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Sample plan · fictional company

PlotkeeperCommunity garden management app: a sample sprint plan

A solo founder turns the paper, spreadsheets and email behind community gardens into one app for plots, renewals, waitlists and volunteer hours.

  • TypeStartup, first version
  • IndustryCommunity gardens and nonprofits
  • SizeSolo founder, 3 pilot gardens with about 210 plots and 260 gardeners
  • Plan4 monthly sprints, 26 cards

Plotkeeper and everyone in this plan are made up. The format is real: it is how I plan and run every web app build, one board per month, reviewed with the client every Thursday.

The brief

The problem today

Most community gardens are run by volunteer coordinators with a clipboard, a spreadsheet and a long email list. Plot fees arrive as checks and cash, renewals are chased one gardener at a time, and the waitlist lives in a notebook, so an open plot can sit empty for weeks while nobody remembers who is next. Required volunteer hours are tracked on a sign-in sheet that nobody adds up until the season is over. The founder ran a garden like this for six years and knows the coordinators will not pay for anything that takes longer than the clipboard.

What the app has to do

A working product the three pilot gardens use through a real renewal season: every plot on a map, renewals and fees paid online straight to each garden, a waitlist that offers open plots on its own, and volunteer hours that add up as they are logged. Then open signups to other gardens.

Who uses it

Founder
Nadia Okonjo, founder of Plotkeeper and a former community garden coordinator

See every garden on the platform, help a coordinator who is stuck, and know which gardens are active.

Garden admin
The volunteer coordinator or board member who runs one garden

Set up the plot map, run renewals, manage the waitlist, approve fee waivers and send announcements.

Gardener
A member who rents a plot at one garden

Renew and pay on a phone, ask for a fee waiver privately, log volunteer hours and read announcements.

Waitlist applicant
Someone waiting for a plot who is not yet a member

Join the waitlist, see their place in line, and accept an offered plot before it expires.

What gets built

Garden signup and setup A coordinator creates their garden's own space, sets the season, the fees and the rules, and invites other admins. 2 screens
Create your garden

The first screen a new coordinator sees, a short form that creates the garden's space.

  • Garden name, address and web address (plotkeeper.app/g/garden-name)
  • Season start and end dates
  • Plot sizes offered and the yearly fee for each, set by the garden
  • Invite another admin by email
Garden settings

Rules that drive renewals, the waitlist and volunteer hours.

  • Renewal window length in days
  • Waitlist offer expiry in days (default 5)
  • Required volunteer hours per plot per season
  • Fee waiver on or off, and the waiver question text
  • Connect payouts button (Stripe Connect)
Plot map A simple grid of the garden's plots, color-coded by status, that admins edit and gardeners can view. 3 screens
Plot map

The whole garden at a glance, each plot a tile on a grid.

  • Status colors for rented, open, held and needs cleanup
  • Plot number and gardener's first name on each tile
  • Filter by bed row or plot size
  • Count of plots in each status above the map
Plot editor

Lay out the grid and set each plot's details.

  • Drag tiles to match the real layout, add or remove a row
  • Plot number, size (small, standard, raised bed), and accessible bed flag
  • Status picker with a note, for example "needs cleanup, old tomato cages"
Plot detail

One plot's history and current gardener.

  • Current gardener, rental start and renewal status
  • Past gardeners by season
  • Mark open, hold for someone, or mark needs cleanup
Rentals and renewals Yearly plot rentals, a renewal season with reminders, and online payment of the plot fee straight to each garden's own Stripe account. 3 screens
Renewal season

The admin's board for this year's renewals.

  • Open renewals button that emails every gardener
  • Columns for not started, renewed and paid, waiver requested, not renewing
  • Days left in the renewal window
  • Send reminder to everyone not started
Renew my plot

The gardener's phone-first page to renew and pay.

  • Plot number, size and this year's fee
  • Pay now (card or bank) through the garden's Stripe account
  • Ask for a fee waiver link, a private short form
  • I'm not renewing this year button, with an optional reason
Fee waivers

The admin's private list of waiver requests.

