01 / Flowboard documentation
Choose a useful pilot
Pick a project that is active enough to produce real tasks, comments and time entries during the trial. A dormant account will not reveal whether the workflow helps. A crisis project can make any new system feel difficult. A manageable website phase, design sprint or recurring client delivery cycle is usually a clearer test.
Write down the questions you want to answer before starting. Can the team find its next task? Can a project lead see what is blocked? Can an owner understand the relationship between the project fee and delivery effort? These questions give the pilot a purpose beyond moving information into a new interface.
- Name the person responsible for the pilot.
- Choose a client and an agreed piece of work.
- Keep existing records available while verifying the new setup.
02 / Flowboard documentation
Build the project around the agreement
Create a project that represents an actual delivery commitment. Add a short brief covering the intended outcome, agreed deliverables, exclusions and approval contact. Break the work into tasks that someone can complete and another person can review. A task called Website is less useful than Review the homepage content outline.
Assign one accountable person to each task. Use dates where a real dependency or commitment exists, rather than putting the same deadline on everything. Distinguish work waiting on the client from work the team can move forward. That distinction will matter when reviewing progress at the end of the week.
Record the brief
State the outcome, delivery boundary and who accepts the work.
Create the first tasks
Give each task a concrete completion condition and an owner.
Check the sequence
Identify approvals or inputs required before dependent work begins.
03 / Flowboard documentation
Set financial inputs deliberately
Choose the billing approach that matches the agreement. Fixed fees, retainers and time-based work answer different commercial questions. Enter rates and budgets that apply to this project, then check a small example before trusting the financial view. A selling rate is the price charged to a client. A cost rate represents the cost assigned to delivery time; they are not interchangeable.
Decide what your cost rates include. If they already incorporate a share of overhead, do not add that same overhead again in a separate planning calculation. The free tools explain their own assumptions and do not automatically reproduce every accounting treatment. Project margin is useful management information; bookkeeping and tax remain separate responsibilities.
04 / Flowboard documentation
Work normally for a week
Ask contributors to track time close to the work and attach entries to the correct project or task. Mark time billable or non-billable according to the agreement, not according to whether the effort felt productive. Revisions, meetings and quality checks still consume capacity even when included in a fixed fee.
Keep decisions next to the relevant work. When a client changes a requirement, record the request and its effect before quietly adding more tasks. Correct errors in the project record rather than maintaining a private spreadsheet that gradually becomes the real source of truth.
| Day | Focus | Evidence to review |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Set up the project and responsibilities | The brief and first tasks are understandable |
| Tuesday to Thursday | Deliver and record time | Entries describe real work and blockers have owners |
| Friday | Review delivery and economics | The lead can explain progress, effort and the next decision |
06 / Flowboard documentation
Decide what to carry forward
At the end of the pilot, review both the product and your operating habits. Missing time entries are a data-completeness problem. Confusing tasks are a work-definition problem. An essential missing capability is a product-fit problem. Separating these causes makes the next decision more useful.
Expand once the team follows the first workflow consistently. Reuse the useful brief, task structure and review checklist for the next project. Keep specialist systems where needed: Flowboard is not a full bookkeeping system, a native mobile app or a Gantt tool. The trial requires a card; cancel before day 15 to avoid billing.
THE PRACTICAL DETAILS
Questions, answered.
Do I need to import everything first?
No. One current project is enough to test the delivery loop. Keep the original system available and verify what imports before planning a wider move.
Who should join the pilot?
Include the project lead, a small set of contributors and the person responsible for project economics. Add a client reviewer only when shared information is ready.
Should I use estimated or actual hours?
Use estimates to plan and actual time entries to understand what happened. A useful Friday review compares both without treating an estimate as a recorded fact.
Can the client see our cost rates?
Internal cost rates and margins are protected from the client view. Still review the tasks, comments and files deliberately shared, because those are intentional client content.