Projects in Motion: Regular Projects vs Workflow Projects
TL;DR:
Projects are one of the fundamental ways in which Motion helps you accomplish your productivity goals and bring your ideas to life.
In Motion, projects can be categorized into two types, each with distinct use cases. Motion offers two unique ways to streamline your project creation: Project Workflow Templates (Workflow Projects or PWTs) and Regular Project Templates (Regular Projects).
Workflow Projects are a flagship feature at Motion, allowing for enhanced detail, coordination, and structure in your project creations.
Regular Projects are Motion's legacy project creation process; providing a simplified version of the project creation process.
This article will:
First define a project in Motion and clarify how/why you should use them.
Secondly, we will cover how to build a project from scratch and how to utilize a regular project template.
Finally, we will highlight Motion's Workflow Projects and define what they are and how to deploy them in your project creation.
What is a Project in Motion?
We can think of projects in Motion as the scaffolding to bring our customer's ideas to life. Projects are collections of related tasks that act as stepping stones on the path to productivity. Each associated task in a project represents a new milestone in the creation process; taking you from Point A (project start) to Point B (project completion).
📢 Marketing Agency Example: Suppose you run a bustling marketing agency, "Marketing Marvels". You're handling a major project for a client with various teams assigned to different tasks. You can create a project named “Client X Campaign” to centralize tasks related to that specific campaign. This way, you can ensure that all tasks related to the campaign are organized and easily accessible.
You'd simply need to click into the “Client X Campaign” project and you can interact with all the tasks and events associated with the project in one place.
Why Use Projects:
Time Management
Clear and concise project roadmaps and timeliness visible in the Gantt View
Collaborative task assignments with ETA updates.
Customizable timelines for individual tasks and project deadlines
Minimal Context Switching
Motion’s AI algorithm will try to group tasks of a particular project together in your daily scheduling to ensure you stay streamlined and focused on your project.
Motion's intuitive scheduling algorithm ensures you stay focused on your project's tasks and limits the time spent changing gears to focus on other topics; boosting your efficiency and productivity. (Click here to learn more).
Effortless Customization and Organization
Color-code projects and tasks. (Click here to learn more).
Multiple organizational views for project tracking. (Click here to learn more).
Customizable statuses for project task stages. (Click here to learn more).
Add blockers to tasks to ensure they're auto-scheduled sequentially. (Click here to learn more).
Project Task Statuses:
Like all tasks in Motion, tasks in Projects have a variety of statuses that illustrate their process from creation to completion. Additionally, you can add custom statuses in your workspace(s).
These statuses include: Backlog, To-Do, In Progress, Blocked, Completed, Canceled, Checking, Waiting for Review, and Under Review. Hint: In a project, it will be most beneficial to label your task's statuses as to-do's, changing their status to 'completed' as you finish each task.
For more information on task statuses click [here].
How to Build a Project From Scratch:
To begin building your project, select the ‘+ Project’ button located in the upper left-hand corner of your Motion homepage. This will produce the project creation modal.
Next, select the ‘+ Create Project From Scratch’ button in the upper right-hand corner of the modal. This will produce the project creation template.
Customize your project settings: project name, workspace, assignee, start date/deadline, etc.
Once you have added your preferred settings, be sure to save your project. Upon saving you can begin adding tasks to your project.
To add a task to your project, you can either select the ‘+’ sign located to the right of ‘Tasks’ option or select the ‘+’ sign next to a specific task stage to directly add your task to that stage.
Once you have added your project tasks, exit out of the project creation modal to view these tasks on your calendar.
You can always access/edit your project again by selecting the ‘All Projects’ tab or by navigating to the specific Workspace your project was created in.
Regular Project Templates: A Motion Legacy Feature
The regular project template is a similar simplistic structure to building a project from scratch, however, a regular template can be saved and utilized for future use. Regular templates are much more simplistic and don’t contain stages like PWT's. They are useful for simpler, smaller-scale projects that require a handful of tasks for completion.
For the most robust and comprehensive project building, we advise utilizing the PWT option, however, if you are creating a simple project and you'd prefer to use a regular template the process for creating a regular template can be found below:
How to Build a Regular Project Template
To begin building your project template, select the ‘+ Project’ button located in the upper left-hand corner of your Motion homepage. This will produce the project creation modal.
Select ‘+ New Regular Template’ located at the base of the project creation modal and then select the specific Workspace you would like to create this project template in.
Once you have selected your preferred Workspace, the project template prompt will appear.
From here simply, title your project, add a description, select the project status, project priority level, and add any labels (if applicable).
Finally, you’ll need to title your project template in the lower left-hand corner of the project template prompt; then select ‘Create Template’ to save your Regular Template.
