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The Different Types of Checklist Teams Should Use (& How They’ll Help)

types of checklist

Picture this: You’re on vacation.

(Sounds good already, huh?)

It’s summer. The sun’s shining. You’re on a beach with white sands and an ocean so clear you can see the coral.

You think, “Hey, I wouldn’t mind an ice cream right about now.” So you go to the ice cream kiosk before it closes for the day, choose your flavor of choice, go back to your towel, and eat it.

It’s the best ice cream you’ve ever had.

You want more.

But it’s gone. (And the kiosk is shut, too.)

Your vacation is ruined. R U I N E D.

Sometimes, one of something isn’t enough. Not just when it comes to delicious food, but also concerning more practical things like iPhone charging cables (why are they so flimsy, Apple?!), and of course, checklists.

Having multiple checklists holds you and your team in incredibly good stead when it comes to all kinds of business-related activity, no matter if the team works in marketing, engineering, sales, or customer support.

But don’t take my word for it.

Take the word of the 30+ businesses who’ve offered their insights to the Process Street community regarding the types of checklist they use (and why). Read through the following sections to get the complete lowdown:

Now, forget about that ice cream – there’s work to do!

What makes having different types of checklist beneficial?

successful types of checklist
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In the world of business, there’s a lot to get done. No matter if you’re a solopreneur, working for a startup, an SMB, or a large enterprise, it’s safe to say that your work is cut out for you.

Take me – a content writer – as an example.

Each sprint, I’m writing different kinds of content, from onsite blog posts to offsite guest posts, and integration articles to checklist templates. There are also tasks that don’t necessarily require me to write a lot, like performing peer reviews, BAMM reviews, and editing guest posts for our blog.

If I had only one checklist to help me oversee all these duties then, well, nothing would get done. I’d be overwhelmed, lost in a sea of too much information.

This is why I run a checklist each time I undertake a certain task. For instance, each blog post I write, that’s a new checklist launched from our internal blog pre-publish template.

Simply put, I use different types of checklists to suit a variety of needs.

At Process Street, we’re not the only ones who realize the benefits of different types of checklist…

Considering their name, you’d expect ControlMyChaos to be experts at chaos control. Which they are, because different types of checklists help them with keeping organized in the workplace:

“I love checklists for business because it is a simple way to make sure nothing falls through the cracks! It relieves so much stress of having to remember everything and wondering if you forgot something. We underestimate how trying to remember things affects our mental energy and slows our productivity.

I use checklists in many areas including, client onboarding, employee onboarding, daily tasks, weekly tasks, and monthly tasks. I also have checklists for different services my business offers. This helps make sure that everything gets done the same way each time no matter which employee is doing the work. It also helps a new employee learn the ropes since they have exact repeatable steps for each service.”

Ethan Taub, the CEO of both Loanry and Goalry, makes sure his teams are using various kinds of checklists each day, every day.

Why?

Because as financial institutions, Loanry and Goalry have many legal and privacy laws to abide by:

“Being in finance, we have various legal and privacy laws that we adhere to. Checklists are crucial for us to ensure we are literally ticking all the boxes that we need to.

Any loan application, credit agreement, balance transfer etc is subject to a whole host of pre and post checks. We have built out comprehensive checklists for these procedures to ensure that all protocols and processes are checked off before moving to the next stage.

They are all stored centrally so staff have access to the templates and current customer files so that it is all synced.”

Speaking of the law, Eric Ramos – who owns Eric Ramos Law, a personal injury practice – says that different types of checklists have been the definitive tools for helping him systemize his business:

“I have been on a year long quest to systematize my personal injury practice and checklists have been THE DEFINITIVE TOOL for doing so. We use checklists for absolutely everything from the first phone call from a potential client through settling a case and signing the checks. I have found that checklists are surprisingly helpful for the routine work that we already do without thinking about. If we just sit back and rely on habit, we’re bound to miss little things here and there. However when we have the little things in a checklist, our entire workflow benefits from the clear direction. That’s one easy but amazingly helpful way we have improved quality control in our practice.”

