Rocket Project User Manual

Why

One page for the whole project: see how the work is shaped, read how it is going, and change the shape by dragging things where they belong.

What You See

This part of the manual is being rewritten and is deliberately short for now. The page itself is the better guide: open Project in the menu on the left and try it.

Why

Quickly assess progress across your entire project. Instead of navigating each Milestone, see all statuses in one visual overview.

What You See

Cards grouped by Goal, each containing Milestone progress bars. Every Milestone card shows statistics (e.g. "12 work packages: 4 open, 5 in progress, 3 done") and a color-coded bar where each segment represents a Work Package.

How to Use

• Hover over a bar segment to see the Work Package title and its status.
• Click a segment to go directly to that Work Package.
• Use this page in stand-ups or reviews to discuss overall progress.

Why

Focus on what the team is delivering right now: a calm kanban board of the Work Packages in the current Sprint.

What You See

A Sprint is current while today falls between its start date and its last day — there is nothing to activate. The board shows four columns: ToDo, Doing, Done/Review and Completed. When several Sprints are current at the same time (for example one for internal and one for outsourced work), the board shows one section per Sprint, each under its own label with its period and goal.

How to Use

• Use this page as your daily sprint board.
• Change a Work Package's status from its pulldown to move it to another column.
• Click a Work Package's title to see its details and Tasks.
• The scope chips (My Work Packages … All) and Reset filter act on every section.
• If no Sprint covers today, plan one on Backlog Planning.

Why

Your personal to-do list. See all Tasks assigned to you in one place, without navigating into each Work Package individually.

What You See

Two sections: Your Work Packages (Work Packages where you are the responsible person, with all their Tasks) and Your Tasks on Other Work Packages (Tasks assigned to you on Work Packages owned by someone else). Tasks from other team members on your Work Packages are highlighted in orange so you can track dependencies.

How to Use

• Click the checkbox to toggle a Task between "open" and "done".
• Click the pencil icon to edit a Task description or reassign it inline.
• This page uses live updates — changes appear immediately without a page reload.

Why

You may participate in multiple projects. This page lets you switch between them and see your role in each.

What You See

A table of all projects you have access to. Your currently active project is marked with a star badge. Each row shows the project title, status, your role (Owner, Admin, Member, or Viewer), and available actions.

How to Use

• Click "Activate" to switch your working context to a different project.
• Click "+ New Project" to create a new project from scratch.
• All other pages (Goals, Milestones, etc.) will show data from your active project.

Why

Goals are the big objectives of your project. They represent significant achievements or milestones — the "big picture" items that everything else works toward.

What You See

A table listing all Goals in the current project with their title, status, and actions. The status of a Goal is calculated automatically from the statuses of its child Milestones.

How to Use

• Click "+ New Goal" to create one.
• Click a row to see the Goal's detail page with its Milestones.
• From the detail page, use "+ New Milestone" to create a Milestone under this Goal.

Example: For a website project, your Goals might be "Launch marketing site", "Build user dashboard", and "Set up analytics".

Why

Milestones group related Work Packages together. They represent medium-sized features or deliverables that contribute to a Goal.

What You See

A grouped table: Milestones are organized under their parent Goal. Milestones without a parent appear in a "Solo" section at the bottom. Like Goals, Milestone status is calculated automatically from its Work Packages.

How to Use

• Click "+ New Milestone" or use the + button in the center navigation.
• Click a Milestone row to see its Work Packages.
• From a Goal's detail page, create a Milestone directly linked to that Goal.

Example: Under the Goal "Launch marketing site", Milestones could be "Homepage design", "Blog section", and "Contact form".

Why

Work Packages are where things get done. They describe a specific piece of work that delivers value, written from the user's perspective. Work Packages are small enough to complete within a single Sprint.

What You See

A grouped table: Work Packages organized under their parent Milestone. Work Packages without a Milestone appear in a "Solo" section. Each Work Package has a manual status that you control: open, ready, planned, in progress, waiting, done, or closed.

How to Use

• Click "+ New Work Package" or use the + button in the center navigation.
• Write Work Packages in the format: "As a [role], I want to [action], in order to [reason]".
• Add a Definition of Done to describe when the Work Package is complete.
• Add Tasks to break the Work Package into individual to-do items.
• Assign a responsible person and link the Work Package to a Sprint for planning.

Example: "As a visitor, I want to see a contact form, in order to reach the support team without needing an email client."

Why

Manage your Sprints and plan which Work Packages to work on in each one. This page combines Sprint management (create, edit, close, delete) with Sprint planning (assign Work Packages via drag and drop).

What You See

Three areas: Sprint cards (collapsible, showing assigned Work Packages) at the top, the Backlog (all unplanned Work Packages) in the middle, and the Sprint Generator at the bottom for bulk-creating Sprints. The active Sprint's name is shown in red.

How to Use

• Create a Sprint: Click "+ New Sprint" or use the Sprint Generator to create multiple Sprints at once.
• Assign a Work Package: Drag it from the Backlog and drop it on a Sprint.
• Unassign a Work Package: Drag it back to the Backlog, or click "Move to Backlog".
• Move between Sprints: Drag a Work Package from one Sprint to another.
• Use the view toggles (Expand All, Current + Future, Collapse All) to control which Sprint cards are open.
• Edit, close, or delete Sprints from the Sprint card header.

Why

One page to plan the work. The backlog — the Work-items not yet in a Sprint — sits under the Sprint Calendar, so you can plan the one into the other.

