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Ben Heinrich: "Right, let's get started. Our first goal is to define the big topics, the so-called epics. These are the main blocks of our trade fair preparations and everything is geared towards them. Each epic stands for a clearly definable area that runs through the entire project like a common thread."

Lena Friedrich: "These are the overarching chapters, so to speak, so that we don't get bogged down in a hundred individual tasks later on, right?"

Ben: "Exactly. These epics help us to structure the project clearly. If we define them well today, we'll save ourselves the chaos in a few months' time. Florian, you have Leadtime open, right?"

Florian Bauer: "Yes, ready. I'll create the epics directly live."

Ben: "Great. Let's collect the big issues then - what are the big chunks that cost time and nerves every year?"

Laura Keller: "The scheduling. The customer appointments at the trade fair and the coordination beforehand. That's always a huge task."

Ben: "Yes, that's definitely an epic in its own right. Florian, please create it as 'Trade fair scheduling'."

(Florian types and creates "Trade fair scheduling" as an epic)

Lena: "Bookings and orders - all the logistics: stand space, hotel, rental cars, catering, electricity, stand builders ... that's a huge thing."

Ben: "Definitely. That's what I call 'organization & bookings'. Florian?"

(Florian creates "Organization & Bookings" as an epic.)

Johannes Klein: "Stand service. So who is at the stand when, who takes breaks. Last year we did it on call - never again."

Ben: "Exactly, it's better this time. 'Stand supervision & shift plan'?"

(Florian creates "Stand support & deployment plan" as an epic).

Katja Fischer: "Design and construction. The stand, the furniture, the graphics - everything that is visually and physically there. A lot of work goes into it every year."

Ben: "That's right, 'stand design & construction' fits well. Florian, please put it down."

(Florian creates "Stand design & construction" as an epic.)

Ben: "That gives us four big areas:

Is there anything else missing?"

(The team thinks briefly, but no further suggestions are made)

Ben: "Okay, that looks very good. But I would change the order. "Organization & bookings" should come first, then "Stand design & construction". The "Scheduling" comes next, and only at the end the "Stand support" - everything in the order in which we work through the things.

(Florian moves the epics via drag & drop in the tree view).

Before we go any further, one more important point: we always have things that are so big that they are practically projects in their own right. In such cases, it can make sense not just to create an epic, but to create a separate component - in other words, a separate construction kit that we can reuse every year."

Katja: "Yes, the brochure comes to mind immediately. It was a huge undertaking last year - with texts, design, printing and approvals."

Ben: "Exactly, that's a good example. We probably do a brochure like that every year - and every year we ask ourselves how we actually did it last time. That's the perfect candidate for a separate component."

Florian: "So not an epic, but a separate component, right?"

Ben: "That's right. Florian, please create it under 'Trade fair brochure'. We can then store the typical steps such as texts, design, editing, printing - and next year we'll simply use it again."

(Florian creates the "Create brochure" component)

Ben: "Great. That gives us the main lines: a "Trade fair presence" component with 4 epics for the main areas of "Organization", "Stand design", "Dates" and "Stand support". There is also a second component for creating a brochure. We'll leave these empty for now, because that would take us too far afield. Today we're just concentrating on the trade fair appearance itself."

Lena: "That gives us a bit of structure."

The team continues. Now the specific work packages for the "Organization & Bookings" epic are to be developed. The atmosphere is productive, everyone is focused. Florian projects the Leadtime input window for work packages onto the wall.

Ben: "So, we're going to go through the individual work packages now. Last time, we already discussed the topics of booking stand space, procuring stand equipment, booking a hotel, booking a van and the kick-off meeting. Now it's time to create the specific packages - and this time we're making sure that we fill in all the fields properly. We need the information not only for the implementation, but also for our planning and budgeting."

Florian: "I'll explain this again briefly so that we're all on the same page. You have to fill in the fields here for each work package:

Ben: "Exactly, the minimum effort! I want you to estimate how many hours it will take you to complete each work package. We need these estimates for two things:

Lena: "Does that mean we now roughly estimate the hours for each work package?"

Ben: "Yes, it doesn't have to be rocket science. It's better to be too generous than too tight. If you think it will take two hours for 'Book hotel', then enter two. If it was only one afterwards - that's okay too. But we need a basis."

Laura: "And if we can't estimate a package well?"

