When I started offering Airtable solutions, I realized that it was a bit confusing, especially for non-technical people and people who did not enjoy using spreadsheets that much. For people who used spreadsheets, adapting was very easy. But if people were coming from a more visual tool like Trello or any of the other colorful traditional tools, adapting to Airtable was a problem. Sometimes they would drop off because Airtable is more database-focused than your typical off-the-shelf project management tools.
Depending on what you wanted to do with it, you had to set it up in a specific way so that it would be easier for them to come in and update the information they needed to input. You didn’t want to overcomplicate it. When you start having 60, 70, or 80 fields, that’s where you get into the more complicated areas. People just get tired of having to input or keep track of so many things. You’ll notice that there’s a drop-off.
So, when you’re setting something like this up, you want to have a very simple interface. I use the word simple a lot, but you have to understand that it’s one of the best approaches. You want to ensure that when people come in, they only see about four or five fields that they need to fill out. If a field can be pre-filled, or if it’s not information that they should be inputting, then they shouldn’t have to input it. If it’s something like dates, those should be tracked automatically. Basic mathematical formulas and calculations should not be done manually. You should make use of formula fields for that. Project details shouldn’t be so complicated.
You should have the setup track the right information and pre-fill most of the fields that Airtable can pre-fill to reduce manual input. It’s going to reduce errors and mistakes because people don’t have to fill in all of those things. They just come in, input the details they need to provide, or mark whatever they have completed. It just makes everything a lot easier. Airtable’s UI isn’t the best, but if people only have a few things that they need to do, the interface helps narrow everything down. It’s going to help with adoption. You don’t want people to drop off, so after you’ve set everything up, you have to constantly come back and check how people are using it, how they find it, and how they’re adapting to the setup.