How are Mobile Devices Affecting Work Productivity? (Work Management Roundup)
Welcome back to the weekly Work Management Roundup, where we bring you the latest and greatest reads from around the web in an effort to help you work smarter, not longer. This week, we kick things off with productivity, mobile devices, and team dynamics. Read on! Released: 2016 Mobile Productivity Report (Wrike): Did you know? 44% of workers use their mobile device for work more than 20 times a day. This and more stats regarding how mobile devices affect work productivity are in our 2016 Mobile Productivity Report. Read it! 9 Unexpected Ways to Ramp Up Marketing Productivity (Jeff Bullas): Not just for marketing, by the way. This list of 9 life hacks backed by scientific studies can help you get more done in less time. 5 Things You Should Never Assume About Your Teammates (Todoist): Five hard-learned lessons on what assumptions you should never make regarding your teammates. We especially like #1: Don't assume they use the same tools as you do. Wow, How, Now: Writing a Killer Sales Pitch (Wrike): An effective sales-pitch email is really half of a deal. The goal is to explain why your client needs your product and why he needs it right now. Using three words, “WOW, HOW, NOW,” can make your sales pitch a winner. The Fragmentation Problem (BCS.org): With so many communication options, today's workers are faced with a fragmented workplace where they have to deal with emails chats, document revisions, and more — all living in different systems. 21 Experts Share Growth Strategy Tips for Scaling Up Your Business (Indigenous.io): A group of startup leaders were asked " What advice would you give someone trying to grow and scale his business?" The quotes are gold. More Work Management Reads Think About This: The Difference Between Content Curation and Content Creation (Crate) Help Your Team Manage Stress, Anxiety, and Burnout (Harvard Business Review) How To Save Yourself From Bad Startup Ideas That Look Good (Medium) Go Try This: How to Work With Difficult People [Infographic] (Hubspot) What are the most effective and proven time management techniques? CEO Brian de Haaff's answer (Quora) 15 Uses for Binder Clips in This Four Minute Video (Quartz) A Little Known Hack from Japan to Get Your Notebook/Journal Organized (Highfive) Browse The Work Management Roundup on Flipboard If you use Flipboard on your mobile device, you can check out these links via The Work Management Roundup magazine. View my Flipboard Magazine.
Why to Use Google for Work + Wrike: Q&A with Vitalza
Vitalza is a small startup in México in the financial services industry founded in 2015. Their purpose is to improve communities and create synergy by building alliances with universities and associations that will help their clients develop and grow their businesses. We spoke with Bernabé Torre, who runs analytics and technology, about how he uses Google for Work + Wrike as the foundation for their new startup. 1. Tell us about your team and the role it plays in your company. We've been using Wrike for about 6 months, and we're implementing Holacracy management — this means full responsibility for our roles, tasks, and tensions, and the outlining of OKRs for our strategy projects. As part of our Holacracy, I currently have 3 roles: analytics, technologies, and payment gateways. My day-to-day tasks range from support to operations (technologies), creating reports and analyzing information (analytics), and managing as well as looking for more payment gateways. 2. What were the goals that led you to connect Wrike and Google for Work? We are a Google Apps supported company. We use Google Sheets, Docs, and Presentations for our normal day-to-day tasks, Google Drive as our permanent database, and the Google Console for our company users. So a big factor that led us to choose Wrike is that you have almost full compatibility with Google Apps. 3. How have Wrike + Google for Work helped your team reach its goals? Part of our work ethic is that we need to be very transparent, since we are free to assign a task to anyone. Part of this transparency is giving updates, having a record of tasks, and questioning anyone on their progress. So we upload a file to a task from Drive, and then proceed to give a status update in Wrike. It works really well. For our OKRs, we have different projects with important dates and deadlines, and having the tool synchronize with your Google Calendar works perfectly — although having customized Dashboards in Wrike sometimes works even better. Additionally, some of our staff always have Gmail open, so it's way easier for them to reply to a task, give a status update, or even create a task through the Gmail gadget. And last but not least, we use the Wrike Chrome extension to easily create tasks from any webpage. 4. What improvements have you seen since implementing Wrike + Google for Work? It's tricky because we started implementing Wrike and Google Apps simultaneously, right at the birth of our company. At my previous company, we used to have these meetings where we defined projects by writing tasks on Post-its, dividing them by affinity, complementing the tasks, assigning dates and dependencies by hand or sometimes with Microsoft Project. It was all a real pain, and the process took about two sessions of 2-3 hours each. At my current company, we had one OKR meeting a couple of weeks back where we defined the tasks, dependencies, dates, and responsibilities in one session of only 1 hour and 20 minutes! That was crazy considering the size of the project — everyone was very impressed. Your turn: How have you used Wrike + Google for Work to strengthen your business? Share your story in the comments. Wrike also offers a Wrike Google Apps Partner Program for those interested. If you want to learn more about the program, click here.
