Start with an idea

Describe what to build or fix, and let Iron Octopus plan it.

Every feature starts as an idea in plain words. You describe what you want; Iron Octopus sizes it, asks what it needs to know, and comes back with a plan for you to review. Nothing is created until you approve it.

Describe your idea

1. Open the idea box

   On your Home page, find What should we build or fix next? You can also press ⌘K anywhere in the app and type your idea.

2. Say what you want

   Describe the feature or the problem in plain words, the way you’d explain it to a colleague. For example: “Clients should be able to cancel a booking up to 24 hours before it starts.”

3. Pick the project

   If your workspace has more than one project, choose the one this idea belongs to.

4. Click Draft a feature

   Iron Octopus starts planning. If the idea is a problem with something already built, click Report a defect instead. See report a defect.

What Iron Octopus does with it

Iron Octopus reads your idea against your project and its architecture, then:

• Sizes it. A small idea becomes one feature. A larger one becomes an initiative with several features, and Iron Octopus explains why.
• Asks what it needs to know. You answer in plain words. Any question you skip gets a reasonable assumption, which is recorded so you can see it later.
• Drafts the plan. What it will build, what’s deliberately left out, the requirements that define done (written as acceptance criteria), and the work items that make up the work.

Review and approve

You see the whole plan on one screen: its size, why Iron Octopus routed it the way it did, the proposed features, what’s excluded, the acceptance criteria, and each work item.

Click Approve plan and create to create it. Creating isn’t the same as building: the new feature waits in Planning until you start it. See plans and approval.

The more specific your idea, the fewer questions you’ll get. Say who it’s for, what they should be able to do, and anything it must not do.