Q: Getting Started in Leantime: An Introduction to Setting Structure to the Work

<h2 id="introduction">Introduction</h2> <p><img src="https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/1589f37c72fef000/regular-dashboard_lwtwzq.png" alt="Leantime's My Work Dashboard View" /></p> <p>Welcome to Leantime! Getting started in Leantime will be a little different than what you’ve likely experienced in other tools. There’s a few reasons for this:</p> <ol> <li>Leantime focuses on your mission and your goals. You can’t work on the right tasks without knowing where you want to go. That’d be like going to the airport with an unmarked ticket and trying to find your gate.</li> <li>Accomplishing epic things usually means you have a team to work with but not everyone has the experience or training to manage the tools. That’s why we focus on easy to use and intuitive flows.</li> <li>We focus on people; on our experiences as humans and the uniqueness in how our brains work. We use psychology and cognitive science to support the details. Managing your work should be inspiring. You are doing amazing things.</li> </ol> <h2 id="thefirststepssettingstructure">The First Steps – Setting Structure</h2> <p>Setting structure comes from creating a hierarchy of information – going from the high level big picture down to the details of the everyday. </p> <p><img src="https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/1589f37c72fef000/high-level_kh1bnk.png" alt="Project Hierarchies in Leantime" /></p> <p>In this picture here, you can see that the project drop down starts with Strategy of VisionTech Solutions BU 1. It then drops down into two related Plans – Plan Customer Experience Enhancement Program and under that sits two Projects: O</p>

Question 1

Getting Started in Leantime: An Introduction to Setting Structure to the Work

Accepted Answer

Introduction

Leantime's My Work Dashboard View

Welcome to Leantime! Getting started in Leantime will be a little different than what you’ve likely experienced in other tools. There’s a few reasons for this:

Leantime focuses on your mission and your goals. You can’t work on the right tasks without knowing where you want to go. That’d be like going to the airport with an unmarked ticket and trying to find your gate.
Accomplishing epic things usually means you have a team to work with but not everyone has the experience or training to manage the tools. That’s why we focus on easy to use and intuitive flows.
We focus on people; on our experiences as humans and the uniqueness in how our brains work. We use psychology and cognitive science to support the details. Managing your work should be inspiring. You are doing amazing things.

The First Steps – Setting Structure

Setting structure comes from creating a hierarchy of information – going from the high level big picture down to the details of the everyday.

Project Hierarchies in Leantime

In this picture here, you can see that the project drop down starts with Strategy of VisionTech Solutions BU 1. It then drops down into two related Plans – Plan Customer Experience Enhancement Program and under that sits two Projects: O

Question 2

Effective Project Management with Leantime

Accepted Answer

Navigating the complexities of project management can be a daunting task, especially for individuals with neurodiverse cognitive styles. However, Leantime's comprehensive suite of tools and features is specifically designed to empower users, regardless of their unique perspectives and needs. By guiding you through a structured, iterative approach to project planning, execution, and reflection, Leantime enables you to accomplish your goals with clarity, confidence, and a heightened sense of accomplishment.

Whether you're tackling a complex product development initiative or streamlining an internal process, Leantime provides the guidance and flexibility you need to succeed. So, let's dive in and explore how you can harness the power of Leantime to manage your projects effectively, no matter your cognitive preferences or challenges.

| What is a Project in Leantime? | In Leantime, a project represents a focused initiative or endeavor that you and your team are working to accomplish. Leantime's project management framework is designed to support projects of varying scope, from small internal process improvements to large-scale product development efforts. As a general recommendation, Leantime projects should involve: 2-10 team members, 3-12 months in duration, 5-15 clearly defined milestones, 3-10 measurable goals. This level of scope ensures your project is substantial enough to warrant the structured planning and tracking that Leantime provides, while still being manageable f

Question 3

Managing Milestones in Leantime: Your Path to Tangible Project Success

Accepted Answer

Milestones are more than just checkpoints in your project timeline - they represent significant achievements that move you closer to your project's goals. In Leantime, we approach milestones as concrete, output-focused phases of work that help organize your project into manageable chunks while driving toward meaningful results.

