Many teams often get lost in the day-to-day of tasks, deadlines, and projects. However, there is so much more to effective team collaboration. Incorporating check-in questions can be a great strategy to keep up with team members and uncover important details.

At the heart of every successful venture is an engaged and motivated team. Smart check-in questions help managers and employees alike to measure moods, discuss doubts and start open conversations.

We've curated a list of over 100 check-in questions designed to break the ice, ignite engaging conversations, and foster a deeper understanding among team members.

Buckle up and get ready to transform your meetings and build better, more connected teams with definitions, 100+ check-in questions and implementation strategies.

What are check-in questions?

Check-in questions are a communication method used at the beginning of meetings, workshops, or team sessions. The questions serve to gauge participants on how they’re feeling, what they're thinking, or where their focus is.

The purpose of good check-in questions is to encourage active participation, build team rapport, and set the tone for the rest of the meeting. Identify issues or distractions that can affect the meeting's productivity, and ensure team members feel heard and understood.

Incorporating check-in questions into your routine can be especially helpful for remote and hybrid teams, who might not have as many daily or in-person interactions.

Why you should use check-in questions

Check-in questions can be a valuable tool for staying in tune with your coworkers. Spot potential roadblocks or bottlenecks and find a helping hand if needed.

Good check-in questions provide an opportunity for everyone to speak, no matter where they’re located or how long they have been part of the team. Great questions also give context for conversations and assignments other attendees might not be aware of.

With more background on someone’s workload, another coworker might be able to help or offer answers. You can have these questions explicitly stated in your meeting agendas or not.

Free resource: Check out our meeting agenda examples to start every meeting productively.

7 Characteristics of good check-in questions

Good check-in questions are part of virtual meeting best practices and should help build a positive team and company culture. Elicit a brief answer from your team members.

You want more than a “yes” or “no” response while also staying away from turning your meeting into a free-for-all storytelling session.

Good check-in questions share several characteristics that boost effectiveness and efficiency in promoting open dialogue and fostering team rapport. Here are 7 key characteristics to implement in your questions:

1. Open-ended: Effective check-in questions are usually open-ended, inviting more than a simple 'yes' or 'no' answer.
2. Clear and concise: The question should be easy to understand and not overly complicated. Ensure that everyone can engage in the conversation, regardless role or experience.
3. Non-judgmental: Create a safe space for honest responses. No one should feel judged or criticized for their answers.
4. Relevant: The question should be relevant to the team members and the context of the meeting.
5. Encourages reflection: Good check-in questions prompt team members to reflect on their current state of mind, their feelings, or their position on a particular topic.
6. Promotes engagement: Stimulate the conversation and foster engagement among team members.
7. Positive Tone: While not all check-in questions need to be positive, it’s often beneficial to frame questions in a positive way to foster a supportive environment.

🎁 Free resource: Don't let your voice be drowned out in the noise of the world—take control of your life through the Assertiveness Training Template.

5 Signs of bad check-in questions

Make sure that questions aren’t negatively impacting the meeting to prevent a toxic work culture.

Check-in questions can be a powerful tool to foster connection, but should not become the main act. Avoid these 5 pitfalls to effectively implement this communication strategy:

1. Avoid leading questions: Leading questions subtly guide a person towards a particular response, resulting in a sense of pressure.
2. Don't make check in questions mandatory: Forcing someone to answer a question when they're uncomfortable can create resentment or discomfort. Allow team members to pass on answering if they wish.
3. Avoid personal or sensitive topics: Foster connection and understanding without invading personal privacy unless it's appropriate and consent is given.
4. Don't rush: Give team members time to think and respond. When people feel rushed, they might not share fully or honestly.
5. Don't dismiss or ignore responses: Make sure that thoughts and responses of team members are acknowledged.

100+ Check-in questions that set you up for success

Check-in questions can adapt to fit your needs. They can be as fun or business-like as you want them to be. You can ask the same question at each meeting or switch up your questions to get different perspectives. We’ll discuss the following categories:

• Daily check-in questions
• Mental health check-in questions
• Team check-in questions
• Fun check-in questions
• Future-oriented check-in questions

Review these 100+ check-in questions and decide what works for your team and meeting.

Daily check-in questions

Daily check-in questions are prompts used at the beginning of meetings or workdays. Think of daily standups.

These questions are best for agile workplaces, remote teams, or among teams that strongly value interpersonal communication and team cohesion. Use them as morning meeting questions to set the tone for the day.

1. What do you want to accomplish today?
2. Can you mention a work challenge you’re facing?
3. Can you list your biggest priorities?
4. How can your team support your work?
5. What's one word that best describes your mood today and why?
6. What's the most interesting thing you've learned or read about recently?
7. What's one thing you're looking forward to today?
8. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your energy level today, and why?
9. What is your main focus for today's tasks?
10. What was the highlight of your day yesterday?
11. Is there anything that you're worried might get in your way today?
12. What's one thing you could use help with today?
13. What's something you're proud of from your work yesterday?
14. What's something you're grateful for today?
15. Are there any obstacles that you anticipate facing today?
16. How can we as a team make today a great day?
17. What's one thing that could be done to improve our work process today?
18. What's a positive change you've noticed in our team recently?
19. Is there anything you feel stuck on and need some input or help with?

🎁 Free resource: It's time to take control of your hectic schedule and unleash your true potential with our FREE productivity training!

Mental health check-in questions

Mental health is a key priority and dedicated check-in questions can give you a glimpse of your team’s mindset. Keep the professional context of work in mind and avoid any overly personal questions.

These don’t have to be regular morning meeting questions or asked on a daily or regular basis but are important to bring up to spot team members who feel overwhelmed or burnt out.

You can also incorporate mental health check-in questions into one-on-one meetings or more formal situations, like yearly reviews.

20. How would you describe your current mindset?
21. What tasks are in outside of your comfort zone?
22. What has made you feel proud recently?
23. How is your workload affecting your mindset?
24. What is your main concern right now?
25. How are you feeling today, really?
26. What's one thing you've done for yourself today?
27. Are you finding it easy to relax and switch off from work?
28. What's something that's been bringing you joy lately?
29. What's something that's been causing you stress or worry?
30. Are you feeling more tired or fatigued than usual?
31. How are you managing to stay connected with friends and family?
32. Do you feel like you have someone you can talk to about things that are bothering you?
33. Are you managing to find time for activities or hobbies you enjoy?
34. How would you describe your current work-life balance?
35. What's one thing you could do to take care of your mental health this week?
36. Are there any tasks or responsibilities that are feeling particularly overwhelming right now?
37. How are you feeling about your current workload?
38. Do you feel like you're able to express your feelings and concerns openly?
39. Is there anything we could do as a team to better support your mental well-being?
40. What's something positive you've experienced or learned recently?

Check-in questions for groups

Check-in questions for groups serve as conversation starters that allow teams to discuss their collective strengths, challenges, and areas for improvement.

Questions can cover various aspects such as communication, collaboration, team culture, shared goals, and more.

41. What's one thing you appreciate about our team?
42. What's one way we could improve our communication?
43. What's a strength of our team that we could utilize more?
44. What's one thing we accomplished recently that you're proud of?
45. What's a challenge we've faced as a team, and how did we overcome it?
46. How would you describe our team culture?
47. What's one thing you think our team could do better?
48. What's a team tradition or practice you love?
49. What's a recent example of great teamwork you've observed?
50. What's one way we could better support each other?
51. What's an aspect of our team dynamic you think we could improve on?
52. What's something you've learned from a team member recently?
53. What's a project we worked on that you felt we collaborated well on?
54. How do you feel our team handles feedback and criticism?
55. What's a team goal you'd like us to aim for?
56. What's a skill or strength you think our team is missing?
57. What's one thing we did as a team this week that you think we should do more often?
58. What's something you wish people outside our team understood about us?
59. What's a way we could improve our team meetings?
60. What's something our team did recently that made you feel valued or appreciated?
61. What's a quality you admire in one of our team members?
62. What's an area where you think our team could use more training or knowledge?
63. What's a recent situation where you felt our team was particularly supportive?
64. What's something you think our team does really well?
65. What's a way we could make our team feel more inclusive or welcoming?

Fun check-in questions

Fun check-in questions are light-hearted, entertaining questions used at the beginning of meetings to foster a positive mood. Break the ice, or help new team members get to know the rest of the team better.

The goal is not only to make meetings more enjoyable but also to encourage team members to learn more about each other in a non-work-related context.

66. Share fact that most people don’t know about you?
67. If you could have a superpower, which one would it be?
68. Are there any surprising facts about yourself?
69. What is your favorite movie?
70. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?
71. What's the most interesting fact you know?
72. If you could have dinner with any historical figure, who would it be?
73. What's your favorite guilty pleasure TV show or movie?
74. If you were an animal, what would you be and why?
75. What's something you're absolutely terrible at doing?
76. What's the strangest food you've ever eaten?
77. If you were to write a book, what would it be about?
78. What's your favorite joke?
79. What's the last thing that made you laugh out loud?
80. What's your go-to karaoke song?
81. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
82. What's a movie or book that you think is overrated?
83. If you could teleport to any place in the world right now, where would you go?
84. What would your dream vacation look like?
85. If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?
86. What's the weirdest gift you've ever received?
87. If you could choose a new name for yourself, what would it be and why?
88. If you were a kitchen appliance, which one would you be and why?
89. If you could learn a new language right now, which one would it be and why?

Future-oriented check-in questions

These group check-in questions are designed to foster forward-thinking and proactive behavior. Encourage team members to think ahead, set goals and anticipate challenges.

Future-oriented questions can be particularly useful in work settings. Help team members stay focused on achieving company goals and objectives, plan for upcoming tasks or projects, and think about their professional development.

