Roadmap example

This example builds a roadmap: a collection where each page is a project. Every project gets a Status, the Quarter it’s planned for, a Responsible person and an Effort. At the end you have three views of the same projects: a table, a board by status and a board by quarter. It takes about fifteen minutes on a computer, and every step works the same for any collection you build later.

1. Create the collection

1. Hover the Collections heading in the sidebar and click the + next to it.
2. The new collection opens with its title ready for typing. Type Roadmap and press Enter.

Escape at this point removes the new collection again.

2. Name its pages

1. Click the gear next to Collection at the top of the panel, or choose Collection Settings… in the collection’s menu in the sidebar. The settings open next to the collection.
2. On the General tab, pick an icon with the button in front of the name.
3. Under What do you call a page in this collection?, type Project.

From now on the buttons say New Project, and new pages start as “Untitled Project”.

3. Add the properties

On the Properties tab, click Add Property once for each property below. Type its name first, then pick its type from the list, for example Create "Status" as Choice.

Name	Type	Settings
Status	Choice	The choices Planned, Doing, Completed and Maybe
Quarter	Date & Time	None
Responsible	User	None
Effort	Choice	The choices High, Medium and Low

For a Choice, type each option in Add a choice… and press Enter. The order of the choices is the order of the board’s columns later; drag the grip in front of a choice to move it. Thymer gives each choice a color, and the square in front of it changes the color. Click Done when a property is complete.

4. Set up the views

A new collection has one view, List. Turn it into the table, then add the two boards. Views are on the Views tab: click one to edit it.

The table

1. Click List. Change the View name to All projects and set View as to Table.
2. Under Properties, turn on Status, Quarter, Responsible and Effort with the switch in each row. A view you make after adding properties shows only the title until you do.
3. Set Sort by to Quarter, and pick Ascending in the direction menu beside it, so the earliest quarter comes first.

The board by status

1. Click Add View and pick Board. Name it By status.
2. Check that Board columns is set to Status.
3. Under Properties, turn on Quarter and Responsible, so each card shows them.

The board by quarter

1. Click Add View and pick Board again. Name it By quarter.
2. Set Board columns to Quarter. A setting called One column per appears below it: choose Quarter.
3. Under Properties, turn on Status and Responsible.

Click Save. To change the order of the view buttons, drag the views in the list on the Views tab before saving.

5. Add the projects

1. Open By status and click New Project at the bottom of the Planned column. A card appears with its Status already set to Planned. Type the name of the project.
2. Add a few more, in whichever column fits.
3. Fill in the other values in All projects. Click a cell and click it again, or press Enter, to change it:
   • Quarter: type Q3 2026 and press Enter. The table shows it as Q3 2026.
   • Responsible: pick a person from the list.
   • Effort: pick High, Medium or Low.

You can also set them on a project’s own page, where the properties sit at the top. On a new page they start hidden: click Add property… to fill one in.

6. Use it

• On By status, drag a card to another column to change its status.
• By quarter has a column for each quarter that has projects, in date order, and a None column for projects without a quarter. Drag a card to another quarter to plan it there: its Quarter becomes that whole quarter.
• Open a card to write the project’s brief, notes and tasks. Every card is a full page. ⌘-clickCtrl-click it to open it next to the board.
• In the table, click a column header and choose Sort ascending or Sort descending. Such a sort is temporary: choose Update view defaults in the view’s menu to make it the view’s order for everyone.

7. Run it every week

Write each project’s brief in its page: what done looks like, the relevant links, decisions as they are made, and the next steps as tasks, mentioning the person who does each. The Status tracks the project as a whole, and the tasks its steps.

Once a week, open By status together. Move cards, look at what is stuck and on whom, and update Responsible and Quarter. Open a card aside when a question needs the brief. Afterwards, everyone drags their next tasks onto their Journal, which shows when they plan to do them.

Good to know

• A quarter gets a column once a project is planned in it. Empty quarters don’t show.
• A board shows its None column only while some project has no value for its property.
• Board columns follow the order of the choices. To reorder them, drag the choices in the property’s settings. Click a column’s header on the board to rename that choice, or the + after the last column to add one.
• Cards in a column are sorted by when they were last changed. To drag cards into your own order, set the board’s Sort by to Custom Order.
• There are quicker ways to the same result: the + at the end of a table’s header adds a property, and the + next to the view buttons adds a view.

Where to go from here

• Give a view a filter, such as @Roadmap.Status!="Completed" to hide finished projects, or @Roadmap.Responsible=@me to show each person their own. See Views.
• Add a Calendar view on Quarter, or a Page Link property to connect projects to customers or issues. See Properties.
• Keep issues in their own collection, with a Page Link from each issue to its project, and show both on one board with a dynamic collection.
• Link meeting notes and design documents to the project they concern; its backlinks then collect the discussion.