How to run a project with a team of AI Dots

What you will end up with

By the end of this guide you will have a team of Dots, one for each department you chose, and you will have run a small project through it. SuperDot will have written a plan, you will have approved it, the department Dots will have done the tasks, and you will have a board, some files and a report.

Pick a small, real request for your first project, such as a requirements draft, a help article or a launch checklist. A small project is easy to check, and it shows you how the pieces fit before you try something big.

What you need

• OpenDot running on your Mac or PC. If you have not built it yet, the download page walks through it, and it takes a few minutes.
• A model for your Dots: a cloud API key, or a local model through Ollama or LM Studio.
• An idea for a first project, and a few minutes to read what comes back.

Steps

1. 1

   Open Organisation

   Choose Organisation in the sidebar. If you have no team yet, you see a set-up screen with four templates: Startup, Software team, Small business and Full.

2. 2

   Choose a template or your own departments

   Pick the template closest to what you do, or choose Choose domains and tick the departments one by one. Press Create my team. OpenDot creates one Dot per department, and each one starts with the playbooks for its domain.

3. 3

   Check what each Dot may touch

   Engineering, IT and Data can use files and the shell on your computer, and every other department gets files only. All other connections are off. Open a Dot's info panel to change that, and set any tool to Allow, Ask or Block.

4. 4

   Optional: choose a model per Dot

   The default model applies to everyone. Give Engineering a stronger model, or run routine departments on a local one.

5. 5

   Ask SuperDot for a project

   Open SuperDot's chat and describe the outcome, for example: add single sign-on for our customers. You can also open Projects in Organisation, press New project and fill in a title, a brief and an optional budget.

6. 6

   Wait for the plan

   The project shows SuperDot is planning, then the plan arrives. SuperDot posts a card in its chat and sends a notification when it is ready.

7. 7

   Edit the plan and approve it

   Read the tasks. Each has a title, a brief, an owner, a reviewer and the tasks it waits for. Edit anything, add or remove tasks, or press Ask SuperDot to replan and say what to change. When you are happy, press Approve and start.

8. 8

   Follow the board

   The project opens as a board with To do, In progress, In review and Done. Tasks with no dependencies start together, up to three at a time by default. Click a card to open its drawer.

9. 9

   Answer questions and review

   If a Dot needs something from you it stops and asks, and the card shows it. If a task needs your review, read the result and press Approve or Request changes with a note. A task assigned to you waits until you mark it done.

10. 10

    Read the report and open the files

    When every task is done, SuperDot writes a report. Open the deliverables from each task to read or reveal the files the Dots made.

Reading the board

Each card shows its owner, how many tasks it waits for and its attempt number. A card in In review is waiting for a reviewer Dot or for you. A card that failed shows a red mark, and you can retry it or skip it. If something cannot continue, the project says why in a short note at the top.

You can switch the board to a plain list, and the activity log keeps a line for each start, finish, review, question and error. It holds titles and counts only, never the contents of messages or files.

Reviewing a task

Open a card to see its drawer: the brief, the result, the files and every review so far. A reviewer Dot answers with approval or a numbered list of changes, and the owner revises and tries again. After two rounds by default, the task comes to you.

When you review, read the result against the brief. Request changes with a short, specific note, because the owner sees your note as its next instruction.

The report

SuperDot closes the project with a report. It says what was delivered and where, what needs you, and which tasks were skipped. Use it as your checklist: open each deliverable, check it against what you asked for and decide what to do next.

Tips for better results

• Write the request as an outcome, not a list of steps. SuperDot works out the steps.
• Say what done means. A request with a clear finish gives a plan with clear tasks.
• Set a budget on your first few projects while you learn how much a project costs with your model.
• Edit the plan. Removing a task you do not need is cheaper than cancelling later.
• Edit a skill if a department keeps missing your house rules. OpenDot saves your own copy, and you add it to the Dot's skills in the Team tab.

If something goes wrong

Everything runs on your computer and every action goes through the same approvals and masking as the rest of OpenDot, so you can stop a project at any time.

• The plan looks wrong: press Ask SuperDot to replan and describe what to change.
• A task failed: open its card, read the error in plain words, then retry it or skip it.
• A project paused: it may have reached its budget, or OpenDot was closed. Open it and resume when you are ready.
• A Dot is blocked from messaging another: check your Dot Links rules. The team starts with one rule that lets organisation Dots work together.