  • Request with the gardener's answer to the waiver question
  • Approve full waiver, approve half fee, or decline
  • Only admins see this list, never other gardeners
Waitlist and offers A public waitlist for each garden that offers an open plot to the next person automatically and moves on if the offer expires. 3 screens
Join the waitlist

Public page linked from the garden's website or flyer.

  • Name, email, phone and plot size wanted
  • Accessible bed needed checkbox
  • Confirmation with place in line
Waitlist

The admin's ordered list of everyone waiting.

  • Position, name, date joined, size wanted
  • Offer status (waiting, offered, accepted, expired, declined)
  • Move up or down with a required reason
Plot offer

The page an applicant opens from the offer email.

  • Plot number and size, with its place on the map
  • Days left to accept
  • Accept and pay, or decline
Volunteer hours Gardeners log the hours they give, admins approve them, and everyone sees progress against the garden's required hours. 2 screens
Log hours

The gardener's quick form, built for a phone at the garden gate.

  • Date, hours and task (watering, compost, workday, event)
  • Optional note
  • Progress bar toward required hours this season
Hours overview

The admin's view of every gardener's hours.

  • Gardener, hours logged, hours required, hours approved
  • Approve or query a log entry
  • Filter to gardeners who are behind
Announcements Admins write a short message and send it by email to all gardeners, the waitlist, or both. 2 screens
New announcement

Write and send one message.

  • Subject and message
  • Send to all gardeners, waitlist, or gardeners who are behind on hours
  • Preview and send, or schedule for later
Announcement history

Past messages and how many people opened them.

  • Sent date, audience and subject
  • Delivered and opened counts
Founder console Nadia's view across every garden on the platform, for support and for knowing how the business is doing. 2 screens
All gardens

Every garden with its activity and setup progress.

  • Garden name, admin, plots, gardeners and last activity
  • Setup checklist progress (map, settings, payouts connected)
  • View as admin button for support, recorded in an audit log
Platform overview

The numbers that matter for an early startup.

  • Gardens signed up and active this month
  • Renewals completed across all gardens
  • Plot fees collected through the platform, as a count of payments

How the main jobs flow

Renewal season
  1. The garden admin opens renewals and every current gardener gets an email with their own renewal link.
  2. The gardener opens the link on their phone and pays the plot fee, which goes straight to the garden's Stripe account.
  3. A gardener who cannot afford the fee asks for a waiver; the admin approves it privately and the plot is renewed.
  4. Reminders go out 7 days and 2 days before the window closes to anyone who has not acted.
  5. When the window closes, unrenewed plots move to open or needs cleanup on the map.
Plot opens, waitlist offer
  1. A plot is marked open on the map.
  2. The next person on the waitlist who wants that size gets an offer email with a 5-day expiry.
  3. If they accept and pay, they become a gardener and the plot shows as rented.
  4. If they decline or the offer expires, the offer moves to the next person automatically and the admin sees a note.
New garden signs up
  1. A coordinator finds Plotkeeper and creates their garden.
  2. They lay out the plot map, set fees and rules, and connect their Stripe account for payouts.
  3. They import or invite their gardeners and share the waitlist link.
  4. Nadia sees the new garden in the founder console and sends a welcome note.

How we will know it worked

  • All three pilot gardens run their renewal season in the app, with no paper renewal forms.
  • Most plot fees at the pilot gardens paid online instead of by check or cash.
  • Every open plot offered to the waitlist within one day of opening.
  • Signups open to other gardens, with a new garden able to set itself up without Nadia's help.
  • Nadia can run, support and change the product with the documents we hand over.

