What is a Workfront Team? When it comes to the people who work together on a regular basis, it’s important to know what they’re working on, when, and for how long. That way, it’s easier to assign work and avoid burnout. By using workfront teams, not only can you see how and where your coworkers are allocated, but work better as a cohesive unit. Let’s define what a workfront team is, and how you can use them to elevate your people’s work experience. Typically, workfront teams are a smaller collection of people that work together on day-to-day activities, otherwise known as working teams. They can be set up as either a functional team or a cross-functional team, depending on how your people work together to achieve common goals. The main idea is that these teams, however they are formed, can quickly be assigned work, whether on a specific project or outside of a project. Let’s look at an example of each type of team, functional and cross-functional. When a computer crashes, software updates won’t take, and new monitors are needed, those issues and requests are usually assigned to a team in the IT department. Let’s call that team the Service Desk Team. So, when a user is unable to install the latest OS on their computer because they keep getting a can’t-be-verified error message, they send a bug fix request to the Service Desk Team. Because everyone on the Service Desk Team has similar skill sets and capabilities, anyone on the team can assign it to themselves to work on it. Now let’s take a look at a cross-functional team. In your organization, there is a production team that works together to create videos for marketing, sales, and training purposes. The team has a script writer, a storyboard artist, a videographer, a video editor, and a production artist. As a work front team, the production team can be assigned to project tasks where a video is needed without having to assign each person individually. This makes it easier for the project manager and the team. When the team receives the work, the team lead can make the appropriate assignments based on availability and skill set. However your team is organized, it’s easy to know what’s going on with your users through the team page. When a work front team is created, the system automatically creates a page that gathers updates entered by and work assigned to each team member. For instance, in the schedule section, you can see how users are allocated for work in a specific time frame, and if they have any time off coming up. Not only can you see what’s going on with your users, but you can make adjustments to their assignments. That way if Chris has too much on his plate, the team can look at everyone’s workload and reassign work to other members who may not be as heavily loaded at this point. The team request section is where your team will find work assigned to them, whether project related or not. The team page lets you have quick access to what your people are working on, when, and for how long. It makes assigning work easier, so your team can get work done faster.
Let’s create the service desk team as a work front team. To do that, you go to the setup area, select teams, click the new team button, enter the name of the team, and add at least one user. You do have to have at least one member listed to create a team. Once done, click the create team button. Your team gets work done, so making sure you know what each team member is working on, when, and for how long is key to making sure that doesn’t stop. You give your team visibility into capacity, prevent team member burnout, and create better collaboration.
