Automation to support brainstorming, delegation, and communication
By Krystina Martinez · August 21, 2020
For many of us, group projects in school were a terrible introduction to teamwork. Thankfully collaborating with coworkers is usually a more pleasant experience, but you're still dealing with different work styles, schedules, and personalities.
We can't do anything about personality differences, but Zapier can help accommodate different workflows and app preferences to help you get the job done. Our automatic workflows—which we call Zaps—let you send information between apps so you don't have to constantly check if your teammates are on track with their parts of a project.
Use these Zap templates—pre-made workflows that help you get started—to address common collaboration problems. Just click on a template and you'll be guided through customizing it. You can read more about setting up Zaps here.
You'll need a Zapier account to use the workflows in this piece. If you don't have an account yet, it's free to get started.
Brainstorm asynchronously
Brainstorming sessions within your team can be fruitful or frustrating. Some people need more than a one-hour meeting to generate good ideas, but it's counterproductive to call multiple brainstorming sessions to tease them out.
Instead, try a workflow that allows time for asynchronous brainstorming. However your team members like to jot ideas—whether it's in a note-taking app or posting their stream of consciousness in Slack—you can use a Zap to automatically save those ideas in an online whiteboard tool.
Create Miro cards when notes on Evernote are tagged
Whenever a tag is added to your Evernote, make that information available in Miro so you and the team can act on it. This integration will help you do that, hands free. After you turn it on, we'll catch all the notes you tag in Evernote from then on and automatically convert them as new card widgets on an existing Miro board.
You've got your information in OneNote, but your team works in Miro. Make sure you don't have to skip between the two with this workflow. Once active, it will react whenever a new note is added to a particular section in OneNote, creating a matching card on Miro for you. You won't have to copy any of that information by hand again.
When you have new tasks, you'll want them to be added to your organization tool. This integration helps by automatically creating a card widget in Miro with the details of a new Google Task. It's never been easier to organize your tasks.
Turn your spreadsheet survey results into a visual brainstorm! The Stormboard - Google Form integration allows you to take the results from your survey and add them to a Storm, organize them on a custom template, and then act on the best ideas.
Sometimes our best ideas come from one-off conversations. This Zap will automatically turn your Slack messages into ideas in Stormboard whenever there's a specific reaction (Reactji) attached.
Then, when you get enough ideas on a whiteboard, you can call a meeting to whittle them down to what your team will focus on.
Delegate tasks automatically
When there are a lot of moving parts to a project or process, it's easy to miscommunicate who's supposed to do what. For example, who on your sales team will follow up with new leads? When a new task is added to your project management app, who will tackle it?
Whether you're running an eCommerce business or a project for a specific client, you can use a Zap to delegate tasks to colleagues.
Does one coworker prefer receiving team chat notifications, while another prefers having things added to their own task management app? If you add a Paths step—available on our Professional plans and higher—it will route specific tasks to specific people, based on certain conditions, no matter what method each person prefers.
Create Trello cards from new Google Forms responses
When someone fills out a form in Google Forms, you likely have a list of things to do with that new information. With this integration, you won't have to create those tasks manually in your to-do app every single time, or worry about forgetting to do them! Let Zapier automation handle that for you by automatically saving new Google Forms responses as Trello cards.
Are your client meetings part of a Salesforce workflow? With this integration you can automatically create Salesforce tasks from new appointment data as soon as appointments are made in Acuity Scheduling.
Your emails always mean work, so why not automatically turn them into tasks on your favorite to-do app? That's what this integration is for. It turns each new email you receive on Microsoft Outlook into a task in Microsoft To-Do. Get more done with a little help from automation.
Know about new orders instantly when you use the Shopify to Trello integration. Once set up, when a new order is submitted in Shopify, Zapier will create a new card in Trello. Wow your customers with a fast order fulfillment when you incorporate Shopify with your team collaboration in Trello.
Instantly notify your team when new conversations are assigned. With this automation, each time a new conversation is assigned in Help Scout, Zapier will create a new task in Asana. Create an efficient team and avoid missing important conversations with customers.
Keep your task list up to date effortlessly with this integration. Set it up, and Zapier will automatically create a new task in Todoist whenever a new card is created and saved in Trello.
Make sure your JIRA issues are taken care of by adding them to an Asana task list. This integration automatically creates a new Asana task each time a JIRA issue is added.
You can't collaborate effectively if you're not communicating effectively. While some matters of communication are best left to humans—such as providing context behind a particular decision—automation can take care of tasks such as updating your team on what you're accomplishing.
If your team uses a team chat app, with one (or a few) Zaps, you can turn any channel into a command center where notifications of project activity or completed tasks are routed.
Send Slack channel messages with a digest of new Basecamp 3 to-dos on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule
Send your team periodic updates in Slack about new to-dos, so everyone is on the same page. Use this Zap to automatically add new Basecamp 3 to-dos to Zapier's Digest tool. Then Zapier will send a Slack message containing a digest of all new your new to-dos on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. That way, your team doesn't even have to leave Slack to find out about what's next to work on.
If you want to keep a close eye on Trello cards that involve you, use this Trello Slack integration via Zapier to get notifications when cards are either created or closed.
Easily keep track of changes your coworkers make in Airtable. This Zap sends a Google Chat message for new or updated Airtable records, so you'll always be on top of project changes or updates!
Easily keep track of every change your coworkers make in Google Sheets. This Zap sends you a new Google Chat message whenever a Google Sheets spreadsheet row is updated.
Need to keep up with changes to your Jira Service Management requests? This integration sends you a Slack message whenever a customer updates a request.
Working with a team comes with its own challenges, but with the help of automation, you don't have to worry about the tasks that trip up most teams. Now, you'll have more time to focus on getting the job done.
