How to Manage Projects Like a Pro in Microsoft Teams

[@emeliewaag922]

Process pretty please 🙏 I’ve been waiting for this video for sooo long. But please share more about the process work as well!

[@BulbDigital]

We hear you loud and clear!

[@lancegoddard8884]

Yes Please!!

[@BluemanBas]

@@BulbDigital please!

[@paull4228]

Yes please

[@francismastro]

Yes please! Review of the best practices for processes. I’ve been looking for a video like this one forever. Managing a team with month-end processes can be difficult sometimes without the proper utilisation of the tools. Thanks.

[@BulbDigital]

Roger that!

[@MatthewFallon-f8g]

Processes would be huge! Can't wait to see the video!

[@PLCSparkee]

This is OUTSTANDING!!!! Clear, concise, easy to follow and digest. Thank you. ❤

[@worksmart365ch]

Excellent explanation ❤ Saying it as someone using Teams and M365 since inception. What I would like to add / where I disagree: Always name tabs the same way like the team or the channel itself to prevent a mess later. 15:58 An example: If all your planner boards are named planner, how will you easily differentiate them in the planner app later? Therefore give every new planner board a name first (project x, topic y) and rename the tab in the channel back to “planner” or “tasks.” Only the tab will be renamed. The planner board keeps its original name. This way team members will recognize the tasks tab from within the channel as such and when opening the planner app in teams or in the browser those planner boards can be recognized quicker as they have the different names. Which makes filtering and grouping of all tasks easier as well. Hope that helps ☺️

[@daveboylan247]

Great work here! And yes, please do a process video. Thanks very much.

[@BulbDigital]

Thank you! We have it on our list!

[@balonm]

PROCESS PLEASE. Or maybe a mix is what I'm looking for. I run project I automotive which have duration of 2-3 years. And we are doing it... wait for it... in Excel. But the amount of information is huge. The planner would not handle it (as you mentioned on the video). Ms project? Addutional license is required. But it's not the case, people would not use it. I have been looking for a tool for quite a long time. To be honest, there are not many out of the box solutions on the market. I need a system to implement within MS365.

[@alexcarlston8559]

The new planner is more robust and basically can allow you (With a nominal cost) to have a project online experience with access to the rest of the team without the additional cost. Kind of a mid way to go with a lot more power.

[@jonwide6689]

Microsoft Lists is our preferred method for this. Just add as a tab in the channel

[@michael.reveals]

I personally use the new planner, with your situation I would dig into using the SharePoint didn't judge until you dig into it. He's a good video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hqjVooOAp7WippIsi=vlIqkzlShG50lQHi

[@michael.reveals]

I use the current planner and if I were you with your project... If you dig in, the SharePoint site might be the way. B4 you judge watch a couple videos on it.

[@BulbDigital]

Sounds good! The short answer is similar to what others are saying - Planner Premium can get you a lot further than Planner Basic (unfortunately). Check that out first. Viva Goals does a good job encapsulating multiple Planner Premium boards and aggregating them into larger goals/objectives. Otherwise you can roll your own like Michael is suggesting with SP, though we would typically lean towards Power Apps/Model-Driven Apps/Dataverse, though that can get complex quickly.

[@DaddyBusAdventures]

Managing projects has usually other facets like... How would you address stakeholders, cost tracking, whether you are on track or falling behind and how different milestones of a project are tangled up (critical path). Just some food for thought for maybe a more in-depth follow up, thank you for sharing.

[@amandasczekan1288]

Definitely interested in video for repeatable processes, especially where it involves cross functional teams (~3) where each team have an input/contributes to develop a deliverables and attends a variety of daily meetings

[@BulbDigital]

Sounds good, this is a good use case!

[@MatthewKozovski]

Great video! I would definitely be interested in your recommended strategies for how you treat processes!

[@BulbDigital]

Roger that, thanks!

[@SZU1881]

Just leaving a comment and a thumbs up to support the processes management video. Thank you!

[@itwithcarlos]

yeah, Emma, the processes perspective would be nice! thank you

[@BulbDigital]

Will do Carlos!

