Start from the + on Project Canvas
Select the company in Company Workspace, then click the + on Project Canvas. The New project menu says Choose a starting point and offers Teams Canvas, Business Architect, Creative Canvas and Project Architect. Choose the application that matches what you already have: people, processes, ideas or a project brief.
For a first project with a known team, choose Teams Canvas. You will open or create the team there, review its settings, then create the project from the team object. The project gets its own name, schedule, participants and delivery records.
Choose Teams Canvas to open or build a team. Save the composition, then use the + on its central team object to name the project and set its schedule.
Complete the required identity first
- 1Open a workspace
Select your company in Company Workspace to organize projects and teams. Use My Workspace for your own assignments as a participant.
- 2Develop your Professional Profile
You can use Collty while your personal profile is incomplete. Save it at any time and return later; complete at least 70 percent to prepare it for team work.
- 3Complete the organization profile when needed
Select the company and open Company profile for its identity, contacts and full legal and payment details. Personal experience, skills, education and cases remain in your Professional Profile.
Choose the starting point that matches your work
| Menu option | When to choose it | What you do next |
|---|---|---|
| Teams Canvas | You want to start with the people | Open a saved team or choose New team, review the composition and use the + on its central object |
| Business Architect | You want to organize recurring business processes | Design domains, processes and responsibilities; review and activate the model through its own workflow |
| Creative Canvas | You need to explore ideas or collect evidence first | Build a board of notes, decisions and connected objects, then prepare a handoff when the work is defined |
| Project Architect | You know the scope or expected outcome | Prepare the brief, review the delivery plan and teams, then activate the draft when ready |
Keep the company and your responsibility in view
Company Workspace is the starting context for both companies and agencies. Select the intended company before opening its teams or projects. Your access follows ownership and delegated responsibilities, not a separate agency workspace.
My Workspace is for your own participation and assignments. Seeing a project there does not give you permission to change its whole team, schedule or financial settings.
Open or build the team in Team Canvas
Select a specialist object to inspect their role and profile. Move objects on the canvas to arrange the team and see its relationships.
- 1Open a saved team or choose New team
Use Teams to show the library. Click a saved team to open it, or choose New team to create a composition you own.
- 2Add the people
Add specialist objects and select the people and roles needed for the work. When available, AI assembly can help find a team or complete the current composition; review the proposed people before saving.
- 3Combine teams only when needed
Clicking a library team opens it. Dragging another team onto the field adds it to a larger composition; save that composition with its own name.
- 4Review settings and save
Check availability, member compensation and settlement, and Team settings → Project defaults. Save the team. Source-team editing requires ownership or delegated management access.
Separate project relationship from delivery and commercial rules
| Example | Relationship | Possible operating model |
|---|---|---|
| Internal product discovery | Internal team or internal project | Monthly sprints, Optional hours, Cost tracking On, Billing None, Invoices Off |
| Internal creative initiative | Internal team or internal project | Continuous flow, Time tracking Off, Cost tracking Off, Billing None |
| External hourly engagement | External team or client project | Weekly sprints, Required hours, Cost tracking On, Hourly billing, Automatic or Manual invoices |
| Fixed-scope website | External team or client project | Two-week sprints, Optional hours, Fixed billing, Manual invoices |
| Outcome-based transformation | External team or client project | Monthly or flow planning, Optional hours, Milestone billing, Manual invoices |
Set delivery rules in Team settings → Project defaults
Open the Team settings object, then Project defaults. Choose a preset or adjust the controls below, and save the team before creating the project. Project types are descriptive tags; they do not configure these rules.
