Tutorial

Learn Blade, one tap at a time.

A hands-on guide for CPM’s team and clients. Pick your path, follow the steps, and try each one in the real app.

1Every request is written down once, in the client’s own words, so nothing depends on someone remembering it.

2It has one owner, who said yes to it, and it is proved with evidence before it counts as done.

3The client is kept up to date, with updates that are checked before they go out.

What you need:A phone or a laptopYour invite email

Office team · Coordinators and consultants · about 35 minutes. Your ticks are saved on this device.

You’ve done every step on this path. Nice work.

Getting in

Three short steps, and you never have to do them again.

Open your invite

About 3 min

You get an email that says “… invited you to CPM on Blade”. Tap Accept the invite.

Blade opens a page called Join CPM on Blade. Fill in:

  • Your name: as your colleagues know you.
  • Choose a password: at least 10 characters.
  • Type it again: the same password.

Tap Join and sign in. That’s it, you’re in.

The invite works for seven days, and only for the email address it was sent to. Already have a Blade account? Blade asks for that password instead.

Try it now

Find the email from Blade in your inbox. Not there? Look in spam.

Sign in

About 2 min

On the page Sign in to Blade, type your Email and Password, then tap Sign in.

No password to hand? Tap Email me a sign-in link. Open the email on the same phone and tap the link. It works once, for 15 minutes.

Forgot your password? Tap Forgot password?, then Send the link. The link works once, for an hour. Choosing a new password signs you out on your other devices.

Once you’re in, your phone stays signed in for 30 days, so you are not asked for a password every shift.

Try it now

Open the sign-in page and sign in.

Open the sign-in page

Put Blade on your home screen

About 1 min

Blade then opens like an app, with its own icon: an orange square with a lightning bolt.

  • iPhone: open Blade in Safari. Tap the Share button, then Add to Home Screen.
  • Android: open Blade in Chrome. Tap the ⋮ menu, then Install app (on some phones: Add to Home screen).

Try it now

Open Blade on your phone, then add it to your home screen.

Open Blade

If you leave CPM

When someone is removed from Blade, their access ends at once. On their next tap Blade signs them out and says “Your access to Blade was removed.” Their name stays in the history.

Finding your way

Everything you need is one or two taps away.

The tab bar and the sidebar

About 2 min

On a phone, the bar at the bottom has five buttons:

  • Today: what needs you now. Start every day here.
  • Work: every task, with filters such as Mine and Waiting.
  • The orange + in the middle: capture a request.
  • Projects: your clients. The kitchen team sees Shift here instead.
  • Me: your details, your password, and More (Unsorted, Review, Shift, Exceptions and the rest).

On a laptop, the same places are in the black sidebar on the left, with a white Capture button at the top. You only see the places your role uses.

Blade’s Today screen on a phone: four number cards, the list Needs your call, and the tab bar with Today, Work, an orange plus button, Projects and Me.
Example: Patrick’s Today on a phone, with the tab bar at the bottom.

Try it now

Open Today and tap each tab once.

Open Today

The bell

About 1 min

The bell at the top shows an orange number when something is new: a handoff, a review result, an overdue item or an urgent exception.

Tap it to read them. Mark all read clears the number. Closing the bell marks what you saw as read.

Try it now

Tap the bell and read what is new.

Open Blade

What the colours mean

Every colour in Blade means one thing, and it always comes with words. Orange is just Blade’s own colour: it never means a state.

Learn the colours

About 2 min
OverdueDue yesterday

Red: late. Past its date, or a client who should have heard from CPM by now. Deal with red first.

StaleNot moved since Mon

Amber: not moved. Nobody has touched it for a while (three days, unless Patrick changes it). Also used when a handoff has waited too long: Karim hasn’t accepted · 26h

Waiting for KarimIn review

Blue: waiting. Handed to someone who has not accepted yet, or handed in and waiting for a reviewer.

Done

Green: done. Finished, and the evidence was approved.

