Setup Guide, Week 3: Set up your use cases
Last updated: November 4, 2026
In week 3, you choose what you want Span to help with first, then set it up so the answers come to you. This guide is for engineering leaders and the managers who will use Span day to day.
Why it matters
Connected data only helps if people look at it. When you pick one or two focus areas and send the answers to Slack and to dashboards, Span becomes a habit instead of a report people open once.
For engineering leaders: a short list of outcomes to focus on, each with a metric and an owner.
For managers: dashboards, Targets and digests that keep their team's numbers in front of them.
How it works
Once you've picked a focus area, these tools deliver the answers:
Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
Playbooks | Src answers a question on a schedule and posts the answer to Slack |
Custom dashboards | A saved, shareable view of the metrics for one focus area |
Targets | A team goal, with an alert when work slips |
Notifications | A daily Team Slack Digest and personal summary notifications |
Surveys | Short surveys in Slack about how engineers experience their work |
Setup
Any manager or leader can set these up for the teams they can see. Creating playbooks needs the Manage Playbooks permission, which Owners and Admins have by default.
1. Choose one or two focus areas
Why: A clear goal gives everyone a reason to look at Span, and teams that focus on one outcome see results faster.
How: Pick the outcomes you want to improve in the next 90 days. For each one, write down the metric you'll watch, the owner and a review date.
Docs: each of these guides walks through the reports to use.
See where engineering effort goes, and steer it toward your priorities
Understand what you spend on AI tools, and get more value from it
Help engineers get more done with AI agents, with less hand-holding
2. Set up a playbook
Why: Answers arrive in Slack on a schedule, so no one has to remember to log in and check.
How: Have Src ask a question on a schedule and post the answer to your team's Slack channel.
Docs: Using Src Playbooks · Service Accounts
3. Build a dashboard for each focus area
Why: One place with just the metrics that matter, ready to pull up in a team meeting or leadership review.
How: Add the metrics for the focus area and share the dashboard with the people who review it.
Docs: Custom dashboards · Custom Reports Guide · Using the "Group by" dimension
4. Set a Target
Why: It makes a working norm visible to the whole team and alerts you when work slips. It's the easiest way to track an improvement.
How: Pick a norm, such as time to first review, and set a goal for it.
Docs: Targets · Benchmarking in Span
5. Turn on notifications
Why: Keeps each team's numbers in front of managers and engineers every day, without anyone logging in.
How: Turn on the daily Team Slack Digest in Team Settings, and ask each person to turn on their summary notifications.
Docs: Summary Notifications
6. Plan a survey
Why: System data shows what's happening. Surveys tell you how engineers feel about it and why.
How: Start with a short pulse survey in Slack. If AI adoption is a focus, consider the Agent Readiness Survey.
Docs: Span DX Surveys: Complete Guide · Agent Readiness Survey
7. If AI effectiveness is a focus, review the AI reports
Why: They show whether AI adoption is real, what it costs, and whether AI-assisted work is better or just faster.
How: Start with the AI Investment Overview, then use the other reports to dig into adoption, spend and impact.
Docs: AI Investment Overview · AI Tool Adoption Report · AI Spend Report · Comparison Report · Harness health · Which AI report to use
Things to know
Playbooks share the runner's access: a playbook run as you shows the channel your own data access. For shared channels, run it as a service account.
Summary notifications are off by default: each person turns on their own.
Survey privacy is set up front: choose Anonymous or Transparent before you send. Results stay hidden below 4 responses.
Start small: one or two focus areas get used. Ten get ignored.
Example: a playbook asks "Where did our team's work wait longest last week?" every Monday morning and posts the answer to the team channel. The manager brings that answer to the weekly team meeting.
You're ready for week 4 when
One or two focus areas are chosen, each with a metric, an owner and a review date.
At least one playbook is posting to Slack.
A dashboard exists for each focus area.
At least one Target is set.
Team digests and notifications are on.
A survey is planned, with a send date.
Related articles
Days 31–90 with Span: turn your first experiment into lasting results
Get Span's answers delivered: Playbooks, digests and report subscriptions
Need help?
Contact your Span account team or reach out to support@span.app.