Overview

Introduction

We work on different things at the same time. Sometimes we're building Unio, our product. Sometimes we're enhancing UA 740's version of Unio, which is separate from our Unio product. Sometimes we're handling client work—social media posts, website updates, that sort of thing. And sometimes we're experimenting with new ideas.

The challenge is simple: how do we track all of this work in one place so nobody has to hunt through Trello, email, or random documents? The answer is Superthread. We've set it up so that all our work—regardless of what initiative it's for—flows through the same system. The best part? Your team only needs to look at one place: your sprint board. Everything you need to do for this sprint (every two weeks) is there.

This guide explains how we made that work.

The Big Picture

Think of our workflow like this:

Work originates in different initiative spaces (Unio, UA 740 - Unio Phase II, Social Media, etc.). That's where we plan and organize things. But execution happens in team spaces (Design, Backend, Frontend, etc.). That's where you actually do the work.

Here's what makes it elegant: we split responsibility for planning based on what makes sense for each initiative. For some work, teams own the breakdown (deciding how to slice up big features into sprint-sized tasks). For other work, a coordinator handles the breakdown. The result is one consistent place to look for your work, even though the behind-the-scenes organization is slightly different depending on the initiative.

Everything ties together through projects (which we use for reporting). So even if you're looking for "all the work we did on UA 740 - Unio Phase II last week," it all gets tagged with the same project, and you can see it in one view.

How We Organize by Initiative Type

Not all work is the same, so we don't plan all work the same way. We have two different approaches depending on who should own breaking down the work.

Team Autonomy: When Teams Own the Breakdown

This is how we work on Unio.

Unio is complex. A single feature might need backend work, frontend work, design work, and more. Because each team understands their own constraints best, we let them decide how to break down their part of the feature.

Here's how it works:

1. We plan a feature on the Unio Features board
2. Once we're ready to start, we create a feature tracker for each team (Backend, Frontend, Design, etc.)
3. These trackers go directly into each team's pipeline—not kept in the Unio space
4. Each team looks at their pipeline, sees their tracker waiting for them, and decides how to break it down into sprint-sized tasks
5. Child cards (the actual sprint work) land in that team's Sprint Queue, waiting for the team to pull them into their sprint
6. When the feature is done, trackers move to each team's Shipped board

Why does this work? Because Backend knows how to break down backend work. Frontend knows their constraints. Design knows theirs. They're the experts in their own domain.

Coordinated Breakdown: When a Coordinator Owns the Breakdown

This is how we work on initiatives like UA 740 - Unio Phase II, Social Media, and (almost) everything else.

These initiatives benefit from centralized coordination—for different reasons. Maybe the coordinator has deep domain knowledge and can break down work more efficiently than distributing it to teams. Maybe the work needs careful organization to track across multiple clients or contexts. Maybe it's to keep team spaces focused on primary work and avoid distracting them with ad-hoc requests. Whatever the reason for that initiative, a coordinator breaks down the work—sometimes with input from the teams involved—based on team capacity and priorities.

Here's the pattern:

1. We plan the work in the initiative space
2. We create a tracker and keep it in the initiative space's pipeline
3. The coordinator breaks down the tracker into child cards (deciding which team does what)
4. Child cards flow to the appropriate team sprints for execution
5. When done, the tracker moves to the initiative space's Shipped board

The benefit here? You can see all UA 740 - Unio Phase II work in one place (the UA 740 - Unio Phase II Pipeline). You can see all Social Media work in one place (the Social Media Pipeline). It's easier to manage and report on.

Where Everything Lives

Our Superthread workspace has two types of spaces: where work is planned, and where it's executed.

Initiative Spaces (Where We Plan)

These are the spaces where work gets organized by what it's for.

Unio Product

This is our core product.

Breakdown Model: Team Autonomy

Boards:

• 🎯 Domains — Big strategic areas we're focusing on
• 🗺️ Modules — Groups of related features and functionality
• 🚀 Features — Where we plan and scope features before trackers are created

Project tag: "Unio"

UA 740 - Unio Phase II

This is where we track enhancements to UA 740's version of Unio, which our core Unio product is based on. UA 740 - Unio Phase II represents improvements, enhancements, and new features to their version of the Unio application. The work stays visible in one place.

Breakdown Model: Coordinated Breakdown

Boards:

• 🗺️ Modules — Groups of related features and functionality
• 🚀 Features — Where we plan and scope features before trackers are created
• 🌊 Pipeline — Where trackers are broken down before flowing into sprints
• 🚚 Shipped — Completed trackers

Project tag: "UA 740 - Unio Phase II"

Social Media

We manage social media for a couple of clients. This is weekly campaign-based work.

