Project Management Deep Dive: Tasks & Phases

The building blocks for a stress free studio
Programa
Programa
Updated: 04 September 2024

Let’s dive into two seemingly simple but surprisingly powerful features of our new Studio Management tools: Tasks and Phases.

Tasks: The Building Blocks of Effortless Studio Management

Think of Tasks as your project's DNA. They're the essential elements that when combined effectively, bring your project to life. Here's why you'll love using Tasks:

  • Crystal Clear Communication: With detailed task cards, your team will always know what needs to be done, by whom, and when. No more confusion or missed deadlines!
  • Flexibility at Your Fingertips: Whether you prefer a visual Kanban-style board, a timeline, or a straightforward list view, you can manage tasks your way. Drag and drop in the Board view or use quick actions in the List view – it's project management that adapts to the ever-changing needs of interior designers.
  • Everything in One Place: Attach files, add comments, and create subtasks all within a single task card. It's like having a mini project hub for each piece of work, ensuring all relevant information is just a click away.
  • Progress at a Glance: With easy-to-update statuses and progress bars for subtasks, you and your team can instantly see how projects are advancing.

Pro Tip: Use the Key Dates feature for important milestones like handover dates. These will stand out in your timeline, helping you and your team stay focused on critical deadlines.

Phases: Your Project's Roadmap to Success

Phases are the secret sauce to keeping complex projects organized and on schedule. Here's why Phases will become your new best friend:

  • Bird's Eye View: Break your project into distinct stages, giving you and your team a clear overview of the entire project lifecycle. It's like having a roadmap for your project's journey!
  • Improved Resource Management: By assigning tasks to specific phases, you can easily see where your team's efforts are focused. This insight helps in balancing workloads and ensuring smooth project flow.
  • Flexible Timeline Management: Need to adjust your project timeline? With Phases, you can easily shift entire stages of your project, automatically updating all associated tasks.

Pro Tip: Create a set of standard phases that reflect your typical project lifecycle. You can quickly apply these to new projects, saving time and ensuring consistency across your studio's work.

The Magic of Combining Tasks and Phases

When you bring Tasks and Phases together, you're creating a project management powerhouse. Here's what you can achieve:

  1. Seamless Workflow: Assign tasks to specific phases to create a natural flow of work. Your team will always know what to focus on next.
  2. Predictable Timelines: By organizing tasks within phases, you can more accurately estimate project durations and set realistic client expectations.
  3. Easy Progress Tracking: Quickly see which phases are complete, in progress, or upcoming. It's a great way to keep stakeholders informed without drowning them in details.
  4. Improved Team Collaboration: With a clear project structure, team members can easily see how their work fits into the bigger picture, fostering better collaboration and alignment.

Getting Started is a Breeze

Setting up Tasks and Phases is intuitive and user-friendly. You can create tasks from the Board or List view, and set up phases either when creating a task or from settings within a project.

Once your Tasks and Phases are setup, learn about the various Views available for Programa's Studio Management.

 