90. What are your top priorities for the coming week?
91. What's one thing you're looking forward to in the next month?
92. What's a personal goal you have for the upcoming quarter?
93. What's one challenge you anticipate facing in the next week? How are you planning to tackle it?
94. What skill do you want to improve or learn in the next six months?
95. What's one thing you would like to change about your work routine in the upcoming week?
96. What project are you most excited to work on in the near future?
97. What's one way you hope our team will grow in the coming year?
98. What's a professional goal you're working towards this year?
99. What's a change you would like to see in our work process in the next month?
100. What's an upcoming event or meeting you're preparing for?
101. What's one thing you're hoping to achieve by the end of this month?
102. What's a habit you're planning to develop in the next few weeks?
103. What's one way you're planning to challenge yourself in the near future?
104. What's something you're hoping to learn from your colleagues in the upcoming weeks?
105. What resource do you think would most help you in your work in the next quarter?
106. What's one thing you'd like to do to help improve our team dynamic in the future?
107. What's a book or course you're planning to dive into soon for your professional development?
108. What's a future project or task that you could use help with?
109. What is one thing you are aiming to improve in your work-life balance in the next month?
110. What is one positive change you hope to see in our workplace in the near future?
111. What's one upcoming challenge you would like the team's input on?
112. What's a milestone you're hoping to reach in your career in the next year?
113. What's a leadership quality you're looking to develop in the future?
114. If you could achieve one big thing in the next six months, what would it be?

Other ways to engage the team besides group check-in questions

It’s important to do what works best for your team. Sometimes, meetings aren’t the best place for individual or group check-in questions — whether you don’t have the time or your meetings include a large number of people.

Create a water-cooler space

Virtual water-cooler spaces enable team members to share non-work-related things and connect. We use group spaces in Rock for this exact purpose.

This is valuable for us as we work asynchronously, subsequently team members can’t always respond in real-time. Water-cooler spaces allow the team to still bond with others across timezones and create interpersonal relationships.

Conduct recurring polls with your team

While it’s not the same level of interaction as an actual or virtual face-to-face, it’s valuable to have a communal space. Rock’s messaging feature enables you to conduct polls to get a quick read on your team’s opinions and mindset.

Polls can help you get an idea of workload, who is busy, and how people are feeling about their work. Team members can tag tasks or projects that they are having trouble with so you can see exactly what they’re talking about. Teams can respond with messages or emojis to continue the conversation or show their support or lack thereof.

Leverage direct messaging or 1:1 channels to check-in with team members

Keep up with your team individually in your one-on-one spaces and follow up on check in questions for staff meetings. If a team member mentions that they feel overwhelmed or bored, creating and following through on action items can demonstrate that you’ve heard them and you’re addressing their concerns.

To be more effective, convert check in-responses into tasks in your personal space so you can follow up on something. Rock’s task management feature enables you to assign tasks to yourself or others, creating an actionable step.

Taking notes is also a good idea, this can help you track progress of a team member who is struggling or burnt out. You can also make sure that your team’s answers to check-in questions are remembered for future reference.

Nurture team relationships through (virtual) coffee chats

You should always be thoughtful about using time for meetings, and cancel meetings where you add no value to the conversation. Nevertheless, coffee chats can be a great strategy to effectively incorporate check-in questions.

(Virtual) Coffee chats offer a relaxed and informal platform that can be extremely beneficial for checking in with team members, particularly in remote or distributed work settings. Here are some reasons why they can be effective:

1. Informal Check-in: Virtual coffee chats can serve as a less structured, informal way to check in on team members' wellbeing, mood, and general job satisfaction. This can help managers or team leads identify any issues or concerns that may not come up in a more formal setting.
2. Reducing isolation: For remote and hybrid teams, virtual coffee chats can help reduce feelings of isolation and disconnection by providing regular social interaction.
3. Boosting Morale: Boost team morale by providing a break from the routine and a chance to relax and enjoy social interaction.
4. Promoting Inclusivity: Virtual coffee chats, especially when scheduled at times that work for all team members, can help promote a sense of inclusivity and belonging.

It’s not “just” a check-in question

Good check-in questions can be a valuable part of meetings. They offer insight into your team’s current mindset, offer team members a chance to be heard, and help your team connect..

If check-in questions don’t fit in your meetings or don’t work for your team, find another way to touch base. Create a water-cooler space, set up coffee chats or engage your team members more through 1:1 spaces.

What’s your favorite check-in question? Let us know on Twitter!

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Rock now provides the fastest way to set up a space with anyone using Quick Connect and your own personal web.rock.so link. Anyone can now quickly open a group space with you using your link which can easily be shared on social media, your website, email, or any other external page.

Read along to learn more about Quick Connect and other new features! This release also includes iCal sync (PRO), animated GIFs (powered by Giphy) and scheduled messages (PRO) on mobile.

Quick Connect ? - The fastest way to set up a space to work together

No more back-and-forth to figure out which tool to use to start working together on a project. With Quick Connect on Rock, anyone can quickly create a brand new group space with you so you can start chatting, working on tasks, or sharing files within seconds.

Share your link in emails or social media or add your QR code to your website, social media posts or anywhere else, and allow anyone to connect and collaborate with you on Rock.

You can find your Quick Connect link by going to Settings. In Settings, you can find your web.rock.so URL as well as a handy QR code anyone can scan to instantly set up a group space with you.

Personalize the experience by adding a welcome message to your Quick Connect spaces. This can be anything from a 'Welcome to my space' to 'Here's some information I need to get started: [...]'.

Keep control over your Quick Connect links by toggling the ON/OFF switch or press the three dots in the top right corner of the panel to reset the link if ever needed.

Note that once you reset your link there is no way of restoring it to a previously used Quick Connect link. This means that you have to update your Quick Connect link on all live pages or visuals.

We’re using the brand-new (pun intended :) .new domain to make it really easy to create a new group space with anyone. .new domains were introduced by Google and work for anything from sheets.new (links to Google Sheets) to canva.new(Canva) to now web.rock.so on Rock.

Stay tuned for lots more on Quick Connect and the web.rock.so domain!

Calendar sync with iCal [PRO]

Sync Rock with Google Calendar, Outlook, and any calendar that supports the iCalendar format. This is not just limited to the Apple/iOS calendar app, but also works with most popular calendar services.

Visualize task deadlines right next to all your other meetings using your favorite calendar app. (Note that this integration is only available in PRO spaces).

Calendar sync can be enabled on web/desktop/mobile by a space admin for the entire space by following these steps:

1. Go to ⚙️ Space Settings, select integrations and pick ? Calendar Sync from the different options.
2. Confirm ? Calendar Sync. Note that you can always disable the feature in the future through ⚙️ Space Settings.
3. Calendar Sync is now enabled for the space.
4. When copying the link members of the space can choose whether they want to see tasks they are assigned to, they are following or to see all tasks within a space on the calendar.

Anyone can now copy the iCal link and add it to any calendar (e.g. Apple/iOS calendar, Google Calendar, Outlook) that supports the iCal format. Check here to see whether your calendar supports the iCal format.

GIFs on mobile

Purrfect 5-second distractions for any occasion with GIFs in the Chat mini-app! Browse thousands of different options from the Giphy library and share them in the Chat mini-app of any group space you're in.

GIFs can be accessed in the messaging panel by pressing the GIF button. You need at least 3 people in a group space for the feature to be enabled so add people to share your favorite memes!

Schedule messages and polls on mobile [PRO] ⏰

In a PRO space, you can now schedule messages or polls to be sent out when most convenient to you on mobile. This way you can send messages at a time that suits a team members' timezone better.

How to schedule a message or poll

1. Write down the message or poll you want to schedule in the Chat mini-app.
2. Keep the send button pressed for a few seconds. The schedule a message panel will automatically open.
3. Check the time zones of everyone in the space if needed by pressing the arrow right under 'Schedule message'.
4. Pick one of the suggested times or press 'Pick date and time' to manually adjust a time for the scheduled message.
5. Press 'Schedule' in the bottom right corner of your screen and your message should be scheduled!

Editing your scheduled messages

You can edit your scheduled message in a few different ways by following these steps:

1. Press the scheduled messages button on the bottom left corner of your screen. Note that this button only appears when you have one or more messages scheduled.
2. Press the scheduled message or poll you want to edit.
3. Pick from the option menu: change schedule, send now, edit message or delete message.

Mobile updates

This release brings a lot of improvements to the experience on the mobile app. Check out the following list for all the new features.

Chat mini-app

• Schedule messages: pick times for messages or polls to be sent in the Chat mini-app.
• Gifs: Access thousands of gifs and share them in the Chat mini-app of any space.

Tasks mini-app

• iCal integration: add task deadlines to your calendar and keep an eye on everything that is going on.

Other

• Quick Connect: Allow anyone to open a group space with you within seconds.
• Due date notifications for tasks on mobile: receive pop-up banners for due dates on mobile.
• Invite new members from @mentions: trying to mention someone that is not in the space yet? Quickly invite them to the space from the @mention list!
• Bug fixes and performance improvements

Download the mobile app

If you have any questions or suggestions you are always welcome to ping us in the Rock Support and Updates space.

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No more back-and-forth on which tools to use to work together, as with Quick Connect, you can instantly start working with anyone. If you want a more memorable Quick Connect link, you can now claim your own custom web.rock.so URL when you’re on PRO or TEAMS.

This release also includes link previews and GIFs on the web and desktop versions, a new help center and blog, and many improvements to the mobile app.

Check out the first-ever product release webinar, where Nico & Greta walk you through the latest features and their different use cases.

Quick Connect PRO ?

Personalize your Quick Connect to highlight your business name or the service you’re offering with a custom link.

You can add your Quick Connect link to social media channels & communications, your freelance profile, or client-facing websites or business cards. This makes it easier for people to start a conversation with you and collaborate on anything.

Use Quick Connect to seamlessly get in touch with new clients, offer customer support, or collaborate with anyone for an up and coming business partnership. Make sure to claim your link in time, once it’s taken it’s gone!

We have also added template spaces to Quick Connect to create a more customized experience. Available templates include: operations, recruiting, product design, marketing campaign, engineering, project management and customer support. Customized template options are coming soon to PRO and TEAMS!

