Lyskari's Monday.com Tutorial: The Bare Basics for Personal Use
Ξ Introduction Ξ
Hello, and welcome to my first Monday Tutorial where I cover the super bare basics of Monday (Monday.com) for personal use. I've not written tutorials in a while so forgive me if these first few are rough! Monday.com is a robust website that boasts a wide range of applications professionally (task management, project management, IT ticket management, and more). However, I found that it works wonderfully well for my personal life. I utilise it for two things: 1. Non-Routine To-Do's (e.g. "Get new car battery") 2. Resource Collection (admittedly I'm bad at updating this one) Though you can definitely utilise it for whatever you need! And if high levels of customisability and flexibility is up your alley, then I encourage you to give Monday a shot! Alright, Lyskari, this is sounding too good, but what's the catch? There are definitely still improvements that could be made, just like with anything. As much as I love Monday, it's built for corporate or team usage. Though they've created a free plan, it's not nearly as robust as the paid plans. I hope they can provide a bit more for the free plans in the future, but at the moment free plans lack some things that make Monday as great as it is, such as automations and integrations. If you have the money to shell out for the cheapest plan, I do recommend it, but only after you really look to determine if it's prudent. I recommend you look at the plan breakdowns first to ensure it offers the bare minimum of what you need. If automations are key for you then I'd encourage a free program that has automations. Check out the links below for plan breakdowns & pricing. Other helpful links: (These bring you to Monday help articles that explain some things better than I can, or they direct you towards their help resources directly.)
Understanding the Free Plan Comparing Plans & Pricing Monday's Community Forums Monday's Video Tutorial Center Monday's Help Center
Please note these tutorials are not sponsored in any way, and they will not even cover every single thing Monday can do... as doing so would be a rather herculean task. However, if there are aspects of Monday you'd like me to cover just leave me a note!
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Ξ Layout Ξ
Before we get into the meat and potatoes, I want to describe how Monday is naturally setup by default. This may click immediately if you're familiar with task management software (or if that's how your brain works naturally). If this doesn't click with you immediately, don't worry, I define things in the very next section. 🧡
First I want to go over Monday's primary "container" hierarchy. That is to say, how their different "containers" are nested into each other or beside each other. I'll include a screenshot at the end for those of you who are more visually inclined! (Text in [brackets] are exclusive to dashboards and will be talked about more in the dashboard tutorial. Which I will hopefully remember to link here when it's done.) Workspaces ↓ Folders & Sub-Folders ↓ Boards [& Dashboards] → Views ↓ Groups [& Widgets] ↓ Items → Columns
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Ξ Definitions Ξ
It's a small thing but the way Monday names individual aspects of the program are incredibly beginner friendly. Subsequently, this is also one of smaller gripes I have with Asana. Monday likes to define things in ways that feel very logical, which can help when dealing with the overall learning curve. Additionally, I will only be explaining this as it pertains to personal use. If you'd like a professional breakdown, leave me a note! This section alone made this ungodly amounts of long so if the above visual helps you enough to understand, cool! Don't worry about definitions unless you really want a little more insight into any of the mentioned "containers" above! Let's get started!
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❖ Workspaces
Important Links: Monday's Article About Workspaces
Workspaces are the largest "container" type that Monday provides. Think of it as a house. There are a lot of different individual rooms inside, but they all belong to the one house. Should I use workspaces as a single individual? It's up to you and how you work! If having multiple houses works for you, then by all means! However, if you are like me and you struggle to remember checking in on the other workspaces... then consider utilising only one. Any other suggestions? If you wish to utilise Monday with another member of the house, another option available is having one workspace per individual... and potentially a "teamwork" workspace. However, it's possible to utilise a single workspace for multiple people as well. Talk it over with whoever you wish to use Monday with, and see what works best for both of you! Anything else? You have some customisation options! You can customise: • Workspace Name • Workspace Avatar Background Colour • Workspace Avatar Icon
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❖ Folders & Sub-Folders
Important Links: Monday's Article About Folders Organising Folders Using The P.A.R.A. Method
Folder's become the next container. If workspaces are the house, think of folders and sub-folders as the rooms within the house. Folders help organise the boards within a single workspace, with sub-folders helping break things down a little bit more if necessary. Colour Coding Perhaps one of my favourite features about the folders & sub-folders is the ability to colour them. As someone who is very colour-code dependent to work longer at higher efficiencies, the ability to colour folders & sub-folders was a godsend. (I was around prior to this addition, and I can tell you the difference has been night and day!)