Table of contents
  1. Hommeboys Interiors
  2. CUAIK | CDS
  3. AKI Design
  4. Meraki Design
  5. Nickolas Gurtler Design
  6. Mera Studio Architects
  7. Day 1: Materials, Process and Personality at 3 Days of Design
  8. Day 1 Takeaway
  9. Day 2: Craft, Context and Creative Dialogue
  10. Day 2 Takeaway
  11. Day 3: Materials, Process and Personality at 3 Days of Design
    1. Information about how Programa handles your data
    2. Introduction
    3. Our Values<br />
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    5. <br />Your rights over your information
    6. Where we transfer your information
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    8. Our use of advanced technologies
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  12. Interior Design Software For Professional Interior Designers
    1. Programa Interior Design Software: A Comprehensive Project Management and Collaboration Solution for Architects and Interior Designers
    2. User-friendly Interface and Tools for Seamless Project Management
  13. What is an Interior Design Quotation?
  14. Key Components of an Interior Design Quotation
  15. Interior Design Quotation Format and Free Template
  16. How Do You Create an Interior Design Quotation Quickly & Easily?
  17. Beyond the Proposal: Invoicing with Programa
  18. Start Your Project Proposals with Programa
  19. Getting Started Dashboard
  20. Schedules
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  22. Web Clipper
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  24. Project Management
  25. Invoicing
  26. Address Book
  27. Trade Portal
  28. Board View:
  29. List View:
  30. Timeline View:
  31. Seamless Integration for Holistic Project Management
  32. Seven Tips for Knowing Your Value as an Interior Designer
  33. <strong>1. Get clear on your offering.</strong>
  34. <strong>2. Know who you want to work with.</strong>
  35. <strong>3. Don’t compare yourself to others.</strong>
  36. <strong>4. Set clear boundaries.</strong>
  37. <strong>5. Learn to say no.</strong>
  38. <strong>6. Follow systems and processes.</strong>
  39. <strong>7. Get help.</strong>
    1. Tasks: The Building Blocks of Effortless Studio Management
    2. Phases: Your Project's Roadmap to Success
    3. The Magic of Combining Tasks and Phases
    4. Getting Started is a Breeze
    5. Interior Design & Architecture Software For Professional Interior Designers & Architects
      1. What does it do?
      2. How to use product deeplinks
      3. Why use product deeplinks?
      4. The Beautiful Yet Brutal Reality
      5. The Normalised Struggle
      6. Imagining a Different Way
    6. What were the small signs of dysfunction in your old systems that you ignored for too long?
    7. Rebuilding the Studio Operating System
    8. Day 1: Time, profits & creative vision
    9. Day 2: Accuracy, visibility & staying out of your client’s inbox
    10. Exclusive bonus when you attend live:
      1. Features
      2. Integrations & Sharing
      3. Upgrades
  40. Discover the future of sourcing and specification within Programa
  41. The marketplace made for designers and suppliers
  42. What’s new. Trade Portal 2.0?
    1. Sleek new look and feel
    2. Find exactly what you need
    3. Recommendations, category and brand highlights
    4. Tailored to your needs
  43. Why designers love this
    1. Start using Trade Portal 2.0
      1. Support
    2. 1. Step back to grow
    3. 2. Busyness isn’t a badge of honour
    4. 3. You don’t have to do it all
  44. The Importance of a Strong Digital Presence
  45. Leveraging Social Media Engagement
  46. Implementing SEO Optimization Techniques
    1. Trends You Can’t Ignore in 2025
  47. What inspires your work, and how do you stay creatively motivated?
  48. What have been some of your favorite collaborations with big brands, and how did those partnerships come about?
  49. How did you land these partnerships - was it outreach, or did they come to you?
  50. As someone who is active on Instagram, how do you balance showcasing your work with building authentic connections with your audience?
  51. What has been the biggest challenge in marketing yourself, and how did you overcome it?
  52. You mentioned making content that's easy to produce - could you give an example of what that looks like in practice?
  53. If you had to name one type of content that's been easiest to stay consistent with, what would that be?
  54. What advice would you give to interior designers who are just starting out in marketing their businesses?
  55. What's next for your business? Are there any exciting projects or collaborations on the horizon?
  56. How to Connect with Your Ideal Clients
  57. Choosing the Right Marketing Channels
  58. How to Differentiate Yourself
  59. Leveraging Relationships to Stand Out
    1. Master your time, profits, and creative vision with Programa
    2. Why attend this US focused Programa webinar?
    3. Template mastery: your secret weapon for scalability
    4. How to create your project management ecosystem
    5. Packaged design service: Transform how clients see your value
    6. The power of a Product Library
    7. Project template showcase: the design package
    8. Programa: Powerful tools
      1. A Note from Zoe
    9. Join the Future of Design
      1. Redesigning Industry Workflows
      2. Moving Beyond Spreadsheets
      3. Industry-Specific Features
      4. Better Client Communications
      5. Try Programa Today
    10. ⼻ From concept to final delivery
  60. Managing your interior design business with clarity—and profit
    1. Ideal for:
  61. Programa’s design studio workshop—Live with ASID Illinois at NeoCon
  62. Are you managing your interior design projects—or are they managing you?
  63. 1. Audit your services and workflows
  64. 2. Create custom templates inside Programa
  65. 3. Package your services like products
  66. 4. Centralise your product information
  67. 5. Use your software to manage interior design clients
  68. Key takeaways from “Profitability by Design”
  69. Programa is the operating system for your design studio
    1. The Power of a Strong Supplier Profile
    2. Optimize Your Notification System
    3. Maintaining an Active, Engaged Presence
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    100. 29 April 2024
    101. 24 April 2024
    102. 22 April 2024
  70. April 16 2024
  71. 15 April 2024
  72. Other updates