Understanding Output-Based Milestones Think of milestones as the major deliverables or accomplishments that mark significant progress in your project. Instead of simply marking time (like "Q1 Complete"), your milestones should represent tangible outputs: a completed research phase, a launched feature, a published document, or a implemented system.

Milestone timeline view For example, in the screenshots above, we can see a project with milestones for "Customer Discovery," "Design," and "Implementation." Each of these represents a distinct phase with clear deliverables, rather than arbitrary time markers.

Creating Effective Milestones When creating a milestone in Leantime (as shown in Image 2), consider these key elements:

Title: Choose a clear, action-oriented name that describes the output or deliverable. "Customer Discovery" is better than "Phase 1" because it immediately communicates what will be accomplished.

*Timeline: *Set realistic start and end dates that allow enough time for quality work while maintaining momentum. Most miles

Question 4

Maximizing Project Value with Leantime’s Lean Canvas Template

Accepted Answer

While a business model canvas can provide you with an in-depth, holistic framework for your business model, Lean canvas aims to tackle this task in a faster fashion. The Lean Canvas is a powerful tool that helps entrepreneurs and business owners map out their business ideas and validate their assumptions in an efficient manner. In this article, you will learn how to use Leantime’s Lean Canvas to define the customer-problem-solution fit and the details of your business plan.

What is a Lean Canvas?

The Lean canvas aims to eliminate the time that is spent when developing a business model canvas. The idea of a Lean startup is centered around limiting time, processes, inventory, and money. As such, the Lean Canvas is a faster way to get ideas from your head and onto ‘paper’. Beyond being an alternative to the Business Model Canvas, Leantime’s template aims to identify real problems customers are facing and find solutions that actually solve their problems, otherwise known as the customer-problem-solution fit.

How to Use the Lean Canvas

Leantime’s Lean Canvas consists of 12 different factors to consider when creating your hypotheses for an actionable business plan. Navigate to Leantime’s Lean Canvas template under the Blueprints feature to begin creating your plan. Read our article on Blueprints here to fully understand how to navigate the tool.

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Question 5

How To Use Leantime’s Strategy Management Software

Accepted Answer

A big part of keeping motivated throughout the course of a project is remembering why you’re doing the work in the first place. We aim to connect the ‘why’ to your work with our strategy management software. We use company-level strategy and goal management to share relevant strategies with your team and create long-term clarity on what you’re working towards.

Using Leantime as your Strategy Management Software

Leantime now offers Strategy Management on both the SaaS/cloud hosted version and now as a plugin for the open source community. For those on the SaaS platform, you can create a new strategy by clicking into the project drop down. Then click “Start Something New”.

Managing Strategies in Leantime

From there, you'll have the option to select one of three scenarios: Set a Direction, Create a Plan, or start a Project.

Setting the Big Picture

Select Create a Strategy.

A set Strategy in Leantime

From there you can give your strategy a title, choose who can view it, and fill out your Executive Summary, Company Purpose, and Strategic Vision. In doing this, we recommend thinking of Strategy through a few questions:

The questions

Question 6

Setting and Managing Goals in Leantime

Accepted Answer

Goals are at the heart of successful project execution. In Leantime, we believe that well-defined, measurable goals combined with clear execution milestones are key to achieving your project's objectives. Let's explore how you can effectively use Leantime's goal management features to track and accomplish your project's aims.

Understanding Goals in Leantime

When you create a goal in Leantime, you're establishing a measurable target that represents a meaningful improvement or achievement for your project. Your goal should be specific enough to track progress, yet broad enough to encompass the various activities and milestones needed to achieve it.

For example, instead of setting a vague goal like "Improve customer satisfaction," you might set a specific goal like "Increase customer satisfaction score from 75 to 90 within 6 months." This specificity allows you to track progress meaningfully and know exactly when you've achieved your target.

Image 1: The goal creation screen

Creating Effective Goals

To create a new goal in Leantime, you'll use the goal creation form (as shown in Image 1). Here's how to make the most of each component:

*Goal Title: *Make your goal clear and action-oriented. Start with verbs like "Increase," "Reduce," "Implement," or "Achieve" to indicate the direction of change you're seeking.

*Metrics: *This is where you define how you'll measure success. C

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