So if you're really big into colour-coding things, this will be up your alley!
Additionally, you can utilise emojis in the folder and sub-folders name which can be useful when having to organise multiple boards. (I only use two boards for my personal life, but if you need more than this is potentially a great way to help keep yourself from getting overwhelmed!)
Though this is a Monday tutorial I did include a link to a resource describing a folder organisation method called PARA that I use both at work and at home. If you're interested in PARA tutorials, let me know!
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❖ Boards (and Views!)
Important Links: Monday's Article on Shareable Boards Monday's Article on Private Boards Monday's Article on Board Views Finally. BOARDS.
Boards are where the magic truly happens for Monday, and also why I love their choice of terminology. Unlike Asana who call their boards, "Projects", Monday utilised a more straightforward and accurate term.
If workspaces are a house, and folders & sub-folders are individual rooms, then boards are points of interest in that room such as TV & Entertainment, the Bookshelf, or the Walk-In Closet. These are where things happen, be it collection of data, tracking to-do's, and more.
Additionally, each board has multiple ways to view the data on that board. Even the main board itself is a view -- it's called the "Main Table".
These views can include: • Kanban views (similar to Asana's "Board" view) • Additional table views (similar to Asana's "List" view) • Form view (which effectively turns your board into a fillable form) • Chart view • and More!
If you'd like me to go into the different view types, let me know! I'd be happy to write a view-specific tutorial. (And I honestly still may but I will also adjust what tutorials I write next based on interest.) Boards can be named whatever you desire, and yes, emojis are allowed! They come with a description area, as well, which can be utilised in whatever fashion works best for you. Colour Coding Legends, Icon Keys, a reminder of how the board is supposed to work, and more. You decide! Think of something you'd love to be able to track... or keep an eye on in some manner... and see what Monday has that works to bring that idea to life!
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❖ Groups
Important Links: Monday's Article on Groups If a workspace is a home, folders & sub-folders are rooms, and boards are points of interest in that room... then groups are how those points of interest are organised. Think of it as the drawer or closet organiser, where you have specific areas for specific items, such as under garments or tshirts. (Okokok yes using this analogy for a supposed to be neurodivergent-friendly tutorial was dumb but it's all I had ok? Don't come at me. 😅)
Groups are categories that you create within a board. You can have one, you can have two, you can have fifty though I would not recommend that unless you can truly keep up with it!
Let's say you have a group of to-do's you'd like to work on. You may have groups for "Unstarted" "In Process" and "Completed", as a way to organise out your tasks.
Let me guess, it's customisable too? I see you're picking up on the recurring theme! Yup! You can: • Change the Group Name (also emoji friendly!) • Change the Group colour • Easily drag and drop groups in whatever order you prefer! And this brings us to our final "container"!
