Creating a Project From Scratch: The Complete LocalPM Setup Guide
Creating a Project From Scratch: The Complete LocalPM Setup Guide
TLDR: A step-by-step guide to setting up a new project in LocalPM, from naming your project to creating your first sprint-ready backlog.
Starting a new project is exciting, but the setup process often gets rushed. Teams jump straight into creating stories without establishing the foundation that makes those stories manageable. This guide walks you through every step of creating a well-structured project in LocalPM, so your first sprint starts on solid ground.
Step 1: Define Your Project
Open LocalPM and create a new project. You will need three pieces of information to start.
Project name. Keep it short and recognizable. Your team will see this name every day, so it should be instantly clear which project it refers to. "Phoenix Redesign" is better than "Q3 Website Modernization Initiative Phase 1."
Project description. Write two to three sentences explaining what this project aims to accomplish and why it matters. This description serves as a north star when the team is deciding whether a new story belongs in this project or a different one.
Project timeline. Set a target start date and an expected end date. These do not need to be exact, but they frame the scope. A project with a three-month horizon feels different from one with a twelve-month horizon, and that affects how you structure your backlog.
LocalPM saves all of this information in localStorage, so it is available instantly every time you open the project.
Step 2: Set Up Your Team
Add your team members to the project. In LocalPM, each team member gets a name, a role, and an avatar color. These details are not cosmetic. They serve a functional purpose.
Roles help everyone understand who is responsible for what. Common roles include Developer, Designer, QA, Product Owner, and Scrum Master. When you assign stories, the role context helps the team understand why a particular person was chosen.
Avatar colors make the board scannable at a glance. When you look at the sprint board and see a cluster of blue cards in the In Progress column, you instantly know that one team member has multiple items in flight. This visual signal helps you identify potential bottlenecks without reading individual assignments.
Assign colors thoughtfully. Use distinct, easily distinguishable colors for team members who work in the same area to avoid confusion.
Step 3: Create Your Epics
Before writing individual stories, define the major themes of work. These are your epics. An epic groups related stories together and gives your backlog structure.
For a typical web application project, your epics might include: User Authentication, Dashboard, Reporting, Admin Panel, and API Integration. Each epic should represent a chunk of work that delivers a coherent piece of value.
In LocalPM, epics can be color-coded so that stories on your board are visually grouped by theme. This makes sprint planning faster because you can see at a glance how much of each epic is in the current sprint.
Aim for five to eight epics for a medium-sized project. Too few and they become too broad to be useful. Too many and they add overhead without adding clarity.
Step 4: Build Your Initial Backlog
Now write your stories. Start with the stories you are most confident about, the ones that are clearly needed regardless of how the project evolves. You do not need to write every story up front. A well-maintained backlog grows and changes over time.
For each story, include:
- Title: A concise summary of what needs to be done
- Description: Enough context for someone to understand the story without a meeting
- Acceptance criteria: Testable conditions that define when the story is done
- Story points: An estimate of relative complexity
- Priority: Using your team's defined priority framework
- Epic assignment: Which theme this story belongs to
In LocalPM, all of these fields are available on each story card. Fill them out as completely as you can during initial setup, but do not let perfectionism slow you down. Stories will be refined during backlog grooming sessions.
Step 5: Plan Your First Sprint
With a populated backlog, you are ready to plan your first sprint. In LocalPM, create a new sprint and set the start date, end date, and sprint goal.
Pull stories from the backlog into the sprint based on your team's estimated capacity. For your first sprint, be conservative. It is better to deliver everything and pull in additional work mid-sprint than to overcommit and miss the sprint goal.
Your sprint goal should be a single sentence describing the outcome, not a list of stories. "Users can create an account and log in" is a sprint goal. "Complete stories 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9" is just a list.
Step 6: Review and Adjust
Before your first standup, do a final review. Walk through the board and ask: Does every story in the sprint have clear acceptance criteria? Does every story have an assignee? Is the sprint goal achievable with the stories planned?
If the answer to any of these is no, fix it now. Five minutes of cleanup before the sprint starts prevents hours of confusion during the sprint. Your project is ready. Time to build.
Learn More
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