The most common question we get from new Rindle users is...

"What's the best way to set up my workflow in Rindle?"

The simple answer is "it depends", because every team's workflow is unique. That being said, there are certainly some best practices that we can share with you to get you started.

When considering where to start on your Rindle board, this baseline workflow will give you a solid foundation, if not the workflow you end up sticking with. Here are the lists you will use:

Backlog > In Progress > Blocked > Done

The power of 4! Simple, compact, and concise. 💥

So your workflow in your Rindle board will look like this:

The lists as described above will flow left to right. Backlog on the far left and Done on the far right. In the same manner, tasks will flow through lists from left to right.

By flowing tasks through lists, everyone on the board will have instant visual feedback as to how many tasks still need to be worked on, which tasks are in progress, who's working on them, which tasks are blocked and need attention, and which tasks have been completed.

This also makes status meetings and stand-ups run smoothly. Everyone is collaborating in one place, seeing the same workflow, which makes discussing tasks and issues much more clear and concrete during meetings.

Outside of the baseline workflow suggested above, here are some other lists that you should consider based on your needs (don't add it unless you need it).

Review
If you have a step in your workflow that requires review or approval by another person before the task can be considered complete, a Review list could be just what you need.

Examples of this could be a manager's approval, proofing for copy, or quality control for an app feature. You can of course tweak the name if needed to Approval, Proof, or QA if that makes more sense. This list would typically come after In Progress and/or Blocked, like this:

Backlog > In Progress > Blocked > Review > Done

Resources
Sometimes you need to track things in a project that aren't necessarily tasks, but references to information or documentation. Adding a Resources list to the right-most list position will give you a special place to track these resources, separate from tasks, that the entire team can see and use.

Backlog > In Progress > Blocked > Done > Resources

Up Next
Typically items at the top of the Backlog are next up to be worked on, but sometimes you want to clearly see the next set of priorities. Creating an Up Next list to the right of the Backlog will give you the perfect staging area to make what tasks to work on next crystal-clear to your team.

Doing this also serves as a perfect holding area to delegate tasks to your team. Some teams will pull tasks from the Backlog individually and assign to themselves, where other teams utilize a PM to delegate tasks out. If you work like the latter, the Up Next list will allow the PM to assign tasks to the team without cluttering up the Backlog.

Backlog > Up Next > In Progress > Blocked > Done

How Many Lists Should I Use?
A great baseline to shoot for is no more than 6 or 7 lists. If you use every single list discussed above, you would be at 7. When you get beyond this number, the workflow starts to feel more complex to use than it should. Most screens will have to be scrolled to see certain lists, and tasks are generally harder to see and track.

That said, your workflow should consist of as many lists as you need. More complex workflows may justify more than 6 or 7 lists and simple workflows may justify fewer. So use what you need... no more, no less.  😃

Here's what all 7 looks like:

Backlog > Up Next > In Progress > Blocked > Review > Done > Resources

A tag is a way of categorizing a Rindle task by type, represented by a color and term. If you need to segment your tasks further beyond lists, tags is the way to do it.

Tags are flexible and can ultimately be used in many ways, so here is some inspiration for how tags can be used to categorize your tasks.

Priority

Type of Work

Project Phase

Client

Once you have your boards set-up and your workflow is humming along, it's worth taking a look to see if there are steps or actions that can be automated.

Automation is a shiny, trendy, and even intimidating word at times. We make it super easy to create automations and apply them to your workflow allowing you to: 

Notifications
Sometimes you want a notification sent to a team member or even to Slack based on a certain event that happens in Rindle, like when a task is marked complete.

Reviews & Approvals
Depending on your workflow, you may have steps that require a team member or outside resource approval. Examples of these include:

Save Clicks/Time
How often do you find yourself going into your PM tool and doing the same thing, over and over again? Countless clicks that seem to repeat an ever-familiar pattern. Rindle automations help save those valuable clicks, and ultimately a ton of your time. 

Here are some examples:

Learn how to create Automations