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❖ Items & Columns
Important Links: Monday's Article on Column Basics * Takes a deep breath. * If workspaces are homes, folders & sub-folders are individual rooms, boards are points of interest in a room, and groups are how those points of interest are organised, then items are the individual items within the organised points of interest... like socks! Meanwhile columns are like the details of the sock. Who does it belong to? Jane. What colour is it? Purple with white polka dots. (Please tell me if these metaphors are working, or aren't!) It gets better. Monday allows you to change the terminology of "item" so it can accurately fit what your board is working with. Instead of "item" you can have "tickets", "questions", "Doodlepoodles", or whatever else you desire. You also will not be locked in to the name you select. If you name your board items "dogs" and later realise you also have cats, you can update terminology to "animals". So you can "add animal" to the board. It's such a tiny thing, but having accurate terminology really does help my neurodiverse brain. A lot. So I hope it helps yours! That said, for the sake of this tutorial series I will refer to it as "tasks". (Mostly because for some reason I swapped from "item" to "task" during this tutorial and I don't know why... and finding and siwtching them all out sounds like a lot of effort... when I already put so much effort into writing this so... forgive me, that one.) Tasks populate beneath groups, and will likely be one of the first tutorials I make where I hone in one a single aspect and explain it in hopefully neurodivergent-friendly detail (but Harley this is already so long-- yeah yeah I know... tutorials have that tendency ok? I'm trying here. 😅) When adding tasks to a group, you can name the task whatever works best for you. Unfortunately, tasks seem lackluster when looked at on their own so let me tell you about columns as well. Columns populate to the right of your task name, and they collect different points and types of data which include but are not limited to: • Statuses • Labels • Numbers • Short Text • Long Text • Dates • Dropdown (Multiple Choice) • Priority • Aaaaaaand more! Columns names are customisable, but perhaps my favourite feature of columns is the ability to add a description to that column. When you add a description to a column it will cause an (i) to appear next to the column name. When hovered over, the (i) will pop-up with the description, which makes it a great way to remember how you planned to utilise a column if you're like me... and forget... a lot!
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Ξ In Conclusion Ξ
Just in the bare bones of Monday's setup there are so many ways to customise and setup a system that is unique to you and your brain. I hope this has helped give you some idea of what to expect, as I know what it's like to go in without any idea of how things work... and it can be overwhelming, especially if you're already struggling trying to keep up with things. Please feel free to send me an ask if you... • Would like a deeper tutorial on something specific I've mentioned, • Have a question about something here, or • Have a question about Monday/organisation in general! (I may not always have an answer, but I will try!) And, finally, if you enjoyed this tutorial and would like me to continue making more, please consider liking this post and reblogging it so that I can get more eyes on it. 🧡 If you enjoyed this tutorial and wish to leave a tip, you can do so on my kofi which you can find here: Lyskari's Ko-Fi Whether you share, like, reblog, leave a tip, a mix of these, or all of them, thank you for your support! And please please let me know if you'd like me to cover other aspects of Monday, or if you'd like me to give my thoughts on other programs!
In closing, here are some recommendations if this tutorial encourages you to give Monday a try:
Consider experiencing the learning curve first. For some, experiencing a learning curve while attempting to setup a system leads to frustration, and potential rage quitting. If this is you, consider treating it like a sandbox first, and not a construction project! .
Consider minimising maintenance needs. It is not uncommon for some neurodivergents [myself included] to build systems that require constant updates. This often leads to rage-quitting later on. The less you have to regularly maintain for individual tasks, the less overwhelming systems can be. Remember you want the system to work for you, you shouldn't be working for the system. .
Systems may take multiple forms before you find the one that works best for you. Don't be afraid to tweak or completely change your systems until you have ironed out as many wrinkles as possible. As you learn and gain Monday mastery, you will begin to notice ways you can improve systems... or make new, better systems. This is normal, no matter if it's Monday, Asana, or even pen and paper. Needing adjustments or updates doesn't mean a system is bad, it just means you have learned new information and you wish to utilise it by creating a better system... or tweaking the current one!
If you have questions, please feel free to send me an ask! I will do my best to keep up with questions. 🧡 Also please let me know what you thought about this tutorial. What did you like? What didn't you like? Did you like the metaphors? Or did they confuse you? Did I explain things well or do you feel something is missing? That way I can hopefully improve with each new tutorial! Thanks for reading!