  73. 11 April 2024
  74. <strong>09 April 2024</strong>
    1. Highlight
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    3. The Issue
    4. The Result
    5. The Solution
    6. Latest Updates
    7. Simplify Your FF&E Selection Process
    8. Effortless Updates and Revisions
    9. Collaboration Made Easy
    10. Optimized Finishes Schedule Management
    11. The Future Of FF&E With Programa
    12. How are you using Programa?
    13. What challenges did the platform help overcome in a recent project?
    14. <strong><strong>1. Follow A Clearly Defined Process</strong></strong>
    15. <strong>2. Create a Detailed Scope of Work</strong>
    16. <strong><strong>3. Set Clear Boundaries</strong></strong>
    17. <strong>4. Document Everything Thoroughly</strong>
    18. <strong>5. Be Clear on the Limit of your Management Services</strong>
    19. <strong>6. Communicate Regularly</strong>
    20. <strong>7. Action Breakdowns Immediately</strong>
    21. <strong>8. See It Through</strong>
    22. Day 3 Takeaway
  75. <strong>Dakar by Kustom Timber </strong>
  76. <strong>Canvas by Kustom Timber</strong>
    1. How Tyler Aspen Edmonds Did It
    2. The Programa Advantage
    3. The Trade Portal Advantage
    4. Instant Sharing, Seamless Collaboration
    5. Customisation at its Best
    6. Partnership
    7. It Makes Sense
    8. Key Benefits of the Programa and IDS Partnership
    9. About Programa
    10. About the Interior Design Society
    11. Fixed Image Layouts
    12. Web Clipper Scraper
    13. Hyperlinked URLs
    14. Improved Notes Visibility in Presentation Mode
    15. Pinboards & Client Dashboard Integration
    16. Information about the Programa Terms of Service
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      9. 9. Additional Services - Programa In App Communication Tools<br />
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      11. 11. Beta Services
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      13. 13. Takedown Procedure
      14. 14. Privacy and Data Protection
      15. 15. Programa Contracting Party
      16. 16. Term and Termination
      17. 17. Modifications
      18. 18. General Conditions
    17. <strong>Contact Support</strong>
  77. Interior Design Approvals and Client Communication
    1. The Significance of Client Communication in Interior Design
    2. Key Features of Programa’s Interior Design Approval Tools
    3. Benefits of Using Programa’s Interior Design Approval Tools
    4. Practical Applications of Programa’s Interior Design Approval Tools
    5. Conclusion
  78. A Heritage Rooted in Excellence
  79. Collaborative Design Philosophy
  80. Global Reach, Local Heart
  81. Investment in Narrative
    1. Methods for Calculating Fees
    2. Which Method Will Work For Your Studio?
    3. A Designers Responsibility
  82. Streamlining the A&D industry – it’s about time.
  83. Recognized for Excellence in Design Software.
    1. Information about the Programa Payments Service
    2. The Programa Payments Service
    3. Getting or Activating a Payments Services Account
    4. Processing Transactions and Receiving Your Funds
    5. <strong>Termination and Other General Legal Terms</strong>
    6. Why Don’t Spreadsheets Suit The Needs Of Interior Designers?
    7. Enter Programa
    8. Clear and Precise Presentations
    9. Easier Management of Data
    10. Exports That Work The Way You Do
    11. 1. Schedules
    12. 2. Project Management
    13. 3. Client Dashboard
    14. 4. Pinboards
    15. 5. Financials View
  84. 1. What Is FF&E Procurement?
  85. 2. The Step-by-Step FF&E Purchasing Process
  86. 3. Building a Furniture Schedule for Interior Design in Programa
  87. 4. Ready-Made Programa FF&E Schedule Templates & Extensions
  88. 5. Best Practices & Pitfalls to Avoid in Programa
    1. Why Use Interior Design Client Proposal Templates?
    2. Key Components of an Interior Design Presentation Template
    3. What is Transparency?
    4. What are the benefits?
    5. Getting Started
    6. Challenges Faced by Designers in Procurement
    7. How designers can use Procurement Hub
    8. Built by and for designers
    9. What is FF&E in Interior Design?
    10. Why is FF&E Management Crucial?
    11. How Programa is Changing the FF&E Interior Design Software Game
    12. Why Programa Stands Out from Other FF&E Interior Design Software
    13. The Future of Interior Design with Programa
      1. The End of Creative Interruption
      2. Where Inspiration Meets Intelligence
  89. The Dawn of SmartSpec: Your Creative Companion
    1. Creativity Amplified
    2. Beyond Documentation: The Future of Design Workflow
    3. Your Practice, Transformed
    4. Join the Creative Revolution
    5. The Future is Here
    6. Experience the Transformation
    7. Sacred Spaces Studio: Redefining Interior Design with Programa
    8. Philosophy and Inspiration
    9. Key Pillars of Sacred Spaces
    10. Integration of Programa in the Design Process
    11. Overcoming Challenges with Programa
    12. Take Full Control of Client Access with Ease
    13. View and Manage Access
    14. Client Overview & Quick Access Controls
    15. File-Specific Filtering
    16. Benefits of the Update
    17. Task Management
    18. Phases
    19. Dynamic Views
    20. Prepare your Studio
    21. Key Changes
    22. Detailed Steps for Current Studio WIP Users
    23. Future Releases
  90. Essential Project Management Tips for Interior Designers
  91. 2. Develop a Detailed Project Plan
  92. 3. Use the Right Project Management Tools
  93. 4. Maintain Open Communication
  94. 5. Monitor Budgets Closely
  95. 6. Prioritize Time Management
  96. Conclusion: The Path to Successful Interior Design Projects
    1. Why Time Tracking is Essential for Interior Designers
    2. How to Use Programa for Effective Time Tracking
    3. Tips for Maximizing Your Time Tracking Efforts
    4. Addressing the Need for Flexible Project Management in a Global Context
    5. The Issue - Complex Tax Handling<br />
    6. The Solution - Streamlined Tax Tool
    7. The Result - Enhanced Clarity and Compliance<br />
    8. Goodbye Fragmented Financial Management
    9. Build Connected and Efficient Processes<br />
    10. Meet The Programa x QuickBooks Integration<br />
    11. 2022
    12. 2023
    13. Purchase Orders
    14. What’s next?
  • Interior Design
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Project Management Deep Dive: Tasks & Phases