[@sybamunki]

In a company environment I recommend using AD groups to create Teams sites so the team membership is managed through AD groups. Helps keep memberships up to date

[@daveh4208]

Great overview. One thing I usually stress with my teams is that they should always work on the files, in the files section. They can open it in the app or desktop, but they should never download a copy, complete their edits, and then upload the edited copy because now they've created duplicates. Everyone can work on the same file, at the same time. One presentation suggestion, when you are displaying the TEAMS view in the video, move your photo over to the lower right corner. Having it on the left side is where most of what you are discussing is being displayed and the photo covered it up several times.

[@Squadraerighello]

Everything runs smooth and with great efficacy, nevertheless the biggest difficulty to involve people using it is given by the lack of notification from the conversations. People still prefer using the chat just for that reason.

[@cybermonkeyusa]

This is a great video. I have been here with Microsoft Teams for managing projects, but it is a mixed bag. While Microsoft has all of these features, the platform still feels clunky compared to the competition. Tools like Google Docs, Asana, Slack, Dropbox and Evernote feel more fluid and make collaboration outside of the organization feel effortless. I have never had sync issues with Evernote like I have with OneNote and I could say the same about other Microsoft tools. I am bold enough to admit that Microsoft leaves users with half baked services and quite a bit of confusion. For my organization, I have to collaborate with people across the globe and I have found that Microsoft make users feel exhausted.

[@marka2983]

An absolute ton of practical and valuable content! Thank you so much!! Looking forward to seeing more. Do you think there will ever be a way to focus on specific individuals in a channel without taking it private? Kind of like a team within a team.

[@shelleyJohnson-i2v]

Would love a video on processes

[@BulbDigital]

Will do!

[@esiwoediv]

Processes please!

[@BulbDigital]

We've got it on our list!

[@tomalongi7851]

Emma, this was really well done. Thank you, and keep it up.

[@BulbDigital]

Thanks Tom!

[@tomalongi7851]

@@BulbDigital You are most welcome. You earned it.

[@skeche]

The way you managed date could be cleaner. Meeting notes can be auto generated in 2 ways. When you create a meeting, you have the option to attach the meeting notes to the meeting, and when in a teams meeting, once you activate the meeting notes while in session. The auto generated meeting will show up under meeting notes on the left in your Loop, then you can drag that meeting under your Meetings folder.

[@BulbDigital]

Thanks for the feedback! We find the meeting notes integration to be a bit lacking, so we just roll our own until it's better.

[@josemag4617]

I will implement it!! Thank you. My main concern is about how to manage files when company has a general directory on a drive. I do not want to copy in Teams because it's very hard to keep last versions on teams, directory drives, etc. Did you find a workaround at this situation?

[@christietudor9640]

Please cover processes! I do monthly bookkeeping for many clients and would love a way to track this!

[@UnderBrokenWings]

Not sure I see the Website app to add as a tab at the top. Is it version specific or perhaps is there a specific way to get it?

[@ReluctantlyChanging]

I really like the loop functionality have you seen it being used for large complex projects? Is it best to use MS Project or can it be integrated to loop.

[@BulbDigital]

Loop's integration with Project or Planner premium is a bit lacking at the moment. I would view it as a "not yet" instead of "never", though.

[@NicklasLundqvist]

Planner thoughts... why creating buckets for status when there's a built in one, that also updates the status automatically?

[@NicklasLundqvist]

Forgot to start off with. Nice video! Overall a good video coaching users on ways of running a project within Teams and parts off M365 👏🏻😊

[@BulbDigital]

Ha thank you! Yes, it can feel a little counter-intuitive, especially starting with this basic structure. I think where it comes from is we often find ourselves needing more states, like "In Test", "Approved", "In Production" etc., which naturally fall alongside the other statuses. So in this case we didn't go that far. But yes, if you're keeping it with those three simple states, it makes more sense to just view the buckets by status instead of creating additional buckets.