Suffice to say, when it comes to managing tasks, projects, and even a business as a whole, you need different types of checklists. At least, this is what David Walter at Electrician Mentor says:

“We use checklists extensively to manage projects on both a macro and micro level. Top-level tasks highlight the projects that need to be completed. We break these projects down into hundreds of individual tasks – who needs to be contacted, the people who need to be on the job, the PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) required, all the way down to the required electrical tool list. Once we start a job, each employee has their own checklist depending on what job they’re doing. Checklists are fundamental to our business, and I see no way we could get our work done effectively without them.”

The next quote comes from Kristian Borghesan at Savology. Kristian explains how different kinds of checklists help the marketing team to no end, especially when it comes to business efficiency, efficacy, and consistency:

“In our day-to-day marketing efforts we use checklists across many different projects and tactics we are executing. We’ve found that checklists are extremely beneficial for us, and our partners, on the content side of things.

One of the checklists we use quite frequently is one to track the progress of publishing new content that gets published on our blog. We use the checklist to ensure that all assets and requirements are met before hitting the publish or schedule button. This helps us optimize our work efficacy, and also to make sure that everything we put out is consistent, on brand, and delivers.

The checklist isn’t a static list in the way that it will always remain the same, with the same items before publishing content. We’ve seen it evolve already within the past few months, and it will continue to evolve (by either adding, changing, or removing items) to meet the needs of our content strategy, and also to optimize our workflow.

Checklists, just like your business and processes, should always be changing.”

Another blogger who’s a fan of using multiple checklists and keeping them optimized is Anna Rider at GarlicDelight.com:

“I’m a food writer and recipe developer at Garlic Delight with plenty of checklists. I couldn’t run my business without checklists because there are so many details to remember as I’m publishing content. Here are the kinds of checklists I use:

– SEO research for blog posts
– Publishing checklists to ensure I queue up my blog posts correctly
– Monthly search engine checkups
– Security audit checklist (to see if I’ve been hacked)
– Budgeting checklists

Why do I use checklists? Because when I did not, it took a lot more brainpower to execute effectively. I would frequently forget steps and have to go back to fix them. It was a big waste of time. With checklists, I can follow a process with confidence. When I make a mistake, I know I can improve my checklist and avoid that error in the future.”

To help manage and complete necessary tasks, the team at Transcription Outsourcing use task checklists to make sure everything’s finished on time:

“We provide transcription services for the legal, law enforcement, medical, financial, academic, and general business industries and they all need slightly different tasks so we use task checklists right now. Which build upon themselves in a preset order depending on what happens at each stage. It’s how we are able to maintain our on time guarantee and keep our clients very happy with us.”

Balint Horvath, who’s the founder of Projectfather and is a bit of a polymath, is another person who manages his wide-ranging duties and tasks with appropriate checklists:

“As a podcaster, blogger and scrum master who’s responsible for processes and productivity at work, I cannot live without checklists.

Checklists are literally a shortcut to my brain to get done with things. How many times do we think we will remember what to buy? We go shopping for groceries and actually the moment we enter the store we forget the list of items to buy. It used to happen to me fairly often. And I actually buy nearly the same things every week to fill up my fridge.

Blogging and podcasting involve many steps. When I started working on my podcast I was surprised to learn about the nearly endless list of steps for producing a new episode. I felt like a newborn who’s dropped into deep water, a sea of activities to do and suddenly I had to learn how to swim. You find new content by doing research on what people are looking for or what you want to explore yourself. You need to find guests. Invitations need to be sent out and calls scheduled. Then the interviews need to be recorded and edited. It goes on until the publishing step and outreach.

By creating checklists for each group of these activities, I could visualize the steps to take. Once steps are visualized it’s possible to improve on them. Or to outsource some of the activities. Knowledge of how to do things can be spread to others most efficiently if at some point activities are written down. In blogging I use checklists, too. One important one I use daily is my SEO checklist. It details the steps needed to find content individuals look for, how to write and publish content that will be picked up by search engines.”

This penultimate quote comes from Alan Hartstein, the Editor of Techunderworld. Here, Alan rather beautifully sums up just how important different types of checklists are when it comes to multi-tasking:

“We can use a checklist for pretty much everything. It is a simple concept that has evolved over time. There can be a To-Do list, How-To list, Troubleshooting, Discipline, Coordination, Schedule Lists and many more. You have to identify where the problem lies and then have to work from there. For example, management skills (mine). If you lack the area of management and organization, it is necessary to employ the right tools, strategies, to overcome this situation and be more productive. We have to make use of a different checklist for different problems. It cannot be copy-pasted as it is not the one-size-fits-all kind thing. It depends on the problems faced by the company or the employer. Checklists are pretty necessary is this multi-tasking world.”

