How To Schedule Recurring Tasks in monday
Justin hunter
While monday.com offers powerful project management tools, its lack of native recurring task functionality forces users to rely on tedious manual duplication or complex automations. These methods often fall short, creating inefficiencies and potential for errors. The Recur app, however, provides an elegant solution, allowing users to effortlessly schedule and manage recurring tasks with flexibility and ease, ultimately enhancing productivity and project management efficiency.
As I've written about previously, monday.com doesn't have native recurring task functionality. Instead, people have to choose between custom built automations that don't solve the whole problem and third-party apps on the monday App Marketplace. While the App Marketplace is a good solution, most of the apps for recurring tasks are really just bulk task creation tools in disguise. So, how then does someone create recurring tasks on a schedule?
Using Recur this is easy. But let's first look at some of the workarounds you might use to accomplish this today.
Manual Task Duplication
One of the simplest yet most tedious workarounds is manually duplicating tasks. For instance, if you have a weekly meeting that needs to be scheduled, you would create the initial task with all its details and then copy it for each subsequent week. This involves manually adjusting due dates and ensuring that each task is correctly scheduled.
While straightforward, this method quickly becomes overwhelming, especially for tasks that need to recur more frequently. The manual effort required is substantial and prone to human error, which can lead to missed deadlines and disorganization. If you want this to happen on a scheduled cadence, you'll have to schedule a calendar reminder for yourself which is prone to human error and forgetfulness.
Using Automations for Recurring Tasks
monday.com offers automation capabilities that can be leveraged to create recurring tasks, though it requires a bit of creativity. Here’s a breakdown of some of the steps involved:
Creating New Groups
You can set up an automation that generates new groups at regular intervals. For example, you could create a new group at the beginning of each month. This allows you to organize tasks by month without manually creating new groups.
Automating New Items
Similar to creating groups, you can automate the creation of individual tasks. For instance, you can set an automation to create a new task for a daily meeting. This ensures that the task appears on your board at the specified interval without manual intervention.
Team Notifications
Automations can also be used to notify team members about important tasks. By setting up notifications, you can remind your team of recurring tasks, ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks.
Group Duplication
Another automation strategy is duplicating entire groups of tasks. This is particularly useful for recurring projects that follow a similar workflow. By duplicating a pre-defined group of tasks, you save time and maintain consistency in your project management.
Limitations of Automations
While these automations offer a degree of flexibility, they are not without their limitations. Setting up these automations can be complex and time-consuming. Moreover, they often require regular adjustments to ensure that tasks are scheduled correctly. This can be a hassle, especially for those who manage numerous recurring tasks.
How Recurs Solves These Problems
If you install the Recur app from the monday App Marketplace, you'll get access to the best of both worlds. You'll be able to set up all your recurring tasks up front in bulk if you choose, but you'll also be able to set a repeating cadence for your tasks and they will be created according to rules you set.
Inside the Recur app, you will choose how often and when you want your recurring task to be due. Then, if you choose to schedule the recurring tasks, you will be able to choose an interval that represents how far in advance of the due date the task appears on your board. Rather than having a board cluttered with dozens or hundreds of tasks with due dates way in the future, you can manage recurring tasks that both satisfy your due date requirements but also don't hit your board until you're ready.
Conclusion
While monday.com stands as a powerhouse in the world of project management tools, its handling of recurring tasks has left many searching for more efficient solutions. Manual task creation remains an option, but the tediousness of this method can quickly become overwhelming, especially for those managing multiple recurring tasks.
Automations within monday offers a step in the right direction, providing users with the ability to automate certain aspects of task creation and management. However, these automations often require significant setup and lack the simplicity that many users crave.
Recur, a purpose-built monday app designed to streamline the process of recurring task creation, removes this complexity and hassle. With Recur, users can effortlessly schedule task recurrences with just a few clicks, gaining full control and flexibility over their workflow. Whether it's setting up tasks to appear immediately or scheduling them for future dates, Recur simplifies the process, eliminating the hassle associated with manual task creation and complex automations.
By harnessing the power of Recur, users can reclaim valuable time and focus their efforts on what truly matters—driving projects forward and achieving success.