Creately Blog

DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) is a five-step problem-solving methodology used to identify bottlenecks and improve processes. This methodology is part of the Six-Sigma philosophy, which started back in the 1980s in the manufacturing industry. The methodology remains relevant… Read More

According to Forrester, companies that map processes before automating see 42% faster implementation and 31% higher ROI. Precision and clarity are important, and the humble flowchart often serves as the unsung hero.Whether you’re third-party robotic process automation tools, or a… Read More

Did you check our last week’s template round up post yet? Here are five new templates to help you with team building, UX design, and risk analysis. Use these templates, to streamline communication, foster creativity, and make better decisions within your projects.

This week, we are focusing on HR professionals and team members who wants to run effective meetings. These templates will facilitate the seamless execution of meetings, promoting efficient communication and collaboration among HR professionals and team members.

Discover a wide range of industry-specific templates and examples in our diagram community to help you manage your daily tasks efficiently.

This week’s templates include:

• Peer-to-Peer 1:1 Worksheet
• 1-on-1 Meeting Template
• Effective workshop template
• Career progression chart example
• Career Growth Plan

Peer-to-Peer 1:1 Worksheet

The Peer-to-Peer 1:1 Worksheet is designed for professionals seeking enhanced communication, strengthened relationships, and valuable feedback exchange across different departments. This template provides a structured platform to foster meaningful conversations and facilitate collaboration, making it ideal for building rapport and driving collective growth.

How to use the peer to peer 1:1 worksheet:

1. Schedule the Meeting: Choose a convenient time to meet with your colleague from another department.
2. Access the Template: Open the Creately app and locate the “Peer-to-Peer 1:1 Worksheet” template.
3. Set the Agenda: Collaboratively outline the topics to be discussed. Note down the objectives in the dedicated section of the template.
4. Structured Conversation: Utilize the template’s sections to explore each agenda item. Write notes, sketch diagrams, and share thoughts collaboratively.
5. Action Points and Feedback: Summarize key takeaways from the conversation. Define actionable steps and assign responsibilities. Share constructive feedback to nurture growth.

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1-on-1 Meeting Template

The 1-on-1 Meeting Template helps managers to establish meaningful connections with their direct reports. This template assists in conducting stuctured discussions, allowing managers to exchange feedback, cultivate trust, and collaboratively plan for individual and team development.

How to use the 1-on-1 meeting template:

1. Schedule the Meeting: Set up a regular slot for the 1-on-1 meeting with your team member.
2. Access the Template: Open the 1 on 1 meeting template on Creately which is tailored for 1-on-1 discussions.
3. Agenda Setting: Collaboratively define the meeting’s agenda. Allow your direct report to contribute topics they want to discuss, ensuring a well-rounded conversation.
4. Discussion and Feedback: Use the template’s sections to navigate through agenda items. Listen actively, provide feedback, and address any concerns or questions.
5. Action Planning: Summarize key takeaways from the meeting. Together, identify actionable steps, set goals, and outline a plan for growth and development.

Utilize the 1-on-1 Meeting Template to have impactful interactions with your team members. This simple yet effective template facilitates feedback sharing, trust building, and growth discussions, ultimately contributing to enhanced team dynamics and individual progress.

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Effective Workshop Template

The Effective Workshop Template helps streamline the process of addressing business challenges efficiently. Workshops provide a dynamic approach to problem-solving by bringing together key stakeholders to collectively tackle issues in a live and interactive environment. This template simplifies the workshop process, ensuring that valuable input and feedback are harnessed effectively.

How to use the effective workshop template:

1. Define Workshop Objective: Clearly outline the purpose and goal of the workshop. Identify the specific problem or issue you aim to address.
2. Compile Stakeholders: Determine the key individuals who should participate based on their expertise and relevance to the problem at hand.
3. Access the Template: Open the workshop template in Creately, designed to guide the collaborative session.
4. Engage in Discussion: Utilize the template’s sections to facilitate focused discussions, idea generation, and sharing of insights among participants.
5. Solution Mapping: Summarize the outcomes of the workshop. Distill the collective input into actionable steps, potential solutions, and areas for further exploration.