Bringing this section to a close is Stefan Chekanov, the CEO of Brosix. Stefan makes the valid point that, in the fast-paced modern world, making use of different types of checklist is nothing short of necessary:

“No matter which industry we are talking about, professionals face more complexity in the workplace than ever before. Breaking down complex tasks into simple steps can have a remarkable effect on productivity. Checklists can be used to facilitate communication. It can ensure that the appropriate experts, for example, consult with one other to resolve any issues that come up and reach an agreement on how to move forward.”

There you have it.

From these 10 quotes alone, you now understand that it’s not just advisable to create multiple kinds of checklists, but imperative.

Want to learn a little more about the different types of checklist?

I’ve got you covered. ⬇️

How teams utilize their varying types of checklist

teams types of checklist
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With my earlier personal story, I explained how I use the checklists at my disposal to do great work again and again.

But the checklists that work for me – and the rest of the content team at Process Street – won’t necessarily work as well for others. Useful checklists differ by business, industry, team size, and the department the team is a part of.

But that isn’t a bad thing, reader.

In fact, it’s rather positive. And due to the inherent flexibility of checklists, your team can amend and adapt checklists to truly suit your needs.

Here’s the next round of quotes, where you’ll learn about the different types of checklists being used by successful businesses across the globe.

First up is Josh Hastings, the owner of a marketing agency and the blog Money Life Wax. While working on both his agency and his blog, Josh uses a plethora of checklists:

“For digital marketing and blogging, there is more than meets the eye than just the final product. Whether it is a new article or helping a client grow their domain rating, I heavily rely on checklists to make sure all content is high quality and the same.

Every new published article goes through a PDF checklist before being published which includes (just to name a few):

1. SEO researched keyword focus
2. SEO researched headings
3. No more than 200 words per section
4. Featured image
5. Accurate categories
6. Yoast SEO slug and snippet
7. Call to action

While this might seem simple, it’s vital for publishing content.

Additionally, behind the scenes, marketing is vital and it starts with planning ahead of time using checklists. Typically, on a large whiteboard, the top-performing articles are tracked to make sure they’re properly marketed correctly using a large checklist next to each article!”

David Pike, the founder of New York Trolley Company, makes use of an SEO checklist too, but also heavily uses a sales checklist as well. As he says, they’re his two most-used checklists:

“Here are two main checklists I use.

Sales checklist – I use this because there are so many aspects of acquiring and closing customers that it is important to keep track of what needs to be done. Some tasks include marketing emails, follow-up to leads, partner inquiry follow-up, invoice reminders, etc.

SEO checklist – You can spend thousands of hours on SEO. A checklist keeps me organized on which are the most meaningful tasks. Some tasks includes guest blog posts, content creation, backlinks, on-page optimization, etc.”

Then there’s Quincy Smith, who founded ESL Authority. Quincy ensures his team makes use of different types of checklist to bolster the team’s overall workflow:

“We use checklists as SOPs for all of our blog publishing processes. For example, our writers get a content brief that has a checklist of things to include in each post – these include links to internal content, links to external content, keywords, section headers, and a call to action – each of these must be completed before the draft can get passed to the next person.

Once the draft has been edited, the piece is passed to our publishing team and a new checklist starts – this one covers things like adding alt tags to all images, making sure the piece receives 2 internal links, and creating an email to notify any contributors of the post’s status.

These checklists are invaluable to our content process and ensure each person can execute their responsibilities in a repeatable way!”

While on the topic of writing, Michael Lowe – the CEO of Car Passionate – reports on how he deploys checklists for his blog’s content writers to use:

“We post blogs twice weekly and have a few contributing writers. To ensure consistency across the writers we have a pre checklist for them to tick off before publishing, and we have a post publishing checklist for the marketing staff to use.

This helps us train up new writers quickly and bring them up to standard within a few days, rather than a few weeks.”

As a writer herself, Stacy Caprio at Deals Scoop is no stranger to checklists – particularly content-focused checklists:

“One checklist I use is a content checklist of new articles that need to be written. Having a clear content plan written out in the format of a checklist is great because you can reference it looking back when you need to see what types of content have already been made, as well as moving forward so you can get done what needs to get done as well as have a clear strategy map for the future.”

