getting started

Getting started with MetaTeam

This page shows how to do several common tasks that you will do as you begin to use MetaTeam.

Please note that the images use the original application look & feel. We are leaving these images, rather than updating them, because the difference is quite minor (rounded tabs, colors) and because the original color scheme shows more clearly in the reduced image size.

 

Important : For a more detailed look — and with larger images — at the very first steps please see this page.

Creating your first person

1. Log in
2. Click the "Person" tab
3. Click the "Add a new person" link
4. Fill in the form (username and password are the only required fields)

After you have created the new person you may want to add them to a team and give them a role. For more on how to do these steps read on below.

Creating your first team

1. Click the "Team" tab
2. Click the "Create a new team" link
3. Fill in the form (name is the only required field)

When you create a team you are added as the first member.

Adding a team member

1. Open your team by clicking its name in the My Teams tab
2. Click the "Add a team member" link
3. Begin typing the new team member's username to be prompted with a list of people
4. Click "Submit"

The new team member will have limited permissions. In MetaTeam permissions are called Special Responsibilities. To see how to grant your new team member Special Reponsibilities read on.

Creating your first role

1. Open the "Roles" tab for your team
2. Click the "Add a new role" link
3. Fill in the form (name is the only required field)
4. Click "Submit"

Roles are easy to create and manage. When you create a team several default roles are created for you. You may delete those roles that you don't need, but it is not a good idea to delete "Admin" or "All". Your new roles may be named anything you like.

When a role is first created it has no responsibilities, including no Special Responsibilities. (Again, Special Responsibilities are permissions. For instance, permission to delete a user).

And, of course, when you first create a role it is not assigned to any members of the team.

Assigning a role to a member

1. Open the "Roles" tab for your team
2. Click on the "Click for user names" link
3. Click on the "Assign role" link
4. Select a team member using the drop-down
5. Click "Submit"

You may assign as many team members to a role as you like.

Roles are important because responsibilities are assigned to roles, not to individuals. You can get the same effect as assigning a responsibility to an individual. Simply create a role where the only member assigned to that role is the person you want to assign the responsibility to. Then assign the responsibility to that role.

For more on roles and responsibilities keep reading.

Letting the "Leader" add new members

1. Click on the "Responsibility" tab
2. Click on the "Special" tab
3. Click on the "Click for role names" link beside the "New user" special responsibility
4. Click on the "Add a role" link
5. Select the role you want to assign the special responsibility to
6. Click "Submit"

If you want to let another person add new members to the team how do you do it?

What you need to do is to assign the "Assign user" special responsibility to a role held by that person.

Since special responsibilities are, well, special, you can only assign them in one place: the "Special" tab below the "Responsibility" tab. (Regular responsibilities can be assigned from multiple places within a team).

When you get to the "Special" tab you will see a large number of special responsibilities. (This is assuming you are logged in as "Admin" or have been given special responsibilities yourself). Most of the special responsibilities are fairly straightforward. For instance "New project" or "Delete user".

Certain of the special responsibilities are less obvious, for example: "Assign special responsibility" or "Dis-assign project". For now just ignore the special responsibilities you don't need. (Also please keep in mind that some special responsibilities are reserved for future features in an upcoming release).

Once you have the special responsibility you want to assign just follow the steps above to assign it to the role.

Finally, make sure you have assigned the role to the person you want to have the special responsibility.

Creating your first decision model

1. Click on the "Decisions" tab
2. Click on the "Add a decision model" link
3. Click the "Submit" button

MetaTeam categorizes decisions in decision models. A decision model collects decisions that will be decided in a particular way. For example, all decisions that will be made by consensus would be grouped in a "Consensus" decision model, whereas those decisions that will be made by the team leader alone would be grouped in a "Leader decides" decision model.

To see how decisions are grouped within decision models, read on.

 

Creating your first decision

1. Click on the "Decisions" tab
2. Click on the "Add a decision" link within the decision model you choose
3. Click "Submit" on the new decision form

Creating a decision is easy. Remember to select false in the "Is this a public decision?" drop-down if you want only the team members to see the decision.

The other interesting choice to make is whether the decision will be on a secret ballot. All decisions permit voting, even if the decision model states that the leader will make the decisions without input. (In that case, it is the leader's prerogative to disregard the votes). With a secret ballot members can not see how other members have voted. Everyone sees only the tally — including the person who created the decision.

 

Ranking a decision

1. Click on the "Decisions" tab
2. Click the name of a decision to open it
3. Click on the "Characterization" tab
4. Select the characteristics of the decision

MetaTeam ranks decisions according to four characteristics:

• How well you can measure the success of the outcome
• How much impact the decision has on other decisions
• How final or exclusive the decision is
• How much the decision impacts overall progress

Based on these choices the decision will be ranked from 0 to 16 (0 to 4 for each characteristic).

The ranking is used to order the decisions in a decision model, with the assumption being that a higher ranking decision would be addressed sooner.

 

Creating a goal definition

1. Click on the "Goals" tab
2. Click on the "My Definitions" tab
3. Click on the "Add goal definition" link
4. Fill in the form and click "Submit"

To assign a goal you must first have a goal definition. MetaTeam uses the concept of goal definitions to catalog goals into groups.

One goal definition may be the basis for many goals. Moreover, a goal definition created for one team may be used to create a goal for any team.

For example, if you have fundamental goal of maximizing the value of time spent in team meetings, you might create a definition called "Good meetings".

Using the "Good meetings" definition, you might then assign multiple goals. One goal might be "Make sure we have good meeting minutes". Another goal based on the same definition might be "Create agendas and stick to them".

Goals definitions are themselves given a type. The types are configurable by the MetaTeam Admin. Out of the box the defaults are:

• Support another member
• Support a principle
• Support a specific strategy
• Support a specific responsibility
• Support the team, project or group

 

Creating your first goal

1. Click on the "Goals" tab
2. Click on the "Add team goal" link of the "Goals Assigned" tab
3. Select a goal definition using the drop-down list, fill in the form and click the "Submit" button

Goals may have two important relationships:

• Some goals are "chartered"
• Some goals cause people to make decisions

A chartered goal is a goal that the team or project charter references as part of the reason for the team or project's existence. You may make a goal chartered when you create the goal. Alternatively, when you are filling in your charter you may add an already existing goal.

Goals also list the decisions that support them. By associating a decision with a goal you are saying that the decision is a step towards achieving the goal.

 

Categories: Getting Started