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Career Progression Chart Template

The Career Progression Chart provides a visual representation of advancement within your company. This chart serves to clarify expectations, streamline promotion planning, and effectively communicate compensation ranges to potential candidates.

How to use the career progression chart:

1. Access the Chart: Open the provided career progression chart template, tailored to your company’s roles and levels.
2. Customize for Your Company: Adapt the chart to your organization’s roles, responsibilities, and skill progressions.
3. Define Responsibilities: Clearly outline the responsibilities, skills, and competencies expected at each career level.
4. Plan for Advancement: Discuss the chart with your team to set clear goals and create actionable plans for skill development.
5. Recruitment Advantage: During candidate interviews, share the chart’s pay ranges and career paths to attract candidates aligned with your company’s growth vision.

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Career Growth Plan

The Career Growth Plan Template is designed to understand, nurture, and guide your employees’ professional journeys. This template helps discover an employee’s values, preferences, competencies, and limitations. Use this template to set targeted goals and action plans, ensuring employees achieve their desired career growth.

How to Use the Risk Assessment Template:

1. Access the Template: Open the provided career growth plan template, designed to guide you through the process.
2. Personalize the Plan: Customize the template by adding an employee’s details, such as their name and role.
3. Identify Strengths and Values: Collaborate with the employee to discuss their values, preferences, and strengths.
4. Set Development Goals: Work together to establish specific career goals. Outline the competencies and skills required to achieve these goals.
5. Create Actionable Steps: Break down each goal into actionable steps and timeframes. This ensures a structured path to success.

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Did you check our last week’s template round up post yet? We shared five new templates useful for project planning that can help streamline planning, mapping, managing, and executing various tasks.

This week, we have five new templates that are helpful for team building, UX design, and risk analysis. These templates will help streamline communication, foster creativity, and improve decision-making within your projects.

Explore our diagram community to discover a wide range of industry-specific templates and examples that can help you efficiently manage your daily tasks.

This week’s templates include:

• Icebreaker template
• Connect 4 template
• Look, mock, analyze template
• Card sorting template
• Risk assessment template

Icebreaker Template

The icebreaker template is designed to foster team cohesion and energize group interactions. This online visual whiteboard template is a fantastic asset for team-building activities, workshops, and meetings. It encourages participants to engage, share, and connect with each other in a lighthearted and enjoyable manner. By breaking down initial barriers and building a positive atmosphere, the Ice Breaker template paves the way for more productive collaborations and open communication within the team.

How to use the icebreaker template:

1. Setup: Open the Creately app and create a new board. Access the Ice Breaker template from the template library or create a new board and add the template elements.
2. Introduction: Gather your team members in a meeting or workshop. Introduce the Ice Breaker activity and explain its purpose: to create a relaxed environment for everyone to get to know each other better.
3. Choose an icebreaker: Select an icebreaker activity from the template, such as “Two Truths and a Lie” or “Emoji Introductions.” Each activity is designed to encourage participants to share personal anecdotes, interests, or experiences.
4. Engagement: Follow the steps of the chosen activity as outlined in the template. For example, if you’re doing “Two Truths and a Lie,” ask each team member to share two true statements and one false statement about themselves. The others will try to guess which statement is the lie.
5. Discussion and connection: As each team member participates, encourage lighthearted discussions and interactions among the group. After everyone has shared, take a moment for reflections and celebrate the newfound insights into each other’s lives.

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Connect 4 Template

The connect 4 dots ice breaker template is an interactive and engaging tool designed to strengthen team bonds and encourage meaningful conversations. This online visual whiteboard template offers a unique twist on the classic Connect 4 game, infusing an element of fun and friendly competition into team-building activities. The template promotes teamwork, problem-solving, and collaboration in a relaxed and enjoyable setting.