How to Choose the Best Project Management Software for Your Company
The best project management software for small businesses should include a few key features. Find out some core capabilities you’ll need whether you’re looking for project management software for startups or another type of organization.
How Procurify Uses Wrike to Gain Visibility and Meet Deadlines
Sometimes, using the wrong tools can be costly. Even with a project management tool in hand, if you don't have the right visibility and management set up, a project could fail outright. That's what the team at Procurify was struggling with before they started using Wrike. For a fast-growing startup like Procurify, investing in technology early on was a key to their success. Tools like Jira and Asana had some of the features they needed, but neither provided the full visibility they needed, and as a result deadlines were missed. Since switching to Wrike, the increased visibility into where their teams and projects stand has helped them save 20% of the time they used to waste managing sprints and roadmaps, and 50% of the time previously spent on documentation. We sat down with the Procurify team recently and asked them to elaborate on their Wrike success: Read the Procurify Case Study To read more about how Procurify uses Wrike to track all sprints, check out the full Procurify customer success story. You'll read: What problems drove them to search for a collaboration tool Why they switched from Jira to Wrike Their favorite Wrike features and how these are used Have you experienced the same problems as Procurify? How did you solve them with Wrike? Let us know in the comments!
Wrike 2015 Year in Review — What We've Been Up to All Year
2015 has been a Wriketastic year! We've grown by leaps and bounds the last 365 days — we hope you've enjoyed the adventure with us. From new feature releases to help you improve the way you work, to an even bigger and better team, to traveling the globe to speak at conferences, we've had a lot of fun. Review our recap of the year to see how you can use our latest features to set yourself up for success in 2016! We've also included a list of our most popular business advice blog posts, in case you missed them the first time around or you want to read them again. Wrike in the News This year we've been honored and excited to read all the interviews on leadership and startup advice with our CEO and founder, Andrew Filev, as well as the articles discussing our biggest Wrike news. If you want to learn see how Wrike has been shaking up the tech and business world, check out these reads: Wrike Ranked Number 116th Fastest Growing Company in North America on Deloitte’s 2015 Technology Fast 500™ Wrike Named in Best Places to Work 2015: Smallest Companies What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Steve Jobs About Silicon Valley Andrew Filev – Taking Small Steps to Smash Big Boundaries Email won’t be used in 10 years, says Wrike CEO Andrew Filev (video) Top 3 tips for productivity in your home office Digital natives: creating and maintaining a work/life balance at home Wrike Launches New Real-Time Reports, other Enhancements Take Back Mondays: Cut Out Status Meetings with Wrike's Real-Time Reports Wrike mobile apps: on-the-go project management Wrike New Releases & Features We challenge our teams to work faster and smarter quarter after quarter. This year, we've made a lot of great updates to Wrike online and in our mobile apps. See if you missed any of our big news by reviewing our long list of major updates here, or checking out this shortlist of some of our favorite releases: Projects & Reports: Real-time reports give executives the on-demand visibility they need with one button, and save your team tons of time preparing weekly updates. Make 2016 your most efficient year yet. Custom Workflows: Teams can structure work so it moves faster — create workflows for approval processes, bug tracking, development, etc. Make 2016 a year where everyone knows where things stand. Mobile Inbox: Our free mobile apps have changed the way you Wrike, and we'll continue enhancing our apps to help you and your team even more. Make 2016 a year of mobile accessibility. Wrike Project Templates for Salesforce: Wrike project templates in your Salesforce account smoothens collaboration between your sales org and cross-functional teams. Make 2016 a year for better org-wide collaboration. OneDrive Integration: We've had Google Drive, Dropbox, and Box integrations for a while. Now attach your OneDrive files just as easily. Make 2016 a year for sharing more. Starring Favorite Folders: Keep your most-used folders