Unified Cards View: View All Your Tasks On A Single Screen
For managing multiple projects, it's best to set up separate task boards for each project. Such compartmentalization prevents unrelated tasks from getting jumbled up. But when a team member is involved in multiple boards, he needs to keep switching between boards, just to stay on top of work. And when dealing with more than 5 boards, constant board-switching can be rather tedious.
To remove the need for repetitive board-switching, we recently introduced the unified 'Cards' view. No matter how many boards you're involved in, you can now see your cards on a single screen! Here's a video walk-though of the new feature:
Video Walk-through:
Advantages of Separate Project Boards:
We always recommend BoardBell users to set up a separate board for each project or business initiative. While this approach has several benefits, two benefits stand out:
1. Clarity Of Context:
Let's say you're using a single task board for managing two websites: Site-X & Site-Y. Site-X's contact page needs to be redone, so you create a task card titled "Redo contact page' and assign it to Bob.
Without explicit clarity, Bob might redo Site-Y's contact page, instead of Site-X's. And even if you specify the website in the task's description, this information may get overlooked amid the hubbub of everyday business.
On the other hand, if you had a separate board for each website, the context would always be very clear. Bob would know exactly which site's contact page needs to get updated.
2. Access Control & Client Access:
Let's say Anna is assigned to work on Client-A's project while Brenda is assigned to work on Client-B's. If you're using a single board to manage both projects, Anna will be able to access details regarding Client-B's project. Similarly, Brenda will be able to see details of Client-A's.
But as Anna isn't working on Client-B's project, she doesn't need to access Client-B's details. In the best case, details regarding Client-B's project will be a distraction for Anna. In a more extreme case, Anna may be able to access (and potentially misuse) confidential details regarding Client-B. Clearly, Anna shouldn't be able to access Client-B's details. (And similarly, Brenda shouldn't be able to access Client-A's information.)
By setting up separate boards for each project, you'll be able to add Anna just to Client-A's project and Brenda just to Client-B's. This way, Anna and Brenda will be able to see just the information that is relevant to them. Additionally, you can invite your clients to join their respective project boards! This way, each client will be able to get real-time updates regarding their project, just by logging in to BoardBell.
Disadvantage of Separate Project Boards
While the above multi-board approach is great for contextual clarity and access control, it has a major downside. If a team member is involved in multiple projects, to stay on top of work, they'll need to keep switching between boards.
Constant Board-Switching Is Tedious
Let's say Matt is simultaneously handling four projects:
- Website development for Client-P
- Mobile app development for Client-R
- UX design for Client-Q
- API development for Client-S
- Website brush-up for Client-T
You've invited your clients to their respective boards, They can now log in to BoardBell and get real-time updates regarding project-progress. This makes clients very happy. But what about Matt? To stay on top of work, Matt needs to keep switching between 5 boards! And this is rather tedious.
But Matt is smart! He's simultaneously opened each of the 5 boards in separate browser tabs. This makes switching between boards easier. Even so, the need to constantly switch is still tedious.
Unified Cards View - No More Tedious Switching!
In the above example, wouldn't it be nice if Matt could see task cards across all his projects on a single screen? Yes, of course! And that's exactly why we introduced the unified 'Cards' view!
In the unified 'Cards' view, Matt will be able to see task cards from all his projects, on a single screen. To access this view, just go to 'Cards' from the main menu at the top-right corner of the screen.
In the unified 'Cards' view, cards from all your boards are grouped and sorted by the due date. The groups are:
- Overdue: Cards that are past due.
- Today: Cards that are due in the next 24 hours.
- Upcoming: Cards that are due in the next 7 days.
- Later: Cards that are due beyond the next 7 days.
- Undated: Cards without due dates.
Filtering, "Me" Icon & Unified Calendar
Like with boards, you can use filtering and calendar options in the unified 'Cards' view. Just click the filter-icon or the calendar-icon to get started.
Me Icon:
Right next to the filter-icon, you'll notice the me-icon. The me-icon is a filtering shortcut for seeing just the cards that have been assigned to you. Clicking the me-icon is equivalent to clicking the filter-icon and choosing yourself against the 'Assignees' option.
Each time you open the unified 'Cards' view, the me-icon is activated by default. Thus, you'll only see cards that have been assigned to you. To see all cards, click the me-icon to deactivate 'me' mode. Alternatively, click the filter-icon to set up custom filter criteria.
Unified Calendar:
On any board, the calendar view shows all the cards from that specific board. But in the unified 'Cards' view, the calendar view shows all your cards, across all boards. Think of this as your calendar as opposed to a specific board's calendar.
Try The Unified Cards View For Free!
To try the BoardBell's 'Cards' View, sign up for free! The Free plan includes 10 users and 10 boards for free.
Questions?
If you have any questions, please feel write to support@boardbell.com or call +1 302 480 1597. We'll be happy to help.
