PLSO The Oregon Surveyor November/December 2021

16 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 44, No. 6 Featured Article W hether you’re working in the office or managing a remote team, one of the biggest issues is poor collaboration among employees. Even as a solo surveyor, I still need to collaborate with others on the design team. I started out with a notepad on my desk where I’d scribble my to-do list, phone numbers to call back, and how I was spending my time. This was stan- dard operating procedure when I was an employee as well. Recently though, I’ve been consistently using a planner to track weekly and daily goals, and I now use an app connected to my QuickBooks to easily track my time, tasks, and notes per project. Wheth- er in the field or office, addressing my need for more accurate timekeeping and invoicing is invaluable. I have tried sev- eral project management platforms (like Monday.com), but none of them really fit my needs. Then, I found Trello and while it’s not perfect, it’s customizable. Part of Trello’s issue is that starting with a com- pletely blank canvas is intimidating and it may take time to sort out what type of workflow and information best suit your needs. With that in mind, I created templates. Here’s how I manage projects and collaborate remotely. You can view the templates by scanning the QR code or go to https://tinyurl.com/3ahk2e5y. The Basics of Trello The Trello platform is made up of work- spaces and boards. A workspace is a collection of boards and boards are a collection of cards. For example, a work- space can be organized by department, where only employees in that depart- ment have access. My workspace has a main company board where I keep track of all my projects and a contact board where I keep track of company, county, and contractor information. Each board is composed of stacks (or col- umns). These are main headers under which you would create cards that can be moved around to different stacks. On my board, each project is its own card. I start with Project Leads and create cards when someone first reaches out or an RFP I’ve come across. If it’s ready for an estimate, I move that card over to the “Estimate Needed” stack and fill in details such as who the potential client is and their contact info, basic scope request, and location in the main description then run through my estimate checklist. Once they agree to the estimate, I prepare a contract to send off andmove the project Trello for Project Management By Samantha Tanner, PLS CardView Field Notes Checklist