How White Uses MeisterTask to Streamline Workflows for Complex Projects.

From schools and hospitals to housing projects and urban landscapes, White Arkitekter has been designing innovative and sustainable spaces since 1951. With over 700 employees and operations in Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and East Africa, they are one of the leading architectural practices in Scandinavia. The company is on a mission to “enable sustainable life through the art of architecture” and ensure their architecture is 100% climate neutral by 2030. 

White’s award-winning builds are created to inspire and engage, where people can thrive and grow in harmony with the environment. But bringing these highly ambitious architectural projects to life is a huge undertaking that requires rigorous planning and oversight. A robust digital workspace is central to the team’s daily operations. MeisterTask and MindMeister have been a core piece of White’s tech stack since 2017, helping their team bring structure and simplicity to their multi-year projects. But it wasn’t always such smooth sailing.

Arvid Vessman, White’s Service Owner responsible for digital spaces, joined White after MeisterTask and MindMeister had been implemented – though he was more than happy to inherit the tools. Arvid explains that MeisterTask and MindMeister were selected as part of a push towards a “best of breed” strategy initiated by White’s CIO, Peter Leuchovius. With so many project requirements to meet, their digital toolset had to be second to none. Previously, the team had been using Lotus Notes – described by Arvid as “a tool from another time” – to plan and manage their projects. Lotus Notes simply couldn’t keep up with the team’s complex workflows. Arvid explains:

To meet the demands of their projects, the team at White needed a way to keep track of every step in the process – and fast. They wanted a project management tool that could be implemented quickly, so simplicity and ease of use were high on the agenda. This is where MeisterTask excels.

As White’s projects are broad in scope and high in complexity, it’s important that project managers have everything they need to manage their projects from the outset. For ease and efficiency, and to remove as much manual set-up as possible, Arvid and his team are responsible for creating and maintaining “White Spaces” – an in-house platform where users can interact with a subset of project tools. Here, Meister tools are used in combination with Slack for instant messaging, OneNote for documentation, and Egnyte for large file storage. Collectively, this toolkit ensures project managers can deliver on requirements while remaining confident that nothing is overlooked.

Each space has a templatized MeisterTask project board which provides a baseline of what is required within each project, along with guidance on processes.

The team is currently working on a large project in Stuttgart. The project has an extensive timeline and multiple stages of development, all of which are visible in the MeisterTask project board. Arvid explains:

Project managers can add their own tasks and track their own workflows in separate “To Do” boards. As steps within each project are executed within these boards, they’re naturally more collaborative. Project managers typically use the traditional Kanban view to keep an overview of task progress, moving tasks through the sections and reassigning them to those responsible when it’s their turn to contribute. Tags are added to identify priorities, ie. prio 1, 2 or 3, which gives collaborators a quick and easy overview of what to focus on first. This ensures accountability and helps the team to consistently meet deadlines.

At the company level, MeisterTask is the go-to tool for annual action planning and budgeting. Project managers create a board for each project, outlining required resources including budget, stakeholders and expected timeline. These boards are then combined into a large overview project board where leadership can assess and prioritize all projects. As such, the planning process is centralized, transparent and clearly communicated to all team members. 

Of course, behind every great plan is a great idea. Before plans are set in stone, some team members like to use their own personal MindMeister accounts to brainstorm and develop project concepts. The tool provides a creative space to explore possibilities and consider potential project outcomes.

For those working in support functions, MeisterTask helps stay on top of a fast-moving stream of requests. Arvid explains:

The MeisterTask-Slack automation used in combination with the Agenda helps Arvid to streamline the process of gathering, prioritizing and scheduling support tickets.

MeisterTask integrations are also a huge help for White’s Service Desk team, who use MeisterTask to keep track of Customer Support tickets.

Since introducing MeisterTask and MindMeister, White has been able to streamline their workflows to ensure greater efficiency and accountability. Requirements and responsibilities are clear for every project, whether large-scale architecture projects or internal support projects. Not only is project execution more thorough, with less room for to-dos to slip through the net, but they’ve also managed to save a lot of time through templatized processes and automations. Arvid says:

The flexibility of MeisterTask means it has been adapted for multiple use cases within the company. Arvid notes: