Done Awards Hall of Fame: Rosie Vargas (Cross Collaborator)

Announcement Case study Session recap

October 26, 2026

About Rosie

Company: Hammer and Nails Grooming
Industry: Hospitality
Tier: Enterprise
18,500+ active development tasks coordinated
45 automated workflows and 20+ file automations
14+ corporate departments connected
100% adoption for weekly operations

Rosie’s story

Orchestrating multi-location franchise growth through connected workflows

The challenge

Opening one franchise location is a 12+ month, cross-functional project involving 500+ tasks across 8 development phases, requiring collaboration between the franchisee, Regional Owner, and 14+ corporate employees across multiple departments.

Before monday.com, our Opener was a Google Sheet. It could list what needed to happen, but couldn’t manage collaboration. Updates happened across different channels, files had to be requested and passed between people, and Project Management became the middleman.

As we grew, different departments needed their own workflows for Marketing, Supply Chain, and Construction. We needed an ecosystem where franchisees, regional owners, corporate teams, and vendors could work independently while remaining connected without silos.

The build

I built a connected franchise development ecosystem in monday.com.

It starts with our Opener Template for every shop entering development, containing 500+ tasks across 8 phases using multi-level subitems and a Gantt view. Collaboration happens directly within each task through Updates.

I created a centralized Shop Files board with role-based permissions and built approximately 20 automations notifying corporate team members or vendors when specific files are uploaded, automating cross-team handoffs.

Specialized departmental boards connect back to central Shops data so teams work independently without silos.

Finally, I built a monday Vibe app as the visibility layer across all active developments, organizing shops across our 8 phases and surfacing key milestones.

The impact

Collaboration no longer depends on Project Management manually connecting everyone.

With 37 shops currently in active development (500+ tasks across 8 phases each), our system is coordinating more than 18,500 development tasks.

I have built 45 workflows to automate processes and cross-team handoffs, with additional board automations including ~20 on the Shop Files board alone. Files, conversations, ownership, timelines, and dependencies stay connected to the work.

The Vibe app brings key data together across all 37 active developments, giving corporate one place to understand project health. Our Project Management team uses Vibe every Monday morning to run our development meeting, while Opener boards are used throughout the week.

Steal Rosie’s playbook

Recreate Rosie’s cross-collaboration workflow for your team by plugging this prompt into Sidekick.

🎯 The Goal

Coordinate complex, multi-month, multi-stakeholder operational launches (e.g., franchise openings, client onboardings, branch rollouts, store expansions) across multiple independent departments (Marketing, Construction, Supply Chain, Legal) without project managers acting as manual middlemen or bottleneck messengers.

🏗️ Architecture & Data Model

                    ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
                    │       CENTRAL VIBE VISIBILITY APP            │
                    │   Phase pipeline · Stalled items · Weekly ops│
                    └──────────────────────┬───────────────────────┘
                                           │
                      ┌────────────────────┼────────────────────┐
                      ▼                    ▼                    ▼
           ┌──────────────────────┐┌──────────────┐┌──────────────────────┐
           │   ENTITY TEMPLATE    ││  SHOP FILES  ││  DEPARTMENT BOARDS   │
           │  500+ tasks, 8 phases││ Role-based   ││ Marketing, Supply    │
           │  Subitems & Gantt    ││ permissions  ││ Chain, Construction  │
           └──────────────────────┘└──────────────┘└──────────────────────┘

Managed Master Template Board (The “Opener”):
- Structure: Multi-level subitems organized by distinct development phases (e.g., Phase 1: Site Selection $\rightarrow$ Phase 8: Grand Opening).
- Key Columns: Phase (Status), Timeline (Timeline/Date), Task Owner (People), Responsible Party (Dropdown: Franchisee / Regional Owner / Corporate), Estimated Cost (Numbers), Dependencies (Dependency), Handbook Doc (Doc / Embed Link).
Centralized Files & Documentation Board:
- Contains file columns with role-based permissions where external partners / franchisees upload permits, leases, inspection sign-offs, and compliance documents.
Connected Departmental Sub-Boards:
- Dedicated boards for specialized teams (e.g., Supply Chain Orders, Pre-Opening Marketing Campaign, Permit & Build Tracker), linked back to the master entity via Board Relation columns.
Automated Cross-Team Handoffs (Automations):
- Trigger: When a required document status on the Files Board changes to Uploaded / Complete.
- Action: Automatically notify the corresponding corporate department lead or vendor with a deep link to review, without manual PM involvement.
Portfolio Vibe App (The Governance Layer):
- Single operational view grouping all active entities across the development phases, surfacing milestones due this week, open blockers from prior phases, and KPI health metrics for weekly cross-team standups.