Link Previews on web and desktop

In addition to previewing links on mobile, Rock now shares a thumbnail of links that are shared within your spaces. Get a quick sense of videos, articles and other links that people share in a space with a thumbnail and a snippet describing what you shared.

GIFs on web and desktop

You can now share your favorite GIFs on the web and desktop versions of Rock!

GIFs become available in a group space with more than three people. You will receive a notification saying ‘GIFs unlocked ?’ and the GIF button will appear next to the emoji functionality.

Browse thousands of different options from the Giphy library and share them in the chat with your team to say something only the right GIF can express.

Pinboard [Mobile only]

Pin important information in a dedicated panel in each space. This makes it easier to find important tasks, topics, notes, files or messages without having to go looking.
You can pin multiple objects in a space, allowing everyone to quickly check out and access information by clicking on the pin button in the top right corner of the space. This may include a welcome message, a weekly announcement, or an important task or note.
How to pin:

• Messages: keep the message you want to pin pressed for a few seconds and click on the pin icon afterwards.
• Tasks, notes, files and topics: press the pin button in the top right corner of the object. You can unpin items by selecting the same pin button again.

Pinned information can be accessed by clicking on the pin next to the space name. You can also filter pinned information to quickly browse through relevant objects by mini-app.

Import tasks from CSV [PRO & TEAMS]

Are you looking to quickly create a large amount of tasks or move documented information over to tasks? The import from CSV functionality makes it easy to quickly create a whole set of tasks.
Add your information into the provided template and migrate it to Rock within a few clicks. You can access the import from CSV feature in the Import section of your Settings panel.

Log out from all devices

Not sure on what devices your current account is logged in? This feature allows you to log out of all devices your profile is still connected to in one go. That way you can make sure that you’re the only one with access to your account.
You can access the feature from your Settings, press the three dots, and select ‘Log out from all devices’

Rock Help Center ?

Resources, documentation and so much more! Browse the help center for support material on tasks, messages, notes and any other Rock feature.
We will be adding new help center articles on a continuous basis so if you’re looking for something specific let us know by opening a space with us!

The new Rock blog ?️

We have also upgraded the navigation experience on web and mobile for the Rock blog. This makes it easier to find relevant articles and improves the reading experience across devices.
We are also enabling guest posting. Are you a writer, company or user that has a story to tell that you think is relevant to our audience? Feel free to reach out to open a space with us to further discuss possibilities.

Mobile updates

We have added a bunch of improvements to the mobile experience. This product release includes the following changes and fixes to the mobile apps:

• Quick Connect (PRO) - pick your own custom Quick Connect link and use a template for your Quick Connect space.
• Pinboard: pin anything in a space for easy access to all your important tasks, notes, files, and more.
• Force log out from all devices
• A whole lot of bug fixes and smaller improvements.

Download the mobile app

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The strength of a team can often be the deciding factor between success and failure. A cohesive team that's aligned in purpose isn't just desirable, it's essential to achieve goals and objectives. 

That's why we've curated a collection of 100 teamwork quotes that capture the wisdom of centuries. 

From historical leaders to the practical proverbs that have stood the test of time, each quote has been selected to inspire, motivate, and remind us that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. 

Reinforce the bonds within your team, or simply find a daily dose of inspiration to share with coworkers. These 100+ teamwork quotes reflect the legacy of great leaders and businesses throughout time. Let’s get into it!

United we thrive: timeless quotes on teamwork and unity

Let’s delve into quotes about unity and teamwork that visualize the wisdom of leaders, visionaries, and trailblazers.

A quote for teamwork and unity is more than mere words; they are the echoes of success stories, and a gentle reminder that the journey towards greatness is best traveled together.

Let these quotes on teamwork and unity inspire you to forge stronger bonds within your teams. Build bridges across skill sets, and create a culture where unity is the bedrock of success.

When we unite in purpose and action, we don't just grow—we thrive.

1. "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships." – Michael Jordan
2. "Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." – Helen Keller
3. "Unity is strength... when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved." – Mattie Stepanek
4. "Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results." – Andrew Carnegie
5. "Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success." – Henry Ford
6. "None of us is as smart as all of us." – Ken Blanchard
7. "The strength of the team is each individual member. The strength of each member is the team." – Phil Jackson
8. "If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." – African Proverb
9. "It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed." – Napoleon Hill
10. "The whole is other than the sum of the parts." – Kurt Koffka
11. "Cooperation is the thorough conviction that nobody can get there unless everybody gets there." – Virginia Burden
12. "The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison." – James Cash Penney
13. "No one can whistle a symphony. It takes a whole orchestra to play it." – H.E. Luccock
14. "Individual commitment to a group effort—that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." – Vince Lombardi
15. "Many hands make light work." – John Heywood
16. "Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success." – Stephen Covey
17. "Teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability." – Patrick Lencioni
18. "A single leaf working alone provides no shade." – Chuck Page
19. "Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life." – Amy Poehler
20. "A successful team is a group of many hands but of one mind." – Bill Bethel‍
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Cooperative spirit: Uplifting quotes about collaboration

If there's one thing that can make or break a project, it's how well we work together. 

These quotes about collaboration and teamwork aren't just fluff—they're battle-tested truths from folks who've been in the trenches of teamwork and come out the other side with something to show for it. 

When we pool our skills and knuckle down as a unit, we're stronger, smarter, and way more effective.

21. "Great things in business are never done by one person; they're done by a team of people." – Steve Jobs
22. "It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) that those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed." – Charles Darwin
23. "Effectively, change is almost impossible without industry-wide collaboration, cooperation, and consensus." – Simon Mainwaring
24. "The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison." – J.C. Penney
25. "Politeness is the poison of collaboration." – Edwin Land
26. "If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself." – Henry Ford
27. "The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team." – Lewis B. Ergen
28. "Collaboration allows teachers to capture each other's fund of collective intelligence." – Mike Schmoker
29. "The secret is to gang up on the problem, rather than each other." – Thomas Stallkamp
30. "Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much." – Helen Keller
31. "Collaboration has no hierarchy. The Sun collaborates with soil to bring flowers on the earth." – Amit Ray
32. "To me, teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one. You become selfless." – Mike Krzyzewski
33. "The nice thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side." – Margaret Carty
34. "Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up." – Oliver Wendell Holmes
35. "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts." – Kurt Koffka
36. "Contrary to popular belief, there most certainly is an 'I' in 'team.' It is the same 'I' that appears three times in 'responsibility.'" – Amber Harding
37. "A group becomes a team when each member is sure enough of himself and his contribution to praise the skills of others." – Norman Shidle
38. "No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you're playing a solo game, you'll always lose out to a team." – Reid Hoffman
39. "Collaboration begins with mutual understanding and respect." – Mori Taheripour
40. "Collaboration is much like a birth. The painful process of delivery pales against the joy of seeing your baby take the first breath." – Jim Tamm

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Quotes about teamwork from famous business leaders

From the visionary minds of CEOs to the tactical know-how of industry pioneers, these teamwork quotes distill decades of leadership experience into bite-sized pieces of advice.

Whether you're leading a team of two or two hundred, these quotes about teamwork will remind you that the engine of any successful business isn't just a groundbreaking idea or a standout product—it's the people who come together to make it happen. 

Let's dive into the collective wisdom of those who've mastered the art of teamwork at the highest levels of business.

41. "Teams should be able to act with the same unity of purpose and focus as a well-motivated individual." – Bill Gates, Co-founder of Microsoft Corporation.
42. "My model for business is The Beatles. They were four guys who kept each other's kind of negative tendencies in check. They balanced each other, and the total was greater than the sum of the parts." – Steve Jobs, Co-founder, and former CEO of Apple Inc.
43. "I am a big believer in the power of a team. A good team can win a championship if they have the fundamentals and work together as one." – Howard Schultz, former CEO of Starbucks.
44. "To win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace." – Doug Conant, former President and CEO of Campbell Soup Company.
45. "The team, not the individual, is the ultimate champion." – A.G. Lafley, former CEO of Procter & Gamble.
46. "We’ve got to find ways of confronting the issues that divide – and at the heart of cultural issues, you often find religions." – Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo.
47. "A group of people get together and exist as an institution we call a company so they are able to accomplish something collectively that they could not accomplish separately – they make a contribution to society." – David Packard, Co-founder of Hewlett-Packard.
48. "The five separate fingers are five independent units. Close them and the fist multiplies strength. This is organization." – James Cash Penney, founder of J.C. Penney.
49. "The best team is not the team with the best players, but the team that plays best together." – Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase.
50. "I’ve always found that the speed of the boss is the speed of the team." – Lee Iacocca, former CEO of Chrysler.
51. "Surround yourself with a trusted and loyal team. It makes all the difference." – Alison Pincus, Co-founder of One Kings Lane.
52. "In the end, a great leader is only known by the impact he or she has on others." – Jim Stengel, former Global Marketing Officer of Procter & Gamble.
53. "No matter how brilliant your mind or strategy, if you're playing a solo game, you'll always lose out to a team." – Reid Hoffman, Co-founder of LinkedIn.
54. "The best teamwork comes from men who are working independently toward one goal in unison." – James Cash Penney, founder of J.C. Penney.
55. "You need a high degree of synchronization and the ability to orchestrate a big team. That’s an important part of leadership." – Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.
56. "I invite everyone to choose forgiveness rather than division, teamwork over personal ambition." – Jean-Francois Cope, CEO of Atos.
57. "Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results." – Andrew Carnegie, founder of Carnegie Steel Company.
58. "Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success." – Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company.
59. "None of us is as good as all of us." – Ray Kroc, founder of McDonald's
60. "I’ve learned that mistakes can often be as good a teacher as success." – Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric

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Together we speak: Teamwork and communication quotes

Ever wonder how some teams just 'get it'? They finish each other's sentences, they back one another up, they move as one. Well, a lot of that magic comes down to crystal-clear communication.

