The problem we solve

We worked in and with multiple teams in the span of our careers. One thing they all have in common is that every day they somehow need to decide on the best use of the next 24 hours.

As teams and companies grow, the dependencies between people become more and more common. At some point it's impossible to wrap your head around everything you need to take account for in your day plan.

Most common scenario is that teams pretend to plan their together, but they simply report on their individual goals. It makes daily planning meetings fell like they're useless (and in this form - they are) and unexpected roadblocks and scheduling conflicts during the day.

People waste time switching contexts because noone can review or feedback their work and plans blow up because of untracked commitments outside the team.

Leaders have hard time supporting the team to be more effective, since their commitments are not transparent and it's hard to see where the problems really are. And the leaders themselves struggle to plan their day, usually juggling between commitments inside and outside their teams.

The story behind the app

As we tried to improve our team and the teams we worked with, we started using a simple tool to visually jot down all promises that we made at our daily planning meetings (called daily stand-ups in the agile development world).

The first iteration was a simple whiteboard, divided into days. We simply wrote down our commitments - "get X to status Y".

We naturally started to improve this experience. We took notes of who made a given commitment. We started to break down processes that required multiple steps and people to be involved with separate commitments.

With the era of remote work, we moved our daily boards to online whiteboards, which gave us even more flexibility.

Having experience the harmony of working as a true team, we always believed there's something more to this idea. Something we can share and scale with a dedicated app that would automate the tedious process of copypasting week templates. And what's even more important - an app that would sync our commitments from different teams/contexts.

That's how an idea for the Dailyboard app came to be.

Why does it work?

There are a few key factors why we believe this daily planning technique improves teamwork.

1. Focus on the team. With everyone managing their own "to do lists" in isolation, it's easier to drift away from the team's goals.
2. Transparency. Everyone's commitments are visible and it gives everyone the extra push to focus on what's important for the team.
3. Accountability. If you commit to bring X to status Y, it's easy to verify if it's actually happened. It brings the truth to the surface and facilitates more productive conversations.
4. Spotting roadblocks. When your team doesn't write down commitments in a shared space, it's easy to overcommit or miss the fact that more people are actually needed to get something done.

How can you use it in your team?

The most important thing is - you can start using Dailyboard right away! There's not much setup needed - create an organization, invite people and create your first shared boards. Everyone can start tracking their commitments right away!

There are, however, some things you can do to ensure your team's success and improve your experience.

1. The more, the merrier. Dailyboard is primarly focused on a team's experience. Of course, you can test it on your own, but it'll be hard to harness the full potential of the app.
2. Make it a habit. Start your daily planning meetings by opening Dailyboard. Use it as a team, discuss the plan and make sure all commitments are written down.
3. Use your personal board to focus. It's great to plan your day with everyone you work with, but when you start deviverling your commitments, it's time to focus. Use your personal board to cut the noise and kick start your day!