Not in this build

  • Text message reminders (email only for v1, texts are on the later list).
  • Tool lending, seed swaps and garden shed bookings.
  • Donations and grant tracking.
  • A native phone app; every gardener screen works in the phone's browser.
  • Translations into other languages, which the pilot gardens asked about and which are on the later list.
Build notes: integrations, data and sample records

Integrations

  • Stripe Connect: Each garden connects its own Stripe account, so plot fees go straight to the garden and Plotkeeper never holds their money.
  • Stripe Billing: Monthly or yearly subscriptions that gardens pay Plotkeeper, on the tiers Nadia sets.
  • Resend: Renewal links, reminders, waitlist offers and announcements by email.
  • Spreadsheet import: Gardeners, plots and the waitlist brought in from a garden's existing spreadsheet.

Data

Garden

name, address, slug, season start, season end, renewal window days, offer expiry days, required hours, waiver enabled, Stripe account, plan

Plot

garden, number, row, size, accessible, status, status note, grid position

Gardener

garden, name, email, phone, role, joined on

Rental

plot, gardener, season, fee, waiver, status, paid on, payment id

Waiver request

rental, answer, decision (full, half, declined), decided by, decided on

Waitlist entry

garden, name, email, size wanted, accessible needed, joined on, position, status

Offer

waitlist entry, plot, sent on, expires on, status

Volunteer log

gardener, date, hours, task, note, approved by

Announcement

garden, subject, message, audience, sent on, opened count

Sample records for the prototype

  • Founder: Nadia Okonjo, ran the Ellery Street garden for six years before starting Plotkeeper.
  • Gardens: Ellery Street Community Garden (64 plots, 8 required hours), Fernhollow Commons (110 plots, 6 required hours, 12 raised accessible beds), Quarry Hill Growers (36 plots, no required hours).
  • Admins: Walt Brennan (Ellery Street), Imani Ross and Theo Lund (Fernhollow Commons), Gloria Mendez (Quarry Hill).
  • Ellery Street map: 6 rows of plots A1-F11, with 52 rented, 5 open, 3 held for returning members, 4 needs cleanup.
  • Fees: Ellery Street charges one yearly fee for a standard plot and half that for a small plot; Fernhollow Commons waives the fee for accessible beds.
  • Renewal season at Ellery Street: 38 renewed and paid, 9 not started, 4 waiver requests (2 approved full, 1 half, 1 waiting), 3 not renewing.
  • Gardeners: Ruth Kaminski (plot B4, 11 hours logged), Dev Patel (plot C2, 3 of 8 hours), Lena Hoffmann (plot E7, waiver approved), Marcus Oyelaran (plot A9, not renewing, moving away).
  • Waitlist at Ellery Street: 17 people; Sam Whitaker is first for a standard plot and has an offer for plot D3 expiring in 2 days.
  • Expired offer: June Albright did not answer the offer for plot F1, so it moved to Carlos Rivas.
  • Volunteer log: Saturday spring workday, 14 gardeners, 3 hours each, compost turning and path mulching.
  • Announcement: Water is back on at the east spigot, sent to all Ellery Street gardeners, 49 of 64 opened.

The plan, month by month

Each month has its own board. Cards are numbered in the order they are worked across the whole plan. Each card shows what I build and, where it applies, what I need from the client. If something from the client arrives late, the cards after it move back by the same amount.

AIwhirks' part Plotkeeper's part

These are best-case sprints: they assume no delays, no changes to scope and no surprises. Progress is reviewed every Thursday. Months further out are less certain, so each one is planned in detail at the review that ends the month before.

Month 1

Scope, prototype and the foundation

Scope and prototype

We agree with Nadia what the first version must do and what waits, show a clickable prototype to the three pilot coordinators before any code, and set up accounts, sign-in and each garden's own space.

  • First version scope agreedEnd of week 1
  • Pilot coordinators have tried the prototypeEnd of week 2
  • Each pilot garden has its own spaceEnd of week 4

A startup's biggest risk is building the wrong thing, so the prototype goes in front of real coordinators before we write the app.

Week 1 Thursday check-in
1 Scope and prototype Week 1

Kickoff and the first version scope

A working session with Nadia on how a garden runs today, then a hard sort of every idea into first version or later. From it we write the build plan, the checklist we build and test against.