Breakdown Model: Coordinated Breakdown

Boards:

• 👥 Customers — Top-level groupings of social media customers (like domain cards—each customer is a strategic bucket of work)
• 🌊 Pipeline — Where trackers are broken down before flowing into sprints
• 🚚 Shipped — Completed trackers
• Client boards (one per customer) — Information boards for client-specific details and reference materials

Project tag: "Social Media"

Legacy Work

This is our catch-all space for client services: website maintenance, ad-hoc updates, one-off requests, that sort of thing.

Breakdown Model: Coordinated Breakdown

Boards:

• 🌊 Pipeline — Where trackers are broken down before flowing into sprints
• 🚚 Shipped — Completed trackers

Project tags: We use multiple tags here depending on the work—"UA 740 - Services," "Website Maintenance," "Connon," "Miscellaneous"

Side Projects

This is where we keep experimental work, proofs of concept, R&D, and more. Boards are Kanban-style and self-managed by the project owners, separate from our sprint workflows. When something grows into a larger initiative, it can graduate to its own space or be pulled into a workflow as needed.

Breakdown Model: Self-managed (no formal model)

Boards:

• Project boards (add as needed) — Kanban-style boards, self-managed by project owners

Team Spaces (Where We Execute)

These are the spaces where work actually gets done. Everyone works in their team space.

Design, Frontend, Backend, Infrastructure, Operations

Each team space has:

• 🌊 Pipeline — Where trackers are broken down before flowing into sprints
• 🚚 Shipped — Completed trackers
• Sprint — Work for your current two-week sprint

Here's the important part: You only look at your sprint board. That's where all your work is, from all initiatives. You don't need to care whether it came from Unio or UA 740 - Unio Phase II or Social Media. It's just your work for this sprint.

Archive Space

Unio Parked

We keep this space for Unio features that are on hold or deferred. It's historical reference—not active work.

How We See Things

If You're a Team Member

Look at your sprint board. That's it. You see every task assigned to you this sprint, regardless of which initiative it's for.

If You're Coordinating an Initiative

For initiatives with Coordinated Breakdown (UA 740, Social Media, Legacy Work): Look at that initiative's pipeline board in its space. You see all the work for that initiative in one place.

For Unio (Team Autonomy): Look at team pipelines to see all Unio work.

For Reporting

Use Superthread's Views to create custom filters. This lets you see the work you need—whether you're filtering by project, team, sprint, status, or anything else you want to track.

What Are These Projects, Anyway?

Projects in Superthread are how we organize work for reporting. They're not places—they're tags. You link a card to a project, and that card shows up in any view filtered by that project.

Here's what we use:

When you create a card, you link it to a project. When a card is a child of another card, it automatically inherits the project from its parent. So even though cards might live in different physical locations (different team spaces), they all tie back to the same project for reporting.

Board Names and Emojis

We use consistent emoji for boards across all spaces. It helps you quickly recognize what each board is for:

• 🎯 Domains — Strategic focus areas (Unio only)
• 🗺️ Modules — Product components and systems
• 🚀 Features — Where features get designed and planned
• 👥 Customers — Client or customer cards (Social Media space)
• 🌊 Pipeline — Where trackers are broken down before flowing into sprints
• 🚚 Shipped — Completed trackers

When you see a board with a 🌊 emoji, you know it has three lists: Needs Breakdown, Tracking, and Sprint Queue. When you see 🚚, you know it's finished work. It's a visual shorthand.

The Core Principles

Here's what ties this all together:

One tool, not many. Everything lives in Superthread. No Trello, no scattered docs. One place.

Team members have one view. Your sprint board shows all your work, regardless of initiative. That's all you need to see.

Initiatives are visible where they matter. Coordinators see initiative pipelines. Managers see project-filtered views.

Patterns are consistent. Pipeline works the same way everywhere. Sprints work the same way everywhere. Once you learn it once, you understand it everywhere.

Structure serves the work, not the other way around. We organize differently for different types of initiatives because different work needs different approaches. That's fine. It's intentional.

When to Create a New Space

Most work fits into existing spaces. But if something is big enough, ongoing enough, and important enough, you might create a new space for it.

Think about it this way: Do you need to see all the work for this thing in one place? Do multiple people need to coordinate around it? Is it happening for weeks or months? If yes to these questions, make a space.

If it's smaller, experimental, or one-off, keep it in Side Projects. When it graduates to a bigger initiative, you can always move it.

Detailed Workflow Guidance

Each workflow has its own specific guide that goes deeper:

• Unio Project Workflow — The full planning cycle for building Unio
• UA 740 Unio Phase 2 Workflow — How we handle Phase II features
• Legacy Workflow — How we organize client services and maintenance
• Social Media Workflow — How we run campaigns

Start with this overview to understand the big picture, then dive into the specific guide for the work you're doing.