What You See

• Sprint Calendar: the Sprints by date, month by month, with a Today line. A Sprint that has ended is grayed out; the one running today is highlighted. Click the header to set the window: Current + 6 (the default), −2 · current · +12, or All. The count next to the title shows how many Sprints are in view, “(n of N)”.
• Backlog: grouped by Goal › Milestone, in project order (set on the Project page). The counter “(n of N)” tells how many of all backlog Work-items the filters leave in view; “(N)” when they hide nothing. Two filters: Scope widens from the Work-items you are responsible for, to those in your Milestones, your Goals, then all; Status widens from Pending (Open, Ready) to Active (+ Waiting, Progress) to All.
• Sprint Generator: at the bottom of the page, for Owners and Admins. It fills the Calendar with back-to-back Sprints in one go.
• Search (top right) marks matching Backlog rows and Sprint boxes by title, or by number: #3 finds all numbers starting with 3, #3 (with a space) only number 3.
• Help (the “?” in the header) explains the page in place and links back to this section.

How to Use

• Plan a Work-item: drag it by its handle onto a Sprint box; it lands last in that Sprint.
• Which ones you may plan: a Member plans their own Work-items and those in their Milestones and Goals; Owners and Admins plan all of them. Rows you may not plan have no handle and read lighter. Viewers view the plan but cannot change it.
• Move to another Sprint, or back to the backlog: open the Planning Board. Click a Sprint box to open that Sprint there.
• The order of Work-items inside a Sprint cannot be changed on this page.
• Reset filters returns to the defaults (Calendar Current + 6; Backlog Scope All, Status Active) and clears the search.

Why

Starting a new project from scratch can be overwhelming. Brainstorm lets you dump every idea first and shape them into a project structure later — without switching between forms or pages. When the shape looks right, one click ships the lot into the project as real Goals, Milestones, and Work-items.

What You See

A single workspace, grouped into three visual sections:

• Big stuff — Goal trees: a Goal (Initiative) with its child Milestones and Work-items underneath.
• Medium stuff — Floating Milestone trees: a Milestone (Epic) with Work-item children, not yet attached to a Goal.
• Loose stuff — Solo items: anything with no parent and no children.

At the very bottom of the workspace is an always-empty phantom row. Typing a title there creates a new item and the phantom slides down so you can keep typing. The top-right of the page carries two buttons: Reset and Generate.

How to Use

• Brain dump: Type your ideas in the bottom row, one per line. Press Enter or Tab to move to the next row. Titles cap at 255 characters. Each row auto-saves on blur — no "Save" button needed.
• Set the level: Use a row's dropdown to mark it as a Goal (Initiative), Milestone (Epic), or Work-item (Story). Tasks aren't brainstormed — they come later, under their Work-item on the Project page.
• Group by drag & drop: Drag a row onto a target row to make it a child. The rule is "A fits under B" — A drops to one level below B. If the move would orphan children or break a chain (e.g. Milestone-inside-Milestone), a modal explains the options: orphan, shift down, sever, or promote.
• Edit & delete: Click any title to edit it (auto-saves on blur). Use the trash icon to delete a row, or clear its title — both behave the same way. If the row has children, a confirmation modal warns they'll become Solo.
• Reset: Wipe the entire workspace after a confirmation modal. Useful when you want to start over. Disabled when the workspace is empty.
• Generate: Send every row into the project as a real Goal / Milestone / Work-item, then clear the workspace and show a summary with a link to the Project page. Any rows that fail to land (rare — usually a validation error) stay in the workspace with a banner so you can fix them and Generate again.

Tip: Unlike the older Brainstorm, every row is saved to the database the moment it leaves the editor — close the tab, come back tomorrow, and your workspace is still there. The only ways to clear it are Reset or Generate.

Why

Opens this User Manual in a new tab, so you can read the documentation without losing your work in progress. Any form data you were entering stays safely in the original tab.

Why

Collaborate with others. The Team page manages who has access to your project and what role they play.

What You See

Two sections: Active Members (users with access) and Pending Invitations (people invited but not yet joined). Each member shows their callsign, role, and contact details.

How to Use

• Click "+ Invite Member" to invite someone by email.
• Invitations expire after 7 days. Use "Resend" to send a new one.
• Assign roles: Owner (full control), Admin (Sprint & team management), Member (read/write), Viewer (read-only).

Why

Get a head start on a new project. Project Templates provide pre-built project structures for common scenarios, so you don't have to start from scratch.

How to Use

• Browse available templates to find one that matches your project type.
• Use a template as inspiration or import it to create a ready-made structure.

Why

Manage your personal account and preferences.

What You See

Sections for: Terminology (choose between standard and agile naming), Update Password, Default Callsign, Change Email, Subscription (your current plan and status), and Payment, Billing & Cancellation (collapsed by default).

How to Use

• Enter your current password to confirm password or email changes.
• Check your inbox for a confirmation link after changing your email.
• Set your preferred terminology — "standard" uses Project, Goal, Milestone, Work-item; "agile" uses Project, Initiative, Epic, Story.

Why

See available subscription plans and what each plan includes. Compare features to choose the plan that fits your needs.

Why

Help us improve Rocket Project. Send us your ideas, bug reports, or suggestions directly from the application.

How to Use

• Type your feedback and submit. We read everything and may reply by email.

Why

Know someone who could benefit from Rocket Project? Send them an invitation to try it out.