What is Miro
Miro was known in the past as RealtimeBoard, an online collaborative whiteboard platform that unites teams together and allows smooth online brainstorming, it offers infinite zoomable canvas and web whiteboards that enable teams to keep everyone in touch by seeing the big picture alongside the details. As software, Miro can be used to write down notes, create designs and communicate through video calls or online chatting. It allows adding many types of content such as texts and images with visual templates to help to explain different ideas and communicate more efficiently.
Some of the best features that Miro offers:
- Sticky notes that can be imported from spreadsheets and images or even added manually.
- Many add-ons (app integrations) that improve the experience as a whole such as Jira, Sketch, and Slack.
- It’s compatible with all devices.
- It recognizes drawings.
Miro helps teams go beyond just brainstorming, as it has many features and tasks that ensure collaboration within the team such as workshopping, strategy mapping, Agile ceremonies, UX research, product development, customer discovery, and process visualization.
Miro is not the only online Whiteboard tool on the market. Learn about i
“Miro’s infinitely zoomable canvas and web whiteboard enables you to work the way you want to. Unleash your creativity, plan projects from all angles, and create centralized hubs of information to keep everyone in the loop. See the big picture and the details.”
How to use Miro
If you don’t know your way around this platform, multiple resources can be reached easily to learn more about how to use Miro and benefit from all its features.
- YouTube tutorials: To get familiar with the platform and the different functions within it, many tutorial videos on YouTube explain a lot of features and help you get started.
- Miro templates: On Miro’s website there is a library for templates that help setting up your workshop, class, project, or session. It includes templates for different specialties such as marketing, ideation, and strategy, so you can always find something relevant to what you want to set up.
- Mito Support & Help Center: It offers many written guidelines to the frequently asked questions and situations that you may encounter and can be interesting for you to learn about.
- Miro Blog: As the name shows, it includes blog posts about different topics within Miro that can be very helpful to users and guide them in the platform.
Why use an online Whiteboard
Miro states that four key trends make an online whiteboard relevant for online collaboration as follows:
- An influx of remote workers: Global Leadership Summit in 2014 had a survey states that more than a third of businesses plan to have half of their workforce working remotely by 2020, and with the recent developments of COVID-19, it becomes crucial to embrace working remotely.
- Customer centricity, design thinking & Agile: Leading-edge technologies are being adopted across all industries and not limited to technology teams, so whiteboarding is a vital part of the design-thinking process that also needs to be implemented online.
- Digital Transformation: According to Miro’s survey, two out of three participants are saying their sectors are characterized by rapid change, and new technology products are moving only forward to meet the future demands.
- Visual thinking: According to William Bradford, 65% of the population are visual learners. The way people receive and process information is crucial to increase the efficiency of teams in different organizations, that’s why Miro provides flexible whiteboards to enable teams to collaborate constructively.
How to integrate Miro and Obeya
As the main aspect of visual management, Obeya methodology (a Japanese word for “big room”) is a Lean concept that is used to structure work, strategize and plan projects within Obeya Rooms. Integrating Miro as a virtual whiteboard with Digital Obeya Rooms can help:
- Planning by improving communication and visualizing information in a structured way
- Improve performance by offering smooth communication within the team
- Accurate evaluation of results by tracking every step of a process visually
- Improve efficiency through helpful visuals and vital resources all in one place
- Improve collaboration in teams by offering a shared environment where all members can work together and share their thoughts in one place
Generally, integrating Miro and Obeya can lead to significant results through improving communication and collaboration, consequently better results in any project, it can offer a virtual space where everyone can be part of the same environment
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