Now, communication is incredibly important in the business world. Although digital communication – and the ability to interact with billions of people quickly – is indeed great, it’s easy to mess it up, too. From grammar mistakes to just poor writing, there are a thousand and one ways to get off on the wrong foot. That’s why Mayank Kumar at QuickEmailVerification uses the following email checklist to write and edit top-notch emails:

“Because most businesses today rely heavily on emails, it’s important that your emails are the result of proven best practices. And one of these practices is having a checklist.

For our own purpose, we have the following five-point email checklist:

1. Did I make the purpose clear no later than the 2nd line? If I don’t state the purpose early on, I will likely lose the recipient’s attention.

2. Did I keep it short enough? No one likes (or may have the time/patience) to read long-winded emails.

3. Am I making the ‘What next’ clear? Clearly mention what action you want the recipient to take upon reading the email: Confirm a telephonic appointment? Make a purchase? Download a resource? State it clearly and visibly.

4. Are there too many ‘What next’ in the email? If the email urges the recipient to carry out many actions, they will likely not do anything.

5. Did I set/request a deadline? Nearly all business activities that can be broken down into tasks have a deadline. Make sure your email clarifies what are the important dates.”

Speaking of all things digital, the next quote comes from Venkates Swaminathan (otherwise known as Swami), the founder of LifeLaunchr – a virtual college admissions coaching platform. Swami explains the various kinds of checklist the Lifelaunchr team uses each and every day:

“We provide expert, personalized college admissions coaching to help students find their best-fit college or career and get in.

Checklists are crucial for college admissions, and we use a lot of them. We use checklists for many things, such as:

– Student application checklists, to ensure the application is complete
– Test-day checklists to ensure students are prepared to take a standardized test such as the ACT or SAT
– Financial aid checklists to ensure forms are turned in on-time and are complete and correct
– College selection checklists to make sure students and parents have thought through all the factors in choosing colleges to apply to
– Interview checklists to ensure students are prepared for an interview
– College visit checklists to ensure they ask thoughtful questions on a college visit

Using checklists avoids errors due to oversight and also makes sure we maximize a student’s outcomes.”

using types of checklist
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The owner of Opal Transcription Services, Chloe Brittain, also has a myriad of checklists for her business-related processes:

“I use checklists in the following areas of my business:

– Editorial calendar and content marketing. Tasks on this list include keyword research, content creation, editing, sourcing graphics, on-page optimization, internal linking, and content promotion.

– PR/guest posting. Major items on this list include researching prospects, outreach, following up, writing content, publishing, and promotion. I keep track of each prospect’s status with color codes that are easy to understand at a glance.

– Client onboarding. This list includes things like signing a confidentiality agreement, setting up a record for the client in my workflow management software, assigning passwords, etc.”

Meanwhile, the team at Airfocus makes use of troubleshooting checklists to serve their customers better!

“Instead of the standard checklist, we have troubleshooting checklists for those situations when things go wrong. For example, a customer reports having an issue with implementing our software. Immediately after picking up the call, we go through a list with the customer, from the smallest to the biggest problem with their app.

This is a super-easy way to troubleshoot any issue that our customers have. Instead of asking random questions to find out what the customer may have done wrong, we go through the checklist together with them. That way, we solve the majority of our customer support calls and tickets within minutes instead of taking 30-40 minutes like we did before.”

Astawa Alam at DxM Creative says that a website pre-launch checklist is absolutely essential for DxM when launching a client’s new site:

“A must-have checklist for our business is a pre-launch list. We design and develop incredible websites for our clients. When we hand projects off to them, we can’t risk missing something that will jeopardize their growth. Embedded thorough milestone checks ensures that our clients get off to a great start when we hand off the project.”

Then there’s Talk Travel, who uses different types of checklist for, well, pretty much every work-related process imaginable! Saurabh Jindal explains these different types of checklists and how they’re used:

“We use a variety of checklists in our business depending on the need and the function to which the checklist pertains:

1) Essential checklists:

a) Product checklist
This list has all the mandatory items which need to be checked whenever the product is updated or a new version released.

