If your role means you're likely to be creating and editing project plans in Sharktower then this guide is for you! We'll take you through the best way to get started in a few quick steps.


Set up

1. Populate your Profile – add a picture, your skills, location and working patterns.


2. Navigate to the Projects page and either select a project or create a new one - then give it a description and a RAG status summary.


Reporting note - RAG status can be seen on the tile on the Projects page


Plan and report

3. Start with the Plan – this is the central point of your project. 

Click Edit to get started.

4. Using the toolbar on the left, map out the main phases of your project using clusters. Then you can start creating activities to depict the main pieces of work to be done.


5. Set up your workstreams: click on an activity line then in the 

top left of the panel, change and create new workstreams (these are the teams of people responsible for delivering that piece of work).

6. Expand your plan, considering things like what the outcomes of key activities are, which teams are dependent on each other, and where can things be parallelised.

7. When you've finished adding activities, you can publish your plan to make it visible to others.

8. Invite your team whenever you’re ready – our users get the most value from Sharktower when they collaborate.


Best practice note - we recommend that activities are between 1 and 4 weeks in length (anything shorter: make it a task, anything longer: should be broken down if possible).
And try to ensure all activities either end in an outcome, or in another activity.

Reporting note - outcomes can be 
seen on the Overview page and are a great way for stakeholders to understand the key milestones in your project


Add detail

9. You can then start adding the lower level scope - use the quick add (+) button in the Plan or Kanban to add tasks, stories, decisions, risks or issues.

10. Set up your project cadence: add your regular meetings (stand-ups, delivery reviews, etc) as Sharktower Meetings so that you’re ready to start capturing and sharing actions.