Let's dive into teamwork and communication quotes and get your team talking the talk and walking the walk, together.

61. "The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." – George Bernard Shaw
62. "The art of communication is the language of leadership." – James Humes
63. "Good communication is just as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after." – Anne Morrow Lindbergh
64. "To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others." – Tony Robbins
65. "Effective communication is 20% what you know and 80% how you feel about what you know." – Jim Rohn
66. "The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said." – Peter Drucker
67. "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak." – Epictetus
68. "Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word before you let it fall." – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
69. "Communication works for those who work at it." – John Powell
70. "Communication is the solvent of all problems and is the foundation for personal development." – Peter Shepherd
71. "Communication leads to community, that is, to understanding, intimacy and mutual valuing." – Rollo May
72. "You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across, your ideas won't get you anywhere." – Lee Iacocca
73. "Communication is your ticket to success, if you pay attention and learn to do it effectively." – Theo Gold
74. "The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives." – Tony Robbins
75. "Communication is the bridge between confusion and clarity." – Nat Turner
76. "Let us make our future now, and let us make our dreams tomorrow's reality." – Malala Yousafzai, emphasizing the power of communicating one's vision for the future.
77. "Words are often seen hunting for an idea, but ideas are never seen hunting for words." – Josh Billings
78. "The most important things are the hardest to say because words diminish them." – Stephen King
79. "Great communication begins with connection." – Oprah Winfrey
80. "Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind." – Rudyard Kipling

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Gratitude in action: Thank you teamwork quotes

In the world of teamwork, saying 'thank you' goes beyond mere politeness. To avoid a toxic work culture, you want to recognize the collective effort, celebrate milestones and reinforce the bonds that make a team not just functional, but exceptional.

Whether you're a team leader looking to inspire or a team member wanting to show gratitude, these quotes serve as a testament to the incredible achievements that come from working together.

🎁 Free resource: 100+ powerful career affirmations for the workplace

Let's dive into these thank you teamwork quotes and give thanks where it's due. Every act of appreciation can become the driver of continued teamwork and greater achievements.

81. "Gratitude is the glue that binds together the strength of teamwork."
82. "Every successful team has a foundation of gratitude for its shared efforts and victories."
83. "In the harmony of a team, gratitude is the melody that resonates with progress."
84. "Thankfulness within a team is a multiplier of motivation and morale."
85. "Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our teamwork blossom." – Inspired by Marcel Proust
86. "Being part of a team means being part of something bigger than oneself, and for that, we are perpetually grateful."
87. "A grateful team is an empowered team, each 'thank you' lifting us to new heights."
88. "The magic of teamwork begins with a simple 'thank you' and grows into endless possibilities."
89. "Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more – it turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, and a group of individuals into a team."
90. "Acknowledgement and gratitude are the twin souls of a thriving team."
91. "A team's spirit is nurtured by the gratitude of its members, for it is thankfulness that makes success bloom."
92. "In the spirit of teamwork, every act of gratitude is a catalyst for more success and unity."
93. "Gratitude is the invisible thread that weaves together the strength of a team."
94. "When gratitude becomes an essential part of our teamwork, our collaboration is natural and our successes are amplified."
95. "Thankfulness in a team is like a sunrise; it brightens up the day and points us to a new beginning."
96. "Being grateful for our team means recognizing every individual's effort as a vital piece of the puzzle."
97. "Gratitude within a team is infectious; it spreads and cultivates an environment where everyone thrives."
98. "A team that cherishes gratitude as a core value is a team that stands strong in the face of adversity."
99. "Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all others, and in teamwork, it breeds success." – Adapted from Cicero
100. "In the ecosystem of teamwork, gratitude is the nourishment that fuels growth and harmony."

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The Power of Us: Trust and Teamwork Quotes

Trust is the silent affirmation that each member will hold their weight, honor their commitments, and stand by one another through challenges and victories alike. 

These trust and teamwork quotes will help you share this sentiment effectively.

101. "When a team trusts each other, success is a natural byproduct." – Anonymous
102. "Trust is the adhesive that binds a team together; without it, even the simplest tasks become difficult." – Anonymous
103. "The best teamwork comes from those who are working independently toward one goal in unison." – James Cash Penney
104. "Teamwork begins by building trust. And the only way to do that is to overcome our need for invulnerability." – Patrick Lencioni
105. "Trust is knowing that when a team member does push you, they're doing it because they care about the team." – Patrick Lencioni
106. "It's about trust. Trusting your team, knowing that they will do everything in their power to not let you down, and vice versa." – Mike Krzyzewski
107. "None of us is as smart as all of us. Trust in collective intelligence leads to triumph." – Ken Blanchard
108. "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships." – Michael Jordan
109. "To be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved." – George MacDonald
110. "Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work." – Warren Bennis
111. "If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else – and trust they will do the same." – Booker T. Washington
112. "Good teams incorporate teamwork into their culture, creating the building blocks for success." – Ted Sundquist
113. "Creating a better world requires teamwork, partnerships, and collaboration, as we need an entire army of companies to work together to build a better world within the next few decades." – Simon Mainwaring
114. "The speed of the team is the speed of the boss. The team's trust in their leader can accelerate the pace of work." – Barbara Corcoran
115. "A single leaf working alone provides no shade. Trust your fellow teammates to create the canopy." – Chuck Page

Ending on a light note: Funny teamwork quotes for work

They say that teamwork makes the dream work, but let's face it, sometimes it also makes for some hilarious situations.

Whether it's the never-ending coffee runs, the printer that jams only when you're on a tight deadline, or that one team meeting that could have definitely been an email, there's plenty to chuckle about when we come together to get the job done.

Take a moment to share a laugh with your colleagues. These funny teamwork quotes for work are here to remind us that while the work we do is important, it's also perfectly okay to approach it with a smile, a light heart, and a sense of humor. 

After all, laughter can be the best kind of team-building exercise. Let's dive into one-liners that celebrate the quirks of working as a team.

116. "Teamwork is essential—it allows you to blame someone else." 
117. "Remember, teamwork is about sharing glory and blame alike. So if we fail, it's definitely everyone's fault but mine."
118. "The nice thing about teamwork is that you always have others on your side to share the workload, the blame, and the office snacks."
119. "I love teamwork. It means I always have someone else to do the stuff I don't want to." 
120. "A team is like a pack of wolves—always hungry for success and occasionally for pizza." 
121. "On this team, we're all united in a common goal: taking credit for each other's work."
122. "Teamwork: because sometimes your best just isn't good enough." 
123. "Our team works like a well-oiled machine; it needs constant maintenance, and it occasionally leaks." 
124. "Our teamwork strategy is the '404 Error: Teamwork Not Found' approach." 
125. "I've found that teamwork is much more effective if you have the right team. If not, solo work suddenly seems remarkably appealing."
126. "On our team, we stick together. Mainly because we're always out of office supplies like paper clips and glue." 
127. "My team really knows how to work together... to avoid doing work together." 
128. "Teamwork is important; it helps to put the blame on someone else when your project goes sideways." 

Don’t forget that humor in the workplace should always be inclusive and never at the expense of others. Have fun, but keep it kind!

Frequently asked questions on teamwork quotes

1. Why are teamwork quotes valuable for team building?

Teamwork quotes instill inspiration and unity, serving as reminders of the importance of working together toward common goals.

2. How can we integrate teamwork quotes into our work culture?

Introduce quotes during meetings, through office displays, and in internal communications to reinforce your team's collaborative spirit.

3. Can famous quotes from leaders really impact our team's performance?

Absolutely, they encapsulate wisdom that can boost morale and guide teams towards achieving their objectives efficiently.

4. How often should teamwork quotes be shared within the team?

Share them regularly, especially during moments that require extra motivation or to celebrate team achievements.

5. Are there any quotes that help in managing team conflicts?

Yes, quotes on trust and collaboration can provide perspective and assist in resolving misunderstandings.

6. What's the best way to present these quotes to a diverse team?

Choose universally relatable quotes and present them in a way that respects and celebrates the diversity within your team.

7. How can teamwork quotes help in welcoming new team members?

They can foster a sense of belonging and highlight your team's commitment to collaboration right from the start.

8. Can we use these quotes for team retrospectives?

Yes, they're great for highlighting lessons learned and reinforcing the positive aspects of teamwork.

9. What if a team member finds these quotes cheesy or unhelpful?

Respect their viewpoint and encourage them to contribute quotes or thoughts that resonate with them more.

10. Should we only use quotes from famous individuals?

No, consider sourcing quotes from within your own team to personalize the message and increase relevance.

11. How do we ensure that these quotes lead to actual teamwork improvements?

Follow up quotes with actionable goals, discussions on their application, and acknowledge when they're embodied in work.

12. What kind of quotes should be used to overcome a failure?

Use quotes that focus on perseverance, learning from mistakes, and the collective power of the team to rise again.

13. How can we measure the impact of these quotes on team dynamics?

Look for improvements in team communication, feedback during meetings, and overall team morale.

14. Is it effective to create visual reminders of these quotes?

Yes, visual representations can be very effective as they serve as constant, subtle reminders of your team values.

Implementing teamwork quotes in the workplace: Things to consider

1. What should I do if teamwork quotes have no effect on my team?

Assess team dynamics to uncover deeper issues. Offer various motivational strategies and customize your approach.

2. One team member is offended by a quote, how should I handle it?

Apologize for any unintended offense, discuss the context of the quote, and ensure future quotes are sensitive to all team members.

3. Quotes are liked but not impacting teamwork, why?

Quotes must be paired with concrete team-building activities and clear expectations to translate inspiration into action.

4. How should I react to sarcasm towards these quotes?

Engage with the individual to understand their skepticism, and consider creating a space where critical views can be shared constructively.

5. Teams enjoy quotes but don't retain the message, what to do?

Implement periodic discussions about the quotes' meanings and encourage team members to share how they can apply these learnings.

