Project methodology preset

A project-level preset that tells TruePPM which planning model the team uses, and hides the irrelevant tabs by default. The API surface is unchanged — methodology hides tabs but does not gate routes.

Where this lives in the story

The system-level encoding of the hybrid PM flow’s central thesis: one model, multiple persona views. Without methodology, every persona sees ten tabs and the workspace overwhelms.

The matrix

Tab	Waterfall	Agile	Hybrid
Overview	✅	✅	✅
Board	✅	✅	✅
Sprints	❌	✅	✅
Schedule	✅	❌	✅
Grid	✅	✅	✅
Calendar	✅	❌	✅
Team	✅	✅	✅
Risks	✅	✅	✅
Reports	✅	✅	✅
Settings	✅	✅	✅

Waterfall hides only the Sprints tab; Agile hides only Schedule and Calendar; Hybrid hides nothing. The Grid tab replaced the earlier separate WBS and Table tabs (ADR-0053) and is visible in all three methodologies — its Outline mode covers the WBS use case for Waterfall and Hybrid, while Flat mode is the Agile default. Independently of methodology, the Team tab is additionally role-gated: it only shows for users with the Resource Manager role or above.

The default for new projects is Hybrid — every tab visible. Existing projects (created before ADR-0041 landed) all default to Hybrid; no behavior change.

Why hide tabs but not gate routes

The preset communicates “this is not how we work here”, not “this is not allowed.” Power users who know what they want can always reach a hidden view by direct URL. Mobile or API consumers are unaffected. Hiding lowers cognitive load at onboarding without restricting the system.

Customize views — your personal layer

The methodology preset is the team-level default; Customize views is your personal layer on top of it. Open the Views menu in the top bar (or Settings → General → Views) and toggle off the tabs you never use — a Product Owner who lives in Backlog and Board can hide Schedule and Calendar; a scheduler can hide the board. Your choice is saved to your account and applies to every project you open.

A few rules keep it predictable:

• You can only hide views that the project’s methodology already shows — Customize views layers on top of the preset, it never re-shows a methodology-hidden tab.
• Overview is always shown — it is the orientation landing, so your nav can never be emptied.
• Hidden views are not gone: they stay listed in the Views menu and are reachable from the ⌘K command palette as “Go to {view}”. A hidden view’s URL still works — hiding is cosmetic, never a permission change.
• Reset to {methodology} default clears your personal hides for the current project and falls back to the methodology layout.

Customize views is per-user and cosmetic — it changes only your own navigation, never what teammates see. (An administrator pinning views for everyone is a separate, governance-level capability reserved for TruePPM Enterprise.)

Where to find it

• Project creation wizard — step 3 prompts for the methodology with one-line descriptions per choice
• Project settings — the same selector, editable post-creation; takes effect immediately

Methodology inheritance

As of 0.3, you can set the planning model — Waterfall, Agile, or Hybrid — at three scopes that inherit from one another: set the default once for the whole workspace under Settings → Workspace → Methodology, and programs and projects will inherit it, each able to override its own scope.

The key difference from the iteration label is that a methodology is non-null at every scope — there is no blank “inherit” option to choose. Inheritance is therefore policy-driven: the workspace’s override policy will decide whether lower scopes may deviate from the workspace default.

• Suggest (the default) — the workspace default pre-fills new programs and projects, but a PM can change the method per scope.
• Inherit — every program and project follows the workspace default; the per-scope picker is rendered read-only.
• Enforce — the workspace default is mandatory and cannot be overridden. Enforce will be a TruePPM Enterprise capability; in the OSS community edition, Enforce behaves like Suggest — it does not lock.

The effective methodology will be resolved on the server, so the web app, the mobile app, and the API all read the same value. The view-tab matrix above is driven by the effective methodology, so a workspace-level lock immediately reshapes which tabs appear across every project under it.

The read-only picker is only a courtesy render-gate — the server is the source of truth. A direct API attempt to override the methodology while a workspace lock is active will be rejected with a 403.

Iteration terminology

Not every team that runs timeboxes calls them “Sprints.” Scrumban and SAFe-adjacent teams use “Iteration” or “PI”, and forcing strict Scrum-Guide vocabulary reads as a mandate. As of 0.3, you can label the iteration container — Sprint (the default), Iteration, PI, or a custom word — at three scopes that inherit from one another: set it once for the whole workspace under Settings → Workspace → General, override it for a Program, and override it again on an individual Project. Each scope can also choose to inherit its parent’s term, so a relabel in one place flows down to everything below it. The most specific override wins (project, then program, then the workspace default), and the effective label is resolved on the server so the web app, the mobile app, and the API all show the same word.

The chosen label will flow through every iteration surface: the tab, the sprint workspace, the board, planning, guardrails, the burndown, and the milestone-bridge dialog. It is display-only — like the methodology preset, it changes what you see, never what the system does: scheduling, permissions, and the API are untouched. Existing projects keep “Sprint”, so nothing changes unless a team opts in. Locking a term workspace-wide so lower scopes cannot override it (Enforce) will be a TruePPM Enterprise capability.

API endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Purpose
GET	/api/v1/projects/{id}/	Includes methodology, the raw iteration_label override (nullable; null = inherit), the resolved effective_iteration_label, and inherited_iteration_label. Also includes the server-resolved effective_methodology and inherited_methodology read fields
GET	/api/v1/programs/{id}/	Includes the server-resolved effective_methodology and inherited_methodology read fields
PATCH	/api/v1/projects/{id}/	Accepts methodology (WATERFALL | AGILE | HYBRID) and iteration_label (free text, ≤32 chars, or null to inherit; Admin+ only). A methodology PATCH is refused (403) when the workspace override policy locks it
PATCH	/api/v1/programs/{id}/	Accepts methodology (WATERFALL | AGILE | HYBRID) and iteration_label (override or null to inherit the workspace default; Admin+ only). A methodology PATCH is refused (403) when the workspace override policy locks it
PATCH	/api/v1/workspace/	Accepts iteration_label (the workspace default) and iteration_label_override_policy (inherit | suggest | enforce; enforce is Enterprise). Also accepts methodology (the workspace default: WATERFALL | AGILE | HYBRID) and methodology_override_policy (suggest | inherit | enforce; enforce is Enterprise; Admin only)

Related ADRs

• ADR-0041 — Project methodology preset
• ADR-0107 — Workspace experience preset / methodology inheritance
• ADR-0111 — Configurable iteration-container label

If you are…

• Sarah (construction PM) — set Waterfall. Sprint chrome disappears; Schedule and Grid (outline mode) dominate.
• Maya (Scrum Master) — set Agile. Schedule and Calendar disappear and Grid defaults to flat mode; Sprints and Board dominate.
• Diana (PMO Director) — leave Hybrid as the default for projects that span teams. Override per project where the team’s method is clear.