How a project runs in WorkPM: Discover, Plan, Run, Watch, Close
WorkPM

How a project runs

Discover, Plan, Run, Watch, Close

Five stages, and the product carries the weight in each one. Here is what actually happens, in order, from the interview before the kickoff call to the client's verdict at the end.

1Discover2Plan3Run4Watch5Close
1

Discover

Before the kickoff call, Workup Agent interviews the client from an emailed link, by voice or text, and the answers land in the project as requirements, in the client's own words.

What you get

A requirements sheet, not a blank questionnaire

  • It asks one question at a time, and one follow-up when an answer is thin
  • It accepts "I need to check with someone" and leaves the question open
  • It reads back what it collected so the client can correct it before it is sent
  • You get the sheet, the transcript and a CSV, in the project, before the call
How discovery works
Workup Agent · discovery for a Filevine implementation
Which systems hold matter data today, and which one is the source of truth?
Needles for matters and a SharePoint library for documents. Needles is the source, but half the intake notes are in Outlook.
Understood. Roughly how many open matters would move?
About 1,400 open, maybe 9,000 closed we would want searchable.
Requirement 1 recorded: source systems and volumes, in the client's words.
Nothing is paraphrased into something more specific than what was said.
2

Plan

Phases, groups and tasks from your own playbook, with owners, dates and dependencies, on a board the client can be invited to see.

What you get

The same board shape on every project

One layout, applied to every project, so the board is a habit rather than a decision.

  • List, kanban and timeline are the same tasks, and the layout is the one your team agreed on
  • Boards imported from Monday keep their structure, so nobody rebuilds a plan
  • Hour categories are defined here, so billing and capacity read from the work itself
Haicken Law · Filevine implementation [email protected]
TaskOwnerStatusDueFrom
Phase 2 · Data migration6 tasks
Map Needles intake notes to Filevine RKR. Kaur On track Oct 02 email
Confirm 9,000 closed matters are searchable DMD. Mensah At risk Sep 26 meeting
SharePoint library structure sign-off client JHJ. Haicken Waiting Sep 24 email
Phase 3 · Configuration11 tasks
Build intake form for the Trenton office RKR. Kaur On track Oct 09 plan
Add lien tracking fields new, from email 14 min ago ?unassigned Filed by WorkPM — email
37 tasks · 214.5 h logged · 4 dependencies · guest: Haicken Law
3

Run

Email files itself, meetings summarise themselves, hours are logged against tasks, and the board stays current without a standing reminder.

What you get

A board nobody has to update

The board stays current because the work updates it, not because somebody remembered to.

  • A client thread becomes a task, with the summary and the field changes written for you
  • Replies attach to the same task, so the history lives where the work is
  • Automated noise is recognised and closed, not turned into a triage queue
Client email
JHJonathan Haickento [email protected]

Re: intake build, one more thing

Also, we do need lien tracking on PI matters before go-live. Sarah has the field list from the old system. And can we push the closed-matter search review to the 26th?

WorkPMreads, does not guess
New task

Add lien tracking fields for PI matters

Filed by WorkPMphase 3 · unassigned

Summary: lien tracking required on PI matters before go-live; field list held by Sarah.

cites: email 11:42, paragraph 1

Field update proposed

Closed-matter search review

Sep 19→Sep 26

cites: same email, paragraph 2

4

Watch

Nine checks run on every project every morning. What reaches you is the short list, with the email, task or transcript behind each line one click away.

Portfolio12 clients · 40 projects · 07:00 sweep
Haicken LawFilevine implementationWatch
Derber & CoSalesforce rolloutOn track
Northline FoodsSpecright consolidationAt risk
Vance PartnersLitify migrationOn track
Bay Ridge LegalDocuSign CLMOn track
Orrin GroupIntake redesignWatch
Your morning brief
  1. Northline Foods has had no client reply for eleven days and two dates moved. Call today.
  2. Haicken Law needs an owner on the lien tracking task filed overnight.
  3. Orrin Group agreed a scope change on Tuesday's call that is not on the board yet.

every line links to the email, task or transcript it came from

5

Close

Mark the project ready and the client survey goes out. What happens next depends on the client's answer, and never the reverse.

At close, to the client

How likely are you to recommend us?

02468910

Four ratings and one comment. Two minutes.

9 or 10

A review ask and a referral ask, with a real credit behind it.

Anything less

No ask. A flag and an internal note, and a person calls.

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See it on one of your own projects

Thirty minutes. Bring a live project and its email thread, and watch WorkPM file it.

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