Introducing Motion's Flagship Project Tool: Workflow Projects (PWT's)
What is a PWT and what are the benefits?
Project Workflow Templates (PWT’s) are an incredibly valuable asset for streamlined project creation. A PWT is a 'codified process' with a specific set of steps that you routinely follow to complete that process.
For example, as an employer, each time a new employee is hired, you might follow stages like:
Onboard company software onto their device: Including tasks to download all company software
Pass HR 'Workplace Values' course: Including tasks for all the various HR courses that are required
Schedule meet and greet with team: Including tasks for each meeting with a member of the team
This employee onboarding example is a codified process with steps that are routinely followed and replicated with each new-hire.
PWT’s include project stages that map your milestones on your way to the project’s completion. In each stage you can select the stage duration in relation to the overall project, name each stage, and select to have your project auto-advance to the next stage when all the prior stages tasks are complete. Additionally, you can input all applicable tasks directly into each stage; ensuring you have covered all requirements for each stage of your project journey.
Once a PWT has been created, it will be saved in your Workspace and can be effortlessly re-used for a new project.
Use Case Example:
Let’s say you own a bakery and have a variety of clients requesting wedding cakes over the summer.
You notice that each client, while requesting different cakes, still follows the same requirements for completion: meet with client, submit order, acquire supplies, bake the cake, package the cake, and deliver to the customer.
As each cake requires the same process for completion, you can streamline the project creation process by using PWT’s.
You make each step of the process its own stage and include any applicable tasks to the specific stages they belong.
It might look something like:
Stage 1: Meet with Client.
Tasks: Set up meeting with client, take notes on client preferences, and establish a price range for the cake.
Stage 2: Submit Client Order.
Tasks: discuss client needs and sign contract.
Simply create one PWT that outlines your project process and boom— you can reuse that same template with just the click of a button for all future orders, saving you time and brain power.
How to Build a Workflow Project (PWT)
To begin building your PWT, select the ‘+ Project’ button located in the upper left-hand corner of your Motion homepage. This will produce the project creation modal.
Select ‘+ New Project Workflow Template’ and then select ‘Create From Scratch’ to produce the PWT creation template.
In the PWT creation template, you can edit the project default settings as well as add specific roles and text variables for added customization (Ex: Adding roles like 'head chef' and text variables like 'client name' in the bakery example help bring your PWT to life).
Begin adding/editing the stages of the project to meet your requirements. You can add as many stages as needed to meet your project needs.
In each stage, you can add all tasks that are relevant to that stage’s completion. Each task is customizable with the same settings found in the task modal.
Once you have customized your PWT, select ‘Save’ and you will have successfully created your PWT.
PWTs: The Ultimate Project Optimizer
Workflow projects offer a variety of ways to manage your project deadlines. In your PWT's not only can you customize your project stage durations with the touch of a button, but now you can optimize specific task's start dates and deadlines using relative dates in your PWT stages.
Milestone Edits: Editing your project Stages has never been easier.
When creating your PWT customize the specific stage deadlines for each of your projects stages.
For more information on project staging, click [here].
Task-Level Edits:
When creating a PWT, select a task in an individual stage to customize the task's relative start date and deadline to fit your specific criteria.
Accessing Your Created PWTs:
Select the settings icon ⚙️ located in the upper right-hand corner of the Motion homepage.
Scroll down and select the specific workspace your PWT was created in.
In that workspace select ‘Project Templates’ and you will see your PWT’s saved under the ‘Project Workflow Templates’ section.
From here you can edit and delete your saved PWT’s.
Using PWT’s in Future Project Creation:
When creating a new project you can import your previously created PWT(s) by:
Selecting the ‘+ Project’ button.
Choose from your created PWT’s under the ‘Project Workflow Templates’ section in the project creation modal.
This will promptly import your PWT allowing you to make any edits you’d like before creating your new project.
Creating Project Workflow Templates with AI:
You can now harness the power of AI to create robust and detailed PWT’s in an instant.
To create a PWT using AI simply:
Select the ‘+ Project’ button located in the upper left-hand corner of your Motion homepage.
Select the pink ‘Create with AI’ option located in the center of the modal (this will generate the PWT AI prompts).
In the ‘Describe Your Project’ section provide a detailed description of what your intended goal is for the PWT.
Additionally, you can upload up to 3 documents that help assist with the project creation.
These can be any relevant documents including PDFs, spreadsheets (.csv, .xlsx), text documents (.docx, .txt), or images (.jpeg, .png) that describe your Standard Operating Procedures. Or even documents with sample projects or workflows you currently have in your organization.
Once uploaded, select the ‘Generate and Preview’ option. In seconds you will have your detailed PWT ready for use. Make any edits/changes you would like and then save your PWT.
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