Pricing & margins and Portfolio are agency tools. They appear when the selected company is an Agency and you have the relevant access. An ordinary Company does not need those agency settings.
| Decision | Options | What it controls |
|---|---|---|
| Sprint cadence | 1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month, or continuous flow where available | How work is grouped and reviewed; it is not the total project duration |
| Time tracking | Required, Optional, Off | Whether task hours are mandatory, available or removed |
| Cost tracking | On, Off | Whether authorized rates and hours contribute to capacity and cost analytics |
| Billing | None, Hourly, Fixed, Milestones | How commercial value is represented |
| Invoices | Off, Manual, Automatic | Whether invoice records exist and how they enter the workflow |
Know who confirms the project team
| Situation | Decision owner | What happens before confirmation |
|---|---|---|
| Direct or internal project invites an independent specialist | The specialist | The person remains Pending and cannot receive project tasks |
| Client selects a specialist from a partner-managed team | The source-team partner | The partner confirms that the managed team can make the commitment |
| Partner adds a specialist to an existing client project | The client | The client reviews the expansion of the active project composition |
| The same authenticated person is owner and specialist | Self-managed validation | Collty avoids creating an artificial second approval for the same person |
Create the project from the team object
- 1Click the + in the central team object
This opens the New project panel next to the team. It uses the composition and delivery defaults you have prepared.
- 2Enter Project name and Planned start
Choose a name that describes the work and set the real starting date. A saved team’s name is not the project name.
- 3Review the finish
For fixed scope, review Calculated finish from specialist hours and capacity, and add a Target finish if needed. Without enough hours to calculate it, provide a finish date. For a retainer, choose Fixed horizon with Planned finish or Ongoing.
- 4Choose the project relationship
Use Internal project for your own work. For agency client delivery, enter the client email and use Create client project. Available actions depend on the selected team and your access.
- 5Complete any highlighted member settings
If compensation or settlement is missing, open the indicated member’s settings and finish them before retrying. The project panel identifies the member and the required correction.
Prepare the team’s onboarding
In Team Canvas, open Team onboarding to prepare the working rules, resources, responsibilities and handoffs. Choose the project and use Onboarding setup to review the material before saving personal paths.
Participants open their assigned onboarding from the project card or Project management, read the chapters and use I understand or Ask. Personal onboarding and project participation confirmation are separate.
Keep decisions and instructions in Signals
Use Signals for project decisions, updates, guides and playbooks that people should be able to find later. Publish to One project or Selected teams, or keep an entry private with Only me.
Signals preserves working knowledge; tasks and assignments remain in Project Workspace.
Review before the project becomes active
- The project title and intended outcome are clear enough for the team.
- The selected team is the intended source team and the active roster contains only the required specialists.
- Pending participation decisions have a visible owner.
- Sprint cadence describes the review rhythm, not an assumed end date.
- Hours, costs, billing and invoices match the real way the project will operate.
- Complex phases, dependencies or several project teams have been reviewed in Project Architect when needed.
Understand the first project states
| State | What it means | What you can do |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | The project intent or setup exists but active delivery has not started | Continue setup, change the team and operating rules, or remove the unused draft |
| Waiting for team | One or more participation decisions are still pending | Review the status owner, replace a declined specialist or wait for confirmation |
| Ready to start | Required setup and team decisions are complete | Perform the final review and activate the project |
| Active | The confirmed team can work inside the saved operating model | Create and assign tasks, use project tools and maintain delivery evidence |
| Completed | Delivery has ended and the result becomes historical evidence | Review outcomes, analytics and the resulting professional/team signals |
What becomes available after launch
| Surface | First useful action |
|---|---|
| Project management | Review onboarding, team confirmation, delivery dates and the financial records available to your role |
| Project Workspace | Create delivery tasks, assign confirmed specialists and connect dependencies in Work Graph |
| Project Architect | Refine phases, tasks, dates, roles, workload and team composition |
| Creative Canvas | Map ideas, decisions and task candidates while keeping project links |
| Project Analytics | Read delivery, workload and costs; share project check-ins in Project management |
| Agent Center | Connect an agent, configure its action map and choose its schedule or manual start |
Starting from My Workspace
In My Workspace, + opens Start a personal project with Creative Canvas. It does not offer company process design or the company’s delivery-plan creation routes. You can keep the board private or invite people to view, comment or edit it.
- A free personal project allows up to 5 invited people; eligible paid personal access allows up to 20.
- Open the board’s Access panel, enter the person’s email and select the intended permission before inviting.
- The owner can change an existing person’s role at the limit or remove access to free a place. Editing access does not grant ownership or invitation management.