The six shapes of a team conversation.

Every team conversation about numbers has a shape — who feeds whom, who decides, who just needs to see. Symphony names six of them. Recognise yours and you'll know which worksheets to share, with whom, and in what order.

The shapes aren't features. They're patterns you build out of the same six commands. Most teams live in two or three of them at once: a Star for the weekly forecast, a Broadcast for the price list, an Adhoc when something breaks.

Star — one owner, many contributors

Your role: You produce a summary worksheet on a regular schedule, and you need input from a group of contributors.

Actors 1 owner · several contributors · viewers  ·  Commands Invite Refresh Submit Changes

1. Invite each contributor to work privately on their own dedicated worksheet.
2. Refresh their inputs and iterate until you reach alignment.
3. Update the final summary worksheet.
4. Invite interested parties to view the summary.

When it's the right shape: a weekly sales forecast, a monthly departmental budget roll-up, a board pack — anything where one person assembles and many people supply.

See it in opportunity tracking →

Gateway — a bridge between two parties

Your role: You are the liaison between two important parties, and you control what information crosses between them.

Actors 1 bridge · team A · team B (no shared membership)  ·  Commands Invite Refresh Submit xCopy xPaste

1. Invite each party to private, dedicated worksheets.
2. Refresh key inputs from one party and update the second party's worksheet.
3. Submit the changes to the second party.

When it's the right shape: a customer and a supplier who shouldn't see each other's numbers, a client and a subcontractor, a parent company and a subsidiary — any time confidentiality between the two sides is the point.

See it in order management →

Adhoc — crisis and creative exploration

Your role: You are in the middle of an urgent crisis or an open-ended creative exploration with a trusted circle.

Actors a small trusted circle · common and dedicated worksheets  ·  Commands Invite Submit Refresh Changes

1. Invite your trusted circle to a set of common or dedicated worksheets.
2. Submit and Refresh as a group or privately.
3. Iterate until you arrive at a solution.

When it's the right shape: an incident, a pricing scramble before a deadline, a scenario-planning session — fast cycles, high trust, and everyone needs to try things privately before showing them.

See it in forecast consolidation →

Round-Robin — a ring of mutual dependency

Your role: You and a group of peers share a goal. Your plan depends on the person to your right; the person to your left depends on you.

Actors peers at a round table, each feeding the next  ·  Commands Invite xCopy xPaste Refresh Submit

1. The person to your right has Invited you to their plan worksheets — xCopy / xPaste them into your workbook.
2. Refresh those worksheets to receive their latest plan.
3. Work privately and update your specialised worksheets.
4. When ready, update your final plan worksheets — the ones shared with the person on your left.
5. Go around the circle until everyone is aligned.

When it's the right shape: interdependent department plans — Sales needs Marketing's leads, Operations needs Sales' orders, Finance needs Operations' costs, and Marketing needs Finance's budget. Nobody can finish until everybody does.

See it in budget planning →

Broadcast — publish once, everyone refreshes

Your role: You periodically update a worksheet that many people rely on. You Submit once; they Refresh when they need it.

Actors 1 publisher · many subscribers  ·  Commands Invite Submit Refresh

1. Invite parties to access the worksheet.
2. Parties open the worksheet in their own workbooks.
3. Submit new information and notify parties.
4. Invited parties Refresh to see what changed.

When it's the right shape: a price list, an exchange-rate table, a product catalogue, a headcount roster, an approved-vendor list — reference data with one owner and many readers.

See it in vendor management →

Time & Space Priority — the deadline shape

Your role: You need information from contributors by a specific time — and you need to know exactly what arrived, who's missing, and why each number changed.

Actors 1 requester · several contributors · a cutoff  ·  Commands Invite Submit Refresh Changes

1. Invite a contributor to update the worksheet before a specific time.
2. The contributor Submits before the agreed time.
3. Refresh at the designated time to see what, why, who and when it changed.

When it's the right shape: the 4 p.m. cutoff before a 4:30 board meeting, month-end close inputs, a bid that closes Friday — any time the clock is part of the conversation.

See it in cashflow management →

Choosing a shape

Ask three questions. Who assembles? One person (Star, Broadcast, Time & Space) or everyone together (Adhoc, Round-Robin)? Who must not see whom? If the answer is "these two sides," it's a Gateway. Is there a clock? If a deadline defines success, it's Time & Space Priority.

You don't configure a shape anywhere in Symphony. You just Invite the right people to the right worksheets, and the shape is what results. See the shapes on the home page →