Microsoft Loop is primarily a collaboration tool, but it’s also surprisingly good for running personal projects. Instead of building endless pages like in Notion or juggling multiple productivity apps, Loop works around small, flexible components that you can drop anywhere. But even better: Loop comes decked with a template gallery, which is where most of its value lies if you’re not the type of person to start from scratch.

I stopped overcomplicating my workspace and started grabbing templates from the gallery. These are the Loop templates that proved most useful for managing my personal projects…

Issue tracker

For debugging my projects

The Issue Tracker template in Loop is the easiest and cleanest way to keep project red flags from slipping through the cracks. It’s actually the perfect system for keeping track of plot holes for a novel. For example, if a side character’s story contradicts something I wrote two months ago, I’ll almost certainly forget about it if I don’t note it down somewhere. Having a dedicated space for these issues forces me to address them.

I’ve also been using the Issue Tracker to keep track of design features that I have the most trouble getting around. The solution is usually in getting more practice with the tool, but sometimes I’m simply using it wrong, so this template helps me track my mistakes.

The table consists of just a handful of columns, including issue, category, status, priority, and end date. I removed the owner column since I’m the only one using this page. Clicking on each individual row opens the detail view — here, I’ll add details for the action that needs to be taken to rectify the issue. The end date section is effective at motivating me to complete the task, and the small completion toggle at the bottom is a great motivator.

Meeting Notes

For jotting down important snippets

Whenever I’m in a meeting, I actually take notes manually — with a physical notepad and pen, that is. I just find this to be more effective than hopping between tabs or screens while talking to people. However, that notepad doesn’t get much love from me once my meetings are done. So, I started adding those notes to a dedicated, digital workspace to get more use out of them.

At the top, the template gives you the topic, attendees, and agenda. I don’t add the attendees as collaborators and simply type out their names, but this is a great way to create a collaborative workspace if you choose to do so. It also comes with a super handy tasks table that lets me break down the upcoming week’s assignments that were discussed in the meeting.

Bad Idea Brainstorm

Even bad ideas can be transformed into something good

I once heard, “You don’t need to make it perfect, you just need to make it exist.” The Bad Idea template feels like it was made for that mindset. It gives me a low-stakes space to dump half-baked ideas without worrying if they’re good. And any idea can eventually be turned into something good if you have the right productivity tools.

Bad Ideas has two segments: a table for the ideas, then another for action items. The former is where all my bad ideas live. I’ll use the detail view to expand on the concept, which is usually related to visual design or fictional writing. It also comes with a comments column and a little votes counter; this is meant for team collaboration, but I just use it on my own. Once my idea is on the board, I’ll revisit it in a couple of days with a fresh perspective, then vote on it myself.

The stuff that gets a thumbs up gets moved to the action item table. From here, I can continue iterating and set a due date. I love how such a simple template pretty much doubles as an entire productivity tool.

Media List

Tracking my content performance

The Media List template is meant for tracking your company’s articles and news highlights, but I use it to keep track of my social media posts. In the media highlights table, I enter the social media platform in the company column, the name of my post in the article column, plus the link, date, and extra notes. I added a column for views, which really ties this whole tracker together. For the media type column in the second table, I add the social platform again, followed by the number of posts — this gives me a quick overview of where my content lacks.

Scrum Board

Enhancing my productivity

I’ve been on a bit of a productivity kick lately, so I was excited about seeing a scrum board in Loop. The template is very simple with a scrum name, duration, goals, team members, and then the actual scrum board. The scrum board table is also dead simple, divided into only five categories: backlog, to-do, in progress, to be verified, and done.

While scrum was developed with teams in mind, it’s perfectly suitable for solo creators, too (which is why I removed the team section from the page). This table is a great way for me to write novels, allowing me to tackle it one chapter at a time. Another cool thing about Loop is that it integrates Mermaid, so I can create quick diagrams using the Mermaid syntax, which is the perfect companion for Scrum workflows.

Streamlining my projects with Loop templates

Loop templates give my projects structure without making things heavier than they need to be. I can easily track issues in my novel drafts, track the performance of my social media posts, turn my bad ideas into good ones, and do mini sprints for writing or design. And I didn’t even need to spend time setting up these components myself; these templates did all the heavy lifting for me.