There is another checklist which the software engineers have to check on a weekly basis to see if the systems (websites and the app) are working smoothly, and without interruptions.

b) Marketing checklist
This is basically a checklist of the daily things to do. For example, social media postings, customer replies, etc.

c) Administrative checklist
This checklist is involved with the tasks for maintaining the office, making sure it is stocked with the necessary supplies, cleaning equipment, etc.

d) Each team’s checklist
For some of the tasks they are supposed to do on a daily/weekly basis.

The checklists basically help to make sure that the processes are running and nothing is amiss. They enable our team to complete all the tasks.”

Elliot Blackler is the co-founder of Evopure. Elliot says that his team utilizes a 3 bullet-point checklist to start their days off well. Judging by the quote below, it’s having a rather positive impact:

“What checklists do we use and why?

It’s the most important and probably the most straightforward one, the 3 things checklist. This is a simple 3 bullet point list noted down at the start of the day that cover the 3 non-negotiable actions that need to be done that day. These actions can be anything from a simple email to a project deadline, but they help keep our team’s priorities straight and reduce spending huge amounts of time on less important and perhaps easier tasks.

It’s also a great reference point to review in 1-1s to make sure everyone is working towards key company goals.”

Meanwhile, Laura Bergells – who’s a public speaking coach – advocates for using a pre-presentation checklist before delivering a presentation, whether in the board room or on a public stage:

“As a public speaking coach, I recommend pre-presentation checklists. Presentations can be stressful for many speakers. Using a room and event checklist can help with pre-presentation anxiety. When you know you’ve checked all the items on your list, you can calm down. It’s a relief to know you’ve prepared to the best of your ability.”

Insightful quotes, right?

Luckily this section isn’t over yet.

Leading it out is David Salazar Yanez, the CEO of Andonix. Here, David describes just a few of the processes that you need to use checklists for:

“In frontline applications for manufacturing, logistics, and hospitality, checklists play a vital role in maintaining quality, safety, and productivity. Improvements in connectivity and software make checklists pivotal in process audits, training of new employees, implementation of new processes on the floor, quality control in production and shipping, and communication.”

Interestingly, a lot of responders here mentioned how they used checklists for marketing tasks – particularly regarding SEO and content writing.

Sure, there’s certainly some overlap between theirs and Process Street’s checklists for marketing processes, but at the end of the day, each team’s set of checklists will differ!

For some insider tips and tricks on how to make your team’s checklists the best possible versions they can be, read on!

Tips and tricks for making various types of checklist for your team

writing different types of checklist
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Perhaps you’ve never created checklists to be used in a business setting before, and want some pointers on how to get stuck in.

Maybe you do create checklists, but you’d like to learn a thing or two on how to improve them.

If either of these stances applies, then this section’s for you.

Here, you can read first-hand accounts from brilliant business-people, where they go into detail about their tried-and-tested methods for making not only great checklists, but different types of great checklists.

Go on, jump in!

Providing us with the first tip is CEO of Dowler Construction Services, Chris Dowler. Chris says that using ready-made checklist templates is a great way to get started, but as time progresses, they should be edited to better suit your business’ changing needs:

“Our lessons learned are that off-the-shelf checklists readily available on the internet are ok to use initially, but that it becomes vital to customize every checklist to your specific need, or in our case, the client’s specific spaces. It is also vital to perform a post-mortem on every project or when some new variable is encountered. The results must then be added to the checklist. For instance, if a new piece of equipment was added of which you were not aware, then that piece of equipment needs to be added to the checklist upon its discovery. Or, if a code or standard changes, that change must be incorporated into the checklist. Finally, checklists must be dated or otherwise noted as to what version is being used. This becomes very important when something goes wrong. Was the most recent version of the checklist being used? Risk management will be impacted by the use of an outdated checklist.

Checklists are vital to our business, they are simple to use, and easy to maintain.”

When making your checklists, Alex Miller from Uphail advocates using the GTD method:

“I highly recommend reading Getting Things Done by David Allen, as the methodology is quite useful for checklisting.

