While some of the names are fairly straightforward, others tend to catch you by surprise. In this article, you’ll find a quick overview of ClickUp terminology and explanations to help you get started with this user-friendly project management software.
1. ClickUp Workspace
Your ClickUp Workspace is essentially where everything happens. Here, you’ll find all coworkers and projects that belong to one organization.
For example, if you work for a company called ACME, everything within ACME’s Workspace would relate to its daily operations and projects on the go. Everyone within the company’s account would have access to its Workspace.
Your Workspace can be your name or whatever you’d like to call it if you work alone.
2. ClickUp Spaces
Within Workspaces, you’ll find Spaces in your sidebar. Think of these as departments within a company.
Different teams work on separate projects with unique processes and work styles. So, you can organize your Workspace to reflect that and give each Space individual settings according to departmental and project needs.
Organizing by department or client will make it so you and your coworkers can quickly find items based on the names. It also prevents clutter, meaning you won’t have to sift through tons of unrelated information to locate what you need.
You can restrict Spaces to only those you need to keep in the loop if you decide to. Doing so creates privacy and creates a cleaner Workspace for your coworkers.
3. ClickUp Lists
Now you’re off to the races. Lists are where you make a game plan to tackle projects. Instead of simply creating lists by project, you can also separate them by:
Location Milestone Sprint Client Coworker Purpose—open projects, help requests, a catch-all, etc.
You can even build a project request board in ClickUp to delegate tasks. Something to note is that ClickUp Lists have many layout options or views. When working within List view, the individual lists you’ll find inside are actually statuses, not sublists.
Additionally, you can organize similar Lists into Folders within your Space to keep them together, but you don’t need to. In fact, Folders may only overcomplicate an otherwise clean and simple Workspace. The fewer clicks to get where you’re going, the better.
4. ClickUp Tasks
If your Lists are projects, then your tasks are the individual action items you need to tackle to complete them. Regardless of the view you’re in, tasks open to a card where you can add or review information about the assignment.
Here, you can add a description, subtasks, comments, attachments, watchers, and more. As you work on a task, you can change its status to reflect where it stands in the process or workflow.
If you’re curious what subtasks are, they’re basically smaller action items you can use to break tasks into even smaller steps. Like Folders, using these may overcomplicate things, especially for a beginner. They may work for some, but others may find sticking with tasks more efficient.
5. Statuses in ClickUp
Statuses in ClickUp give you and your coworkers a quick overview of the stages tasks are in. For example, you can keep things simple with the statuses To-do, In-Progress, and Done.
Additionally, you can use ClickUp to outline steps in a specific process where you and your coworkers need to pass the baton. As the assignment moves to the next step, you tag your coworker in a comment to let them know it’s ready.
You want to avoid being too granular, but think about the journey each task takes from start to finish and ask yourself:
What name can you give projects that haven’t started yet? To-do, backlog, open, etc. What are the specific names you want to give each step? What steps can you lump together? Can you send tasks to a previous stage rather than creating another step? For example, a web developer sending a wireframe back to Design instead of having another status for Revision. How can you reflect someone is stuck, or a project is on hold? Do you want to display completed tasks? Or is it better to archive them?
6. Columns in ClickUp
Want to add some context to your tasks? Columns play many roles in ClickUp.
First and foremost, they act almost like a template you can use to fill in to add details to assignments. Second, they display that information in your List, allowing you a quick overview. Third, they create consistency.
It’s easy to get carried away with them because there are so many types of Columns and so much to do with each one. However, you can create an efficient to-do list with just a few.
When adding Columns, it’s best to keep things simple and add columns you know you’ll use consistently. To do so, think of the details you can your coworkers need for all tasks.
For example, you’ll likely want to include a Due Date, Priority, and Assignee Column. However, if you only display the budget for a few projects, you’ll want to avoid putting a Money Column since the fields will mostly remain blank. Instead, you can display that information within the task card.
Other Helpful Terms to Know in ClickUp
You might not utilize some of these right away, but here’s a list of other terms to familiarize yourself with in ClickUp:
Views—ClickUp offers many layouts for your Lists—some options are Table, Board, Calendar, and Timeline. Dashboard—you make these using widgets—kind of like building blocks. Dashboards give you overviews of your Workspace in ClickUp, whether it’s just for you or you oversee your coworkers. Dependencies—you can link tasks anywhere in your Workspace or within a specific List to keep them locked until a related assignment reaches its Complete status. Whiteboard—you can add Whiteboards all over ClickUp to map ideas and projects out with your coworkers.
Mapping Out Your Projects in ClickUp
Now that you’re familiar with some of the items that make up the software, it’s time to get started. Remember, the best thing you can do at this stage is keep things simple.
It’s easy to get caught up in wanting to use all ClickUp’s features. However, they may not be the ones you need to make the ideal board for you or your projects. You can always add items later as you think of them. If you’re unsure where to begin, why not map out your own projects using List view and go from there?
