How I Use Buckets Attachments To Add Instant Clarity To My Tasks

As we’ve developed and used Buckets over the years, we’ve learned that populating each Card with detailed instructional content is the key to establishing an efficient workflow…

In this post, I’m going to give you an overview of how I use Buckets to show you just how easy it is to get a basic workflow up and running that still gives you all of the ammo you need to be more productive in managing your tasks.

As you know, each Card in Buckets represents a task that needs to get completed. And in each Card, you can add further information required to outline and complete the task; such as Notes, Checklists, and Attachments.

• Notes can be used to give clear instructions about how to complete the task and further details on the work itself.
• Checklists are often used to break the task down into smaller subtasks which makes it much more achievable.
• Attachments allow the user to add files, images, videos, etc. which are super useful for providing more clarity to a task with visuals/documentation.

When I use Buckets day-to-day, the Projects I find myself working in the most are:

Editorial Calendar

This is where I move our blog posts along a Kanban-inspired workflow from start to finish.

• Upcoming Blogs
• In Progress
• Design: To Do (send to design Project)
• Design: Completed (goes here when it’s ready)
• Review/Sched: Final look-over and edit before publishing
• Published
• Social Media: a promo Checklist I can follow and schedule in Buffer
• Republishing: holds evergreen content
• Blog Post Ideas: what is says on the tin
• Freezer: ideas that are on hold

Design Project

Where I send blog posts that need supporting imagery (i.e., all of them!) to our super talented design team. Once the design work on a Card is completed, I send it back to its appropriate spot on the Editorial workflow.

When it comes to design work, we know what work our designers like to do and what job makes them start yawning before it’s even 3pm! So we try to make sure that everyone is working on something they really love to do.
For example, Alina is one of our newer graphic designers, and she is a fantastic illustrator who loves to work on motion GIFs, so while she picks up the slack on other work as needed — we always make sure that anything that requires an illustrative hand goes straight to her.

On the other side of things, we have Rod and Bert who love to work on anything detailed and especially work that involves Buckethead avatar creation (if you follow us here and haven’t got yours yet, let us know!). These guys are the originators of the Buckethead character and Bucketworld, and they work as a pretty dynamic team!

Also, Lean is one of our seasoned graphic designers who I can call on to step in for last-minute edits. And then there’s Jay-ar, the man at the top. Jay-ar is my go-to when I need something done last minute because he basically knows how to do everything.

This is where the new Attachments UI makes life a heck of a lot easier.

Obviously, being able to attach image concepts and drafts, etc. is super helpful when I’m working with designers on a blog post. And with the new UI, it’s even easier to do so. All of my attachments are easily visible in a hideable panel at the bottom of my Buckets screen and can be dragged dropped into a Checklist item or comment as needed.

This negates the need for designers to travel through a list of uploads to see exactly which one I’m referring to. In other words, it saves us all a lot of time!

My Personal Work Schedule

This is where I add everything I’m working on along with the deadlines I set to keep myself on track. So, for example, if I’m working on a Card in another Project, I’ll add it to a Checklist in a new Card in my own personal workflow so that I can keep tabs on everything in the same place.

So it looks like this: Everything > This Week > Today > Tomorrow > Done > Invoices. As you can see I also use Labels to plan my work as this gives me a bird’s eye view of what needs to be done and at what priority level.

My Personal Planner

This is where I dump literally everything out of my head and into Buckets. I have one column that represents everything I have to do, basically forever (like in my work Project) and then a number of other columns that I follow in a similar fashion.

So again, it looks like this: Everything > This Week > Today > Tomorrow > Done. Of course, you can organize your Projects in whatever way works best for you, but this is what works for me.

The option to add Attachments to my tasks here makes life much easier as I can plan holidays, birthdays, and even shopping trips in advance! I can’t count on one hand the number of times I’ve taken screenshots of clothing items I like online, uploaded them to the Sandbox, and then gone into the actual store to find them and try them on!

Have You Tried Out The New Attachments Yet?

I’d love to know if you’ve tried out the new UI and how it’s working for you. Or, better still, how you utilize Buckets in general to manage your personal and professional tasks!

If you’ve like to be featured in an upcoming blog post about how you make Buckets work for you, please leave a comment below, send a tweet @Bucketsdotco, or send an email to grainne@buckets.co. I can’t wait to hear from you!

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