The main principle of the methodology is to externalize projects and tasks from the mind, and breaking them down into action items. In this methodology, all incoming tasks are captured in an inbox, and if actionable – complete it (if under 2 minutes) or delegate/defer it if it takes longer. This is where checklists come in handy. Add the tasks to be done right away, to be done in the future, or for others to complete – to the list. Personally, I find it an effective technique to add all the quick, under 2 minute tasks to my checklists (which is recommended by GTD). Checking these off rapidly, and in succession makes me feel productive, builds momentum and gets me in the swing of things. The items on the checklists should have next actions which are critical to the GTD methodology. Examples include: Call Mary, schedule appointment with John, purchase software license, hire architect, sign contract – all tasks that are actionable and perfect checklist items.

Another key list that is recommended by the methodology is the someday / maybe list – tasks that can be deferred for a later time (ie. Books to read, movies to watch, etc.) – and I have a checklist for these tasks as well. GTD recommends that lists include no more than 20-30 items, if they do, break the lists down to smaller ones.”

Interestingly enough, Alex isn’t the only one who says that aspiring checklist-makers should follow the GTD method. Brent Sweitzer, who’s at the helm of Sweitzer Counseling, agrees that the GTD method is certainly effective:

“I’m a psychotherapist, which may seem like a profession where checklists wouldn’t come in handy, but I use them several times a day. I am also a follower of the GTD methodology, and David Allen makes heavy
use of checklists.

Checklists are a form of an ‘external brain’ that you can rely on so that you can still be productive even when you’re not at your freshest. I use checklists to make sure I thoroughly follow-up on new leads that come in. I use weekly checklists for a weekly review. I use monthly and quarterly checklists to make sure I’m aligned on key personal and business goals and to make sure I’m measuring my business’ performance effectively.

Getting Things Done (the book) and The Checklist Manifesto are must-reads for making the case for checklists within any organization (even one person businesses).”

For those looking to up their checklist game, Shawn Breyer at Atlanta House Buyers recommends creating what’s known as the ‘Power List’:

“Every day, the first thing that I do is the Power List. I might even stay home to work on this and go to the office afterward. Once I have completed the Power List, I am free to work on putting out fires in the business or working on things that I enjoy doing within the business.”

Lastly, Jessica Rhoades at Create IT Web Designs explains that checklists are constantly evolving and changing, so make sure to keep them fluid and leave space for future amendments:

“I LOVE checklists and use them in my business all the time. My biggest checklist is for when I install a website with WordPress, Themes, and Plugins. I have a list of all the small details that I need to do to get the website set up correctly. The checklist includes optimization and making any website quicker. I love being able to look off of my checklist and notes and learn from my past. I always make sure that I leave room for additional notes in my checklists and some blank lines. The world moves fast and I want to capture any new enhancements with the existing software or if there is a new and better feature or plugin that I need to use. My checklists are ever-evolving and not a concrete list.”

Before drawing this section to a close and moving onto which tools to use for documenting, creating, editing, and optimizing different types of checklist, I’d like to give a special shoutout to Software Advice, Buyguide.ae, Uncorked Ventures, Hugestepup, and GalacticFed.

Their responses to our research-orientated questions were incredibly insightful, so a massive thank you for detailing all your nifty ways for making your different types of checklists useful and practical.

Now, it’s time to look at some of the best tools of the trade.

Tools used to create different types of checklist

types of checklist tools
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I know, I know.

After reading those tips and tricks, now’s the point where you’re raring to go, ready to create a plethora of checklists so your business can be the best it can be.

But hold up a second.

Firstly, you need to think about and consider what you want your checklists to consist of. Otherwise, when you get to writing your checklists, they’ll be… well, disorganized. And being disorganized won’t win you that competitive edge.

Once the checklists have been considered, you can then move onto writing them.

As you read this very sentence, businesses across the globe are writing down their checklists on paper, in notepads and planners, on whiteboards, and in the Notes app on their iPhones. But the businesses who are serious about checklists (and considering their benefits, who wouldn’t be?!) use specific software.

You should, too.

Why?

Because state-of-the-art checklist apps like Process Street not only helps users to document and create their checklists, but also with editing them, organizing them, optimizing them, and also for collaborating with colleagues.

Plus, all of Process Street’s templates and checklists are completely cloud-based, so unlike checklists on pieces of paper, they aren’t prone to getting lost.

Ergo: It’s 2020. If you’re making checklists, adopt business software that’ll help you to do so.

For more on the genius Process Street app, check out the video below!

Now, at Process Street we’ve uncovered some interesting insights regarding the various tools being used for checklist creation and management.