[@EdSongoku]

Please post a video on the process and tasks please! Thank you

[@nicholasckoch]

Thanks for the intro on this topic. A key part that's missing for me is the other "book end" - how to close out a project and save the key parts it for future reference. For small projects, a final (formal) written report isn't something often required. I've still found myself referring back to my project notes to answer a question 1-2 years later, or I'm unexpectedly asked to repeat the project in another setting again, years later. So, saving my project to a folder in OneDrive for reference is what I do currently. In my limited project management experience with Teams, this isn't possible.

[@davidlean9983]

Thanks, a nice summary of a system you have working for you. TIP: Putting your talking head over the part of the screen where you are actively demoing is not great. Take the time in post edit to either move it or just not show it. My suspicion is if you are running a "Stand-up" once a week. It is not a stand-up; it is a Weekly Status meeting. If you have someone control & coordinate the meeting; ie: Project Manager, Product Owner, Scrum Master or Line manager & everyone "talks their activities & roadblocks" to that person. That is also a status meeting. Very few people have "seen good" when it comes to standups. Good is when everyone is equal, they are all interested in what you have to say. And can all collaborate on the Sprint objectives. Think F1 Car pit stop crew.

[@jaimediack]

How would you then manage communicating an overview of all projects to say a project board meeting without having to duplicate information into more places? ?

[@BulbDigital]

If you're looking to aggregate things, here's a few options: - Manually create a dashboard of sorts in Loop (what we typically do for sharing with clients) - Use a different tool like Harvest/Forecast (what we do to see all of our project needs) - Upgrade to Planner Premium, which allows you to create auto-updating Power BI dashboards - Check out Viva Goals, which allows you to track multiple Planner Premium boards and aggregate their status

[@KennethWorley-t1h]

Some great ideas in here especially how to use Loop as the note taking app. Hopefully that gets integrated soon. One hang-up I have with tasks in my own Planner is knowing which channel it is originating from. Seeing "Planner" in the Plan column doesn't tell me much.

[@zziipp1000]

Thanks for this video, it's really interesting. Do you know how to add a list of 'subjects' (200+) to this workflow, where information about these subjects is organized into several categories? MS Lists is good, but it doesn't allow for tabs to separate different sections related to each subject.

[@shashipreethampreetham316r]

The biggest issue with planner, the options to customize the template is very very limited and I ended up using the Microsoft Lists for Scrum board

[@irfannajeeb1045]

You are amazing. Thanks for detailed orientation

[@roslynnpieters4969]

What advice on file structure would you give to a PMO coordinator setting up new channels to multiple projects set up? I've tried setting them up by phase or specific to project items like resources, meetings and governance and budgets, etc... But find the PMs don't always adhere to the folders and just load everything into one folder. Is there a way to make it simpler?

[@brandonmattingly]

My question is on how to decide who a Member of the project team (who will inevitably receiving lots of notifications of chatter) and who is not. For example: A project I'm working on has 3 team members who will be managing and executing, but we also have a project sponsor (our director) who will be informed on progress and consulted every so often. Should he be a team member and subject to the posts and weekly stand-ups? Similarly, when we need SMEs within our organization who we need to consult for only a piece of the project, are they a team member or are they communicated through an outside communication channel (Email, Chat, etc)? Having a hard time finding the right balance on that. Any thoughts would be great!

[@kayleighf.6599]

Another person asking for the processes video, please. I'll take all the advice. Thank you!

[@tridibbiswas3361]

Thank you for this great video. One issue I am facing with after setting a Teams channel I unable to reply to a specific message like I am able to in a normal channel. The reply option to a message seems to be missing. Does it need any config

[@BulbDigital]

There's lot of settings that can be configured for sure. In general I would view "posts" in Teams to be considered individual conversations. So to reply you're just contributing to the conversation, less an individual message. But yes, there is not a good way to quote or specify the specific message you're responding to within that conversation as far as I know.

[@StefC3206]

Thanks a lot for the video! Any idea when Microsoft will integrate properly Loop in Teams?

[@johnhunter5432]

I would love to see a processes video. Also one about working with creatives rather than traditional PM.

[@Macarthur1950]

Good overview. I love that loop can store a planner component so you can manage from there or direct from planner or in teams.

