After working with hundreds of clients, we’ve identified the best practices that can help you set up your monday.com account the right way from the start. By implementing these tips, you’ll avoid common issues down the track, such as disruptions caused by employee turnover or onboarding, protecting your intellectual property, and ensuring everyone is on the same page.
1. Customised Views for a Tailored Experience
The main table on monday.com often displays more information than necessary. To streamline workflows, create customised views that provide relevant information for different roles. Here are some views we recommend:
Home View: Ideal for managers or team meetings, this view displays active projects and hides completed tasks. Hiding columns that don’t show relevant information keeps the view clear and focused on current work.
My View: Using the “Dynamic Me” filter, this personal view shows team members only the tasks assigned to them. It’s a great way to help individuals prioritise their daily tasks.
Stage/phase Views: Set up filtered views by stage/phase, showing only the information relevant to that phase of the workflow. For example, you might have a “Discovery” view and a “Proposal” view on an opportunities board. Highlight important fields with conditional colouring to make it easy for team members to see what needs attention at each stage.
Issues View: This view captures items missing critical information, such as owners or due dates. It might seem counterintuitive, but an “Issues” view is a powerful way to ensure your workflow is running smoothly. A quick check reveals any items missing required details so you can resolve them before they create bigger problems.
Don’t forget that individual users can save their own favourite views. Lock any shared views to prevent changes, ensuring everyone on the team sees exactly what they need.
2. Use Emoji Symbols to Simplify Column Actions
Emojis aren’t just for texting! Use them to simplify column actions on monday.com boards. Here are some useful emojis and their meanings:
🛑 Required Field: Populate immediately when creating a new item.
🟨 May Be Required: Check the column description (ℹ️) for specific instructions.
✏️ Optional Field: Complete when convenient; this may become a required field later.
✅ Automated Field: Filled by the workflow automatically.
⚡️ Automation Trigger: Complete the required fields before triggering this action.
🔌 Integration Field: Data is pulled from an integration, so no manual entry is needed.
These symbols make it easy for team members to understand what each column requires and which actions are necessary, keeping tasks organised and accessible.
3. Add Descriptions for Boards, Columns, Automations, and Integrations
Detailed descriptions help keep everyone on the same page and make onboarding new team members easier. Here’s where to add descriptions and why they matter:
Board Descriptions: Clearly state the purpose of each board so your team knows exactly what it’s for and how to use it. This is especially useful when managing multiple boards across different projects or departments.
Column Descriptions: Use column descriptions to explain what each column tracks or where the information is coming from. This reduces confusion and helps team members understand what information to include.
Automation Descriptions: When setting up automations, include a description to clarify what each one does and when it’s triggered. This way, team members know how the automation impacts the workflow.
Integration Descriptions: If you’re using integrations, add descriptions to outline what they’re doing. This provides visibility into where data is coming from and how it’s being used within your workflows.
4. Set Up an Admin Account for Account Permissions
One of the first things we recommend when setting up monday.com is to create a dedicated admin account. Rather than making individual users admins, set up an admin account that isn’t tied to a specific person. This account can handle adding automations and integrations and owning shared boards.
Why is this important?
Because it reduces the chances of users accidentally breaking or changing workflows and eliminates the need to reassign ownership if a key staff member leaves. Then, assign users as members instead of admins. This setup protects your workflows and ensures consistency, especially as team members come and go.
5. Manage Board Ownership
Following on from account permissions, the admin account should also own all key boards. Assign other users as members rather than board owners. When multiple users are owners of a board, you can’t fully utilise monday.com’s permissions features, which help restrict access to certain areas of the board.
Why is this important?
By centralising ownership to a single admin account, you can lock down boards and maintain a structured environment where team members only access what they need. This makes boards easier to use and reduces the risk of accidental changes, helping everyone stay focused on their tasks.
6. Use Board Permissions to Restrict Viewing and Editing
For the key boards, avoid using the “edit everything on this board” permission. Instead, take advantage of monday.com’s customisable permission settings, like “only edit items users are assigned to.” This setting keeps tasks streamlined by allowing team members to focus on their own work without the risk of altering other sections. For boards with smaller teams or those with members who are highly familiar with monday.com, “edit content without changing structure” can also be a great option. This setting allows flexibility while protecting the board's structure, so you can maintain a high-level overview of each project while delegating control.
Another way to keep tasks organised is by assigning owners to individual items.
monday.com’s board and item settings rely on these ownership features, making it easy to track who’s responsible for each task. You can even automate item assignment to save time and ensure nothing is missed.
Ready to Streamline Your Business?
Using these best practices, you can optimise monday.com to better support your team’s productivity, communication, and overall efficiency. If you’re ready to take your monday.com setup to the next level, we’re here to help.
Let us show you how a customised solution can transform your business operations, saving you time and reducing errors along the way.
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