As teams mature in Wrike, it’s easy to keep adding custom fields, dashboards, folders, automations, and workflows. How do you decide when something is actually adding value versus adding complexity?
Before adding anything, I always try to make an honest pros-and-cons list, and the first question I ask isn't "can Wrike do this" but "is Wrike actually the right place for this." Only after that do I go talk to the people who'd actually use it, and I decide based on what they say rather than on what seems clever to build. I tend to move cautiously here on purpose.
What helps me most in practice is asking who the real end user of a new field, dashboard, or automation is. If the answer is vague, like "it might be useful someday," that's usually a sign I'm about to add speculative complexity rather than real value. I also try to make sure anything I add has someone who actually owns it going forward, not just someone who asked for it once. If nobody's willing to be responsible for a custom field or a workflow six months from now, it probably shouldn't exist.
The part most teams skip, though, is maintenance in the other direction. Everyone remembers to ask "should we add this," almost nobody asks "should we remove that." A dashboard with too many filters is at least visibly messy, so someone eventually complains about it. But automation rules chained together that nobody quite remembers the reason for are the real problem, they're invisible until the system breaks in a way that's hard to trace back. So it's worth revisiting what's already there every so often, not just gatekeeping what comes in.
@Pietro Poli - Very interesting. That’s a great point about removal being just as important as addition. I especially like the idea of assigning ownership to things we add. Do you have a regular cadence for reviewing and cleaning up your Wrike setup?
Hi @David Simmington usually we do this every 6 month. In July, before summer holidays and in February after the massive creation of projects and tasks (we have a lot of recurring projects that start each year at 01 January).
As an admin, I've found that less is often more. Standardized workflows, purposeful automation, and role-based visibility help keep Wrike intuitive and prevent users from feeling overwhelmed. Regular governance reviews are just as important as introducing new features. 💡
Couldn't agree more… less is more! And regular reviews are important. Thank you, @Naleen Kumar.
I think you need a good process outside Wrike.
Do not build your process around Wrike. Ask yourself what you really need for your daily work. Only implement these features. And make a regular review and skip things you do not need anymore.
Use custom item types to reduce overload of custom fields (perhaps each custom item type is used for other things and needs other custom fields).
For automations the same: use them as theyy really help. But do not spam people with automated messages. Instead establish one dashboard where all tasks for one person are shown. That should be the workers single point of contact.
Thank you, @Sven Passinger! Great words of advice.
Loving this governance discussion! Has anyone tracked the rationale for custom fields using the Field description field for each? It offers some basic formatting; I'm not sure it's reportable beyond Settings. How about a custom item type in a Wrike product governance space for tracking each significant customization's owner, aim, known limitations, etc.? Otherwise it's all in a separate document or spreadsheet…further removed from the platform. Curious what others do or have tried.
