www.getwsodo.

com
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 WELCOME TO MODULE 2: www.getwsodo.com
www.getwsodo.com

MEETINGS & COMMUNICATION

•Here’s what we’ll be covering this
week:
• Team Structure and what EVERYONE on Our Team does

• Standing Team Meetings - Avoid “Meeting Creep”

• Our ALL-TEAM MEETING Template

• Sub-Teams & Special Project Teams (Even for SMALL Teams!)

• Daily Communication Tools

• Dealing with Outsourcers and Outside Partners Effectively

TEAM STRUCTURE
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 TEAM ROLES www.getwsodo.com
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Link to Template: https://smartmarketer.com/spm-resources-week-2a

 Standing Team Meetings www.getwsodo.com
www.getwsodo.com

Tips for avoiding “meeting creep”

• Set clear start and stop times for your weekly
recurring meetings… and stick to them!

• Be on time and if you can’t make a meeting, let others

know so they’re not waiting on you to start

• Come prepared with a well-planned agenda to make

sure you can get through everything in the allotted time

• Try to avoid calling “audibles” - instead, plan meeting

times that work for all parties who need to be there

• Only invite team members who are absolutely

necessary to the conversation

• If possible, allow for at least one FULL DAY with NO

MEETINGS for focused work time

http://www.businessinsider.com/protect-your-precious-time-by-fighting-meeting-creep-2014-4
 Standing Team Meetings www.getwsodo.com
www.getwsodo.com

• We host 2 All-Team Calls per week on Mondays and Thursdays.

• These are high-level calls that we try to keep to 30 minutes in length (although we block
off the entire hour so notes and tasks can be transferred immediately following the call).

• We add these calls to the Team Call Calendar which everyone has access to
ALL-TEAM MEETING TEMPLATE
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www.getwsodo.com

Link to our Team Meeting Template:

https://smartmarketer.com/spm-resources-week-2b

From the top:

ALL-TEAM MEETING TEMPLATE
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www.getwsodo.com
ALL-TEAM MEETING TEMPLATE
www.getwsodo.com
www.getwsodo.com
ALL-TEAM MEETING TEMPLATE
www.getwsodo.com
www.getwsodo.com
 ALL-TEAM MEETING
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TEMPLATE
Team Call Archives

Upload Recording Immediately

Following the Call:

Step 1:
• Create Call Archives folder
 ALL-TEAM MEETING
www.getwsodo.com
www.getwsodo.com
TEMPLATE
Team Call Archives

Upload Recording Immediately

Following the Call:

Step 1:
• Create Call Archives folder

Step 2:
• Create Call folder (by date)

• Upload Recording
 ALL-TEAM MEETING
www.getwsodo.com
www.getwsodo.com
TEMPLATE
Team Call Archives

Upload Recording Immediately

Following the Call:

Step 1:
• Create Call Archives folder

Step 2:
• Create Call folder (by date)

• Upload Recording

Step 3:
• Share Recording

• Copy Link

• Share Link in Slack

 Sub-Team Calls
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www.getwsodo.com

• Each of our Sub-Teams has their own call once per week - usually lasting
about 30 minutes, depending on what is on the schedule

• We add these Sub-Team calls to the same calendar as our All Team Calls
for visibility
Sub-Team Calls
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www.getwsodo.com

Don’t kill the weeds!

• Unlike the All Team Call, which is more of a high-
level, the Sub-Team calls are SUPPOSED to be
“weedy” and detailed

• This is where you get super clear on individual

projects and tasks

• You do want to keep things moving, so if you’re

getting hung up on a particular item, exercise the
option of:

• “Punting” it to the end of the call (and let

those who aren’t affected leave the
meeting first) OR…

• Consider a whole separate call for it if

required
 Sub-Team Callswww.getwsodo.com
www.getwsodo.com

• We use our Trello boards as the agendas for these sub-team calls, which allows us to:

• Go over individual tasks and update details or answer open questions as

necessary

• Prioritize the tasks so everyone is on the same page with regard to deadlines
and deliverables
 Special Teams www.getwsodo.com
www.getwsodo.com

• During certain events, such as launches, sales,

live events, etc. we also have “Special Teams” Copy Dev
which are more temporary or ‘one-off’ in
nature and can include outside vendors, etc.

