90-day Monday.com project management tool study plan

 

Phase 1: Setup & Foundations (Days 1–20)

Day 1: Interface basics

Lecture: Monday.com is structured around a clear hierarchical model designed to keep work transparent and segmented. At the highest level, Workspaces separate different departments, companies, or client environments. Within each Workspace, Boards serve as your core project management hubs, and Items represent the individual rows, tasks, or deliverables residing on those boards. The left sidebar gives you global navigation across all your pinned boards, dashboards, and views.

Instruction: Log into your Monday.com account. Use the left sidebar to explore the interface layout: observe your main Workspaces, navigate between boards, and open global overview links. Click around to see how switching between Workspaces changes your available board directory.

Day 2: Workspace setup

Lecture: Proper Workspace structuring ensures your operational data stays organized as your account scales. Workspaces act as digital file cabinets separating different teams (like Marketing, Engineering, or Client Services) so team members only see relevant project folders.

Instruction: Click the + icon or dropdown arrow at the top of your left sidebar and select Add Workspace. Name your workspace (e.g., "Agency Operations"), select an icon, and invite team members. Create individual boards inside this workspace tailored to different functional teams or client projects.

Day 3: Boards

Lecture: Boards are the operational heart of Monday.com. They are structured into Groups (categorized sections like "To Do," "In Progress," and "Done") and Items (individual tasks) mapped across customizable columns that record data horizontally.

Instruction: Inside your new Workspace, click + Add and choose New Board. Name your board, choose whether it is Main (public), Shareable, or Private, and begin organizing your task groups. Practice adding new items, renaming task lines, and dragging rows between different groups.

Day 4: Columns

Lecture: Columns turn a basic text list into a powerful database. Monday.com offers dozens of column types—such as Status columns for progress tracking, Date columns for deadlines, People columns for ownership, and Text columns for details—each powering different aspects of your workflow.

Instruction: On your newly created board, click the + icon to the right of your table columns. Add a Status column (and customize label names/colors), a Date column, a People column, and a Text column. Populate test data into these cells to see how they function.

Day 5: Views

Lecture: Board views allow you to look at the exact same row data through different visual lenses. While the Table view handles data entry, Kanban boards visualize status flows, Calendars map out schedules, and Timelines track overlapping project durations.

Instruction: At the top of your board view header, click the + button next to "Main Table". Explore and add a Kanban view, a Calendar view, and a Timeline view. Toggle between them to observe how your board items automatically adapt to each layout.

Days 6–10: Practice building a demo project with boards and views.

Instruction: Synthesize your foundational knowledge by building a fully functional demo project board from scratch. Create groups for project phases, populate multiple task items with people, dates, and custom status labels, and configure multiple views (Table, Kanban, and Calendar) to review your project data.

Days 11–20: Create a 3-phase project plan with multiple boards.

Instruction: Design a multi-board project architecture representing a complex 3-phase project lifecycle (e.g., Phase 1: Discovery, Phase 2: Execution, Phase 3: Launch). Set up separate boards for each phase within your workspace, connecting them with consistent column structures and multi-view layouts.

Phase 2: Collaboration & Productivity (Days 21–40)

Day 21: Updates

Lecture: The Updates section inside every item acts as a dedicated communication thread, keeping all conversations, file attachments, and feedback tied directly to the specific task rather than scattered across external chat apps.

Instruction: Click on any item title on your board to open its item card (Updates panel). Type a progress note, upload a test file attachment, and use the @ symbol to tag a teammate directly into the update thread. Click Update to post it.

Day 22: Notifications

Lecture: Managing your Monday.com Inbox and notification bell ensures you stay updated on assigned tasks, status changes, and teammate mentions without missing critical project updates.

Instruction: Click the Bell Icon (Notifications) in the top left sidebar. Review your notification stream, filter updates by "Assigned to me" or "Mentions," and go to your profile notification settings to configure email or mobile alert preferences.

Day 23: Docs

Lecture: Monday Docs integrate collaborative text documents directly into your workspace, allowing teams to draft meeting agendas, project scopes, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) right alongside live board data.

Instruction: Navigate to your workspace sidebar, click + Add, and select Doc. Create a structured document using markdown, add checklist blocks, and use @-mentions to link specific board items or team members directly inside your text.

Day 24: Checklists

Lecture: Checklists inside item updates break complex deliverables down into granular sub-tasks, giving team members clear, itemized action items without cluttering the main board table.

Instruction: Open any item’s update panel, click the Checklist icon, and add multiple sub-tasks. Check off items individually to watch the internal progress indicator update dynamically.

Day 25: Recurring tasks

Lecture: Automating repetitive operational workflows—like weekly status reports or monthly check-ins—ensures routine administrative duties never slip through the cracks.

Instruction: Open an item's menu (three dots next to the item name) and select Add automation or use the native Recurring Item feature (depending on account setup) to configure a schedule where tasks recreate automatically on a set cadence.

Day 26: Templates

Lecture: Saving custom board configurations as templates allows you to instantly redeploy standardized project workflows across future client accounts without manual setup.

