Why are online boards cool? Let's look at the example of MTS Link Board
In 2022, we started making our own online board for team collaboration. There were few similar products on the market at the time. Miro had left Russia, and the free version no longer had enough features — for example, only three boards were available. After analyzing the situation, we refined our vision of the product.
The new board was supposed to:
solve internal business problems – for example, increase the efficiency of agile events, planning and training;
have shallow and intuitive interfaces so that users don’t get lost;
assist in the collaboration of SCRUM teams (planning, retrospectives and brainstorming) and training (diagrams, charts, adding materials).
We talked about the development of the project in our blog on VC.ru. One of the articles was noticed by MTS Link, and we were offered to become part of a large team and scale our development to the audience of the company's services. Now our team is expanding, and new functions are being added to the product. Over the past year, it has completely transformed and become part of the MTS Link services ecosystem called MTS Link Boards.
Since 2021, it has become difficult for users from Russia to pay for foreign services. When working with Doskami, there will be no such problem: the service is domestic, and the servers are located in Russia.
What MTS Link Boards Can Do
In essence, the MTS Link online board is an endless white workspace that can be configured to be accessible to the entire team. You can:
select a ready-made board template;
create a new board from scratch;
invite participants – via email or invitation link;
Set the access level: reader or editor.
In the paid version you can create an unlimited number of boards, in the free version – no more than three per team.
The service is intuitive, the names of buttons and tabs are familiar to those who use Miro. But if difficulties arise, you can open video review from the developers – it will help you understand how to work with the board.
A large set of tools is provided for visualizing processes – we will tell you about them below.
Stickers
Sticky notes are a tool that is common in any office. On an online board, they are used to leave notes for yourself or colleagues, to record theses, important thoughts. On Boards, you can combine stickers into groups, link them together, rotate or change the scale. A gift for perfectionists: stickers are automatically aligned!
Diagrams
With the help of MTS Link Boards, you can clearly show complex processes: the system of relationships in a department or stages of work on a product. A library of figures, arrows and lines of different configurations has been added to the Boards. The necessary visualization with such tools will be created in a flash. You can write scenarios, create scripts, reflect relationships.
Arrows
Straight, curved, broken — arrows in Boards can be anything. You can attach arrows to shapes, link them into elements, and explain the connections with captions.
Signatures and Headings
The text adding function allows you to place headings, subheadings, add object captions on the board. If desired, you can change the font format and size.
Drawings
In Boards, you can sketch a picture by hand, highlight important things in materials when working online, put an accent — drawing tools help with this. Notes and drawings can be pinned. After that, they become separate elements and can be edited.
Frames
Imagine: during training, you divided the audience into teams and gave each one their own task on the board. To prevent participants from getting confused and working exclusively in their area, you can create frames and paint them in different colors. Each team gets a separate frame.
Frames are also convenient for step-by-step work. Hide the schemes and open them gradually, as needed. You will be sure that team members will not get confused in the stages and will not start performing tasks in the wrong order.
Reactions
A special set of reaction stickers will help you to appreciate the work and show your support without words.
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You can add any images to the board. For example, you can illustrate an idea, add references from Pinterest or a photo of the most active employee.
Mind maps, or intellect maps
In Boards, you can choose a suitable mind map model and use it in your work: structure ideas, tasks, concepts. Create prototypes of chatbots or outline the stages of project implementation.
The center of the mind map is the main idea. From there, connections radiate. This helps visualize tasks and make workflows easier to understand.
Tables
If you need to constantly return to Excel to check data while working, you can transfer the table directly to Boards. Add and delete columns and rows, structure information, create databases.
Cards
Let's explain how convenient they are with an example. Let's say you've given several employees tasks that need to be completed by a certain deadline. To control the work and track progress, just add cards to the board, assign those responsible, and set the statuses: “On schedule,” “In progress,” “Done.” You can view the statuses on the cards together and report on your area to your colleagues right during a general call.
Templates
The list of tasks is ready, but there is no understanding yet of how to structure them – this happens. For this case, Boards provides a set of templates with a ready-made structure. Choose the layout that best suits the tasks.
Built-in timer
Set time limits and track how long it takes to work on a task. This way, you'll be sure to complete the task within the allotted time. And your team members will see how much time they have left to complete the task.
Where MTS Link Boards come in handy
Teamwork and online boards are the best tandem when setting up work processes. No matter how painstaking the work is, visualization simplifies the perception and understanding of tasks – complex schemes will be easier to digest. And colleagues will be able to support the speaker with “lights” and “hearts”.
In certain areas of work, Boards will become indispensable. We tell you.
Teamwork
At first, online boards were used mainly in IT teams, but now this tool has moved to other areas. Boards are used by marketers, managers, designers, copywriters, and education workers.
Boards from MTS Link are a tool that will help optimize processes in a team. Here's how to use them:
collaborate on a task in real time;
organize brainstorming sessions;
save different projects in one place;
visualize work processes;
discuss or prioritize tasks with your team;
control the execution of tasks and track timing.
Boards are also used for entertainment purposes. For example, online quizzes, contests, and contests can be organized as part of team building events.
Corporate training
If online boards are used in creating distance courses, the learning process becomes more productive. The fact is that many people find it difficult to perceive the dry text of instructions and regulations. But perception improves when information is diluted with “live” elements. For example, the main points can be displayed on board stickers, and a visual mind map can be used to describe a complex technological process.
Another use case for Boards is to split employees into groups and give everyone the same case. With Boards, each team can copy the template to their own workspace and share it for presentation at the end.
Depending on the type of lesson, you can set access rights: employees can observe the teacher's actions or directly participate in the process.
Distance education
School, university or advanced training courses — with online boards, the student and teacher become closer to each other, and the material is easier to learn. The advantage is that the board is visible to every participant in the educational process, and for independent work or a test assignment, the student can always make a copy of the template.
A good way to use Boards in online learning is to integrate them with webinars. For example, with Boards you can simultaneously give a lecture and illustrate a story. This technique will increase engagement and prevent boredom during the lesson.
What's the bottom line?
IN MTS Link Boards You can work separately or use them during an online event on MTS Link. The service's functions help make complex tasks accessible to the team, organize the abundance of information, and dilute serious content with informal details, such as stickers or reactions.
The platform has an additional advantage that will be of interest to those who have previously worked with Miro: you can import data from a foreign platform into MTS Link Boards.
That's all for now. Tell us, have you worked with MTS Link Boards? If so, was it convenient for you? Which online board do you like the most and why? Write in the comments — we're interested!
