The Hustle: 6 Tools Our Team Uses to Work Remotely
At the Light Leaks, our volunteer team of 12 creatives work remotely across 5 time zones to bring our female and GNC creative community the best possible experience. We use different virtual tools to keep us on schedule for our editorial site, graphics, social media, and events! From what we use to track graphics to how we communicate as a team, check out the apps we use to ensure we’re making TLL the best it can be.
Slack
What it is: an instant messaging web-based and desktop app that allows users to direct message, create channels, video call, and more
What we use it for: We’re on a free Slack plan which is just enough features for our team size and our needs. In Slack, we share documents, videos, and other media files for collaboration, edits, and new ideas! We also use different slack channels for each part of TLL’s workflow like events, editorial, social, and partnerships. Since our team is fully remote, our Slack channel is our go-to place to also have fun conversations with each other. In our fun and general Slack channels, we’ll share fun questions of the week, memes, playlists, and more! Slack is essential for our new team, we couldn’t imagine not using it.
How you can use it: It would be a great fit for any producer organizing a crew for a project or for other small businesses and collectives collaborating. It allows for real-time messaging and then keeps communication professional and off of text.
Google Drive
What it is: A file storage and document sharing web-based app
What we use it for: We use google drive as our hub for saving archival documents as well as for drafting working documents. Since we’re an editorial site and digital media community, our workflow relies a lot on text-based documents - editing contributor pieces, planning documents for partnerships, social media strategy documents, and more. Google drive is our easy and free solution for creating and storing documents! Through different folders, we can keep documents from the last 4 years organized for everyone on the team to easily find and work with. Plus with the ability to specify privacy and sharing, google drive is perfect for sharing folders and documents with external partners!
How you can use it: Google drive is a great option for anyone organizing documents, slideshows, or sheets tracking production planning, contracts, budgets, and any other documents for a production! It’s a platform most people are familiar with so it’s a paper-saving measure for sure to have everyone on drive.
Google Meet
What it is: A video and voice conferencing app
What we use it for: We use google meet for 1:1 and team meetings! It’s integrated into the rest of google’s suite of apps and free for anyone to use when added into the google calendar info for an event. Anyone who sends out the link can allow people into the call via a waiting room which is a cool feature only on some paid plans for conferencing apps. Google meet helps us connect with each other in real-time, so we’ll often use it for working sessions so we can see each other’s reactions and body language when collaborating.
How you can use it: Google meet is a great tool for anyone collaborating, especially for folks collaborating during the pandemic. You can screen share, use the chat tool, and there’s no limit on time length.
Milanote
What it is: An online tool to organize ideas and projects into visual boards
What we use it for: Our graphics lead, Shamira, brought Milanote to the Light Leaks’ workflow and it’s brought our graphics design workflow to a whole new level! We use Milanote to gather inspiration for designs, share screenshots and scans of drafts, add feedback notes, and track progress. It’s been the perfect platform to view image files and quickly drag and drop new visual content. It’s intuitive to use and provides easy share links for others to view/edit your board
How you can use it: Milanote is best for visual content so if you’re creating a mood board, drafting a logo, or establishing your own brand look. It’s not a design or presentation making program but a tool to organize ideas and drag and drop notes/image files. I think because of the way you can use lines to connect text boxes, it can naturally be used for mapping out characters in a screenplay. You could link out to playlists, include text box descriptions, and even share reference images for each character. They even have built-in templates for use like: inspiration boards and a suite of filmmaking templates for pre-production and more!
Airtable
What it is: An online platform for creating and sharing databases
What we use it for: Airtable has been a lifesaver for working remotely. We use our airtable as a place for all of our saved media assets (photos, gifs, videos), tracking TLL contributors and other content creators we want to work with, feedback forms, and for one of our main resources. Airtable has been very easy to use as a remote team because it’s clear to understand, has large file storage, and it can be customized for different purposes. Using the different views (grid, gallery, etc) and different filtering options, you can catalogue any table in the way that fits your needs! Hosting all of our saved media assets in a media hub has been very convenient because then everyone on the team has access to the creative assets they need. Though a lot of our airtable usage is for working as a team, we have a public airtable filled with opportunities for creatives.
How you can use it: Use airtable as a creative to document workflow and project process, make and distribute surveys, create calendars and more! Airtable gets easier to understand once you start working with it but it’s very customizable.
Doodle
What it is: An online meeting schedule tool
What we use it for: We use doodle to schedule our team meetings! With scheduling out a meeting for 12 people, it can be difficult to align schedules. Doodle makes it easy with it’s free template that allows you to create placeholder meeting times on a calendar link that you can send out to others. From that link, each attendee can check off the times that work for them. One of the best features of using doodle, is that it offers the option of showing what other slots have been chosen to the attendees when they open the link. This is awesome because then the team can see what dates and times are most popular helping settle on a day that fits their schedule too!
How you can use it: Any creative person could use doodle! Whether it’s used for scheduling informationals or virtual coffee networking, or if it’s used to schedule a new collaborative meeting- it’s a free and easy solution for scheduling nightmares.
The Hustle is The Light Leaks’ newest resource tailored to YOU! Ask us questions, if we can’t answer from our own experience, we’ll find someone who’s able to. From creative block to actionable career steps, hit us up with your questions at kim@thelightleaks.com with “the Hustle” as the subject line. We got you.