6. What if a quote contradicts our team's values?

Clarify your team's values, explain the misalignment, and use it as a learning opportunity to reinforce your actual values.

7. How can we prevent teamwork quotes from becoming repetitive?

Vary the source of the quotes, introduce interactive activities related to them, and rotate the responsibility for choosing them among team members.

No fluff, no sales pitch – just the facts. In this article we share a complete summary of the benefits Agile can bring to your business operations.

New to Agile? See our agile for agencies guide for the full breakdown, or here’s a quick definition: Agile is an iterative, flexible approach that prioritizes collaboration, customer feedback, and adaptive planning to deliver high-quality products or services efficiently and effectively.

Now that we covered definitions, let’s discuss 16 agile project management benefits that supercharge success among teams.

1. Faster time to market

Agile accelerates the launch of products or deliverables. Key aspects of Agile that contribute to this accelerated pace include:

• Iterative development: Agile divides projects into short, manageable sprints, usually lasting 1-4 weeks. Each sprint results in a potentially shippable product increment, allowing for rapid and consistent delivery.
• Feature prioritization: Agile teams prioritize features based on customer value and importance. By focusing on high-value output, the most critical aspects of the deliverable are shipped early on.
• Minimum Viable Product (MVP): Agile implementation processes emphasizes developing an MVP: a simplified product version with enough features to satisfy early users and gather feedback. This approach enables quicker releases and iterative improvements based on feedback.

The combination of these elements allows the Agile methodology to significantly reduce the time to market. Try it with the sprint planning template.

2. Improved customer satisfaction

When thinking of benefits Agile offers customer satisfaction often comes on top.

Customers are put front and center when teams are operating in an Agile way. Operations, planning and workflows all strongly emphasize on delivering value to customers and incorporating feedback.

Teams ship early and frequently deliver highly requested features and changes. This assures that the product is aligned with customer needs and expectations.

All throughout this leads to happier and more loyal customers. It’s not surprising that in term customer satisfaction is often high when teams adopt Agile.

3. Enhanced flexibility

Agile is built on the principle of embracing change and deploying iterative improvements. Through this mindset, teams can adapt to changing requirements and incorporate customer feedback quickly and efficiently.

Frequent sprints make it easy for teams to stay flexible. Adjustments and new information can be incorporated when teams reassess priorities at the retrospective of each sprint.

Additionally, another benefit Agile environments brings to flexibility is emphasis on collaboration and open communication. Cross-functional teams work closely together allowing different skill sets to chime in when needed.

4. Higher product quality

Implementing Agile often leads to a higher quality product because of continuous testing and feedback loops. These fundamental processes play a crucial role in identifying and resolving issues through the development process.

• Continuous testing is the practice of conducting tests throughout the development cycle rather than waiting until the end. With this, teams can identify and address defects as soon as they arise.
• Feedback loops in an Agile operation encompass regular reviews, retrospectives, and customer input. All stakeholders, including developers, testers, product owners, and customers, should have an opportunity to provide input.

The combination of the two processes minimizes the risk of releasing a flawed product and reduces the cost of fixing defects. As a result, the product will have higher product quality and stronger market performance.

5. Higher team morale

Higher team more is one of the benefits of agile methodology that impact your whole organizational culture.

Teams strengthen their bonds through meaningful relationships, mutual support, and a shared sense of purpose. Agile reinforces these principles by operating with cross-functional teams.

Additionally, team members are given the autonomy to manage their tasks which fosters creativity and innovation. Task management enables teams to track and showcase progress. This gives team members ownership while also boosting morale by demonstrating the value of completed work.

6. Reduced risk

Among benefits agile offers, reduced risk is important to consider.

Products and services are built and improved with customer needs in mind, reducing the risk of misalignment. Additionally, continuous testing throughout the development cycle ensures product stability and reliability.

Risk is also reduced through team dynamics that foster collaboration and collective problem-solving. Cross-functional work avoids siloes by combining different perspectives and areas of expertise on a task.

7. Increased efficiency

Working in Agile streamlines projects by eliminating bottlenecks, reducing waste, and promoting effective resource utilization. With a defined set of tasks in each cycle, team members can focus on what is urgent and avoid dragging work out.

Additionally, teams can identify and address inefficiencies through regular reviews. At the end of every sprint or cycle, teams come together in retrospective meetings. These dedicated meetings can be used to pinpoint inefficiencies, discuss their origin and brainstorm how to avoid them moving forward.

When looking at the bigger picture, unnecessary work is also eliminated when prioritizing high-value features and focusing on delivering an MVP.

8. Better resource allocation

An agile way of working ensures that team members' skills and expertise are used in the most effective way possible. By prioritizing tasks, team members can work on the features with the greatest impact on business outcomes.

Prioritization techniques (such as the Eisenhower Matrix) help teams identify and focus on high-value features first. Overall, this reduces the risk of wasted effort on low-priority or unnecessary features.

9. Scalability

The modular nature of this methodology enables teams to tackle tasks incrementally. Agile can be tailored to suit different team sizes, project scopes, and organizational strategies.

Teams can maintain control and adaptability as projects grow or evolve. Frameworks like Scrum and SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) provide additional guidance for scaling operations across multiple teams, departments, or even entire organizations.

10. Cost control

Organizations can achieve better cost control, optimize resource utilization, and minimize waste through agile. This all leads to more cost-effective business operations.

Agile enables early identification and resolution of issues through it’s iterative development approach. Prioritization of high-value tasks, adaptive planning, and customer collaboration all minimize spending on unnecessary features.

The continuous improvement mindset and emphasis on quality further contribute to cost control. Teams mitigate costs associated with project delays, scope creep, or misaligned requirements by operating in a lean way.

11. Faster feedback

Agile's approach to feedback cycles is more frequent, collaborative, and adaptive compared to Waterfall. Teams foster a continuous improvement mindset and better alignment with customer needs.

Customer feedback is gathered early and often, leading to more informed decision-making and better product outcomes.

12. Less bureaucracy

Self-organizing, cross-functional teams take ownership of their work and make decisions autonomously. This decentralization of decision-making reduces the need for hierarchical management structures and bureaucratic layers.

Additionally, the iterative approach allows for incremental progress and frequent course corrections. As a result, teams don’t need rigid, long-term planning and extensive upfront documentation.

13. Better stakeholder engagement

Agile encourages active participation of stakeholders, including customers. Input from all relevant stakeholders is sought in defining requirements, prioritizing features, and providing ongoing feedback.

Shorter sprints and incremental releases enable stakeholders to provide feedback early and often. Within every sprint, the team attempts tackle new feedback points, some as new as tasks released in the previous working cycle.

Product backlogs and prioritization methods also help teams focus on features that are most valuable. This ensures that resources are directed towards tasks that meet stakeholder expectations.

14. Easier progress tracking

Agile teams can monitor their work, identify potential issues, and adjust plans through dedicated processes. Here are some techniques and practices that facilitate progress tracking:

• Short iterations (sprints): Agile divides projects into small, manageable iterations, usually lasting 1-4 weeks. By breaking work into smaller units, teams can assess their progress more easily and make adjustments as needed.
• Daily stand-ups: Daily stand-up meetings are a core Agile practice. Team members briefly discuss their progress, obstacles, and plans for the day in a short meeting. Stand-ups provide a regular opportunity to monitor progress, address issues, and promote accountability.
• Task boards: Agile teams often use visual tools like task boards (e.g., Scrumban boards) to track the progress of work items. These tools provide a clear, at-a-glance view of the team's progress and identify bottlenecks.
• Retrospectives: Sprint retrospectives are held after each sprint to reflect on the team's performance and identify areas for improvement. These sessions help teams assess progress, learn from their experiences, and discuss improvements.

By employing these Agile practices, teams can easily track their progress, identify and address potential issues. This transparency and adaptability contribute to the overall success and efficiency of Agile projects.

15. Optimized team size

Optimized team size is one of the key benefits Agile methodologies promote. The number of people you work with significantly impacts the effectiveness, communication, and overall performance of a team. Agile recommends keeping team sizes small and manageable, usually between 5 to 9 members.

Smaller teams often develop a stronger sense of camaraderie and shared purpose. This can improve morale, teamwork, and overall productivity.

Optimized team sizes also encourage the formation of cross-functional teams, where each member brings a specific skill set to the table. As a result, you can tackle a wide range of tasks.

16. Data-driven decision-making

The last benefit of agile project management discussed in this article is data-driven decision-making.This plays a crucial role in ensuring that teams can continually adapt and optimize their processes. Agile teams rely on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure progress and performance.

Teams consider these metrics when planning and prioritization, rather than relying solely on intuition or gut feelings. This approach helps ensure that the team's efforts are focused on the most impactful tasks.

Data-driven decision-making also plays a crucial role in risk management. By closely monitoring metrics and trends, teams can identify issues early and make informed decisions to mitigate risks.

I wanted to share some important changes we are making to Rock.

Two years ago, we opened Rock to the public and thousands of people now use Rock to get work done with their team, clients, and customers. We know a lot of you love the product we’ve built and we are truly thankful for that.

With Rock we set out to build a productivity tool that would simplify how teams get work done. We also wanted to make this tool as accessible as possible by providing a lot of functionality for free or at a substantially lower price than alternative solutions. 

Building a product like Rock is hard and requires a lot of skill, resources, and commitment from our team and the reality is that all of this is not sustainable with the pricing we had in place. We have also heard from users that our existing paid plans are too complicated and that they felt too much nickeled-and-dimed for additional functionality beyond the free plan. 

Today, we’re making a change to our free and paid plans to allow us to keep building a great product while still keeping Rock simple to use and as accessible as possible.

