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Getting Started with Cubicle 2.0

Workspace Overview #

Navigation Links #

Much of the management can be done from the dashboard itself, but you can also jump into a sub-area if you need a deeper dive and a larger space to work in. At the top of your dashboard, you will find navigation links to each of the sub-areas of your cubicle. These are grouped by category to assist with navigation:

Utilities #
  • Schedule
  • Bookmarks
  • Tags
Work #
  • Sprints
  • Projects
  • Tasks
  • Recurring Objects
Reporting #
  • OKRs
  • Reports
  • Status Reports
Information #
  • Document Library
  • Build Tracker
  • Sticky Notes
  • People
Vault #
  • Archive
  • Backups
  • File Manager
  • Deleted Items
Dashboard #

The dashboard includes views of each of your key areas:

Sticky Note Wall #

The Sticky Note Wall surfaces your active sticky notes by tag. Archive sticky notes that are no longer needed. Toggle views to see Active or Archived sticky notes.

Recurring Objects #

Recurring Objects allow you to keep track of repeating tasks, tags, stress levels, and highlights for a recurrence period.

Schedule #

Today’s schedule is available at a glance from your dashboard in both a visual timeline view and a list view. Click “Today” within the timeline view to zoom to the current time. The orange dot in your meeting list represents appointments currently in progress. Toggle quickly to the calendar view to see your month of meetings and events contextually.

Document Library #

Documents that are ready for review will surface on the dashboard. Switch to the “Sticky” view to see important documents that you’ve pinned.

Scratch Space #

The Scratch Space is a temporary space to quickly capture information that can be deleted later.

  • Quick Meetings
  • Quick Notes
  • Quick Reminders
  • Quick Tasks
  • Quick Links
Projects #

Projects represent work that involves multiple steps or stages to complete. Projects may relate to the Document Library, Status Reports, Meetings, People, and Tasks. Projects are broken out on your dashboard by size (large or small). Large projects may take stages to complete. Small projects may be simpler and not require stages.

The percentage completed progress bar is calculated based on the current date matched against the project start and end dates.

Sprints #

Sprints represent organized collections of planned work (tasks) to be completed during a specific timeframe (for example, every two weeks). Link tasks to sprints to plan for the weeks ahead. Each sprint may have a unique name and cover image for quick identification. Sprint cards display the sprint date range, a progress bar showing task completion, and the number of completed tasks against the total number of tasks.

Tasks #

Tasks are things to do and may relate to Projects and Sprints. Tasks can also be generated as action items from meetings. Tasks are added to the backlog by default. Associate tasks with a Sprint to plan your workload for the weeks ahead.

Completed tasks drop from the task list on the dashboard.

Getting Started #

Adding people #
  1. Click on the “People” page link in the navigation section of the dashboard
  2. Click the blue “New” button to create a new person
  3. Enter contact, social media, and company information for the person
    Once people have been added to the database, they may be associated with meetings, projects, documents, and tasks.
Creating new tags #

Tags are managed from a single master tag database. Several common and useful tags have already been created for you. To add new tags to the master tag database:

  1. Click on the “Tags” page link in the navigation section of the dashboard
  2. Click the blue “New” button to create a new tag
  3. Enter the tag name and optionally add a visual icon
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Once the tag has been added to the database, it may be associated with documents and tasks. A visual display will show a breakdown of the tag usage across documents and tasks. Most used tags will float to the top of the tag wall. You can view any documents or tasks that are associated with a tag by clicking to open the tag. An aggregated list of associated documents and tasks will display in the body of the tag page.

Customize recurring objects checklist #

Recurring Objects allow you to keep track of repeating tasks, tags, stress levels, and highlights for a recurrence period:

  • Weekly
  • Bi-Weekly
  • Monthly

By default, there are checklist items for:

  • Timecard
  • Status Report
  • OOO Responder

You may customize this recurring checklist to match your specific needs. Delete the default checklist properties and create your own, or change the names of the existing properties to your own custom values.

