How to Organize Your Hive Workspace

It can take an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to refocus on a given task after a distraction arises. 50% of employed workers admit they are distracted by their phones at work, which is a real bummer since so much work can be done on mobile devices. But those who have organized workspaces – digital and otherwise – are able to get back on task quicker, cutting out lag time and redefining productivity in their lives.

Hive is a digital workspace that was created specifically to increase productivity. Simple workflows, project action templates, document and video proofing, and so much more encourage keeping your work in one centralized location. The less you have to reach outside of the platform during your workday, the more you can get done in your allocated time on the job.

So, how can you get set up to thrive in Hive? Whether you have been using the platform for some time, have used it with a previous employer and are stepping back into an updated version or you have never touched Hive, here are some organizational tips and tricks to keep your work streamlined – and you on your A game!

1. Create Your Profile

For our newbies, first thing is first. After logging in – in a collaborative team workspace or in the free Hive Solo option – you will want to click on the bubble icon second to the right on the top bar of your dashboard. In the drop-down, select the second item, “Edit Profile.” Ensure your name and email are spelled correctly, and that your contact information is available if you are operating on a team. Choose your basic preferences, and how you like to receive notifications. You can even add an avatar so people can quickly identify you within tasks.

2. Update Workspace Settings

In the same dropdown, you originally edited your profile – which may now have your face or a fun photo attached to it – click “Settings” under “Workspace settings.” Here, you can ensure that your workspace has the details to correctly identify its purpose. Feel free to create boundaries by adding working hours and holidays, and whether you’d like action items to be assigned on weekends or not. Here, you can choose to make your private actions or projects public. (Though you can choose to make each private or public as you work on specific tasks as well.)

3. Select Apps to Optimize Organization

Hive is a smart workspace. So, you can customize the way you experience your workplace by adding apps to it. To do this, you can select “Manage apps” in Workplace settings (accessed with the above information) or click the icon with four squares on it and the word “Apps” in the left toolbar. These options will help you to customize your workspace in a way that works best with your energetic flow and the way you learn or process information. You can find some of our favorite app options below.

Free Apps

• If you are working with a team, you may want to activate the News app, which allows members to share high-level news, updates, and celebrations with colleagues.
• Managers and high-level executives may want to keep an eye on minute tasks and monotonous processes at a less descriptive or nuanced level. A portfolio view is perfect for this, as it shows where projects are–without details–at a higher level and allows you to view multiple in one frame.
• Hive Notes is the perfect place to keep anything and everything related to your work in one place. You can attach them to specific projects, and make them viewable to your team or keep them private. With the notes app, you can find all of your notes easily in one place. It keeps tabs labeled “all,” “mine,” “shared with me,” “projects,” and “archive.” Archiving notes can be very refreshing because it keeps your workspace clean of those metaphorical sticky notes, but allows you to search them later if you need to remember something or reference an old(er) idea.
• Not everything has to be a meeting. It is no secret that people have been burnt out and overwhelmed by meetings for years. The same is true for emails. With today’s barrage of messages, it can feel almost impossible to achieve inbox zero. Messaging is a great option within Hive that allows you to increase your communication standards with coworkers and decrease the amount of missed messages and inbox notifications.
• Project baselines are a must for anyone who is starting a business from the ground up. Entrepreneurs, startups and franchisees alike are all learning about the amount of time that goes into creating and enacting processes. New teams are learning about each other’s work habits and trying to create a flow that allows space for innovation. This app allows you to track how long your time expectations for a project are versus how they actually pan out.
• If you work collaboratively with a team in GSuite, we highly suggest connecting Google drive (OneDrive for Microsoft users). Many companies also use Dropbox to share important files.
• Focus mode is key to limiting distractions when you are in the midst of important work. Consider adding it to your dashboard and using it for the first hour of work while you are catching up, and the last hour or so while you are wrapping up for the day.

Paid Apps

Some apps listed are only available with a paid subscription to Hive, instead of the Hive Solo (free) option. Here is a selection of apps we connect to as soon as we open a new workspace.

• Time Tracking is a great option to track where time, money and resources are best spent on any given project. It is also a near-perfect tool for remote and hybrid workers who want to ensure they are keeping their work within the company’s given work expectations.
• For obvious reasons, Zoom is a great tool to have available in-app. You can easily send customized links via messaging and reduce the amount of space your video call apps take on your desktop.
  Any company using the Salesforce platform will be interested in upgrading Hive to integrate their accounts into the platform. This way, any information they need to be collected from the Salesforce platform will be readily available with a quick integration and workflow setup.
• While you can certainly provide feedback in notes, etc. throughout the course of a project within Hive, Proofing & Approvals is a great app that allows you to streamline were to find whether a project or task has been greenlighted. Approvals Reporting allows CSuite team members and investors to monitor approval flow at a high level.
• Analytics exists at the core of any business. If you want to nerd out on numbers, this app add on could be key to the way your company approaches strategy. Options to monitor numbers based on workspaces, action due dates, employee, projects, etc. are all easily viewable in easily digestible charts.

4. Choose Your View

Once you have added your apps and know how to access them, you will want to choose a way to view the tasks, projects, and other information that pertains to your work. Click on “Projects” in the left menu. Underneath “Project Navigator,” you will see four options. Click the third, “Summary Views.”

Three of the most popular options should be listed as examples. These include “Calendar,” which is exactly that–a calendar viewable and editable by all team members. “My team” has every task and project listed under the person responsible on your team. This allows you to pan across different colleagues to view what is on their plate at any given time. The “Status” view will let you see which projects are in what phases of completion. For example, any task that has not yet been started will be listed under one column. In-progress tasks will be allocated under one place, as well as tasks under review, and so on.

If you click the blue “Create summary view” option, other view types are available. If you enjoy spreadsheets and tables, “Table view” might be your bread and butter. “Label View” and “Gantt View” are other ways to engage visually with your work. In all instances, feel free to adjust the cards and header verbiage, and create templates that will help to automate your workflow.