Changes

• The Unlimited Plan - We are introducing a new paid plan called Unlimited which will replace the current PRO and TEAMS plans. This plan takes all the premium features in Rock and combines them into one easy to use, unlimited plan. We’re not doing per user pricing for this plan so you don’t have to worry about costs spiraling out of control while your business scales. This plan starts at $49 per month with discounts for existing customers, NGOs, and educational institutions. Read more
  
• Changes to the Free plan - The Free plan will continue to have unlimited 1:1 spaces and messages, but will now have limits on group spaces, tasks, notes, and other features. In most cases, this will allow anyone to use Rock for small to mid sized projects for free. Read more

Even with these changes, Rock costs considerably less compared to for instance a combination of Slack and Trello as these charge per user, don’t easily allow you to add guest users for free, and or put other limitations on their products. With the new, simple-to-use Unlimited plan – we hope more people will now be able to benefit from all the new features we’ve built in the last couple of months.

So what’s next?

We know that this might change how you currently use Rock so we want to make this transition as seamless as possible and provide different options to help you decide what to do next:

1. The changes to the Free plan will take effect in 14 days. None of your conversations, tasks, notes, or files will be lost if you’re over the new limits on the free plan. In most cases, you will still be able to read everything, but you might not be able to edit/make any changes unless you upgrade or decrease your Rock usage. 
2. As before you can always export all your account data and tasks for each space without limitations.
3. If you’re on a PRO plan, your subscription will expire at the end of your payment period. This could be within a month or within a year, and you can upgrade to Unlimited at any time. As an existing customer you will get an automatic 30% discount off the monthly or annual plan if you do decide to upgrade.
4. If you’re on the TEAMS plan, you will be switched to the Unlimited plan at no additional cost to you. 

Your support

As a current Rock user, you will receive a message in the Rock Support and Updates space with further information about upcoming pricing changes. If you have any questions or need additional information, please visit our Pricing page, check the Unlimited Plan page, email us at support@rock.so or connect with us at https://web.rock.so/support.

Making this change today will allow us to simplify how people access all of our premium features while also allowing us to keep building a product that is loved by thousands of people. We hope we can count on your continued support. Thank you! 🙏

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Change is hard. Our work habits have been honed through years to decades of professional experience. Stacked with the habits of colleagues, organizations, stakeholders, and clients, change is all the more challenging.

One habit that can be especially painful when poorly addressed, is getting good feedback.

How you gather and manage comments or revisions is so often overlooked. That is, until it becomes an impossible-to-ignore problem that chips away at your project's success.

Addressing the review and approval process doesn’t require a “digital transformation”. Your clients are already providing revision comments and suggestions. Adapting your approach can be simple and significantly boost the quality of your deliverables.

So how do you build a system for gathering accurate, timely, and useful feedback from key stakeholders?

The Symptoms of Poor Feedback

We’ve all been there; Project delays, finger-pointing, disgruntled clients and teams… These are often the signs that there is something wrong with how we are communicating around a project.

All too often, perhaps because we can be so used to it, we ignore the symptoms of a broken feedback process or misattribute it. For a ready-to-use board that structures feedback across creative stages, try the creative workflow template. For branding-specific projects, the branding design template covers the full lifecycle from brief to file handoff.

Is it the person’s fault that they missed a deadline, or was the process too complicated?

Before getting to the solution, there are a few key problem areas that you might recognize if you’ve ever had a broken creative workflow:

• You lose or miss comments and notes from stakeholders.
• There’s often a need to return to someone for clarification.
• You find your team redoing revision tasks because they were poorly communicated.
• There is no clear connection between the requests and who must act on them.
• Deliverables are always delayed.
• You and the client are often unsatisfied with the creative output.

Do you recognize any of these symptoms? If you identify with them it’s time to take a look how your creative workflow.

The Pillars of Healthy Feedback

On the flip side, it isn’t that difficult to update your creative communication process.

To get there, there are a few key considerations that you’ll need to address.

• Quality: On the most basic level, you want revision suggestions, questions, and conversations to be relevant and informed.
• Clarity: Ideally, all forms of communications, especially requests or updates, are accurate and clear. This is especially important with visual references. For example, think about the last time you got notes on a video project via email - and it contained multiple timestamps saying “cut here”.
• Coordination: Moving communication with stakeholders across silos, such as different tools, meetings, and emails, can result in confusion. Retrieving information and versions can also be an issue. For example, finding the latest version of a file can sometimes become a guessing game and relies on messy title conventions.
• Accountability: Who does what? Why was it done a certain way? Without transparency, issues are bound to repeat themselves and result in  avoidable mistakes. Without accountability there is no learning.

4 Steps to Better Feedback

So how do you set up feedback systems that cover all 4 of the aforementioned pillars?

Here are 4 steps to deliver significant improvements to the quality, clarity, coordination and accountability of the communication.

1. The Clear and Relevant Ask

Getting quality feedback on projects starts with knowing who, when, and how to ask for it. Before reaching out to request revisions, consider what you hope to gain from it. Is it creative input from stakeholders? A general review of visuals and graphics? Final approval from the project’s decision-maker?

A good question is half the answer. Ask the right questions if you need clarification on something. Everyone wants the project to succeed, so don’t be afraid to request clarification if you’re unsure of what’s expected. To use another cliche, an ounce of prevention is a pound of the cure.

Ideally, plan how you will tackle the review and approval process before starting your project, with all stakeholders buying in. This is simpler with an online communication tool that’s easily accessible to everyone involved.

2. Make it Simple

Once you’ve tackled the clear ask, make it simple for the receiver to take their next step(s). The more time spent on figuring out how to tackle your ask, the longer it will take to start (or possibly just give up).

Removing friction is essential for simplicity. Any time someone has to download anything, sign up, or learn a challenging new software, it adds potential delays to your project. Ensure they have the right tools to keep the back-and-forth quick and effective.

Email, shared documents, phone calls, and team video conferencing can all be useful communication methods for certain tasks. But these forms of communication can quickly get confusing and time-consuming.

By making it simple for your stakeholders, with purpose-built tools, you can effectively share information, tasks and updates.

3. Be Receptive and Respond Well

Being receptive to feedback is a crucial part of collaboration. Stakeholders will feel more comfortable being straightforward when they know the recipient(s) is open to suggestions, constructive criticism, and new ideas.

Taking feedback well can be a challenge. Fear of failure, an emotional connection to your work, and negativity bias can all make you feel uncomfortable receiving edits or suggestions. Developing a positive attitude towards this process will benefit your workplace relationships and communication skills.

Temper your initial reaction and emotions to show collaborators you’re receptive to their suggestions. Take time to consider it before responding if necessary. Consider their perspective of the issue, ask follow-up questions, and thank them for their input - even if you disagree.

Being receptive creates a cycle where people see you as a positive person to work with. In return, they will be more open with you and will ultimately be happier with the results. And, of course, they will enjoy working with you or your team.

4. Maintain Accountability

A critical part of the creative process is maintaining accountability. Be sure to set clear expectations. What is required or expected of everyone, and by when? Workflows are much easier when there’s transparency regarding expectations, roles, project stages, and deadlines. A content marketing funnel template can help structure those stages visually.

Consolidation (keeping comments, notes, file versions, and relevant activity in a central space) is essential. This maintains accountability across the entire project so everyone can go back and see the logic behind a decision.

The Right Tools for The Right Feedback

The right tools are essential to enable clarity, simplify workflows, facilitate a healthy feedback loop and maintain accountability.  Here are 3 to consider:

Rock - Rock allows users to communicate with collaborators while also assigning tasks. It’s a seamless messaging platform and project management rolled into one. Besides your internal team, you can also add clients and external collaborators can also be added to project spaces without issue. Keep all your communication in one place and say goodbye to the context switching that comes from working with different messaging and project management apps on your projects.

ReviewStudio - As a creative workflow and online proofing software, ReviewStudio makes it simple for teams to gather precise, clear, and consolidated feedback. Highly intuitive, it provides an effective way to mark up, share, and approve creative in a centralized location. All your versions are collated, comments and notes are threaded, and tasks are integrated with markups. Whether video, image, web, or documents - it is a standalone space that can incorporate easily into your current workflows.

Loom - Sometimes, recording a video of your experience or just walking through your revision notes can be most effective through a tool like Loom. If a picture is a thousand words, a video is a book. A great tool to capture your screen, with the option of recording your voice and face. Sharing is very straightforward, and features like adjusting playback make the whole experience very useful.

Good Feedback Leads to Successful Collaboration

Getting good and timely communication with decision-makers and outside clients is essential for any project to succeed.

Showing collaborators you’re open to listening and implementing their suggestions or requests will help them feel comfortable providing more in-depth thoughts and requests. In addition, provide them with the tools and resources to make the creative review and approval process as easy as possible.

It's important to remember that receiving feedback can and should be a continuous process. Use what you learn from the process to adjust your strategies, improve your products or services, and ultimately enhance the overall experience for your team or clients.

With a proactive approach to your creative workflows, you can build stronger working relationships, ensure deadlines are met, make better decisions, and drive growth and success for everyone involved.

‍

Support us by sharing Rock content with your network and earn credits, exclusive discounts, and free upgrades!

Starting a new project with clients, partners or freelancers often requires too many tools that don’t easily connect to each other. This makes work between organizations unnecessarily difficult, time-consuming, and inefficient. To solve this, we built Rock which allows anyone to start collaborating on a project within seconds with messaging, tasks, and everything related to a project in one space.

With this program we set out a simple list of activities teams can do as part of this program. In return, you can earn credits, discounts, and free upgrades to the unlimited plan.

With your help, we can reach more people and inform a wide number of audiences about a better way of working. The best part? You are not just earning rewards towards the unlimited plan. Participating in the program also allows you to actively advocate for better collaboration and build out your business or personal brand.

Ready to support our mission and earn rewards? Get started today.

Rewards

Upgrade for free or receive major discounts on a monthly or annual unlimited plan! Collect 200, 400 or 600 credits to redeem one of the available rewards.

Are you looking for significant discounts or want to upgrade for free? We now offer options that cater to everyone! Collect 200, 400 or 600 credits to redeem one of the available rewards, listed below. 👇

What new activities allow you to earn credits?