Ben: "Then it's better to use more than too little. And if in doubt, we'll ask someone who's done it before."

Florian: "So to summarize

Can we manage that?"

Team (nods in agreement): "Yes!"

Ben: "Good, then let's go. We'll now tackle each of the work packages individually."

The team starts with "Book stand space".

Lena: "So, that means we reserve the stand space with the trade fair company. I know how to do that, I do it every year. I'd say if we take the same offer as last year, it will take maybe two hours with coordination and a few emails."

Florian: "Okay, I'll put that in:

Ben: "Perfect, go ahead."

Katja: "Procure stand equipment, that's the furniture and technology. I have to get a quote from the stand builder and possibly rent something in addition. That's difficult to say. If we don't change anything, it takes three hours. If we decide to design a new stand, then of course we'll open a huge barrel."

Ben: "Maybe we can make a new component for that later. But it says minimum effort here, so we'll do the three hours because that's what it takes - even if we just carry everything over from last year."

Florian: "Okay, I'll write:

Ben: "Great, go on."

Laura: "I'll book the hotel again. I'll call the hotels we know and see if we can get something nearby again. I'd also say two hours."

Florian: "So: Description: Researching and booking hotel rooms for the entire team. Tags are there. Internal note: First ask for regular hotels, then check alternatives within a maximum radius of 2 km.

Minimum effort: 2 hours."

Laura: "Can we perhaps include the contact details of the hotels in the description text? That would be handy."

Ben: "Yes, of course. Please complete these work packages with any information that could be helpful for your work. You can also upload any order forms or other files to these work packages.

Florian: "Good, and transporters?"

Lena: "I can do that too. Rent it as usual from our rental company. I'd say one hour."

Florian: "So:

Description: Hire a van for setting up the stand and transporting materials.

Tags are there.

Internal note: Reserve van at least one week in advance, coordinate pick-up and return with the team.

Minimum time required: 1 hour."

Ben: "So now we've covered the main booking topics. But I've just noticed one more thing: When and how do we actually make the decisions? Last year it was often like this: We discussed it forever until someone finally took care of it."

Johannes Klein: "That's right, we sometimes lost weeks just because it wasn't clear who was doing what."

Ben: "That's why I suggest we hold a kick-off meeting at the start of every trade fair project to discuss these issues. We clarify directly: What space do we want? Which hotel? Do we need a transporter? And then we distribute the tasks."

Lena: "That sounds sensible. Otherwise we'll get bogged down again."

Ben: "Florian, please add a work package for organizing the kick-off meeting."

Florian: "So:

Ben: "Hm. That's difficult. The meeting will probably last two hours or so. But if 5 people take part in the meeting, it will actually take 10 hours."

Florian: "We can solve that with a multiplier. I'll explain that later. Let's just enter a minimum value here for how long it would take for one person. So hours."

Laura: "I thought of something else: Wouldn't it be good if we had a checklist before the kick-off so that we know what we need to clarify beforehand?"

Ben: "Good idea."

I would now move the checklist and the kickoff meeting to the top of the list before the other work packages, because we want to deal with these issues before anything else. Like this."

Ben: "Perfect, then we've got that. Our epic is now complete."

Ben: So, we're now going into even more detail. We've defined our epics and created the work packages - now it's a matter of precisely specifying the tasks within the packages. We start with the "Kickoff preparation". Laura, what do we need there?

Laura: Well, we need to make sure in advance that we have gathered all the relevant points for the kick-off meeting. To make sure we don't forget anything, we should draw up a checklist of preparatory tasks.

Florian: Exactly. Let me show you briefly how this works. We can create so-called to-dos for the checklist. These are intended for small, clear tasks that are simply ticked off so that the preparation runs smoothly.

(Florian opens the "Kickoff preparation" checklist in Leadtime and shows the input screen for to-dos).

Florian Bauer: You see, we can simply enter the tasks here as a list.

(The team workshopped a series of to-dos for the checklist).

(Florian types in the points.)

Ben: Perfect. You can then work through the points one by one. And what about the work packages themselves?

Florian: They've already been created. Let's take the "kick-off meeting". Each work package in Leadtime has a form that we can attach. I'll briefly explain why this is important.

(Florian opens the "Kickoff meeting" work package.)