The building blocks for a stress-free studio

Managing a design studio doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With Programa’s new Studio Management tools—Tasks and Phases—you can streamline your project workflow and bring clarity to every stage of the process.

 

Tasks: The DNA of Project Management

Tasks are the foundation of every successful project. Here’s how Programa’s Tasks feature helps keep your projects organized:

  • Clear Communication: Assign tasks with deadlines, descriptions, and team member responsibilities so everyone knows what needs to be done.
  • Flexible Views: Manage tasks visually with Kanban-style boards, detailed lists, or timelines—whichever suits your workflow best.
  • All-in-One Management: Attach files, comments, and create subtasks within task cards to keep all project info in one place.
  • Instant Progress Updates: Track your team’s progress with status updates and subtasks, providing a clear view of project advancement.

Pro Tip: Use Key Dates for crucial milestones like client presentations or handover dates to keep your team focused on what matters most.

Phases: A Roadmap for Success

Phases take your project management to the next level by breaking down complex projects into manageable stages:

  • Overview & Clarity: Organize your projects into distinct phases, providing a clear view of the entire project lifecycle.
  • Balanced Resource Management: Assign tasks to specific phases to easily visualize where team efforts are concentrated.
  • Timeline Flexibility: Shift entire phases as timelines evolve, automatically adjusting associated tasks.

Pro Tip: Save time by creating standard phases that reflect your studio’s typical project lifecycle—easily apply these to new projects.

 

Bringing Tasks and Phases Together

The magic happens when Tasks and Phases combine, allowing you to:

  • Seamless Workflow: Assign tasks to phases for a smooth flow from start to finish.
  • Predictable Timelines: Accurately estimate project durations and set realistic expectations for clients.
  • Efficient Progress Tracking: See which phases are complete, in progress, or upcoming to keep stakeholders informed.
  • Enhanced Collaboration: With a clear project structure, your team can see how their work contributes to the overall project, fostering collaboration and alignment.

Getting Started is Easy

Setting up Tasks and Phases in Programa is user-friendly. You can create tasks from the Board or List view and assign phases from project settings. Need help? Our support team is always available via live chat to assist you in maximizing these features.

Transform your studio’s project management with Programa’s Tasks and Phases, and experience a more organized, stress-free workflow.