Take this quote from Meg Marrs, K9 of Mine‘s founder, who explains how she uses Asana for work checklists and project management:

“I personally love using Asana for work checklists and productivity management. I run a content-based website called K9 of Mine. We usually publish 3-4 articles each month, so there’s quite a bit of writing happening in any given week.

We have process checklists that notify our team when certain tasks are completed, and let them know when they need to jump in.

Our writing team has various task dependencies that can’t be completed until earlier tasks are finished. For example, our editor can’t edit a piece of content until the writer has finished, and our uploader and formatter can’t upload and format our articles on WordPress until the editor has finished.

With Asana, I can set up our checklists so that once a writer attaches their document and clicks the checkmark task saying they are done with the writing, our editor will get a notification that it’s now their turn to get editing.

This streamlines the whole content creation process, and also keeps email inboxes less cluttered (we used to just email back and forth when tasks were finished, and that was a nightmare – my inbox was always overflowing)!

It also allows me to jump in and see what the team is working on and where they are in various processes without being too micro-managing.”

Meanwhile, Peter Song at Haki Review Mashup finds Trello to be a piece of software that’s easy to jump into, and allows him to manage his checklists:

“To run my personal blog business, I use Trello. Among many other checklist apps and software out there, Trello was a perfect fit to my needs – simple, easy, and beautiful. I know that many big corporations and startups use bigger software such as JIRA by Atlassian. That was way too big for my blog business. And, there was a learning curve. I do not run a big company so I just need to track the tasks that I need to do, that I am doing, and I have done. I am not a big fan of learning new software just to assist my tasks.”

BrandLoom also uses Trello for their task-based checklists, as the tool aligns with their needs:

“We use a task-based checklist. And for this our preferred tool is Trello- which is an efficient list-based tool and acts as a checklist as well. In Trello, each individual is assigned a list of cards that define the task for the day or the week. Every task has a deadline. Once an individual completes their task, they move the card to the next team member who further works on it before declaring it as complete. This is a very efficient system that helps us adhere to our timelines. Checklists on Trello helps us to rework on assignments, share it with others in the team who further work on them before the task is accomplished finally.”

The team at Better Proposals are using Basecamp as a makeshift tool for their checklists. Though, Better Proposals’ CEO Adam Hempenstall says he has reservations:

“We use checklists for complex tasks that take a lot of time and more than one person to do. For example, setting up a new landing page for our website, which requires the work of a marketing manager, designer and a copywriter. Since we all work remotely, we have to use some kind of software and we’re currently on Basecamp. Mind you, this is not the best or most practical tool for the job, but we’ve been using it for more than five years now, so it stuck with us all as a habit. The biggest problem with Basecamp’s checklists is that it’s not easy to track who did what, so we’re planning on using another PM tool very soon.”

The next quote comes from Jason Ah Sue, the founder of Model Home Locator. For the time being, Jason’s using Wunderlist:

“The checklist that I use is an app called Wunderlist. I’m not married to the app by any means but it is a nice way for me to see my checklists from my phone or a browser and share them with other people. Aside from the program I use, there are four checklists that I use every day. The first two are pretty standard to-do lists. Every morning when I wake up I take 15 minutes to decide what my biggest three business objectives for the day are and what my biggest three personal objectives are. It sounds simple but these two lists provide my day with a sense of direction and accomplishment. By following my morning plans I assure that my day has a purpose and when it’s time to sleep that night I feel like I have earned it.

The other two to-do lists are less traditional but help me stay afloat as an entrepreneur. I have a to-feel and to-be list. As I make my objective lists for the day I also decide what emotions I want to feel that day. It may sound weird, but this helps me start my day with a conscious effort of being in a good mood and provides me with reminders throughout the day that I get to choose how I feel. It gives me a certain feeling of mind of matter. My to-be list can be a mix of business and personal. Sometimes my goal is to be an amazing husband and it reminds me to go the extra mile with my wife. Other times my goal is to be a focused, goal-driven go-getter. I know, lots of buzzwords but this serves as a reminder to me throughout the day of who I really want to be. Not how I want others to see me but how I want to see myself.”

Last but by no means least is Midas Creative‘s Damien Buxton. In this quote, Damien explains how going from spreadsheets to proper, online software has helped his business leaps and bounds:

“Although we’re a purely digital business working in the web industry, for many years when we first started out we worked using spreadsheets online to keep on top of daily tasks. It was how things were done back then.

