects and team organized, I can’t recommend Teamwork strongly enough! Give it a try, play around with the features, and you might be amazed how easy it is to get organized.  

If you’re still need help getting it together so you can expand your business to the next level, we can help! I’d love to chat.  

This article contains an affiliate link, which means if you click the link and purchase the product, I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you. I promise I will only recommend products I trust and have used myself. See my disclosure policy for more information.