How to Use the Connect 4 Dots Ice Breaker Template:

1. Open the template: Use the Creately app and find the Connect 4 Dots Ice Breaker template.
2. Pair up: Put team members into pairs.
3. Play the game: Take turns placing your colored dots on the board. Before placing a dot, answer a question related to the prompt.
4. Connect dots: Try to get four dots in a row: up/down, side-to-side, or diagonally.
5. Chat and play: Talk to your partner while playing. Share stories and ideas related to the prompts.

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Look, Mock, Analyze Template

The look, mock, analyze template is a handy tool for UX designers aiming to improve their designs through teamwork. This online visual whiteboard template simplifies the process of reviewing user interfaces, finding areas for improvement, and encouraging productive discussions. By guiding designers and stakeholders through a structured evaluation, this template contributes to creating user-friendly and effective digital experiences.

How to use the look, mock, analyze template:

1. Prepare your workspace: Open the Creately app or use a physical whiteboard. Create three sections labeled “Look,” “Mock,” and “Discuss.”
2. Introduction: Gather your design team and stakeholders for a collaborative session. Explain that you’ll be using the Look, Mock, Analyze method to improve the user interface.
3. Look: In the “Look” section, show the design you want to evaluate. It could be a wireframe, prototype, or screenshot. Give everyone a moment to study it individually and note their initial thoughts.
4. Mock: In the “Mock” section, ask participants to suggest changes directly on the design. They can draw new elements, mark areas needing improvement, or propose layout adjustments.
5. Discuss and analyze: In the “Analyze” section, gather as a group to talk about each person’s insights and suggested changes. Discuss the usability and visual aspects of the design. Decide on the most important improvements and make a plan for implementing them.

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Card Sorting Template

The card sorting template can be used by UX designers aiming to create user-friendly digital experiences. This online visual whiteboard template simplifies the process of understanding how users group and categorize information. By involving users in the organization of content, the template helps designers create intuitive navigation systems and information architectures that match users’ mental models.

How to use the card sorting template:

1. Set up your workspace: Open Creately app. Create a new board or use an existing one to set up the Card Sorting template.
2. Prepare content cards: Create digital cards representing pieces of content, features, or categories. Each card should have a clear label and description.
3. Introduction: Gather a group of participants who represent your target users. Introduce the Card Sorting activity and explain that you’re seeking their input to improve the content organization.
4. Sort the cards: Distribute the content cards among the participants. Ask them to group and arrange the cards in a way that makes the most sense to them. They can use categories or labels they create themselves.
5. Discussion and analysis: Once participants have sorted the cards, gather as a group to discuss their decisions. Ask about their thought process, why they grouped items a certain way, and if anything was challenging. Use their insights to refine your content structure and navigation design.

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Risk Assessment Template

The risk assessment template helps with risk analysis and management. This template simplifies the process of identifying, evaluating, and prioritizing potential risks in projects, processes, or initiatives. By systematically assessing risks, this template helps teams with making informed decisions to mitigate negative impacts and improve overall project success.

How to use the risk assessment template:

1. Open your workspace: Access Creately app. Create a new board or use an existing one to set up the Risk Assessment template.
2. List potential risks: Begin by listing all potential risks related to your project or initiative. Each risk should be specific and clearly described.
3. Assess likelihood and Impact: For each risk, assess its likelihood of occurring and the potential impact it could have. Use a simple scale (e.g., low, medium, high) or numerical values.
4. Prioritize risks: Calculate a risk score by combining the likelihood and impact assessments. Identify high-priority risks by focusing on those with the highest scores.
5. Develop mitigation strategies: For each high-priority risk, brainstorm and outline potential mitigation strategies. These strategies should help reduce the likelihood or impact of the risk.

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At Creately, we’re on a mission to transform the way teams work and collaborate visually. Our platform is designed to empower enterprises to fully harness the benefits of visual collaboration, driving productivity and fostering innovation.

