Features

Everything you need to create and keep overview

Betterplan unites strategic planning and operational execution in one tool — so your team knows what matters and when it will be done.

Story Map

Every project tells a story.
The Story Map is where you tell it.

Imagine the Story Map as a map of your endeavor. Left to right, you read the big steps. Top to bottom, you see the options and variants for how each step can be implemented — important above, supplementary below.

Here a shared picture emerges that everyone refers to — everything else builds on it.

The Story Map in Betterplan with Initiatives, Epics, and User Stories
  • ● Three levels — Initiatives, Epics, and tasks represent your endeavor at three granularities.
  • ● Releases — Slice your endeavor into delivery sections and clearly assign tasks via horizontal swimlanes.
  • ● Adapt structure — Reorder tasks or convert Initiatives into Epics (and vice versa). The structure grows with your understanding.
  • ● Overview at any size — Minimap, focus mode, and collapsible Epics keep even large endeavors manageable.

Pro tip

Think of the Story Map like a screenplay. It tells the story of your user or customer within your endeavor. What goals do they have? What steps do they go through to reach them? If the story is right, the structure follows.

Backlog

All tasks in view.
The Backlog makes ready work visible.

All tasks land on a Kanban board, organized by maturity: from the first idea, through clarification in discovery, to fully thought-out tasks ready for execution.

Here you refine, evaluate, and prioritize tasks — and decide what's next.

The Backlog in Betterplan as a Kanban board organized by maturity
  • ● High-altitude overview — All tasks of your endeavor in one place, split by maturity. Alongside User Stories for user-valuable features, you'll find Project Stories for framing and organizational work, and Team Stories for tasks the team needs to keep delivering with quality long-term. Nothing falls outside the plan.
  • ● Prioritization and preparation for execution — Prioritization of next tasks happens in two dimensions: horizontally by maturity (ready takes precedence) and vertically by order (what's on top comes next).

Pro tip

Stop Starting, Start Finishing. Finish first, then start new things.

Iteration Board

Transparency in execution.
The Iteration Board makes every step visible.

An iteration is a fixed time window for focused work. On the Iteration Board, each task becomes a swimlane, its work items flow through Todo, Doing, and Done.

Discovery and Delivery run in parallel: tasks can be thought through and executed in the same iteration — ideal for daily stand-ups or recurring check-ins.

The Iteration Board in Betterplan with swimlanes per task and work items in Todo, Doing, Done
  • ● Details in execution — not in the Backlog — Each task becomes a swimlane with its work items, flowing through Todo, Doing, and Done. The Backlog stays free of detail noise; the specifics live where the team works on them.
  • ● Discovery and Delivery in parallel — Tasks are thought through (Draft → Ready) and executed (Todo → Doing → Done) in the same iteration. Two tracks, one board.
  • ● Iteration goal and capacity in view — Sprint goal placed prominently. Progress bar and remaining capacity always visible.

Pro tip

Keep Discovery and Delivery together in one task — that way all the information stays connected. In Betterplan, a task can be worked on in both the Discovery and Delivery tracks — no separate tickets for clarification and execution.

Delivery Timeline

When will you be done?
The Delivery Timeline computes the answer — and keeps it current.

The Delivery Timeline is not a classical planning view where you push tasks onto a timeline by hand. Instead, it shows the likely course of your endeavor — computed from priorities, estimates, and your team's velocity so far.

If priority or pace changes, the forecast updates automatically. You see what's done, what's next, and when the rest is likely to finish.

The Delivery Timeline in Betterplan as a Gantt view with completed, ongoing, and planned tasks
  • ● Forecast instead of manual planning — The timeline is computed from prioritization, estimates, and your team's velocity. You don't move tasks yourself — the forecast emerges automatically and stays current.
  • ● Three states at a glance — Done (solid), in progress (dashed), planned (outline). What's complete, what's running, and what's coming — visible immediately.
  • ● Releases as targets — Delivery sections appear directly on the timeline. You see when a release is likely to be completed.

Pro tip

Start conservatively. Estimate honestly what you can actually finish in one iteration — velocity calibrates itself after the first few iterations.

Estimation

An estimated backlog without having to estimate everything.
Betterplan uses the team default.

New tasks start with the lowest information density they'll ever have. A manual estimate at that point often isn't worth the effort — yet you still want an early overview of your endeavor's scope.

Teams develop an implicit default over time — certain values appear more often than others. Betterplan uses that effect: the median of all existing estimates becomes the team default. Not perfect, but good enough as a starting value.

  • ● Median instead of gut feel — Unestimated tasks automatically get the median of all existing estimates. Robust against outliers, stable over time.
  • ● A learning approximation — With each manual estimate, the automatic value gets more precise. In our experience, reliable from about 30 tasks onward.
  • ● Always overridable — What doesn't fit, you estimate yourself. The team default is a starting value, not a truth.

Pro tip

Estimation is a learning approximation — not a truth. Let the team default set the starting value and estimate manually where a task differs from the average.

More on the concept of automatic estimates

Collaboration

Knowledge stays where it emerges.
Discussions, files, and decisions right on the task.

Decisions happen fast. But where do they get captured? In chat, in meeting notes, in some separate doc?

In Betterplan, context lands directly on the task it belongs to. Discussions, attachments, links, and dependencies — all in one place instead of spread across tools.

  • ● Discussions per task — Multiple threads per task, each with status and Markdown comments. Indicators show open discussions right on the cards.
  • ● Links and dependencies — Link tasks with #42 in descriptions and comments; define "blocks" and "requires" between tasks.
  • ● Attachments and rich text — Upload files to the task; write descriptions and comments with Markdown, checklists, and images.
  • ● Real-time sync — Changes appear immediately for all connected team members.

Pro tip

Keep decisions where they take effect. Instead of a separate doc — right on the task where they apply. That way someone joining later can find them too.

Organisation

Find quickly, search no more.
Tags, filters, and ⌘K take you anywhere.

With 200 tasks across multiple releases, you'll quickly spend more time searching and filtering than deciding — unless the tooling is genuinely fast.

Betterplan ships with tags, filters, global search, and AutoFocus — all reachable by keyboard. Focus stays on the work, not on the tool.

  • ● Filter (⌘J) and search (⌘K) — Filter by tags, release, maturity, or progress; find any task in seconds via global search — with quick access to commonly used actions.
  • ● AutoFocus — A found task is automatically focused and stays focused when you switch views. No re-searching when moving between Story Map, Backlog, and Iteration Board.
  • ● Project tags — Custom colored tags per project for thematic grouping, with typeahead search for fast assignment.
  • ● Keyboard shortcuts and context menus — Quick create, show dependencies, open comments, navigate — all keyboard-reachable.

Pro tip

Use tags strategically. They work across all views — perfect for tracking a theme through your entire endeavor.

Workspace & Teams

Multiple teams, multiple projects.
One clear structure.

You rarely work on just one project — and not every project shares the same people. Betterplan separates data and permissions cleanly: each organization only sees its own work.

Workspaces, teams, and role-based permissions give you the structure for that — from a single person to a multi-team organization.

  • ● Workspaces and teams — Multiple organizations, teams, and projects cleanly separated. Switch between workspaces with one click.
  • ● Role-based permissions — Owner, Admin, and Member with clearly defined rights. Data isolation at the database level.
  • ● Guided onboarding — New users are walked through setup step by step. Project templates for a fast start.
  • ● Export and import — Save projects as JSON or export attachments as ZIP. Discussions and comments are included.

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