📋 White-Labeled Prompts & Setup Guides

1. Monday Vibe App Prompt (Cross-Department Operations Hub)

“Build an executive operations portal called [Project/Entity Name] Launch Hub connected to our [Master Launch Tracker] and [Department Boards].

Include the following views and components:

Phase Pipeline View: Group all active [Entities/Locations] by their current phase ([Phase 1] through [Phase 8]). Display days in phase, target completion date, and overall progress percentage.

Cross-Department Milestone Tracker: Display upcoming critical path milestones across [Marketing, Operations, Supply Chain, Construction] due in the next 14 days.

Blockers & Stalled Items Feed: Highlight tasks marked Stuck or documents pending verification from previous phases.

Weekly Standup Dashboard: Summarize total active launches, completed milestones this week, and overall budget vs. actual spend.”*

2. Cross-Team Handoff Automation Recipes

Document Approval Automation:When status of Permit / Lease Upload changes to Ready for Review, notify [Legal / Compliance Team] and create linked subtask in [Department Action Board].
Phase Progression Trigger:When all items in [Phase 1 Group] change status to Done, change Master Entity status to Phase 2: Buildout and notify [Construction Lead] and [Franchisee / Client Owner].
Supply Chain Milestone Sync:When order status on [Supply Chain Board] changes to Delivered, update Equipment Onsite status on [Master Launch Board].

3. AI Agent Prompt (Launch Coordinator & Triage Assistant)

Action Needed By: [@Tag Responsible Party]”*

“You are the Launch Operations Agent for [Company Name]. Your job is to monitor all active [Locations / Client Launches] on [Master Board Name].

Every Monday at 8:00 AM:

Scan all active entities and check for any tasks with due dates in the past where status is not Done.

Check if prerequisite documents in [Files Board] are missing for entities entering their next phase within 14 days.

Generate a structured Weekly Readiness Brief on each entity item’s update thread:

Current Phase Health: [On Track / At Risk]

Missing Deliverables: [List files or sign-offs required]

Upcoming Handoffs: [List departments with tasks due this week]

Explore the entire hall of fame

Check out all of our winners from the Done Awards to see what they built

Read on

FAQs about the Done Awards

What are the Done Awards?

The Done Awards are monday.com’s first customer awards program, recognizing customers who use AI on the platform to get real work done. Winners were announced live at Elevate ’26.
Who won the 2026 Done Awards?

Kendal Sparks of Frankly Spoken Productions (best AI workflow wiz), Jeff Benton of Clearwater (best agent builder), Alexis Reese of Horizon Media (best vibe app), Rosie Vargas of Hammer and Nails Grooming (best cross-collaborator), Aaron Rasmussen of Pritchard Companies (best decision driver), Beth Juliano of 1021 Creative (best global impact), and Jen Brugge of The Universal Group (People’s pick).
How many Done Awards categories are there?

Seven: best AI workflow wiz, best agent builder, best vibe app, best cross-collaborator, best decision driver, best global impact, and the People’s pick.
Which monday.com capabilities did the winners use?

The winners used monday agents, monday vibe, monday sidekick, and AI workflows, along with automations, integrations, dashboards, and multi-level permissions.
How were the Done Awards winners chosen?

A panel of monday.com product and client-facing leaders, and Elevate insiders scored six core categories on the challenge (30%), the build (40%), and the impact (30%). The People’s pick was decided by a one-week community vote on the monday Reddit community. The Agent on-board award was chosen by our agent product leaders on-site, at Elevate.
What did Done Awards winners receive?

Each winner received a trophy, a travel voucher, a VIP pass to Elevate, a feature across monday.com and Elevate channels, and a toast with fellow winners after the ceremony.
Where and when did Elevate ’26 take place?

Elevate ’26 took place October 28 to 29, 2026 at the Javits Center in New York City, with a pre-conference Certification Day on October 27.

Elevate Team

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