Today, we’re excited to announce some significant advancements that further solidify our commitment to this mission.

A New Era of Security and Compliance

We understand that for businesses, particularly larger enterprises, data security and compliance are non-negotiable. That’s why we’re proud to announce that we have achieved two key certifications: SOC 2-Type 2 and ISO 27001.

These certifications are widely recognized as important benchmarks in information security and management, demonstrating our commitment to maintaining stringent security standards. While these certifications have become a baseline requirement in today’s digital landscape, achieving them is nonetheless a significant accomplishment that emphasizes our dedication to securing your data and delivering a trusted service.

Introducing New Data Residency Options – With a Twist

In line with our commitment to security and compliance, we’re thrilled to offer new data residency options. Creately users can now choose to store their data in the US, EU, or AU data centres. This new feature ensures adherence to local data sovereignty laws and provides enhanced data security.

Creately’s data residency solution however is unique. While your organization’s data may reside in a certain geography, you still want to seamlessly collaborate with external teams distributed across the globe.

Our advanced architecture allows Creately users data hosted from different regions to collaborate on workspaces. Logging in as a US Creately user, you can still accept external invitations to collaborate in EU hosted Creately workspaces without skipping a beat.

And all this is done without leaking personal data to other regions and fully complying with sovereignty laws!

A Fresh Visual Collaboration Experience

In addition to these security enhancements, we have also introduced improved features to further optimize the visual collaboration experience. With faster diagram creation experiences, additional libraries, templates, and shapes, we offer an intuitive and efficient way for teams to collaborate visually.

By integrating Data with Visual Collaboration, we’ve unlocked new possibilities in areas such as Product Management, User Journey Mapping, Process Mapping, HR planning, and more. These features enable cross-functional teams to work more effectively, fostering creativity and innovation across your organization.

Unlimited Collaboration for All

Finally, we’re shaking up the traditional SaaS pricing model with our ‘Unlimited Collaboration’ plan. This groundbreaking approach eliminates seat count restrictions, enabling an unlimited number of users within an organization to use our platform for a fixed fee.

This new model democratizes access to visual tools, allowing everyone in your organization to leverage the power of working visually, regardless of their role or function. By removing the barriers of traditional pricing models, we’re making it easier than ever for enterprises to unlock the full potential of visual collaboration.

Onwards and Upwards!

These enhancements are a testament to our commitment to enabling organizations to unlock the full potential of visual collaboration, underpinned by robust security and compliance.

We’re excited to continue on this journey with you and look forward to empowering ambitious teams with the tools it needs to innovate, collaborate, and succeed in the visual collaboration era.

In our last week’s roundup article, we shared templates tailored for product managers to help them to track delivery dates, assess consensus on product options, apply effective problem-solving approaches, and organize product strategy.

This week, we are focusing on project managers, with templates designed to facilitate tracking and prioritizing conversion initiatives, fostering progress communication and collaboration, promoting continuous improvement, visualizing strategic direction, and defining project scope and roles.

Explore our diagram community for industry-specific templates and examples to support your unique use cases.

This week’s templates include:

• Product roadmap template
• Project charter template
• Conversion funnel backlog template
• Show and tell meeting template
• Four Ls retrospective template

Product Roadmap Template

The product roadmap template is a powerful tool that project managers can use to plan and communicate the strategic direction of their projects. It provides a clear visual overview of the product’s development journey, helping teams and stakeholders stay aligned with the project’s goals and progress.

5 simple steps to use the product roadmap template:

1. Define goals – Clearly outline your project objectives and key milestones.
2. Set timelines – Establish realistic timelines for each milestone.
3. Prioritize features – List and prioritize the essential features to achieve goals.
4. Visualize the roadmap – Create a clear visual representation of the project’s journey.
5. Communicate and review – Share the roadmap with your team and stakeholders, and regularly review and adjust as needed.

