A need is centered around a problem or idea that hasn't been fully developed. It remains abstract, with no defined solutions or commitments. However, it's considered important enough to be acknowledged and not forgotten. Needs require shaping and validation to determine how blackbear can provide support and address them. Collaborating with a customer success manager or project consultant can help explore the best approach. If blackbear is unable to assist, the need can be removed from the backlog.

How is it different from an assignment?

Capturing a need is vital as it could potentially transform into an assignment or even a temporary role or project in the future. From a problem, we roll out a solution or a way forward.

Compared to a need, an assignment involves work that has been clearly defined and is ready to be undertaken with blackbear. This includes a deeper understanding of the problem and a plan of action on how to tackle it effectively.

The Needs Dashboard

The Needs board brings a powerful way to visualize your capacity needs across your teams or organisation. This feature allows you to capture, prioritize, and validate needs, with our team ready to assist in planning and aligning professionals, commitment-free.

How to use the Needs board

Capture capacity gap from across teams or organisations
View a high-level overview of the capacity needs by month, quarter or assignee
Change status to reprioritise, reassign, or update needs
Understand capacity gaps across teams or organisation

How to use the statuses

Inbox: capture various needs from different teams or across the organization. It's the primary spot for collecting input on current and upcoming needs.
Under consideration: the most relevant needs that require some validation but have a high potential for resolution.
Validated: are needs that have been reviewed and have a confirmed budget and timeline in place. These needs are considered highly relevant, and blackbear has identified feasible solutions for them. Typically, validated needs are ready to progress into assignments.

Who can create and manage Needs?

All team members within your organization have the ability to create, edit, or delete needs, with the exception of those with View-only access.
Every member in your organization can access the needs board.
Any needs that are added will automatically be shared with blackbear.
Your dedicated blackbear Customer Success Manager has the authority to add needs based on your capacity planning, make changes and collaborate with you on managing your needs effectively.

Create a Need

Create need

You can create a need from the ‘Needs’ page available on the menu. This is a dashboard that contains all needs across your organisation.

Login: Log in to the platform using your email and password
Access Needs Section: Navigate to your menu and select 'Needs' from your left-side menu
Initiate Creation: Click on the 'Create' button and select 'Need' or click on the '+' icon situated on your 'Needs' board in the right corner of each swimlane in the kanban board
View modal & Fill in Details:
- Title: Provide a concise title that represents your need
- Status: Automatically set to 'Inbox' if initiated from the menu. It will inherit the status if created from a specific column
- Priority: Choose from 'No priority,' 'Low,' 'Medium,' or 'High'
- Assignee: Select an assignee from your organisation
- Focus Date: This can be used as a due date or a date when you want to give it attention again if planned in the future. Set a date from options like 'No due date,' 'Next month,' 'Next quarter,' or select a 'Custom date.'
- Attachments: Upload any relevant files if applicable to give more context to your need. Make sure not to upload highly-sensitive company information that can't be shared with blackbear.
Submit: to submit, click 'Create Need' from the 'Create new need' modal
Confirmation: You'll be redirected to the kanban view with the new need highlighted.
Success Message: A success message will confirm that the need has been successfully created.

Note: Any needs that are added will automatically be shared with blackbear.

View a need and all details

Access Needs Section: Navigate to your menu and select 'Needs' from your left-side menu
Access Need Card: Click on a need card from the kanban board to view the full details
View Details: You'll see detailed information about the need, including title, description, status, priority, assignee, focus date, attachments, and additional details
Additional Inputs: You can edit or add collaborators, specify budget, language, and view creation details.

Edit a Need

Access Need: Navigate to the need you wish to edit
Open Need: click on the card to view the needs information
Modify: Change any desired fields or information
Auto-Save: Changes are automatically saved

Delete a Need

Access Need: Go to the need you want to delete
Initiate Deletion: Click on 'Delete' from the right corner of the card
Confirmation: Confirm your action in the warning message
Permanent Deletion: Once confirmed, the need will be permanently deleted. This action can not be undone.

Sort, Filter, and Search Needs

Filter By: click on 'Filter by' at the top of the kanban boar
- Select one or multiple filters: Assignee, Focus date, Priority, CSM, Creator
- Only the needs that meet your filter criteria will be displayed on your board

Sort By:
- click on 'Sort by' at the top of the kanban board
- Select a sorting option from:
  - Creation date (new-old, old-new)
  - Priority (low-high, high-low)
- Your needs will be organised based on the sorting option selected
Search By: Need Title

Turn Need into Assignment

Access Need: Go to the need you want to create an assignment from
Initiate Conversion: Click on 'Turn into assignment'
View confirmation modal: Click 'Continue' in the warning modal
Successful creation: Once confirmed, you will land on assignment creation form. All fields that existed in your need will be preserved and pre-filled in assignment form.
Fill in assignment form: Fill in all required information in assignment and click 'Create assignment'.
Preview assignment: Have a final look at your assignment and submit to our team for review and publication. No worries - we check all the details and we get back to you if anything needs changing.

What happens to your Need once you turn it into an assignment?

If you complete the assignment creation process, your need will no longer be visible on the needs board. Instead, you can locate it as an assignment on your Assignments page. However, if you decide to cancel your progress and have not yet created the assignment, your need will be safely preserved in the Needs dashboard. You can always return to it later to convert it into an assignment.