System for Manager V1.0. Assembling the stack and structure

Over the years of working as a manager, I have come across a large number of different tools for managing projects and teams.

Every time I stumbled across articles about the stack for managers, I always saw a large list of tools:

• Several services for planning and monitoring tasks;

• Services for building diagrams (processes, user paths, data migration structure, etc.);

• Time trackers;

• Analytics services;

• Listing tools.

These are good articles that describe various services, their pros and cons, tariffs, etc. However, they do not offer a system for organizing the manager’s work.

Therefore, I got excited about the idea of ​​​​making a system that would make work easier.

It should be an additional tool that is used independently of the project.

How did I come up with the idea?

Most of a manager’s job involves a few things:

1. Communication;

2. Information processing (preparation of reports and other documentation)

3. Analysis of project/product metrics

4. Generation of ideas;

5. Work planning;

6. Organization of processes.

Of course, these are not all the tasks he works on (much depends on the specifics of the project), but for the start, I decided to focus on them.

There are already many management tools out there, so I decided not to reinvent the wheel, but to choose a stack and come up with a structure.

Which stack did I choose?

I made a few requirements:

1. Independence from the project. The system can be integrated into processes so that it does not interfere with an already running project;

2. Cross-platform. The manager sometimes has to work on the run, so it should be possible to use the system on a computer and on a phone.

3. Free mode. In the first version of the project, I wanted to give the opportunity to use the system for free, so that everyone could try it out.

4. Ability to export information. To send reports, it should be possible to export it to a format familiar to everyone (pdf, word, excel, etc.);

5. Adaptability. Projects are very different and it should be possible to easily change the structure to suit your needs.

6. Possibility to connect other participants. Possibility to give information to other project participants.

For MVP, I decided to choose two tools – Notion and Figma.

What gives Notion:

• The ability to conveniently structure information;

• Export it to from the system;

• Generate templates for reports;

• Maintain a plan for employees;

• Cross-platform;

• Organize the knowledge base.

What gives Figma:

• Ability to create templates for easy construction of schemes;

• The ability to beautifully and conveniently design ideas;

• Ability to export to convenient formats (PDF, jpeg, png).

Both tools provide great functionality in the free version.

How is the manager’s life easier?

Introduction to the project

To begin with, I built a structure in Notion so that the manager, plunging into the project, could conveniently collect information.

I’ve put together a few pages of basic questions a manager should ask different departments to get a general vision for a project/product.

In addition to answering questions, it is also possible to separately collect information about the team and the tools that are used.

Management

To organize processes, I made a template in Figma, with which you can conveniently and quickly build process diagrams.

And also organized the “Processes and Management” section in Notion, where there will be links to all processes, as well as the “Problem Points” section, where current problems in the project / product are fixed.

Planning

The section “Goals and Objectives” is made for monitoring and planning. It describes the current focus of the company and departments, as well as the ability to maintain a top-level roadmap and fix tasks.

Ideas

I put together a separate template to make it convenient to describe the idea, what it will affect and how to implement it. You can also record the result there in order to maintain an archive.

Notes

I constantly have to record different information at the moment. I have made a section for quick notes so as not to get confused in the canvas of small notes.

Reporting

In meetings, the manager often needs to capture the main points. To do this, there is a table where you can conveniently record the summary of meetings.

For the report on the work, I made a template that can be quickly generated through a button, enter the basic information there and throw it off to the management.

Knowledge base

I made a knowledge base as a separate moment, which is not tied to a specific project.

Here, various knowledge about tools and working cases, interesting articles and studies, as well as contacts of people are recorded to maintain communication.

It can be constantly updated in the template itself and transferred from project to project.

What’s next?

So far, this is the first version of the system.

In the future, I plan to:

• More automate the system;

• Monitor the workload of the team;

• Create templates for various types of reports;

• Organize a system of financial monitoring, analytics, etc.;

• I will also supplement the templates in Figma to describe the processes.

I would be glad if you throw in the comments different ideas to improve the system.

Use the system 🙂

Download templates:

If you are interested in talking further

As a manager, and just a person in society, it is interesting for me to study communication and people’s behavior.

I run a channel where I record my thoughts and experience on these topics.

Join https://t.me/like_a_bat 🙂