Template library

The template library holds the checklists that ship with Atlas, arranged on shelves. Some shelves are general working ones, such as sprint, project, meeting, onboarding, engineering, marketing and personal. The others carry the work Atlas itself is used for, such as client delivery, sales, finance, legal, support, product, design, data, security, operations, people and executive. Each one is a sequence of steps somebody has already worked out, from running a sprint planning meeting to triaging a bug, taking a new joiner through their first week, or preparing for a difficult conversation. Choosing one turns every step into a task on your personal list, so the work starts as a list you can tick rather than a document you have to read. The library is read only and identical for every workspace, because it ships with Atlas rather than belonging to anybody. It is not where your own saved templates live: those are on the Templates screen, and an engagement template that seeds a whole piece of client work belongs to Client Delivery.

• Templates across many categories, each with its own icon and a plain summary of what it is for
• Every template groups the work into stages, names the role that does each step, estimates how long each one takes, says when to use that template rather than a neighbouring one, and lists what you are holding when the last box is ticked
• Filter by level, so a reader can see the templates written for the practice they have
• Every template has its own page at its own address, which suits a long template with several stages
• Search that looks inside the steps, not only the titles, so you can find a template by the work it covers rather than by its name
• Every category pill carries the number of templates on that shelf, so you never open an empty one
• A preview that lists every step in order, with the guidance a step carries, before anything is created
• The category you are browsing and the template you have open both live in the address, so either can be sent to a colleague
• Applying a template reports the number of tasks that were actually created, and says so plainly when only some of them landed

• Templates are read only. You cannot edit one, and a change to your copy of the tasks never changes the template.
• The steps arrive as tasks on your personal list, not on a shared project. Nothing is shared with your team until you move a task yourself.
• You need permission to view tasks to open the library, and permission to create tasks to apply a template.
• A step that cannot be created is skipped rather than abandoning the rest, so applying a template can create fewer tasks than it has steps. The message afterwards tells you when that happened. Applying the template again creates every step again, including the ones that already arrived, so remove the duplicates or add the missing steps yourself.
• Applying the same template twice creates the tasks twice. There is no check for a duplicate, because two sprints legitimately need two copies of the same checklist.
• The library ships with Atlas, so it changes when Atlas is updated and not before. You cannot add a template to it.
• The stated duration is focused working time, not elapsed time. A step that waits three days for a client to reply is a few minutes of work and three days of waiting, and only the first is counted.
• The role named against a step is a role, not a person. It says who should do the step, and applying the template still puts every task on your own list.
• The estimates are a guide written by somebody who has run this work, not a measurement of your team. Treat the total as a starting point and adjust it once you have run the template twice.
• The templates themselves are written in English. The screen around them is translated into ten languages, and it says so on the page when you are reading it in one of the other nine, so the difference is stated rather than discovered.

1. 1Open Templates from the sidebar, or press the command palette and search for the template library.
2. 2Narrow the list: press a category pill to see one shelf, or type in the search box to look across all of them at once. Search matches the name, the summary and every step.
3. 3Narrow it further with the level filter below the shelves, which keeps the templates written for the practice you have.
4. 4Press a template to open its preview and read the steps it will create. The preview groups them under the stage they belong to, with the role and the estimate on each.
5. 5Press Open the full template for a page of its own, which is easier to read on a long template and is an address you can send to a colleague.
6. 6Press Add these tasks. The steps arrive on your personal list and the message tells you how many were created.
7. 7Open your task list to work through them. From that point they are ordinary tasks: reassign them, schedule them, or move them onto a project.

Can I change a template, or add one of my own?

Not in this library. It ships with Atlas and is the same for every workspace. For a checklist of your own, save a template on the Templates screen instead. Once a template has been applied, the tasks it created are yours to edit freely.

Where do the tasks go?

Onto your personal list. Each step becomes one task, in the order the template lists them, and nothing is shared with your team. Move a task onto a project afterwards if you want other people to see it.

Why did I get fewer tasks than the template has steps?

A step that could not be created is skipped rather than stopping the rest, so the tasks that could be created still arrive. The message afterwards names how many landed out of how many steps. Applying the template again creates every step again, including the ones that already arrived, so add the missing steps yourself or remove the duplicates.

What happens if I apply the same template twice?

You get a second copy of every task. Nothing is merged and nothing is refused, because a checklist you run every sprint genuinely needs a fresh copy each time.

Do the templates show stages, roles and a duration?

Yes. Each template groups its steps into stages, and every step names the role that does it and an estimate of the time it takes. The preview and the full template page show them, with a note on when to use the template and what you will have at the end. The estimates are a guide written by somebody who has run the work, not a measurement of your team.

Is the stated duration how long the work takes?

It is focused working time, not elapsed time. A step that waits three days for a client to reply is a few minutes of work and three days of waiting, and only the first is counted. Use the total to plan the effort, not the calendar.

The template names a role against each step. Does that assign the task to anybody?

No. The role says who should do the step, which is what makes the template usable in a company that is not yours. Applying the template puts every task on your own personal list, and you reassign them from there.

Can I send somebody a link to one template?

Yes. Open the template and copy the address from your browser. It carries the template you have open and the category you were browsing, so the person you send it to arrives on the same screen.

The library says it could not be read. Is it empty?

No. That message means the catalog failed to load, which is a different thing from a library with nothing in it, and nothing has been created. Press the retry button. If it keeps failing, your connection to Atlas is the place to look.