If you’re running projects with clients, partners, or vendors, you already know the pain of endless email threads, out-of-date spreadsheets, and “where’s that doc?” headaches. You want one place where everyone—inside and outside your company—can actually get work done together without a circus act of permissions and confusion. This guide is for project managers, onboarding teams, and anyone who needs to wrangle external folks into one clear workflow using Rocketlane.
Here’s how to use Rocketlane to collaborate with external stakeholders, what to watch for, and some honest advice about what it’s good (and not so good) at.
1. Get Your House in Order Before Inviting External People
Let’s be blunt: nothing kills trust faster than inviting a client into a half-baked workspace. Before you even think about granting access to outsiders, get your own team’s stuff together.
- Define your internal workflow: Know who does what, who owns each stage, and what “done” actually means for each task.
- Standardize your project templates: Don’t build from scratch for each engagement. Use Rocketlane’s template feature to create consistent project plans and task lists.
- Set up your default permissions: Decide in advance what you want external folks to see (and not see). Rocketlane lets you control visibility on projects, tasks, documents, and even comments.
- Clean up your project naming: This sounds trivial, but you don’t want clients seeing “ACME-Onboarding-FINAL-final-v2” all over your workspace.
Pro tip: Run a mock project internally first. Invite a teammate as a “client” to see what they can access. You’ll catch embarrassing oversharing, missing files, or confusing instructions before it’s too late.
2. Set Up a Project and Invite External Stakeholders
Now you’re ready to bring in your external team—clients, partners, vendors, whoever needs to collaborate on the actual work.
Step-by-step:
- Create a new project from a template: This ensures consistency and saves time.
- Add internal team members first. Assign roles and responsibilities early—don’t wing it later.
- Invite external users carefully:
- Use their work emails, not personal accounts.
- Assign them the correct role (usually “Guest” or “External Collaborator”).
- Double-check what each role can see and do (Rocketlane’s role matrix is decent, but test it in practice).
- Send a clear welcome message: Don’t rely on Rocketlane’s generic invite email. Follow up with your own note explaining what they’ll see, what they’re expected to do, and who to contact with questions.
What works: Rocketlane’s external user setup is straightforward, and you can really lock down what’s visible. No more “oops, we just shared our internal cost estimate with the client.”
What doesn’t: External users sometimes get lost in the invite process—Rocketlane’s onboarding emails are generic. Always supplement with your own communication.
3. Set Permissions and Visibility—Don’t Assume Defaults Are Safe
One of Rocketlane’s biggest strengths is granular control over who sees what. But the defaults are not always what you’d expect, especially if you’re used to tools like Asana or Trello.
- Double-check task visibility: By default, some tasks may be visible to all project members, including guests. Mark sensitive tasks as “Internal” or hide them from external users.
- Use private comments: You can keep discussions internal by making comments private. Make sure your team knows the difference.
- Restrict document access: Only share the docs that are actually relevant for external folks.
- Set up approval steps: If you need sign-off from clients, use Rocketlane’s built-in approval workflow. Don’t try to hack this with comments—use the tool as intended.
Pro tip: After setting up permissions, log in as a guest user (or ask a trusted partner) and sanity-check what’s visible. Don’t just trust the checkboxes.
4. Use Built-In Communication Tools—But Don’t Force Everything In-App
Rocketlane offers chat, comments, and even email integration. It’s handy, but don’t expect all stakeholders to abandon their inboxes.
- Use comments for context: Tag external stakeholders for feedback or updates. Keep it focused—no novel-length threads.
- Pin important updates: Use Rocketlane’s announcement or update feature to highlight deadlines or changes.
- Don’t force chat: Some clients will never check in-app chat. If it’s urgent, use email or your usual Slack/Teams channels.
- Centralize files: Attach all relevant files to the right tasks or folders inside Rocketlane. No more “which version is this?” confusion.
What works: All project comms and files are in one place, so you don’t have to dig through email. Rocketlane’s notifications help keep people in the loop.
What doesn’t: Some users ignore notifications, especially if they’re not in Rocketlane daily. Don’t assume everyone’s reading everything—be ready to nudge or follow up elsewhere.
5. Track Progress Without Micromanaging
You want external stakeholders engaged, not annoyed. Rocketlane’s progress tracking is clear but avoid going overboard with reminders and status updates.
- Use status updates for alignment: Regularly update the project status so everyone knows what’s done, what’s next, and where things are stuck.
- Assign tasks to external users: Let clients or partners own certain deliverables. Don’t do everything yourself.
- Automate reminders (sparingly): Rocketlane can send reminders for overdue tasks, but too many pings will train people to ignore them.
- Use dashboards for transparency: Share progress dashboards with external users so they can self-serve on “where are we?” questions.
Pro tip: Agree on a cadence for updates at the start of the project. Do you need a weekly check-in? Monthly? Set expectations to avoid “why didn’t you tell us?” drama.
6. Handle Feedback and Approvals Without the Usual Drama
Getting feedback from external people can be like herding cats. Rocketlane’s built-in approval and feedback tools help, but only if you set clear expectations.
- Use official approval steps: Route documents or milestones for sign-off directly in Rocketlane.
- Set deadlines for feedback: Don’t leave review periods open-ended, or you’ll stall.
- Centralize feedback: Ask stakeholders to leave comments directly in Rocketlane, not in random email chains.
- Document decisions: Summarize approvals or key feedback in the project log. Don’t rely on memory.
What works: The approval feature is genuinely useful—no more “lost in email” sign-offs. Everything’s time-stamped.
What doesn’t: If your external stakeholders aren’t used to using a tool like Rocketlane, you’ll need to guide them at first. Some will resist—don’t be surprised.
7. Keep It Simple: Avoid Feature Overload
Rocketlane packs in a lot: forms, surveys, time tracking, even customer satisfaction tools. Don’t try to use everything on day one.
- Start with basics: Tasks, files, updates, and approvals cover 90% of what you’ll need.
- Ignore the bells and whistles—at first: You can always add forms, surveys, or integrations later if they’ll actually help your project.
- Check with your external stakeholders: Ask what they’re comfortable with. Not everyone wants to fill out forms or track CSAT in a project tool.
Pro tip: More features = more complexity. If your client is overwhelmed, they’ll just email you anyway.
8. Common Pitfalls (And How to Dodge Them)
Let’s save you some pain:
- Oversharing: Double-check permissions before inviting external users. It’s easy to accidentally show too much.
- Under-communicating: Don’t assume notifications are enough. Clients miss stuff—follow up as needed.
- Over-customizing: Don’t make every project unique. Use templates and standard processes unless there’s a really good reason not to.
- Ignoring adoption: If your external stakeholders aren’t using Rocketlane, ask why. Sometimes a quick walkthrough is all it takes.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate Fast
Rocketlane does a solid job of making external collaboration possible without turning your project into a permissions nightmare. But it’s not magic. The real work is in setting up clear processes, communicating expectations, and keeping things simple for everyone.
Start small. Get your team comfortable first, then invite external folks with clear instructions and just the features you actually need. If something’s confusing, fix it on the fly. Don’t let the tool run the project—use it as a helper, not a boss.
And if all else fails, remember: no tool can fix a messy process or poor communication. Keep it simple, iterate as you go, and you’ll save yourself (and your clients) a lot of headaches.