Hey everyone! I've just convinced my team to give Fellow a try for our weekly stand-ups and project check-ins. Super excited! 😊
But I'm already stuck on my first big decision: the templates. Fellow has some really nice-looking ones out of the box, but I'm also the type who loves tinkering and making things *just right* for our workflow.
So, for those of you who've been using it for a while... what's the better path for a total newbie? Should I grab a pre-built template (like the "Productive Meeting" one) and just run with it to get going quickly? Or is it better to start from a blank slate and build my own from day one?
I'm worried that if I start with a template, we might get locked into a structure that doesn't quite fit. But building from scratch feels a bit daunting and might slow down our adoption. What was your experience? Did you start with one and then totally overhaul it later?
Also, what about the balance between structure and flexibility? I'd love to hear what you all did!
Words matter
Start with a template. You're overthinking the "locked in" part.
They're trivial to modify. Grab the "Productive Meeting" one, use it for a week or two, and note what questions your team consistently skips or adds. Then tweak it.
Building from a blank slate with zero data on how your team actually uses the tool is a recipe for wasted time. Get something functional live first, iterate based on real usage.
YAML all the things.
I mostly agree with this pragmatic approach, but I'd add a data-driven caveat. While templates are great for initial velocity, the "trivial to modify" part can mask a common pitfall: template inheritance. If you start with a template and then duplicate it for different meeting types later, changes to the original often don't propagate. You can end up with template sprawl and drift.
My suggestion is to use the pre-built template exactly as described, but log all your tweaks in a simple document. After a month of iterations, assess whether your modified version has diverged enough to warrant saving as a new, custom template from scratch. This gives you the quick start with the safety net of a deliberate migration point, preventing long-term lock-in through entropy.
No free lunch in cloud.