and projects right at the top of your workspace. Make 2016 a year with less hunting and more doing. New Folder Colors: We went from 5 color choices to 52 in one fell swoop. Go big or go home! Now make 2016 a year full of color. New Workspace Party Themes: Spice up your work life with a little color in your Wrike! Start off 2016 with a new look: Legendary Leopard or Retro Safari. Resource Pages: We created 7 resources pages full of eBooks, videos, and articles to help you better your business. Make 2016 YOUR year. Best Business Advice from the Year We write a lot. Every single day we publish a new blog post to give you advice on project management, leadership, productivity, and more. Here's a list of top picks from the Wrike blog over the past year, according to our own unbridled favoritism and also your likes and shares on social media: Project Management 10 Essential Elements for the Perfect Project Plan (Infographic) 10 Steps to a Kickass Project Kickoff: A Checklist for Project Managers 7 Keys to Project Stakeholder Management from the #PMChat Community How to Handle a Project Management Crisis (Infographic) 10 Reasons the Death Star Project Failed (Infographic) Productivity 20 Lessons from David Allen on Succeeding at Work, Life, and GTD (Video) The High Cost of Multitasking: 40% of Productivity Lost by Task Switching 50 Productivity Tips to Boost Your Brainpower (Infographic) Amazing Online Productivity Resources for Procrastinators Leadership & Management Company Culture: Why it Matters and How to Get it Right Ultimate Guide to Team Building Activities That Don’t Suck A Manager’s Guide to Working with Difficult Team Members (Infographic) 7 Techniques for More Effective Brainstorming Startup Advice 30 Startup Founders Share Their Entrepreneurship Advice Startup Launch Checklist: 22 Steps to Success (Infographic) 6 Fatal Mistakes of Startup Founders Marketing Welcome to DroneCo — Wrike’s Weekly Marketing Comic + Advice 10 Marketing Mistakes to Avoid At All Costs 25 Top Tools for Maximizing Marketing Team Productivity Free eBook Downloads 2015 Work Management Report (Free Download) The Beginner's Guide to Online Marketing (Free Download) The Definitive Guide to Building a World-Class Internal Creative Agency (Free Download) Collaboration Software for Marketing Teams: A Buyer’s Guide (Free Download) ...and More How to Prioritize Your To-Dos When Everything’s Important (Video) How to Create Your Perfect Remote Work Environment (Infographic) Why Email is Addictive and How to Break the Habit The Ultimate Guide to the Perfect Meeting See you in 2016! Did we leave one of your favorite Wrike blog posts off our list? Add it in the comments, or let us know which of the above was your #1!
Highlights from Web Summit 2015 in Dublin
Our CEO and founder Andrew Filev has just returned from Web Summit 2015 hosted in Dublin, Ireland. It was a super-energetic and frenetic gathering of 40,000+ people, including inspiring tech leaders and speakers from around the globe. Wrike CEO Andrew Filev being interviewed at Web Summit, Dublin A photo posted by Eliza (@e_dubs11) on Nov 7, 2015 at 4:14pm PST What Wrike Shared at Web Summit 2015 During a lively discussion at the fully packed Startup University Stage with Upwork CEO Stephane Kasriel and Fast Company contributor Ross Kingsland, Andrew spoke on hiring for startups and what’s working for today’s companies. Andrew shared insights into hiring in a very competitive environment where small startups must compete against tech giants like Facebook and Google for talent. His main piece of advice for startups: [inlinetweet prefix="" tweeter="" suffix="@wrike"]"Find what makes your company a unique and compelling proposition, and compete on that."[/inlinetweet] You may not be able outcompete Google with Google-like offerings (those snacks are pretty darn good!), but not everyone is looking for a Google-size company. Many candidates are keen to make a big difference at the early stage of a company. Determine what makes your company different and awesome, and look for people who want to be part of the vision and mission you are creating. In light of the conference, Irish Tech News published a full interview with Andrew on how to hire. You can read it here. If you attended Web Summit 2015, share your top takeaway from the conference in the comments below. We want to learn from you! Roundtable chats with @andrewsthoughts from @wrike on 'How to Hire' @WebSummitHQ #websummit #dublin pic.twitter.com/YgJ7kwFKr6 — Emer (@EmerLeBeamer) November 4, 2015 Here's @Upwork @FastCompany & @wrike talking about How to Hire in 2016. #Wexfordhour #websummit pic.twitter.com/Fpaf8N57Gk — Wexford Hour (@WexfordHour) November 3, 2015 How to hire in 2016 and beyond now with @skasriel @andrewsthoughts @RossKingsland1 #websummit pic.twitter.com/NjrutNrXKz — Marta Ghiglioni (@MartaGhiglioni) November 3, 2015 'Be ready to invest a lot of mental energy' @wrike at #websummit pic.twitter.com/cc2GMu7eVn — Denise M. Whitmore (@DolmenDigital) November 3, 2015 'You have to make sure everyone is on the same page' says @andrewsthoughts of @wrike at #websummit — Denise M. Whitmore (@DolmenDigital) November 3, 2015
