We’ve never shied away from the fact that ClickUp comes with quite the learning curve. While it’s a powerful project management tool, there is so much you can do with it that it can easily become overwhelming. This is especially true if you’re learning the ropes yourself.
At DaSilva Life, we see first-hand how tons of business owners set up and organize their ClickUp. As a result, we know some of the most common missteps people make when setting up or organizing their ClickUp. And more often than not? They find it even harder to manage.
That’s why we’re coming to you with the most common mistakes we see people make inside their ClickUp! And once you know what not to do, you’ll have a much easier time managing this amazing tool.
Watch the video below to see the most common ClickUp no-nos, or keep reading to see first-hand examples!
When creating a new space in ClickUp, you have the option to turn on different views. What we see more often than not is that people tend to turn on all of their ClickUp view options. The end result? Lots of unnecessary digital clutter that’s really hard to navigate.
That’s why we suggest only turning on List View to begin with. Typically, this is the only view that’s really necessary within ClickUp spaces. And if you find you need a different ClickUp view, you can explore which one(s) complements your space and add them later on.
Psst! If you want to learn more about all the different ClickUp views, we have an entire blog post about it!
In ClickUp, statuses are super helpful for tracking different tasks and projects. Usually, we see clients use standard statuses, like:
It makes sense, right? But where people get off track a bit is when they create a new list and use different statuses. Maybe they’ll use different terminology or color code it differently. Whatever the case, it typically causes a lot of confusion.
Thankfully, the solution for this is pretty simple! If you have different lists that function in the same way or serve the same purpose (like a checklist or a project), you can templatize your statuses to make sure they’re consistent across all of your spaces where it makes sense.
So, the next time you create a list, follow these steps:
Now, each time you edit your statuses for new lists, you can simply select ‘Standard Status Set’ (or whatever you choose to name it) to make it consistent across everything!
Another no-no we see a lot in ClickUp is when people will use the custom field dropdowns as statuses and the status list as a category. Our advice? You should do the exact opposite of that.
That’s because the actual status is linked to each task. So, if you’re using different views or widgets, ClickUp will use the status field to pull through each task. But if you’re using the custom field dropdown, it will cause a lot of confusion across your entire ClickUp.
If you want or need a dropdown custom field, you should only use that to categorize your lists. If you need to track the status of your tasks, you should only use the status settings.
We love creating lists as much as anyone else, but there can be such a thing as too many lists. Typically, we’ll see people create a client folder that houses several different lists for one project, like Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, etc. While we’re jazzed to see that level of organization, it can actually cause more work for people because they have to click around so many different lists to keep track of everything.
If you find yourself with multiple lists within your folders, it’s likely time to combine them into one list! Then, you can use dropdown custom fields to categorize them! So, if we take the same example of Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, etc., you can create those in a dropdown custom field, and then your lists will be organized into those exact categories. Only now, they’re all in one place!
Because there are so many ways you can organize and navigate ClickUp, we often see people go a little too overboard (similar to the lists we just talked about). Clients will come to us saying that everything has a home in ClickUp, but they spend so much time clicking everywhere to find what they need. This is especially true for those who manage a team and need to keep an eye on their coworkers’ various workloads, projects, and tasks.
Luckily, we have two solutions to help you out with this!
The first: Creating an ‘everything calendar view’ for each team member. Here’s how to do that:
This way, you can easily click on everyone’s calendars (including your own!) to get a daily, weekly, and monthly look at what projects or tasks everyone has on their plate!
The second solution: Creating a team member dashboard! Within this dashboard, we suggest adding three widgets:
This gives you a closer, more detailed look at what’s going on with your team. And now, you have two places for everyone to get a pulse on workloads and projects without having to click around to several different spaces and lists. Win-win!
Showing people some of the best ways to use ClickUp is one of our favorite things. That’s because it empowers business owners to work smarter – not harder – and improve efficiencies while preventing burnout.
So, if you want to learn more about all things ClickUp – including organizational tips, calendars, integrations, features, and more – you will love our ClickUp Course inside Systems School!
When you join our ClickUp Course, you’ll get instant access to dozens of modules and accompanying video lessons that show you all the ins and outs of ClickUp.
Our Systems School ClickUp Course also includes:
Get ready to collaborate in ways you’ve never thought of before!