[@BulbDigital]

Yes, agreed! Thank you.

[@KenCobb-m2t]

Include PROCESSES, Please! Excellent breakdown in this video. Thank you, Emma!

[@69thAndYorkAve]

This video is simple superb!! And yes, please do a processes video! ^_^

[@peggyokane7956]

Process please. Loved this video and set up a teams right away. I have been using teams and planner and loop but without connecting like this. Thank you.

[@BulbDigital]

Awesome, glad to hear it!

[@comicfly3269]

Good video. Question: Once the project ends / completed, what would be the process to save it or move the information to Sharepoint (as an example)?

[@BulbDigital]

This is a great question! The two terms related to this are Life Cycle Management and Records Retention. Life Cycle Management is about how things are created, used, and then disposed of. Specific to Microsoft Teams, you can archive the team (which blocks updates to the Team and hides it from the default list of teams) or you can delete the Microsoft Team. support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/archive-or-restore-a-channel-53c46491-a265-4391-a2a7-001c5026c9e5 Records Retention is about creating/moving information from something that will be deleted into a more permeant location. We do this after our projects by identifying specific pieces of content that we want to start using across all of our projects. We then make that content generic and post it to our internal portal that will allow our whole team to use this new information.

[@eriklindtorp8529]

Great video and info. Do you know if its possible when working inside an excel document to add tasks that show on todo. adding a loop component or similar inside the excel to keep track of lets say budget changes that need to happen.

[@garrettcicuto]

Great video. My PM team is using chats like you would Teams but it's not working that well. This is a great guide for us to transition from team chats to Teams and have more robust conversations and planning. Glad I stumbled across this.

[@dispence8]

Re: Use of file link vs upload file in Loop - "The reasons for that are too long to get into here. But, are valid" 😅😂 This video covers an important gap very well. Thank you! I love Loop. I just wish it had more robust (read: "any real") Power Automate integration. Will check out TCR!

[@PeterMorris]

A great video. Clear and consise. As an avid Onenote user, looks like it's time to change. And they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Isn't there an agenda template in loops, btw. Any reason for not using that? Thank you.

[@Cincy75805]

Great video, it inspired me set a Teams group for a project for the first time. In a future video, it would be helpful to spend a couple of minutes showing how invite guests and manage permissions of people in the group. I will almost always have people from outside of my organization also working on a project, but I think I figured it out with a bit of clicking around. Anyway, thanks again from a new subscriber to this channel!

[@BulbDigital]

Awesome, glad to hear that! We do have a video from a few years ago about guest access, it may be due for an update: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJ3EhJ-gmq2clbs

[@cheyennerose9882]

A processes video would be so helpful!

[@LadyZombieKiller]

If I add people to the team after some initial documents are made and possibly conversation had on the channel, for instance if my manager and have worked out a plan out his "VISION" for a project. Will the additional team members be able to see the previous activity?

[@1future-e6e]

I definitely need an idea for tracking processes

[@SHADOW4301]

Thanks for the video. If I use planner for a few small projects, how can I see all my tasks in one place?

[@AndyShelton1]

Since we can add tabs and multiple people to group chats, what are the reasons for creating a team instead of a group chat?

[@gaborbilicz9413]

Still looking for similar solution than Confluence, but MS still can't cover it 100% :(. Versioning, Quick Task linking, Share, have a good editor, etc. Is there any plan from MS to create something similar?

[@FahrvergnugenTaglich]

Processes please! I’ve been looking for something like that for a while. It was really challenging for me to build a process on Microsoft planner. I could use some help.

[@laziedimer]

Hello, Emma! I’m a project manager at an IT company, and I have the following question: If I organize projects independently, assigning them to different teams, how can I centrally manage all tasks across all projects handled by my team? For example, let’s say I’m managing 10 projects simultaneously. Is there a way to list, in one place, all the tasks assigned to my team members? My goal is to have a consolidated view, similar to the "My Tasks" hub in Planner, which gathers all my tasks across different plans. I’d like something that allows me to track the progress of all tasks assigned to my team in a single dashboard. Is this possible? And great video, thanks 👏👏

[@seru715]

Great video. Do you leverage Microsoft Planner Premium? Do you recommend a Teams Group for each Project or would you ever have multiple projects in one Teams Group but in different channels?