Customize each of the weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly views to show only the checkbox properties that you want to display:

  1. Click the ellipsis (three dots) next to the blue “New” button
  2. Select “Properties”
  3. Click on the eye icon to hide/show the properties that should display for the selected view
  4. Repeat for each of the other views

Now, when toggling between views you will see only the appropriate checkboxes for that view.

Creating recurring objects #
  1. Click the down arrow next to the blue “New” button
  2. Select the template for the recurrence cycle (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly)
  3. Enter the dates for the time period
  4. Close the record

You are able to check off items from the checklist directly from the card front on your dashboard. Clicking on the little pencil icon when hovering over the card will allow you to edit other items from the card face also, like tags, stress score, and highlights.

Creating a new meeting or event on the schedule #
  1. Click the down arrow next to the blue “New” button on the schedule
  2. Select the template for the type of calendar event that you are adding (meeting or event)
  3. Enter the start date/time and end date/time for the meeting, or just the date for an all-day event
  4. In the “Contact Type” field, select the type of meeting (In Person, Phone Call, Video Conference)
  5. Optionally, set additional associations with People, Projects, Tasks, and Documents

The duration of the meeting is calculated from its start and end times. Duration, number of attached documents, and total attendees will display on the dashboard in your meetings list. Tasks and documents associated with the meeting will load in the body of the meeting page. Pro tip – adding tasks or documents directly from the body of the meeting page will automatically associate it with the parent meeting.

Adding documents and notes #

Documents and notes can be added from both the dashboard “Documents + Notes” area or from the “Document Library” subpage.

  1. Click the blue “New” button
  2. Enter the name of the document
  3. In the “Type” field, select what type of document this is
  4. Optionally, set additional associations with Tasks, Projects, Meetings, and People
  5. Optionally, in the “Review Frequency” field, select how often you want this document to surface for review:
    • Never (default)
    • 7 Days
    • 30 Days
    • 3 Months
    • 6 Months
    • 1 Year
Reviewing documents #

Reviewing documents and notes on a routine basis keeps information in your library relevant and fresh. Documents and notes that are no longer needed are stored safely in the archive for historical reference.

When a document is due for review, it will appear on the dashboard in the “Needs Review” section:

  1. Open the document
  2. Re-read the information and create actionable items from the information, if needed
  3. Enter today’s date in the “Last Reviewed” field
  4. If the document becomes redundant or is no longer relevant, click the “Archive” checkbox
  5. Close the document

The document will drop off of the dashboard until it is time to be reviewed again based on the review frequency setting. If you’ve archived the document it will no longer resurface on the dashboard.

Locating archived documents #

Archived documents and notes are not deleted. Click the “Archive” page link in the navigation area of the dashboard to find all documents and notes that have been archived.

Creating a new project #

New projects can be added from either the dashboard “Projects” area or the “Projects” subpage.

  1. Click the blue “New” button
  2. Enter the project name
  3. In the “Project Size” field, select the size of the project (full project or mini project)
  4. In the “Status” field, enter the current status of the project
  5. In the “Phase” field, enter the current phase of the project:
    1. Initiation
    2. Planning
    3. Execution
    4. Monitoring
    5. Close Out
  6. Enter the expected start and end dates for the project (note that the percentage completed progress bar is calculated based on the current date matched against the project start and end dates)
  7. Optionally, set additional associations with People, Meetings, Tasks, and Documents

Views of associated project people, project meetings, tasks, documents, and status reports will display in the body of the project page. Pro tip – adding records like tasks and status reports from within the project page will automatically associate them with the parent project.

Adding sprints #

New sprints can be added from either the dashboard “Sprints” area or the “Sprints” subpage.

  1. Within the first column labeled “Sprint 1”, click the “New” hyperlink
  2. A new sprint card will generate. Click to open the new card
  3. Enter a unique name for the sprint
  4. Enter the start and end dates for the sprint period
  5. Assign the numeric ID for the sprint (in this case “1”, since it is the first sprint)
  6. Optionally, upload an image to represent the sprint
  7. Close the sprint card
  8. Repeat for Sprint 2, Sprint 3, etc

Active tasks associated with the sprint along with a swimlane status view will load in the body of the sprint page. Note – for those familiar with agile terminology, typically “user stories” quantify the work that needs to be done within a sprint. For ease of use and to reduce the number of unnecessary records we create in the Cubicle system, we eliminate the “user stories” middleman and directly assign tasks to sprints instead.