Florian: The description of the work package contains the "what" - in other words, what needs to be done. The "internal note", on the other hand, serves as an instruction for the person carrying out the work, i.e. the "how". However, the requirements must be clear so that the person can actually complete the work package. That's exactly what the form is for.

Ben: The point is that every time we do a project like this, the situation is always a little different: different people come along, we might want to take a different stand with us or try out a different presentation concept. With the form questions, we can customize the work package to the specific situation, so to speak.

Florian: Exactly. And the questions for this first task package could help us to talk about the right topics at the kick-off meeting. You then work through the points in the meeting and enter the answers directly into the form. And the answers also have an impact on the other work packages.

Ben: Great. Let's collect the questions for the kick-off meeting.

(The team develops the questions together).

Florian: "Person" is a special question type. You can use it to directly select a person from our team. This is super practical because the person can then also be entered as the person responsible in the subsequent tasks. And we can always see who is specifically responsible.

Florian: We also use "person" here. You can select several people, for example everyone who will be on stand duty. This is much clearer than simply writing it in the text.

Florian: We can use this question later for a condition.

Katja: What is a condition?

Florian: Work packages can be shown or hidden depending on certain answers. Let's take the question "Do we need a new exhibition stand?" as an example. If the answer is "No", we can use a condition to specify that the work package "Design new exhibition stand" is automatically hidden.Katja: Cool, so that means the structure of the project automatically adapts to our answers?

Florian: Yeah baby, you got it. Let's get on with it

Who takes care of the stand design?

Question type: Person

Description: Determine responsible person.

How many people will take part in the kick-off meeting?

Question type: Multiplier

Description: Determine the number of participants. Duration per person: 2 hours.

Florian: The multiplier is particularly helpful when the duration of a task depends on the number of participants. For example: The kickoff meeting lasts 2 hours per person. So if we enter here in the form that 5 people are taking part, Leadtime automatically calculates 5 times 2 hours, i.e. 10 hours, as the effort. This is enormously helpful for later time planning and budgeting.

(The team continues)

Ben: Perfect. That's exactly the structure we need so that we don't have to start from scratch every year.

Florian: And don't forget: this form principle applies to all work packages. For each package, think about which questions you want to clarify so that no more queries are necessary at the end.

Ben Heinrich: So, let's move on to the other packages. Or do you need a little break?

After a long and intensive workshop, interrupted by several breaks, the team has now created the work packages for all epics and equipped them with forms. New ideas kept coming up during the development process, so Florian adapted and expanded the component tree several times. Additional epics and work packages were created or existing ones merged. Florian points out that all elements of the component tree can be moved using drag & drop. It is even possible to move a question from one work package to another. Now, late in the afternoon, everyone is a little exhausted but satisfied. It is a good feeling to have created a sustainable solution for an annually recurring, time-consuming project.

Florian: "Okay, final spurt! Now that the structure is more or less in place, let's move on to the conditions. I've been putting this off all day because it's simply better to do it once you have the overall project in front of you."

Florian explains once again what conditions are: "With conditions, we can ensure that certain questions or work packages only appear if a previous answer fulfills a certain condition. This keeps the component clear and only ever shows the relevant tasks."

As a first practical example, the team opens the work package "Procure exhibition stand equipment". A condition is to be added there:

The second example concerns the work package "Stand supervision & deployment plan". The question is inserted here: "Do we need new business cards?". If this question is answered with "Yes", the work package "Order business cards" should appear automatically.

The team works out further conditions in various packages.

Ben: "Does anyone else have an idea?"

Johannes: "Yes, we forgot a thousand things at the trade fair last year. I had to go to the hardware store three times. Can't we make a checklist for the packing plan?"

Florian: "Good idea! Even better: we could create an acceptance test instead. It's more accurate than a simple checklist. Acceptance tests actually come from software development. They are a bit more flexible."

Florian explains:

Acceptance tests consist of:

Katja: "Cool, we can also use that for our software projects!"

The team develops the first test cases for the packaging plan together. Florian shows the "Toolbox" test case as an example:

Ben: "Let's create a final work package "Lessons Learned Meeting". After the fair, we'll take some time to write down together what went well and what didn't. Then we'll revise the project component - both the effort estimates and the content, if necessary."

Everyone agrees and thinks it's a great idea.

Ben ends the session: "When the project actually starts, I'll ask you to enrich the work packages in the component library with more information if necessary, if that makes it easier to implement."

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