[@yuvarajand19]

Lovely walkthrough to the topic based discussions! Looking forward to the process one. Question: I imagine within the Teams group, we cant create subplans for a smaller subset of the group? I wish Microsoft addressed this with the shared group concept backed with a planner.

[@BulbDigital]

Right, it's pretty flat functionality right now. If you have a subset working on a specific objective, you're likely best off creating their own team.

[@Swwsj]

Helpful video. What are your thoughts on creating Loop agendas *while drafting meeting invites* vs. the way you did it here (creating Loop meeting page first)? I've done the former which allows it to be easily viewed in Notes tab during meeting as well as the meeting recap content. However, I then have to add it as a component link to the Loop page (extra step).

[@BulbDigital]

Great callout - either are fine ways to approach it. Like you mentioned, there are pros/cons with both approaches. I personally don't like having to link to the loop page, so I prefer to create the page in Loop, in the proper workspace, and just screenshare or drop a link to the page in the chat. Using the Loop meeting notes is a great option though!

[@Fairhavenyouth]

Would love a video on processes too. Thank you.

[@gabrielespinosa8575]

Hello, Is it possible to connect with "files" with sharepoint?

[@XXXVerve]

Are you referring to accessing the Files section of the Team from another SharePoint site?

[@RuthHernandez-wg2mm]

Awesome approach to projects, but we do also need the proceses workflow, please!

[@ismaeelolayiwola-m5l]

Great video, however my teams interface is totally different, I have the community tab instead of teams.... I have upgraded several times and still no changes, kindly help with that please.

[@GabrielChristophe-m8j]

Very good video, thank you ! Can the setup of this project chanel in Teams be automated with Power Automate ?

[@JoseMartinez-tt1ky]

Great video Emma and thank you for your tips!

[@GUSTAVOSILVA-dk6jo]

Loved the video. Thank you. I’m definitely on the hunt for a processes video please 🙏🏽

[@BulbDigital]

Roger that!

[@thorkristiansen2418]

Nice , but isn't it a problem that the Loop Workspace is saved as your personal workspace? What if you quit?

[@BulbDigital]

Loop Workspaces are stored in SharePoint embedded, so they're an organizational level storage, so it remains if someone leaves the org. They don't quite have the tooling in place to transfer ownership yet as far as I know, but I believe it's in progress.

[@cliffordmpaulick]

when will Teams be like Slack in that I can easily switch between Organizations and invite externals?

[@Futbolera1206]

What a great video! Please share the processes work as well!

[@jrdexterinc]

Great information. Ditto on the process video

[@BulbDigital]

You got it!

[@creativity4hire]

Would love a process video. Like where to make the jump from a project to the point the associated tasks become a process.

[@BulbDigital]

Sounds good!

[@vineshdarji]

Best video so easy to follow, brilliant!

[@danielfarrera2396]

@BulbDigital Hi Adele, I think this video is fantastic as it effectively presents a methodology that eliminates much of the ambiguity that comes with a suite as diverse and configurable as Microsoft's 365. Question: What’s the purpose of the Admin folder? Is it some kind of inbox for files that don’t have a specific role? If that’s the case, what’s the difference between the Admin folder and the Resources folder?

[@AllLawAccounting]

I am interested in the processes. Great video!

[@BulbDigital]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@abdulrahmananka5798]

All respect and appreciation to you for this wonderful effort. I hope you will provide more information about how to manage all stages of the project and its related operations.

[@mohammedibrahim722]

What is the easy way to prevent deleting the tasks in the MS planner by the members ?

[@BulbDigital]

The only way to get more controls around permissions and things like that is to use Planner Premium unfortunately. Otherwise good training and culture :)

[@jonathancody4003]

Very interested in a process video!

[@BulbDigital]

Got it on our list!

[@fournier.benoit1993]

With the new grouped view of chats and channels in Teams, your "all" channel will get confusing. The team's name is not repeated in the displayed title. Not even on a tooltip.