The sprint card will display tasks completed / total tasks, and a progress bar showing overall task completion for the sprint.

Managing Tasks #

Creating a new task #

Tasks are grouped together by the parent project in both the task list and on the status board. Tasks can be added by clicking “New” within the task area of the dashboard, or they can be added directly onto the task status board by clicking “New” within the appropriate swim lane. Tasks that are not added directly to a status lane are added to the backlog by default.

  1. Click the “New” hyperlink or the blue “New” button within the tasks area
  2. Enter the name of the task
  3. Optionally, enter task meta such as description, due date, or priority
  4. Optionally, you may enter an External Reference ID to match this task to a third-party ticket or task management system
  5. Optionally, set associations to Projects, Meetings, People, Tags, and Sprints
  6. Optionally, set a task reminder to notify you on a specific date
Working tasks #

Drag and drop tasks into the appropriate swim lane to manage the status.

Completing tasks #

Tasks are marked as complete by clicking the “Done” checkbox on the task. Completed tasks will drop off the active task list and status board. You may drag and drop tasks on the status board into the “Completed” column, and they will stay visible on the board until the “Done” checkbox is clicked. This was designed intentionally so that you have visibility over completed tasks until you no longer need to see them. A message will display on completed tasks to remind you to mark tasks as “Done”.

Planning sprints #

By default, the task status board displays tasks for the current sprint. To plan for future sprints, create additional views for your future sprints.

  1. Select the view for “Backlog” in the task list beside the task status board
  2. Select the view for the future sprint in the task status board
  3. Drag tasks from the backlog and drop them into the “Pending” swimlane for the future sprint
  4. Continue until all tasks that are planned to be worked in the sprint have been added to the sprint
Objectives & Key Results #

From the dashboard, click the “OKRs” link in the top navigation panel to open the Objectives & Key Results sub-page. Here you will see two sections, one for “Objectives” and one for “Key Results”. Objectives state the overall goal that you want to achieve. Key Results define a measurable action that will help you to achieve the stated objective. Key Results are actionable and importantly, measurable. Put simply, Objectives are the “what” and Key Results are the “how”.

Adding objectives #
  1. Click the blue “New” button next to the “Objectives” database (or choose the “New Objective” template from the list if you have not defined a default template)
  2. Enter the name of the objective, the status, and optionally a goal statement
Adding key results #
  1. Click the blue “New” button next to the “Key Results” database (or choose the “New Key Result” template from the list if you have not defined a default template)
  2. Describe the key result in the name field
  3. In the “Objective” field, search for and select the objective that this key result is related to
  4. Set the status for the key result
  5. Select how often you want to review the metric in the “Review Frequency” field
  6. Set the target value for the metric in the “Target” field
  7. Set the current value for the metric in the Current” field
  8. Enter today’s date in the “Last Reviewed Date” field
Reviewing metrics #

When a key result is due for review, it will appear in the “Needs Review” view of the OKR subpage:

  1. Select the “Needs Review” view of the Key Results database
  2. For each key result, enter updated values in the “Current” metrics field
  3. Enter today’s date in the “Last Reviewed” field

The key result will drop off of the view until it is time to review again.

Customizing build tracking #

Because build tracking will be unique to your specific job and work environment, a very basic build tracker has been set up that will need to be customized to your needs. From the dashboard, click the “Build Tracker” link in the top navigation panel to open the build tracking sub-page.

  1. Click “1 hidden group” to expand the hidden group for “No Projects”
  2. Left-click on the column header for each spec to rename to your own spec names
  3. Click the “+” symbol to add additional properties to represent specs that you wish to track

By default, build items are grouped together by the parent project. Create new views to track build items by status.

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