Your Guide to Top MarTech Conferences in 2015-2016
Conferences are perfect opportunities to make networking connections, stay abreast of industry news and trends, and learn new tips and best practices to apply to your business. If you're looking at your calendar to plan which events and conferences you'll attend in the upcoming year, here are 11 top martech and adtech conferences to consider (in no particular order): 1. MarTech This international conference series is the flagship event for marketing technology (the martech definition, FYI). With 1,200 attendees at the 2015 event, marketing strategists and technologists discuss how emerging tech is impacting marketing as a discipline and its potential for improving companies' bottom lines.When: March 21-22, 2016; San Francisco 2. AdTech AdTech brings marketing and technology communities together to share strategies, build partnerships, and examine the future of the martech industry.When: Dates vary by location (worldwide) 3. Programmatic I/O This is the world’s largest conference focused entirely on programmatic media and marketing. It brings together hundreds of marketing executives, media agencies, and tech providers to discuss the future of marketing automation technologies.When: October 29, 2015; New York 4. SM2 Innovation Summit This conference from the Mobile Marketing Association covers emerging technologies that are poised to unlock the full potential of mobile marketing. Past speakers include execs and leaders from Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Mashable, Microsoft, and more.When: September 28-29, 2015; New York 5. AdMonsters OPS The OPS conference is focused on digital ad operations and technology. Keynote sessions with industry leaders and journalists from companies like Mashable, Forbes, Yahoo, Advertising Age, and Bloomberg Business, plus sponsored sessions hosted by marketing ops tech and service providers.When: 2016 dates TBD 6. FutureM This 3-day conference is packed with over 100 speakers, 50 sessions, and 2,500 attendees. FutureM looks at the concepts and innovations on both the near and distant horizon.When: October 6-8, 2015; Boston 7. Ignition: Future of Digital Pioneers in media and technology industries, from Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to Bethany Kota, share their insights into what’s in store for marketers and business leaders.When: December 8-9, 2015; New York 8. Marketing Operations & Technology Summit Note: attendees are vetted and limited to marketing professionals who control multi-million dollar enterprise budgets. While the conference hosts keynotes and speakers like any other, the real value is in the time set aside for strategic group discussions with fellow marketing operations leaders. Because you help set the agenda for these discussions, you’ll leave with actionable takeaways for your business.When: October 18-21, 2015; New Orleans 9. WebSummit This major technology conference attracts over 22,000 attendees each year from all around the world. Among the 800 speakers are CEOs and execs from top companies like Pixar, Slack, Adobe, Cisco, LinkedIn, and more.When: November 3-5, 2015; Dublin 10. SXSW Interactive SXSW Interactive spans 5 days of presentations and panel discussions featuring leaders in emerging technology, networking events, and special programs showcasing must-see technology and ideas. Past keynotes include execs from GoogleX, Lyft, SpaceX, and 3D Robotics.When: March 11-16, 2016; Austin 11. The Next Web Listen to 20 curated keynotes, plus fast-paced, 5-minute intros to 100 exciting new startups to get a snapshot of future tech innovations. Past keynote speakers include Kevin Rose, Michael Arrington, David Allen, Kevin Kelly, and Alexis Ohanian.When: November 18, 2015; New York What did we miss? Have you already blocked off your calendar for any of these martech conferences? Did we miss a few? Let us know which conferences are worth attending in the comments below! Wrike for Marketing Teams Find out how Wrike's work management app can help your marketing team exceed customer expectations and get more done.