“one app to replace them all” – that’s the claim of ClickUp. For many, ClickUp is “just” a project management software. But that’s actually too narrow a view. While ClickUp can be used as a PM tool, it’s also suitable for other purposes. Why? Because at its core, ClickUp is simply a database.
ClickUp – the Online Database
All data you enter into ClickUp is written into a database. And as is typical with a database, the content is distributed across various fields. So when you create a task in ClickUp’s Kanban board, you’re inserting a data record. This record consists of a title, a description, a start date, a duration, and an end date. With this information, ClickUp can display the data record in a specific view – such as the Kanban board – as a task.
Now, in ClickUp, you can easily switch views. Instead of the board, you can display all data records in a table with a single click. There, the desired fields of all records are shown in a simple table with columns. The trick: you can now perform calculations in the columns, for example, determine the sum of all efforts.
If you switch views again, you can display the tasks in a Gantt chart. This makes the date fields more important, and all data records are correctly positioned on a timeline.
So far, we’ve only created tasks. But ClickUp is already serving us as 3 apps: a spreadsheet, a Kanban board, and a project management app in the style of Microsoft Project.
A Matter of Perspective
ClickUp offers even more views. A mind map view, where you can arrange the data records, aka “tasks”, thematically in a tree structure.
A doc view, where I can attach multiple documents to a data record. Each doc is an infinite page, thus the data record becomes a kind of notebook containing many different pages.
Or a list view, where I can simply check off tasks as in a to-do app.
In each data record, there are countless fields that I can fill in depending on the purpose. I can create additional fields via “Custom Fields” as desired. The selection of field types is impressive.
Let’s take the “Location” field. I can add an address or coordinates to each data record and then display the data on a map view. Voila, I already have a simple CRM or a location database (in which I can, of course, search and filter specific data)
Relations
This brings us to the supreme discipline of database applications: relations, i.e., the connections between multiple databases.
ClickUp automatically creates such a relation when you assign a task to a team member. We just created the task in our database – ClickUp already has the team member in the background user database. With picture, name, email address, etc. When assigning an employee, ClickUp is simply making a connection between task and user.
I can also build such relations myself. For example, between my task and a project. I keep the projects separately in a list and add a project manager to each project. You got it? Another connection to the user database is created.
ClickUp, the Chameleon
The application possibilities are endless, and that’s the secret of ClickUp. Since ClickUp is essentially nothing more than a simple database with various data records, fields, field types, and connections, the app can take on different forms and colors like a chameleon. Depending on the focus, the view I use to look at a data record, it’s a task, a project step, a location, a note, an appointment, a contact, or whatever.
Would you like to know more about ClickUp and its many different uses?
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