Instruction: Click the three dots in the top right corner of your board, select More actions, and click Save as template. Name your template, assign it to a category, and verify you can launch a duplicate copy from the board creation menu.

Day 27: Custom fields

Lecture: Custom columns and fields extend your board's data capabilities, letting you track specialized operational metrics like client budgets, priority weightings, or financial estimates.

Instruction: Add custom columns to your board—such as a Numbers column for budgets, a Rating column for priority scores, or a Dropdown column for specific department tags—to capture detailed item metadata.

Day 28: Time tracking

Lecture: The native Monday.com Time Tracking column records billable hours spent working on specific items, enabling teams to audit labor allocation and generate performance reports.

Instruction: Add a Time Tracking column to your board. Click into the cell for a task and start the live timer while performing mock work, or manually input hours logged. Review how cumulative time aggregates at the group level.

Day 29: Calendar sync

Lecture: Syncing your Monday.com deadline columns with external calendars like Google Calendar ensures your project due dates align cleanly with your daily personal schedule.

Instruction: Click the calendar icon inside any Date column or go to your board view options, select Sync with calendar, and follow the authorization steps to push your board deadlines directly into Google Calendar.

Day 30: Workload view

Lecture: The Workload view aggregates data from your People and Date columns to give managers a live capacity overview, helping prevent team burnout by highlighting over-allocated resources.

Instruction: Click + at the top of your board views and select Workload. Map the view to your board's People and Date columns. Inspect the capacity visualizer to see how tasks distribute across team members over the week.

Days 31–35: Build a collaborative project with Docs and updates.

Lecture: Combine collaboration tools to build an interactive, communicative project space where tasks are supported by integrated documentation and active update feeds.

Instruction: Build a collaborative project board featuring active item update threads, linked Monday Docs containing project briefs, and assigned tasks complete with checklist sub-items and team member tags.

Days 36–40: Add recurring tasks, templates, and workload balancing.

Lecture: Optimize your operational efficiency by deploying recurring administrative routines, reusable board templates, and active workload capacity management.

Instruction: Set up recurring maintenance items, save your workspace configuration as a master template, and use the Workload view to rebalance task assignments across your team.

Phase 3: Advanced Project Management (Days 41–65)

Day 41: Dependencies

Lecture: Item dependencies link tasks together chronologically so that shifting a parent timeline automatically adjusts dependent downstream tasks, preventing workflow bottlenecks.

Instruction: Add a Dependency column to your board. Link related items together by setting dependency rules (such as blocking or waiting on another item). Adjust a deadline date on a blocking task and observe how the dependent item’s schedule shifts automatically.

Day 42: Automations

Lecture: Monday.com Automations use intuitive When ➔ Then recipe logic to eliminate manual busywork—such as automatically notifying a team member and moving an item to a new group when its status changes.

Instruction: Click the Automations center button at the top right of your board. Choose a custom or pre-built recipe: When Status changes to "Done" ➔ Move item to "Completed" group and notify Project Manager. Test the automation by changing a status cell.

Day 43: Dashboards

Lecture: Dashboards aggregate data from multiple boards across your workspace into a single executive command center using customizable visual widgets like charts, battery bars, and counters.

Instruction: Click + Add in your left sidebar and select New Dashboard. Add visual widgets such as a Battery widget (for status tracking), a Chart widget (for budget allocation), and a Numbers widget to track high-level metrics.

Day 44: Reporting

Lecture: Advanced reporting widgets evaluate project velocity, budget burn rates, and team bandwidth across your workspace to support data-driven decision-making.

Instruction: Inside your custom Dashboard, add advanced analytics widgets that filter items by specific date ranges, user assignments, or financial metrics to generate clean progress reports for stakeholders.

Day 45: Portfolios

Lecture: Portfolio boards roll up multiple independent project boards into a single master view, allowing executives to track macro-level progress across an entire agency or department.

Instruction: Create a master board or connect multiple boards into a high-level Portfolio view using connected board columns or portfolio widgets to track aggregate completion percentages in real time.

Day 46: Integrations

Lecture: Connecting external productivity tools like Slack, Zoom, and GitHub bridges communication silos and centralizes notifications directly inside your Monday.com environment.

Instruction: Click the Integrations center button in the top right of your board. Search for and connect Slack (to send board updates to a channel), Zoom (to attach meeting links), or Google Drive for file syncing.

Day 47: Forms

Lecture: Monday.com Forms turn any board instantly into a public intake portal, automatically converting external client submissions into new structured board items.

Instruction: Click + at the top of your board views and select Form. Customize the form fields by dragging and dropping board columns, preview the form layout, copy the public sharing link, and submit a test response to verify it populates as a new board item.

Day 48: Advanced Docs

Lecture: Advanced Monday Docs support rich-layout tables, image embeds, code blocks, and granular page permissions for professional client-facing documentation.

Instruction: Create an advanced Doc. Insert a multi-column table, embed an external prototype link or video file, and configure page-level sharing settings to restrict editing permissions.