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Project Charter Template

The project charter template can be used by project managers to kickstart their projects on the right track. It serves as a foundational document that outlines the project’s purpose, scope, objectives, and key stakeholders, providing a clear roadmap for successful project management.

5 simple steps to use the project charter template:

1. Project overview: Provide a brief description of the project, including its name, purpose, and the problem it aims to solve. Clearly state the project’s goals and how it aligns with the organization’s objectives.
2. Scope definition: Clearly define the project’s boundaries and what is included or excluded. Identify the deliverables and outcomes the project will produce.
3. Roles and responsibilities: Outline the roles and responsibilities of each team member involved in the project. This ensures everyone knows their tasks and helps avoid confusion.
4. Timeline and milestones: Set a realistic timeline for the project and identify key milestones. This will help keep the project on schedule and track progress.
5. Stakeholder identification: List all the stakeholders involved in the project, both internal and external. Understand their interests and involvement to effectively manage communications and expectations.

This way by using the project charter template, project managers can streamline their projects’ initiation phase, gain clarity on project scope and objectives, establish clear roles and responsibilities, and build a strong foundation for successful project execution.

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Conversion Funnel Backlog Template

Project managers can use the conversion funnel backlog template to optimize customer conversions and enhance the user journey. It helps them track and prioritize improvement initiatives, ensuring a smooth and effective flow of potential customers through the conversion funnel.

Here’s how to use the conversion funnel backlog template:

1. Identify funnel stages: Define the stages of your conversion process.
2. List improvement ideas: Brainstorm and list potential improvements for each stage.
3. Prioritize initiatives: Rank the ideas based on their impact and feasibility
4. Assign responsibilities: Assign team members to implement each initiative.
5. Monitor and optimize: Regularly track performance and make necessary adjustments.

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Show and Tell Meeting Template

The show and tell meeting template can be used by project managers to effectively communicate project progress and foster collaboration among team members and stakeholders. It facilitates a structured format for showcasing project updates, achievements, and challenges, while also providing an opportunity for valuable feedback and discussion.

Simple steps to use the show and tell meeting template:

1. Set meeting schedule: Determine a regular schedule for the Show and Tell meetings. This could be weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, depending on the project’s timeline and complexity.
2. Prepare updates: Prior to the meeting, team members should prepare concise updates on their project tasks and accomplishments. Visuals like charts, graphs, or prototypes can make the presentations more engaging.
3. Present progress: During the meeting, each team member presents their progress, sharing what they have accomplished since the last meeting and any challenges they encountered.
4. Encourage feedback: After each presentation, encourage questions and feedback from the audience. This fosters collaboration and helps identify potential roadblocks or opportunities for improvement.
5. Capture action items: At the end of the meeting, document any action items or follow-up tasks that arise from the discussion. Assign responsibilities and deadlines to ensure progress after the meeting

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Four Ls Retrospective Template

The four Ls retrospective template can help project managers to conduct comprehensive retrospectives and foster continuous improvement within their teams. It enables a structured approach to reflect on the project’s performance, identify successes and challenges, and define actionable steps for future growth.

Here are 5 simple steps to use the 4Ls retrospective template:

1. Gather the team: Bring together all team members involved in the project for the retrospective meeting.
2. Start with liked: Begin the retrospective by asking team members to share what they liked or appreciated about the project. This highlights the positive aspects and acknowledges team efforts.
3. Move to learned: Discuss what the team learned throughout the project, including insights, new skills, or valuable experiences gained.
4. Address lacked: Identify aspects that the team felt were lacking or could have been improved during the project. Openly discuss the challenges and obstacles faced.
5. End with longed for: Finally, have the team share their aspirations and what they longed for during the project. This can include desired improvements or opportunities for future projects.

Use the four Ls retrospective template to create a collaborative environment for feedback and learning, allowing the team to adapt and grow, leading to more successful projects in the future.

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