• These teams schedule additional calls during Design Live Event Team PM
“crunch times” to discuss ONLY tasks related
to a particular event - for example, a Live Event

• Generally, these teams will include a

representative from each of the core teams
Vendor
(design, copy, dev, any outside vendors)

• Special Teams should ALWAYS include a

Project Manager for driving the project

• Treat these one-off projects as you would any

other… adding tasks to your Task Management
system
 Special Teams www.getwsodo.com
www.getwsodo.com

• Be sure to add these additional calls to the Team Calendar so everyone on the
team can see the time blocked off

• NOTE: As a general rule, it’s a best practice to invite individual team members to ANY meeting
they are expected to be on - so it ALSO shows up in their individual calendars, in addition to
the Team Calendar.
 Daily Communication Tools www.getwsodo.com
www.getwsodo.com

• Having great real-time communication tools is critical for the Project Manager - and really
EVERYONE in your business.

• Across our businesses, these are our Top 3 communication tools:

#1 ZOOM - This is our go-to for team meetings, calls with our partners and vendors, etc. Zoom
has all the bells and whistles, (screen-share, recording, etc.) even with their free version.
 Daily Communication Tools www.getwsodo.com
www.getwsodo.com

#2 SLACK - For chat and file-sharing, (and quick calls) we LOVE Slack!

• We’ve found that channels work best when they are used for a specific purpose. Be deliberate about
how you set up your channels in Slack

• Much easier to find conversations & files later if you need to search for a particular item

• For example, we have some channels that are specific to our teams (the a- channels), while others
are set up by business (sm- and zipify- channels). Do what works for you but again, be deliberate.
 Daily Communication Tools www.getwsodo.com
www.getwsodo.com

#3 TRELLO - For Task Management and Creating Systems (Module 3) we turn to Trello!

• Trello is an amazing Task Management tool, but it’s worth pointing out that it is also a
powerful communication and documentation tool.

• Using their “Power Up” functionality, we get Slack to work even harder for us, by
connecting our tasks to our real-time chat software.

• For example, you can have Trello notify you in specific Slack channels when certain
actions are performed within a card or a board

• BEWARE: the Slack notifications can be SUPER interruptive, so you’ll need to decide for
yourself how you like to be notified. Settings can be adjusted to fit your preferences.

• Trello will also email you if a particular action is performed within a card that you are
associated with (less interruptive)

• We recommend setting up a filter for Trello email notifications so they don’t clutter your
inbox

• MUCH MORE TO COME on Trello as a Task Management System in Module 3

Dealing with Outsourcers and
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www.getwsodo.com

Outside Partners Effectively

• We require our outsourcers and outside partners to
use the same communication and task
management tools as we are whenever possible

• We invite these folks to Slack as Single Channel

Guests

• We also create boards within OUR Trello and

invite them to collaborate as opposed to the other
way around

• We create folders for them in Dropbox and our

Google Drive for transferring larger files

• No matter what tools you use, it makes things

exponentially more efficient when your outside
partners and outsourced help uses the same
platforms that you do
 Coming up next week…www.getwsodo.com
www.getwsodo.com

• Action Steps:
• Flesh out your ORG Chart with the tasks that each of your team members are
responsible for. This will help a lot in seeing where you might need to buy help.

• It will also shed light on potential resources that you didn’t realize you had. For
example, if you have full-time help, do folks have enough to do? Are others
overwhelmed with too much to do? Can things be moved around?

• Lock in some regular meetings with your team. Even if you’re a team of just
a few people, these scheduled times will help hold people accountable.

• If you’re a team of ONE, scheduling time to assess what it on your plate can be
really helpful, too. Take the time to “check in” with yourself and re-prioritize if
need be.

• Next week we’ll be tackling Task Management and Creating Systems

• This is going to be a BIG week in terms of tactical lessons and LOTS of
templates!
Q&A
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www.getwsodo.com