Here at MM Design's we are always looking for ways to streamline communication and make remote working more comfortable and efficient for our employees. With a bit of trial and error over the years we've set up a few apps that have helped us do just that. We now have tools to help us keep track of the hours we work, easily share files, schedule all of our projects and more. We've not only curated a list of administrative programs, but also a list of all the technical programs we use every day.
Check out the full list below and why we love each one!
Slack
Our team uses Slack for our everyday communication. Unlike emailing, Slack is a more streamlined and relaxed form of communication between our team members. We can message each other directly or take advantage of Slack's unique channels. The channels can be customized for each business, we personally create a different channel for each project we have on the go. All team members involved in the project are invited to the project channel and will be notified of any details, questions asked or new information. This also helps to keep all information relevant to the project in one space which can be referred back to.
Trello
We were looking for an organizational 'hub' where we could share project details as well as assign work to our team members. We tried out a few before landing on Trello; we love how customizable and easy it has been to use. For each new project we create a board, which we then add all tasks to. The tasks are organized on 'cards' which include a description of the task, a due date, checklists and attached files to reference. There is also a place for a quick chat, if the team members have any questions or notes. We also have a board that has our weekly schedule which allows everyone to see what tasks/ projects they are working on over a 2 week span and allows me to easily delegate projects and make sure we are creating a balanced work load. This is a super quick summery of how we use Trello, stay tuned for a more in depth blog on how we use this platform!
Tracking Time
We bill hourly for most of our projects and so it was vital we found an app that tracks all of our time for each project. We've been using Tracking Time for the last 4 years and love how you can easily export customizable time sheets to PDF's which creates our month end invoices.
Each team member has their own home page where they log their time to a specific project and task. Throughout the month we can easily check to see how many hours have been worked for a specific project and make sure we're on track.
Shift
Shift is our social hub. We receive messages from multiple email addresses, Slack, Whats App... it makes us dizzy and sometimes a little overwhelmed. In Shift we can see all our messages in one place. Along the left side of the page you will see each application you add with notifications if there is a message you've missed. No more switching between tabs, being between your computer and phone, it's all in one place. It makes it less likely we've forgotten something and helps keep everything running smoothly!
Dropbox
Being able to share images and documents between our team has always been essential. Dropbox has allowed us to do just that. All team members are able to seamlessly open, save and share files with each other. We can also share folders directly with Designers at the end of a project which saves time and streamlines everything.
Quickbooks
Quickbooks makes it easy to create our invoices at the end of each month and email them out to our clients. We also track all our expenses and taxes which can be accessed by our book keepers which allows them to do what they do best while also allowing us to get an overview of the numbers through the easy to use Quickbooks dashboard.
Loom
With our team growing this year, Loom has come in really handy to create quick tutorials. When we have a new employee start with us we can give them access to our quick and easy Loom videos explaining the programs we use. We can create very easy training videos that our employees can go back to over and over, giving them more confidence and freeing up some of my time.
Technical Programs
These are the technical programs we use on a daily basis. We are always researching and learning new ones, but these are our tested and true, can't live without them, computer programs!
Photoshop
Photoshop is one of those programs that is so easy to use and comes in handy for small random tasks. At MM Designs we use it to create design boards, adjust colours for SketchUp textures, crop/ adjust images and more!
Canva
Canva has been amazing for creating all of our Instagram reels and stories. We bought the Madeline Story Templates from IDCO that match the website template we bought from them so that all of our social media coordinates, and it has been so helpful!
Lightroom
After we render our images we put them into Lightroom to make all of the final adjustments before sending them out to our clients. I find this much easier than working with the editing tool provided with Podium.
SketchUp
SketchUp has been our go to program since MM Designs started. The Pro version is significantly cheaper than a lot of other 3D modelling programs and is also super user friendly. You can either use it as is to create some beautiful renderings or you can install extensions that allow you to create more photorealistic images.
Layout
We love creating our millwork drawing packages using SketchUp and Layout. It allows for technically accurate drawings that have all of the correct textures. The set up of the title blocks, dimensions and annotations is also way easier to work with then AutoCAD, specifically the title blocks which you can assign items to sync to every page. For example, when you change the date on one title block it will automatically change on all of the rest, saving so much time! I also love that you don't have to set up your DIMSTYLE like in AutoCAD, it adjusts all of the notes and dimensions to scale to the paper size you are working with. Lastly, the elevations and drawings just look prettier :)
SU Podium
We have tried many different photorealistic rendering extensions but have settled on Podium for the following reasons:
(1) It is reasonably priced
(2) You can render images quickly and with fairly good quality
(3) It is super user friendly and it's easy to set up your model's textures to create a realistic effect
We love creating hyper realistic renderings, but to be perfectly honest, clients don't always want to pay for that. Clients want to see what their space is going to look like when it is complete so they can confidently sign off on the designer's plans and move the project forward. Using SketchUp and Podium allows us to get our drawings extremely accurate and beautiful while not taking very much time.
AutoCAD
AutoCad is the industry standard so it's a must in order to share files with other trades. It is also sometimes easier to create our floor plans in AutoCAD and then import them into SketchUp to build our 3D models. We also prefer using AutoCAD to create our more detailed drawings like our electrical plans.
Let us know what you think of our list and if there are any other programs you think we should check out!
Until next time,
Melissa
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