UnknownDue date unknown

Dashed grey: Unknown. Nobody knows yet, so Blade says so instead of guessing.

MK KH ?

Faces. A filled circle is the owner, who accepted the work. A dashed blue ring means it was handed to them and they have not accepted it yet. A dashed grey ? means nobody owns it.

Reported Source-verified Reviewed

Evidence dots: how sure we are. One dot: someone said so. Two: checked at the source. Three: a reviewer approved the proof.

Office team

For coordinators and consultants. This is the loop every request goes round: capture it, hand it over, do it, prove it, review it, tell the client.

Capture what a client said

About 3 min

Tap the orange + (or Capture on a laptop, or press C).

  • What was said: type or paste it as it was said.
  • Who said it, How (Call, WhatsApp, In person or Email) and When (Just now or Earlier).
  • Project (optional): not sure? Pick Not sure. It goes to Unsorted and a coordinator links it.
  • Add details: your own reading of what they meant, photos or files. Your reading is kept beside their words, never over them.

Then choose:

  • Save: keeps what was said. Nothing else happens yet.
  • Save + create work: also turns it into a task. Choose I’ll do it, Hand it to someone or Decide later, then tap Save and create work.
Fill in only what you know. Your draft is saved on the phone as you type, so a lost signal loses nothing.
The Capture screen with the client’s words typed in, Who said it, How set to WhatsApp, When set to Just now, and the Save and Save + create work buttons.
Example: Romy capturing a WhatsApp message from a client.

Try it now

Capture something a client said to you today.

Open Capture

Sort the Unsorted inbox

About 2 min

Captures that are not on a project yet land in Unsorted, oldest first. Coordinators and Patrick sort them.

  • Tap Sort, pick the project under Link to a project, then tap Link.
  • Tap Add reading to note what you think the client meant.

When the list is empty, it says All sorted.

Try it now

Open Unsorted and sort the oldest capture.

Open Unsorted

Hand work to someone

About 3 min

On a task, tap Hand off (or find it in the task’s ⋯ menu). Choose who it goes To, write the Result you expect (what does done look like?) and a Due date, then tap Send handoff.

Nothing is theirs until they accept it. They get a notification and must choose:

  • Accept: now they own it.
  • Decline or ask, then Ask a question: you answer, then they decide.
  • Decline or ask, then Decline, with a reason such as I’m at capacity or Wrong person. It comes back to you.

Nobody can accept for someone else, not even Patrick. If nobody accepts within a day, Blade tells you, the task turns amber, and it goes into Patrick’s morning brief.

A task waiting for Karim to accept. The Owner panel says Waiting for you to accept, with the expected result, and the buttons Decline or ask and Accept at the bottom.
Example: Karim’s screen after Romy handed him a task. The dashed blue ring means he has not accepted yet.

Try it now

See which of your handoffs are still waiting.

Open Waiting

Do the work, then submit evidence

About 3 min

Open your task from Work → Mine. Tap Start when you begin.

When it’s done, tap Submit evidence. Add what the task asks for (Needed: … tells you): a Photo, Files, a Value such as a number, and always a Note: what you did, in a sentence. Then tap Submit for review.

Submitting isn’t approval. A reviewer checks it next.

The Submit evidence sheet: Needed: file, value. A box to add a photo or file, a Food cost % field, a Note field and the Submit for review button.
Example: Maya handing in her brunch menu options: a file and the food cost.

Try it now

Open your own tasks.

Open my work

Review someone’s work

About 2 min

If you check other people’s work, you have Review: everything waiting for your decision, oldest first. Open one and look at the proof.

  • Approve: the task is done.
  • Request changes: say what needs to change, for example Photo is unclear or Something is missing. They send a new revision.

Every revision is kept: Revision 1, Revision 2 and so on. Nobody approves their own work.

A task with two submissions. Revision 2 is waiting for review; Revision 1 shows Changes requested by Karim Haddad with his note. Buttons Request changes and Approve at the bottom.
Example: Karim reviewing Nour’s second revision. The first one and his note are kept.