We defined a set of activities that teams and individual users do to receive rewards. We directly transfer credits to your account once an activity has been completed and verified from our side. Credits can be used to get a discount on your paid plan or upgrade for free. Get started.

Share valuable content on your channels: Receive 1 credit per shared post per channel. Quickly stack up credits by posting across channels or multiple times a week. Here are some example workflows that can be set up as part of the program:

• Post 2 times a week on 3 different channels and earn 24 credits per month!
• Post every week day on LinkedIn and earn 20 credits per month!

Feature Rock on your next newsletter edition: Add valuable content to your newsletter and engage your audience in a variety of ways. Think of for example linking to one of our content pieces, a product page or a web.rock.so link. Receive 25 credits every time you add Rock in your newsletter! Get started!

Power your site with our webform: Collect data from your website visitors, streamline the workflow and earn credits by adding a custom Rock webform to your website! Receive 40 credits per live webform on your website. Get Started!

Reach a large audience: Are you an influencer or do your posts often gain a lot of attention? Quickly rack up thousands of credits by getting quality content in front of your audience! Rewards start at 200 credits, but you can earn up to 1000 credits with this activity!
For more details regarding posts that gain a lot of impressions, reach out to us!

Join the program today!

Ready to join the program? Open a space with us. Let us know how many credits you want to earn and we will help you get set up, share assets, and configure a custom flow.

Activities are not set in stone, if you have suggestions for other ways to earn credits you can reach out to us by creating a dedicated support space.

‍

Rock is not only the easiest way to start collaborating, but it’s also the fastest way to start working together. With your own personal Quick Connect anyone can open a space with you on Rock within seconds. 

What you might not know is that you can take Quick Connect anywhere. Instead of sharing an email address or adding a webform to your website, you can instead share your Quick Connect on LinkedIn, a website, email, in person, and more. 

Quick Connect has been around the globe, in over 172 countries to be exact, and there is more to come. It has helped start projects, and begin collaborations, but most importantly Quick Connect has been connecting people on Rock. 

To help you discover just how fast Quick Connect lets you start working together, we are running a contest. All you need to do is share the different places where you added your Quick Connect to enter for a chance to win.

When will the sweepstake take place?

From October 25th till November 8th, we will be powering up your connection with our Quick Connect Anywhere contest.

What are the prizes?

We will select 2 winners at random to receive:

• 1-year subscription to our TEAMS 5 plan, or a 2-year subscription to PRO.
• A personalized onboarding session with one of our Product Specialists

How to enter the take me anywhere sweepstake?

1. Join our space using this link.
2. You will have one entry into the contest for every public place where you share your Quick Connect. To gain an entry simply share a screenshot and the link to where we can locate your Quick Connect link or QR code in our common space.
   Public places include: LinkedIn Bios, Facebook pages, Twitter posts, public blogs, company websites, etc. More examples of where you can include your Quick Connect are provided below.
3. Each entry counts twice if you share it with us on Facebook or Twitter instead.
   For example: if you Tweet a link to where your Quick Connect is located along with the hashtag #quickconnectanywhere @ LetsRockHQ. The entry will count for 2, rather than 1. The same applies to Facebook.
4. Keep in mind that you can only use one channel to share each entry: either in our space, on Twitter, or on Facebook!

Where can I use my Quick Connect?

You can share your Quick Connect in the form of a personalized link or a QR code. Quick Connect can be used anywhere that accepts links or QR codes. Share your link in an email or include the QR code on your website to help anyone quickly get in touch with you. Couple of examples:

1. LinkedIn Bio 

Including an easier way to get in touch with you on LinkedIn can lead to stronger connections. LinkedIn is an important place for you to find clients, partners, and suppliers. By including your Quick Connect in your bio, you can provide them with an easy way to start discussing and collaborating with you. You won’t need to transfer from LinkedIn messages to email to a collaboration tool. With Quick Connect you can directly start working in a space. 

• Head to your profile, make sure your Creator mode is turned On, and click on the Edit symbol.

• Scroll down to the Website section & paste your Quick Connect link in the Link section.

• Then, you will be given the option to create a "Link text" that will show up on your profile such as the one below.

2. Website & Blog

Whether you work in sales or are a marketing agency, the Quick Connect QR code will instantly bring people from your website or blog into a conversation with you. Anyone can follow the Quick Connect link or scan the QR code and open a space with you to chat. You can feature this on your pricing page or customer support page to ensure that current and potential customers have an easy way to get in touch with you. Check out how we do it on our website.

3. Social Media Posts

From Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Reddit to YouTube, you are likely spending many hours engaging with your community. Quick Connect provides you with an easy way to get in touch with your biggest promoters beyond your social media channels. 

You can use Quick Connect to quickly start communities where you foster discussion by providing a direct way for your audience to reach you. Simply add your Quick Connect to a social media post and share it with your audience.

4. Emails & Messages

What if we told you that you can get rid of the pain of losing your conversations and important documents in a sea of emails and messages? You can by using Quick Connect!

Including your Quick Connect link or QR code in your messages to potential partners, customers, and suppliers can help provide you with a place to start collaborating right away. You don’t need to miss out on information that’s shared with you or waste time searching through your inbox to discover all the different messages shared.

Quick Connect is especially useful if you are a freelancer working on websites like Fiverr or Upwork. By sharing your Quick Connect in a message, you can quickly move your collaboration to Rock. Collaborating on Rock gives you access to advanced features such as tasks, reminders, and time-tracking, which enable you to track your feedback, progress and time spent all in one tool.

Now, you should be all set to go. Start connecting, share it with us, and enter our contest to win. For more information on this contest, visit our designated T&C page.

We know a lot of teams use Rock to manage projects with freelancers, clients, and agencies so we’ve decided to make all of this a little bit easier. With this release we’re introducing a management dashboard for PRO spaces, a brand-new Time Tracker, and custom and active user status in the TEAMS plan.

We’ve also made TEAMS available to every domain, so you can now benefit from all the advanced features that come with this plan. With all these improvements, we are running a special promotion.

Anyone who signs up for an annual TEAMS plan or new Time Tracker in the upcoming week will receive 10% OFF with the promotion code OCTOBER10.

‍Questions about the Time Tracker or the benefits of the TEAMS plan? Reach out to us at web.rock.so/hello

Management dashboard

The Management Dashboard provides a summary of tasks across all your PRO spaces. Paid users get a Board View and Summary View of all tasks across spaces that were changed to PRO under the plan.

The Board View allows you to organize information based on group and filter by user, space, label and so much more. This makes it easier to see what is happening across your spaces and allows you to prioritize new action items.

The Summary View gives insight into tasks that were recently started, completed or stale within your team. This allows you to reprioritize and keep track of items that are being completed in time as well as tasks that are taking longer than expected.

If you add Time Tracker to your paid plan, the dashboard will also display tasks that have been consuming a lot of time allowing you to keep an eye on these. Free users can also access the panel with some limitations on which tasks and spaces you can see. Learn more about the management dashboard here.

Time tracker

Track how much time is spent on individual tasks by adding a time tracker to every PRO space. This makes it easier to keep priorities in check, work with freelancers, supervise team members and improve your overall productivity.

The Time Tracker also comes with a dedicated panel in the management dashboard, so you can get more insight into the hours users spend on tasks in your PRO spaces.

Time Tracker is a paid add-on to the PRO and TEAMS plans, so purchase the add-on on a yearly plan with a 10% discount using the code OCTOBER10 by going here.

User Status and Active Status

Rock now gives you two different ways to share if you’re online and what you’re working on. Active Status is available on the TEAMS plan and highlights when people are online and active on Rock. This feature is available for claimed domains and can also be enabled for workspaces on the TEAMS plan.

If you have a corporate domain that has been claimed you can enable this feature for all users on your domain which allows users to share their active status. For each workspace, you can individually enable this for all spaces in that workspace.

Users can choose to disable sharing their Active Status through Settings. This feature is only available on the TEAMS plan. Learn more about how this feature works by checking out the dedicated product guide.

For a limited time only, upgrade in the upcoming week and receive 10% OFF with the promotion code OCTOBER10. Sign up to TEAMS here!

User status

With User Status, anyone can add a custom status to their profile to let people know that they’re working on something, in a meeting, or out of the office. You can set this for a specific duration and automatically switch off notifications for that period.

This feature adds a custom icon next to your user profile. A custom emoji with highlighted text gives more information about your availability. Learn more about user status in this dedicated help guide.

TEAMS for everyone

Any user can now sign up for the TEAMS plan. Benefit from all the features in the TEAMS plan without needing to have a corporate domain (i.e. @gmail.com or @yahoo.com). We have created a special 10% discount for all teams that want to switch to an annual TEAMS plan in the upcoming week. Switching to TEAMS unlocks the following functionality:

• Managers & admins: Change spaces to PRO, manage users and access new features.
• Management dashboard: Summarize tasks that are being worked on and completed across spaces.
• Active status: Highlight whether users in your team are currently active or not.
• PRO spaces: Leverage advanced task management, scheduled messages, calendar integrations a pinboard and so much more with PRO spaces.
• More & larger workspaces: Create more workspaces with up to 50 group spaces in each.
• Custom Quick Connect, duplicate spaces, and so much more…

Grab your discount for the yearly plan while still available using the code OCTOBER10 and upgrade today!

Forwarding messages (mobile)

Want to share something across spaces? With the forwarding feature, you can share messages between spaces and avoid copy and pasting information.You can forward messages between your different spaces on mobile by following these steps:

1. Select the message you want to forward by pressing on it for a few seconds
2. Choose ‘forward’ from the option menu
3. Search for the space where you want to forward to. Make sure to also select it.
4. Your message is forwarded! Note that @ mentions will not always be recognized when forwarded. Uploaded documents that you forward will also be shared.

Faster object sharing (mobile)

We have now made it easier to move information from Rock to your contacts or other apps by sharing task, note, or topic links with seamless object sharing. You can share any object on mobile by following these steps:

1. Browse to the object (task, note or topic) you’d like to share with anyone and look for the sharing icon in the top of the panel.
2. Select “Share to other apps” in the option menu.
3. Select the application you want to share the object or store it in the files section of your device.