AIwhirksRun the session, write the build plan with the v1 and later lists, and send it for a read-through.
Plotkeeper · End of week 1Two hours for the session. Then: a copy of the paper renewal form, the waitlist notebook or sheet, and the volunteer sign-in sheet you used at Ellery Street.
2 Scope and prototype Week 1

Accounts in Plotkeeper's name

The app runs in accounts that Plotkeeper owns and pays for, so the product, the code and the data belong to your company from day one.

AIwhirksSend step-by-step setup notes, then set everything up once you invite us. We never need your passwords.
Plotkeeper · End of week 1Register the plotkeeper.app domain, then create the hosting, code, email and Stripe accounts in Plotkeeper's name and invite Travis to each.
Week 2 Thursday check-in
3 Scope and prototype Weeks 1-2

Clickable prototype for the pilot coordinators

A clickable prototype of the plot map, renewal page, waitlist offer and hours log, filled with Ellery Street sample data. Each pilot coordinator clicks through it and tells us what is wrong while it is still cheap to change.

AIwhirksBuild the prototype from the build plan in card 1, run a 30-minute walkthrough with each coordinator, and fold their notes back into the plan.
Plotkeeper · Middle of week 2Book a 30-minute call with Walt, Imani and Gloria, and join each one if you can.
Week 3 Thursday check-in
4 Gardens and plots Week 3

Each garden gets its own space

Every garden lives in its own walled-off space with its own web address, so one garden can never see another garden's gardeners or payments. This is the base the rest of the app sits on.

AIwhirksBuild the garden spaces and the test that proves one garden cannot see another's data.
PlotkeeperNothing new, this uses the scope from card 1.
5 Gardens and plots Weeks 3-4

Sign-in and roles

Gardeners and admins sign in with an email link, no password to forget. Founder, garden admin, gardener and waitlist applicant each see only what their role needs.

AIwhirksBuild sign-in, the four roles and the founder's access across gardens.
Plotkeeper · Middle of week 3Decide whether a garden admin can see a gardener's waiver answer, or only the decision. Your call as a former coordinator.
Week 4 Thursday: month review
6 Gardens and plots Week 4

Pilot admins sign in

Walt, Imani and Gloria each sign in to their garden's empty space and invite one other admin.

AIwhirksFix anything that gets in their way, the same week where we can.
Plotkeeper · Middle of week 4Ask each coordinator to spend 10 minutes signing in and send any notes.
7 Scope and prototype Week 4

Month review and next plan

At the last check-in of the month, what got done, what moved after the prototype, and the board for Month 2.

AIwhirksUpdate this plan and walk through it with you.
Month 2

Garden setup, plot maps and renewals

Gardens and plots

Coordinators set up their garden and lay out the plot map, the pilot gardens' real plots and members come in, and gardeners can renew and pay online straight to their garden.

  • All three pilot plot maps in the appEnd of week 2
  • First test renewal paid to a garden's accountEnd of week 4

Each pilot garden has to finish Stripe's own verification before it can take payments, which takes a few days, so it starts in week 1.

Week 1 Thursday check-in
8 Gardens and plots Week 1

Create your garden and settings

The short setup a new coordinator walks through, with the garden's name, season, plot sizes and fees, renewal window, offer expiry and required hours.

AIwhirksBuild garden setup and settings, and the setup checklist that shows what is left.
Plotkeeper · Start of week 1Ask each pilot garden to start connecting its own Stripe account using our one-page guide.
Week 2 Thursday check-in
9 Gardens and plots Weeks 1-2

The plot map

A grid of tiles that matches each garden's real layout, colored by status, rented, open, held or needs cleanup. Admins drag tiles into place and click a plot to see its history.

AIwhirksBuild the map, the plot editor and plot detail, and test it on a phone.
10 Gardens and plots Week 2

Bring in the pilot gardens' plots and members

Each pilot garden's plots, current gardeners and waitlist loaded from what they keep today. Anything that doesn't match, such as two gardeners on one plot, goes on a list to decide.