Try it now

See what is waiting for your review.

Open Review

Send the client an update

About 4 min

On the project, tap Draft client update. Write the Recap (where things stand), and if you like what changed, issues, the next step and one clear ask. Tap Save draft.

  1. Approve. The client owner (or Patrick) taps Approve. Coordinators draft; the client owner approves and sends.
  2. Send it. Tap Mark sent, then Copy text or Open WhatsApp. Send it, say how it went out, and tap Mark sent.
  3. Their reply. When they answer, tap Log reply, write What they said and pick the Next contact (a week, unless you choose). Tap Save reply.

Serious news (a complaint, a missed promise, money or staffing trouble): under Is this a serious exception? tap Yes, Patrick approves first and choose the kind. Nobody sends it until he approves.

Nothing reaches the client until it is approved and marked sent.
The Client updates panel: a Draft with Edit and Approve buttons, and an update marked Sent, no reply yet, with a Log reply button.
Example: Maya’s client updates for Sana Café: a draft to approve, and one sent with no reply yet.

Try it now

Open one of your projects and find Client updates.

Open Projects

Ask the client, share, or raise an exception

About 3 min
  • Ask the client something: on the project, tap Ask the client, write Your question and tap Ask. It shows in their portal under What we need from you.
  • Share a deliverable: on the task, open the ⋯ menu, choose Client sign-off, turn on Show it to the client (and The client must accept it if they must sign it off), then Save.
  • Share a file: in the project’s Files, tap the share button next to it.
  • Something went wrong? Open the ⋯ menu and choose Raise an exception. Pick the kind, say it In one line, and tap Raise it and tell Patrick. He hears about it straight away.
Tap Client view on a project to see exactly what the client sees.

Try it now

Open a project and tap Client view.

Open Projects

The golden rules

Six habits that make Blade work. Blade itself holds everyone to them.

Read the golden rules

About 2 min
  1. Write down what was said, in their words. Your reading goes beside it, never over it.
  2. Nothing is yours until you accept it. Being named is not the same as saying yes.
  3. Proof before done. A photo, a file, a number or a note, and a reviewer approves it.
  4. “Unknown” is better than a guess. Leave a date or a name empty if you do not know it.
  5. Nothing is ever deleted. Every change, every revision and every reply is kept in the history.
  6. Drafts survive a lost signal. What you type is saved on your phone until Blade confirms it.

If something goes wrong

The questions people ask most. Tap one to open it.

I never got the invite email

Look in your spam or junk folder, and search your inbox for “Blade”. Still nothing? Ask the person who invited you to tap Send again. Only the newest link works, and only for the email address it was sent to.

My link has expired

An invite lasts seven days. A sign-in link works once, for 15 minutes. A password link works once, for an hour. For an invite, ask for a new one. For the others, go to the sign-in page and ask for a new link.

I forgot my password

On the sign-in page, tap Forgot password?, type your email and tap Send the link. Open the email, choose a new password and tap Save and sign in. Or skip the password: tap Email me a sign-in link.

A photo won’t send on bad Wi-Fi

What you typed is kept on your phone, so nothing is lost. Move somewhere with a better signal, or switch to mobile data, and send it again. Sending again never makes a copy. If the photo itself did not finish uploading, Blade asks you to take it again.

I accepted something by mistake

Open it, tap the ⋯ menu and choose Hand off to pass it to the right person. It stays yours until they accept. If you are not sure who should have it, tell the person who sent it to you.

I can’t find something

Search. On a laptop press ⌘K on a Mac, or CtrlK on Windows. On a phone, tap the magnifying glass at the top. Type part of a project, client, person or task. Still missing? You may not have access to it: ask your coordinator.

I lost my phone

Sign in on another device, open Me and tap Sign out of every device. Every phone and computer signed in to your account is signed out at once. Then tell your coordinator.

Getting help

Stuck? Ask your coordinator. They can send a new invite, change what you can see, and help with anything on your screen.