This was far from perfect but at the time it worked – kind of. We had tabs on a spreadsheet, segmented into the type of tasks such as hours spent working on a job, marketing, project timelines and general ‘to do’ lists etc. We heavily relied on email to check in with each other.

Looking back, this was crazy, with different departments all needing to work on various aspects on the same project such as design, coding, marketing and finance, it’s a wonder we ever got anything out the door.

Being able to create online lists, inviting people to collaborate, the ability to schedule tasks in and have reminders emailed and alerts on mobile devices now make life 100% easier. Gone are the bad old days trying to fathom out who needs to do what, when and more importantly if it actually got done!”

As Damien says, working off apps like Google Sheets and the like can be a good place to start – especially for startups and SMBs.

But there comes a point where, as you scale, you need something more robust. More dedicated.

Damien mentioned that having the ability do the following were massive positives for him and his business:

  1. Creating digital lists
  2. Scheduling tasks
  3. Getting reminders and alerts
  4. Inviting people to collaborate

I can only assume that Damien is now using Process Street – which is BPM software in the form of a checklist app – as, with our app, you can perform all of those listed actions. And more… ⬇️

Use Process Street for every kind of checklist imaginable!

Process Street is superpowered checklists.

But how does it work, exactly?

If you document workflows, business processes, and integral procedures as templates in our nifty app, you can then launch an infinite number of checklists from those templates!

This means you can run a checklist each time you undergo the blog pre-publishing process, the content distribution process, the customer support process, or for any recurring tasks or processes you regularly need to complete to a high standard – all while keeping human error at bay.

If you didn’t watch the (short) Process Street explainer video earlier, check it out here.

When I said that Process Street is superpowered checklists, I meant it.

With our incredible workflow features, our checklists aren’t just run-of-the-mill checklists.

They’re state-of-the-art.

The incredible features in question are as follows:

  • Stop tasks. ✋
  • By adding stop tasks to your checklists, you can make sure your team never purposely or accidentally skip over important tasks again. Here’s to enforcing order.

  • Conditional logic.
  • For recurring processes that aren’t always the same each time, conditional logic has you covered, as it dynamically changes checklists to appropriately suit your needs.

  • Dynamic due dates. ⏳
  • With dynamic due dates, you can adjust a task’s due date dynamically based on a varying factor unique to each checklist, like a date field or a task that has yet to be completed. This makes sure you and your teammates always know when tasks need to be completed by.

  • Task permissions.
  • There may be times where a little privacy is needed. Have no fear, as with task permissions, you can hide tasks from certain members inside of your organization.

  • Task assignments.
  • Assigning collaborators in and outside of your team to tasks has never been so easy, thanks to task assignments.

  • Role assignments.
  • Role assignments are similar to task assignments – but more dynamic. It’s useful for larger teams where different people might complete a task depending on their role, or if you want to dynamically invite external users to complete a specific task!

  • Embed widget.
  • The embed widget allows you to directly add, view, and interact with other apps inside your checklists. As an example, you could add a Google Doc, Google Sheet, an Airtable view, or even another checklist! Wave goodbye to tab hopping.

  • Webhooks.
  • With webhooks, you can send automated messages or information straight from your Process Street checklist to other apps. For example, you can use webhooks to send a message into Slack once a particular task has been checked off, informing your colleagues that you’ve completed an important task!

  • Approvals. ✅
  • Do some of your important tasks need approval once completed? Or do you need to approve the work of others? Luckily, approvals make the entire approval process far more streamlined.

For a deep-dive into some of these features, don’t forget to watch the webinar below.

Then, once you’re all caught up with Process Street and how to use it, sign up for a free account and get creating amazing templates and checklists yourself!

I can’t wait to see the different types of checklist you’re going to make – and use – with Process Street.

What different types of checklist do you use in your team? Are there are any tips and tricks you’d like to share for creating, editing, sustaining, or optimizing your checklists? Let me know your thoughts and suggestions in the comment section below.

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Thom James Carter

Thom is one of Process Street’s content writers. He’s also contributed tech-related writing to The New Statesman, Insider, Atlassian, G2, The Content Marketing Institute, and more. Follow him on Twitter @thomjamescarter.

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