Download the mobile app

We’re building Rock in public, share your thoughts, ideas, and feedback with us!

Join the Rock team as we build the future of collaboration and productivity. Learn more about upcoming features, share product suggestions and access the latest resources and events from the Rock team. Everyone is welcome to join through this link.

Dylan Cromhout is a lecturer at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology and a managing director of marketing agency Brand Shepherd. He uses Rock for both: projects at the university as well as marketing agency work.

Throughout this article we share how Dylan coordinates a large student group on Rock. But first, let’s learn more about the university course he runs, named the ‘Digital Superstart Challenge’!

What is the ‘Digital Superstart Challenge’?

How can we make universities more productive for societies? Can we prepare students for real life work environments instead of focusing only on academic research? These are the questions that inspired Dylan to create the ‘Digital Superstart Challenge’ program.

The program is part of the course Marketing Diploma that he teaches at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) which was started in 2010.The project connects around 250 students with approximately 400 small businesses.

The aim of the program is to create a mutually beneficial exchange: students help small businesses improve their online presence, and businesses give them a launchpad to obtain real life marketing skills.

For example, students help create social media pages or update business websites. This gives them hands-on experience and marketing skills for their future careers‘.

Small businesses don’t always have resources to pay for expensive marketing. Luckily, there are many talented students who can learn important skills while helping those small companies.’ - Dylan shares the main idea of the project.

How to manage an educational project with 200+ students without breaking the bank?

In 2021, the program was launched for the first time fully online. Dylan shares that in the beginning it was very challenging and stressful to find tools which would allow him to manage such a big project fully remotely. At first, a Whatsapp group with around 200 students was created.

However, it quickly became clear that there were too many variables and people involved to just facilitate the program on Whatsapp. At that time, Dylan started to search for a WhatsApp alternative. He shares that most of the communication and task management tools he encountered were way too expensive as they charge per user.

The list of options narrowed down even further when Dylan realized that they had to look for a free alternative. ‘Firstly, we wanted to combine Discord for chatting, Todoist for task management and Google Drive for file sharing. These were the only free tools that I could find that could manage more than 100 users easily.’ - says Dylan.

However, shortly after starting to combine those different tools, Dylan discovered  Rock! and because of the affordable pricing as well as tasks and chat being in one place, Dylan decided to give it a go.

Learnings from the first edition of the fully online Digital Superstart Challenge

After testing Rock for a while, Dylan was confident enough that Rock would work for them and decided to introduce it to students. The program was successfully managed and completed on Rock.

Running the program for the first time added some learnings for the future. ‘The main learning from last year - use one space for the whole project. It was way too complicated to have a space per student.’ - shares Dylan.

Rock makes the Digital Superstart Challenge program work because it’s mainly dependent on tasks being completed. Combining messaging with a task management system makes it easier for students and Dylan to communicate and collaborate.

How to manage an educational project on Rock: Detailed workflow on the second edition of the fully online Digital Superstart Challenge

This year, Dylan and his colleague May are running the ‘Digital Superstart Challenge’ on Rock again. Based on learnings from last year they made some workflow changes that make running the course a smoother experience.

Dylan shares the details of his workflow which allows him to manage a project with around 250 students on Rock successfully. Below you can find a detailed step-by-step management flow of the course:

1. One space per project

Dylan and his colleague created a main project space for the ‘Digital Superstart Challenge’ where participating students are added and all the magic happens.

Dylan’s colleague May is assigned as the space admin. Her job is to monitor the space, update relevant information and assure that everything works smoothly.

‘We recommend having one person as the admin of a space with full editing rights. This person can make sure all tasks are neat and everything is going smoothly. You should add students as guests and not members, so that they have limited rights to change things in a space and can’t create or delete tasks. Otherwise, when hundreds of students have editing rights, it can end up messy.’ - Dylan shares.

2. Students fill out a Google Form

Students who participate in the program are asked to go to the ‘Digital Superstart Challenge’ landing page and fill out a Google Form there. They have one week to register.

Once they complete the form, students get an automated email with a link to join Rock. They create their Rock account and get added as guests in the main project space.

A tip from Dylan: Record a short Loom video to show students how to use Rock and share it in the main project space. It will help students to onboard quicker and start using Rock smoothly from the outset!

3. Everything happens in the Tasks mini-app

Dylan and his colleague add all the tasks that are necessary to be completed by students to the Tasks mini-app. They add due dates and detailed descriptions of what students need to do.

‘I also add links to videos which students need to watch to understand the tasks better. Also, I split tasks into different steps with a Checklist, so it's clear for students what exactly needs to be done to complete each task.’ - says Dylan.

General tasks don’t have assignees as they are the same for all students which are in the space. All students can see these tasks on the Calendar view. This way, they are aware of what needs to be done by when.

4. Automated tasks via Zapier

Students who participate at the program are in charge of finding small businesses to work with. Once they find candidates, they send them to a landing page where businesses can register by filling out a Google Form.

The Google Form is connected to Rock via the Zapier integration. Once a business registers, a task is automatically created in the main Rock project space. It occurs in a specific list dedicated to businesses.

All the business details which they fill out while completing the Google Form appear in the task description, so nothing falls through the cracks.

5. Students take over tasks of businesses

Once a task of a new business registration is automatically created, a notification pops up in the space chat. Students are in charge of finding tasks of companies which they acquired.

They use the tasks comment section to claim their businesses. The space admin confirms and assigns the student as an assignee to the task.

6. Business related details are tracked within a task

From now on, everything that is related to a specific business and the student assigned to that business happens within the comments section of the task. If students have questions or need some help regarding a specific business case, they communicate in the comments.

The space admin, May, helps out by answering questions, editing descriptions of tasks accordingly and adding labels.  Everything is structured and all information about each combination of business and student is easy to find.

7. Task labels help to identify students’ progress

A part of the task for students is to invite businesses to join a Facebook group. When students complete it and business owners join that group, students share this information in the comment section of the business task.

The admin checks the comments and adds a label called ‘FB ’in order to identify that this specific business has joined the relevant Facebook group.

Labels indicate which steps students have completed with a specific company, so it gives a good visual representation of where each business stands and how much work a student still needs to do. It also helps us filter tasks based on what has been completed so that we can track progress.

8. Tasks are finished!

Once all relevant labels are collected as well as most important information is up to date, students’ tasks get moved to the next phase. Different lists are used to denote phases.

When all is done, tasks get moved to the ‘Done’ list. This indicates that students completed all the steps with helping businesses to improve their online presence!

Invite businesses to Rock

Rock is being used by software developers, startups, and freelancers because it’s very flexible and customizable. At the moment, around 250 students are involved in the program and update their work on Rock successfully. That relieves Dylan and May from a lot of stress in terms of managing the program.

Dylan shares that it would be great to involve not only students but also businesses on Rock. If businesses would like to continue to work with Dylan’s team after the program, they will be invited to join Rock.‘For now, we only manage our students on Rock.

However, moving forward we would also like to use Rock to engage the businesses we work with. Most of them still use Whatsapp or Facebook for their communication but we would like to introduce them to Rock and show them how easy and structured communication and collaboration can be.’

Some businesses are reluctant to change because they are used to managing their communications on Whatsapp, Slack or Facebook Messenger. However, as the businesses grow, this will become more difficult and chaotic and that’s where Rock will be useful.

Starting educational projects on Rock

Dylan hopes that his experience can help and inspire other educational projects to be executed on Rock.‘I totally recommend using Rock for educational purposes.

You don’t need a huge budget, it has many great features and excellent customer support. I hope people working in education can learn from my experience and adapt my workflow for themselves. So they don’t have to go through a messy trial phase which I had last year.’ - says Dylan.

If you want to implement an educational project on Rock but still have questions, feel free to get in touch with the Rock team.

Productivity is often associated with speed and efficiency with which you can complete tasks. With Rock, we don’t want you to waste any time, so we have made connecting to others faster than ever. We want to test out just how fast you can master features on Rock and invite new members to the platform. To provide you with extra incentive to help you share the value of Rock with your network, we are kicking off the Race to Rock!

When will the contest take place?

From September 28th till October 12th, we will be testing the speed of collaboration on Rock with the Race to Rock.

What are the prizes?

Each winner will receive:

• 2-year subscription to our TEAMS 5 subscription, or a lifetime subscription to PRO.
• And a $50 Amazon Gift Card each

The top 3 users who acquired the most points by October 12th can win special prizes. We will also award the 2 new users (joined from September 28th onwards) with the most credits with the same prize.

How to earn credits?

You can get started with earning credits in many different ways listed in our Credit Program article.

For example, you can earn 10 credits for inviting additional people from outside your domain to Rock or you can receive 5 credits just for downloading the mobile or desktop version of the app if you haven't done this already.

Trying out features such as creating your first note, task, or topic will also grant you 1 credit each.

1. Invite friends, clients and colleagues to Rock

Connecting with Rock takes seconds: open a space together using Quick Connect or invite new users to a group space by sharing an invite link. By inviting new people to Rock, you can receive:

• 1 credit per new user
• 10 credits for each new domain.
• 50 credits if the invited user upgrades to PRO plan
• 300 credits if invited user upgrades to TEAMS plan

2. Import from Slack or WhatsApp

Migrate all your important chats to Rock to keep the conversation going.

3. Integrate your favorite apps

Not on Rock yet? No problem, sign up quickly and join the fun as we will also be rewarding 2 users who joined Rock from September 28th with the most referral points. That’s right! It also pays to join our platform.

Is it really that easy to collaborate using Rock?

Yes, it is, try it yourself. If you have been holding off on migrating your colleagues or integrating your apps, now is the time! For more information on the Terms & Conditions visit our Rules of the Road page.

Stay tuned to our social media and Rock Support space for tips & updates regarding the contest!