AIwhirksClean and load the data, and send each garden its list of mismatches.
Plotkeeper · Start of week 2Collect from each pilot coordinator a photo or sketch of their plot layout, their member list and their waitlist, in whatever form they have.
Week 3 Thursday check-in
11 Renewals and payments Weeks 3-4

Renewals and online payment

The admin opens renewals and every gardener gets their own link. The gardener pays on their phone and the money goes straight to the garden's Stripe account, never through Plotkeeper.

AIwhirksBuild the renewal board, the gardener's renewal page, reminders and Stripe Connect payouts using the settings from card 8.
12 Renewals and payments Week 3

Private fee waivers

A gardener who cannot afford the fee asks for a waiver from their renewal page. Only admins see the request, and they can waive the full fee, half, or decline.

AIwhirksBuild the waiver request and the admin's private waiver list.
Plotkeeper · Middle of week 3Agree the wording of the waiver question with the pilot coordinators, kind and short.
Week 4 Thursday: month review
13 Renewals and payments Week 4

Test renewal at Ellery Street

Walt renews his own plot and two volunteers renew theirs with a real card, and the money shows up in Ellery Street's Stripe account.

AIwhirksRun it with Walt and fix anything a gardener trips on.
Plotkeeper · Start of week 4Ask Walt to pick two gardeners who are happy to test, and confirm Ellery Street's Stripe account is verified.
14 Scope and prototype Week 4

Month review and next plan

What got done, what moved, and the board for Month 3.

AIwhirksUpdate this plan and walk through it with you.
Month 3

Waitlist, volunteer hours and announcements

Waitlist and volunteers

Open plots are offered to the waitlist on their own, gardeners log volunteer hours against their garden's rule, admins send announcements, and Nadia gets her founder console. The legal pages go in before the pilot.

  • Waitlist offers run on their ownEnd of week 1
  • Ready for the pilot renewal seasonEnd of week 4
Week 1 Thursday check-in
15 Waitlist and volunteers Week 1

Waitlist with automatic offers

A public waitlist page for each garden. When a plot opens on the map, the next person who wants that size gets an offer that expires after the garden's set number of days, then moves to the next person.

AIwhirksBuild the waitlist page, the admin list, the offer email and the expiry, using the map from card 9.
Plotkeeper · Start of week 1Confirm with the pilot coordinators how many days an offer stays open, and whether accessible beds go first to people who asked for one.
Week 2 Thursday check-in
16 Waitlist and volunteers Week 2

Volunteer hours

Gardeners log hours from their phone and see a progress bar toward their garden's required hours. Admins approve entries and filter to who is behind.

AIwhirksBuild the hours log, the admin overview and the progress bar.
17 Waitlist and volunteers Week 2

Announcements by email

An admin writes a short message and sends it to all gardeners, the waitlist, or gardeners who are behind on hours, now or later.

AIwhirksBuild the announcement editor, sending and the history with open counts.
Week 3 Thursday check-in
18 Waitlist and volunteers Week 3

Founder console

Every garden on the platform in one list, with setup progress and last activity, plus a view-as-admin button for support that is recorded in an audit log.

AIwhirksBuild the console and the audit log, and walk you through it.
19 Pilot and launch Weeks 3-4

Terms, privacy and the pricing page

Your terms of service and privacy policy in the app and on the signup page, and a pricing page that shows the tiers you choose for gardens.

AIwhirksPut the legal pages and pricing page in place, and add the agree-to-terms step to garden signup.
Plotkeeper · Middle of week 3Your terms of service and privacy policy from your lawyer, and your decision on the pricing tiers for gardens, for example by number of plots.
Week 4 Thursday: month review
20 Pilot and launch Week 4

Pilot dry run

Each pilot coordinator runs a pretend renewal season in a copy of their garden, start to finish, so the real one has no surprises.

AIwhirksRun each dry run with the coordinator and fix what they find before the real season.
Plotkeeper · Start of week 4Book an hour with each coordinator, and agree the date each garden opens its real renewals.
21 Scope and prototype Week 4

Month review and next plan

What got done, what moved, and the pilot plan for Month 4.