Day 49: Whiteboards

Lecture: Monday Whiteboards provide a freeform visual brainstorming canvas where teams can map out process flows, sketch wireframes, and drop live board items directly onto the canvas.

Instruction: Click + at the top of your board views and select Whiteboard. Use shapes, sticky notes, and connecting lines to diagram a project workflow, then embed live board items directly onto the whiteboard space.

Day 50: Advanced views

Lecture: Combining advanced Timeline and Gantt views provides precise multi-phase project scheduling capabilities for complex engineering or creative workflows.

Instruction: Add a Gantt view to your board. Map out milestones, review critical path dependencies, and adjust task durations directly by dragging timeline bars across the visual calendar grid.

Days 51–55: Build a portfolio dashboard for multiple projects.

Lecture: Synthesize advanced project controls by building an executive portfolio dashboard aggregating multiple active operational boards.

Instruction: Build a master Dashboard connected to three distinct project boards. Populate it with cross-board widgets tracking overall task completion, cumulative time tracking, and team workload capacities.

Days 56–60: Automate workflows and balance workload.

Lecture: Refine operational efficiency by deploying multi-step automation recipes and resolving team resource bottlenecks using the Workload view.

Instruction: Implement multi-condition automations across your boards. Open the Workload view to reallocate tasks and eliminate any team over-allocation risks.

Days 61–65: Use forms and whiteboards for planning.

Lecture: Practice visual project conception using whiteboards and streamline client intake using custom forms prior to execution.

Instruction: Map out an intake-to-execution workflow using a Whiteboard view, and configure a fully tested intake Form that feeds directly into your project initiation group.

Phase 4: Professional Workflow & Client Delivery (Days 66–90)

Day 66: Client boards

Lecture: Isolating client work into dedicated, shareable boards ensures clear security boundaries and prevents cross-contamination between different client accounts.

Instruction: Create a new board designated specifically for an external client. Set up clean group structures tailored exclusively to that client’s project milestones and deliverables.

Day 67: Permissions

Lecture: Granular permission controls protect sensitive internal data by restricting guest or client access to specific boards, columns, or groups.

Instruction: Go to your board's three-dot menu and select Board permissions. Configure restrictions to limit clients or guests so they can only view or edit items assigned to them, while hiding internal financial or profit-margin columns.

Day 68: Custom branding

Lecture: White-labeling your account and shared client boards with custom agency logos and themes creates a professional brand experience during client reviews.

Instruction: Navigate to your profile settings / administration panel (Admin → General or Customization) to upload your agency logo, select brand accent colors, and configure domain branding for shared links and portals.

Day 69: Advanced automations

Lecture: Multi-step custom automations handle complex operational handoffs, executing conditional logic sequences across multiple boards automatically.

Instruction: Build an advanced multi-action automation recipe: When Status changes to "Ready for Review" ➔ Move item to "Client Review" board, assign the client contact, and post a notification alert to Slack.

Day 70: API basics

Lecture: Monday.com’s robust GraphQL API allows developers to build custom webhook integrations and connect external software solutions directly to your workspace boards.

Instruction: Navigate to your user profile menu under Developers to generate a personal API token. Review the Monday.com GraphQL API documentation to understand how queries handle item creation, column updates, and webhook triggers.

Days 71–75: Build client demo account with dashboards, automations, and reports.

Lecture: Consolidate your advanced Monday.com knowledge by building a production-ready client demo environment equipped with custom dashboards and automated workflows.

Instruction: Assemble a complete client showcase workspace featuring white-label branding, automated status recipes, executive reporting dashboards, and segregated client permission tiers.

Days 76–80: Test client onboarding workflow.

Lecture: Quality assurance testing of client onboarding procedures ensures that guest access provisioning and initial intake form submissions run smoothly without friction.

Instruction: Run a live simulation of a client onboarding sequence: submit a test intake form, verify that items route to the correct board, invite a test guest account, and check automated welcome notifications.

Days 81–85: Conduct usability testing and refine automations.

Lecture: External usability audits catch workflow bottlenecks and ensure client dashboards are intuitive and easy to navigate.

Instruction: Have a colleague test navigation through your client boards and dashboards. Review automation activity logs to resolve any failed trigger conditions or misaligned task assignments.

Day 86–89: Final polish (branding, dashboards, client portal).

Lecture: The final pre-launch polish phase ensures immaculate white-label branding, clean dashboard widgets, and polished client portals.

Instruction: Audit all client boards. Verify logo branding assets, clean up redundant columns, ensure dashboard widgets display correct filtered data, and test client sharing links.

Day 90: Final Project — Portfolio Showcase

Lecture: The ultimate culmination of your Monday.com study plan integrates advanced board structures, automated workflows, reporting dashboards, and white-label branding into a professional agency deliverable.

Instruction: Deliver your final multi-client Monday.com system project showcase. Your completed system must feature:

• Fully structured project boards with custom views and item dependencies.

• Automated multi-step workflow recipes and intake forms.

• Executive dashboards and workload reporting widgets.

• White-label branding and secure client permission controls.

Compile these assets into your professional portfolio to prove your mastery of Monday.com project management and operations administration.