[@EdgarAmaro]

This was a great video! Really good ideas

[@jesselewis7641]

Why is the background music the same volume as you are

[@annek8193]

Thank you for this video, it is really helpful! I have used Teams mainly for meetings but I'm really interested to set it up for work management. The process video would be super interesting!🤩 We have a team of about 10 people working with projects and processes. The set up of this video would fit really well for many of our projects. However, we also have tasks that are somewhere in between of projects and processes. For example, "repeating" troubleshooting tasks that still are unique and need many people. These "projects" are not long-lasting or really complex so it wouldn't make sense to create a new Team in Teams. I hope to see the process video and maybe after that can decide how to track these miniprojects too. 🙏

[@jeffgeneo]

Awesome , thanks for the sharing ! I like planner especially where there’s Gantt chart

[@astevensincarolina]

Process version would be great!

[@BulbDigital]

Got it on our list!

[@christietudor9640]

Can the files be linked to my client files on OneDrive??

[@david_brown88]

Thank you. Great content and well presented

[@BulbDigital]

Thanks David!

[@spitsparrow]

the back end of all teams/groups is a Sharepoint site. Organising Sharepoint sites with folders structures is a mess. I think.a better understanding of Sharepoint in general would help a lot to understanding teams. Having a well organised library structure and user experience in Sharepoint with correct permissions and document control is by far a better way to do anything that tjust throwing files into a teams chat. Then you can link your documents into the chat. This person has a lot of learning to do it looks like

[@BulbDigital]

By “this person” you’re talking about…. Us?

[@mikeymouse2]

I like these refresher videos

[@BulbDigital]

Yes, it's a spiritual successor to one of our most popular videos :) Glad it was helpful.

[@bkiesz]

Very nice! Keep it up!!

[@BulbDigital]

Thank you! Will do!

[@hassenpflug-online]

Great Video - waiting for process too 😊

[@BulbDigital]

Thank you!

[@TonyGinFL]

Process! 🙌🏻🤓

[@BulbDigital]

Roger that!

[@pavandhillon9459]

Hey I am also a project management junkie. I disagree that chatter should occur at Post level, this should be more official, chatter occurs at Loop level, also because and loop level we can have interdepartmental (inter group or team) collab, which is not possible at the Teams’s Team level (using “Teams” as the analogous “Groups” from outlook, for the Team app is bonkers) Sorry for the rant.

[@JanakRajani]

Useful video Emma - please do create a "process" video and also "Planner Plus" video

[@BulbDigital]

Sounds good! Thanks

[@marcialfalconi7658]

ithank you!! it is really helpful information. Could you please, make another video only focuss using Project for the Web and the best practices using teams

[@msaunders9992]

Great video

[@Trylk1138]

I wish Microsoft would merge loop and project and planner already

[@mel2buhler]

I have cyclical processes that repeat through 3 times a year - process pretty please!

[@BulbDigital]

Sounds good!

[@YourLocalHandyman]

I'm at minute 9, and I already subscribed and liked this video. I'm in the process of researching this platform, and have researched other products as well. What is happening "out there" is that lots of software developers are jumping on the affiliates band wagon. Subsequently, you can literally watch three videos with almost identical content. Subsequently, a smaller percentage of videos overall are being produced by people (aka: the user base) who know what they're talking about. Keep up the good work Blub. For Blub Digital, other than cost, is there a preferred approach to purchasing this software? Web accessed, or locally installed? Even though I envision it being used within WIFI accessible areas, please share your thoughts? Thx, Bill M. Owner at Your Local Handyman Inc & Author of GET THREE QUOTES.

[@BulbDigital]

Thanks so much for this note! To get started with M365, we typically suggest businesses find a reputable IT Managed Services Provider to set it up for them. But if you're also able to go right to Microsoft to purchase www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/buy/microsoft-365 As far as web vs local, if you can get by with the web browser versions of the software, that works just fine. I usually find myself defaulting to the native versions of the apps on my computer since they're just a little more feature rich.

[@dudupinkasovich]

would be happy to get a processes video as well