AIwhirksUpdate this plan and walk through it with you.
Month 4

Pilot renewal season, fixes and launch

Pilot and launch

The three pilot gardens run their real renewal season in the app, we fix what it turns up, garden subscriptions go in, and signups open to other gardens. Then handover.

  • Pilot renewal season running at all three gardensEnd of week 1
  • Signups open to other gardensEnd of week 3
  • Handover completeEnd of week 4

The plan is timed so this month lands on the pilot gardens' real renewal season. If a garden's season moves, the pilot moves with it.

Week 1 Thursday check-in
22 Pilot and launch Weeks 1-2

Real renewal season at the pilot gardens

Walt, Imani and Gloria open renewals for real. Every renewal, waiver, open plot and waitlist offer goes through the app, with paper kept only as a backup.

AIwhirksCheck in with each coordinator twice a week and fix issues in order of importance.
Plotkeeper · Start of week 1Recruit at least 5 gardeners at each pilot garden who will tell us honestly what was confusing, and keep one running list of notes.
Week 2 Thursday check-in
23 Renewals and payments Week 2

Subscriptions for gardens

Gardens pay Plotkeeper on the tiers you chose, with a free trial for new gardens. The pilot gardens stay free for the length you promised them.

AIwhirksBuild subscriptions on Stripe Billing using the tiers from card 19, and the billing page in garden settings.
Plotkeeper · Start of week 2Decide the trial length for new gardens and how long the pilot gardens stay free.
Week 3 Thursday check-in
24 Pilot and launch Weeks 2-3

Fix what the pilot found

Everything on the pilot notes list, most important first, each fix shown to the coordinator who found it.

AIwhirksFix, re-test and show each fix.
Plotkeeper · Middle of week 2Mark each note "must fix before launch" or "can wait".
25 Pilot and launch Week 3

Open signups

Any garden can now sign up, set itself up and start a trial without Nadia's help. The public signup page goes live on plotkeeper.app.

AIwhirksTurn on public signup, run a fresh garden through setup from scratch, and watch the first signups.
Plotkeeper · End of week 3Tell your coordinator network the signups are open, and ask each pilot coordinator for a short quote you can use.
Week 4 Thursday: month review
26 Pilot and launch Week 4

Handover and what comes next

The system documents, a backup and restore check, and the later list from card 1 with what the pilot added to it. Optional monthly support from here is your choice.

AIwhirksHand over the documents, run a restore test with you, and present the later list.
Plotkeeper · End of week 4Decide whether you want monthly support after launch.

Plotkeeper · Community garden management app · Best-case schedule: assumes no delays, changes or issues.

Questions about this plan

How long does it take to build a community garden management app?

This sample plan takes 4 monthly sprints, from kickoff to handover. The big milestones are pilot coordinators have tried the prototype (Month 1), first test renewal paid to a garden's account (Month 2), ready for the pilot renewal season (Month 3) and signups open to other gardens (Month 4). A real build's length depends on its scope, and the plan is reviewed every Thursday.

What gets built first?

Month 1 covers scope, prototype and the foundation. We agree with Nadia what the first version must do and what waits, show a clickable prototype to the three pilot coordinators before any code, and set up accounts, sign-in and each garden's own space.

What does Plotkeeper need to provide?

17 of the 26 cards include something from Plotkeeper, such as decisions, access or real data, each with a due point. If one arrives late, the cards after it move back by the same amount.

Who uses the community garden management app?

Founder: see every garden on the platform, help a coordinator who is stuck, and know which gardens are active. Garden admin: set up the plot map, run renewals, manage the waitlist, approve fee waivers and send announcements. Gardener: renew and pay on a phone, ask for a fee waiver privately, log volunteer hours and read announcements. Waitlist applicant: join the waitlist, see their place in line, and accept an offered plot before it expires.

Is this a real company?

No. Plotkeeper and everyone in this plan are made up. The format is real: it is how AIwhirks plans and runs every web app build.

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