Most of the time lost in software adoption comes from skipping setup steps that seem optional but aren't. These five things — done in order on day one — get you from a fresh Maverick environment to a working project with AI chat enabled before the end of the business day.
1. Check your welcome email and save your login URL
Maverick runs in a dedicated cloud environment — your welcome email contains the URL for your specific instance. Bookmark it before you do anything else. The email also includes your initial admin credentials and, if it's enabled for your plan, instructions for setting up multi-factor authentication. Don't skip MFA setup — you'll be prompted for it on first login, and completing it immediately prevents delays when your team logs in later.
2. Add your team as resources
Before you can assign anyone to a task, they need to exist as a resource in Maverick. Go to the Resource Pool and add each team member with their name, role, billing rate, and availability schedule. If you're importing from another system, Maverick supports CSV import for bulk resource creation — a significant time saver for teams of five or more. Getting resources in on day one means you can staff tasks correctly from the first project rather than retrofitting assignments later.
3. Create your first project
Create a new project with a working title, a start date, and a rough finish date. Add five to ten placeholder tasks to establish the structure — you can fill in details, dependencies, and resources throughout the week. The goal on day one is to get something on the Gantt chart so the team can see Maverick working with real data, not a blank screen. A real project — even a rough one — is more instructive than any demo data.
4. Connect an AI provider
Adding an AI provider unlocks Maverick's most powerful features — chat-driven project updates, conflict detection, status summaries, and AI-assisted staffing. Go to AI Providers, create a new record, select your provider type (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.), and paste your API key. Then create an AI model record pointing to that provider and assign it to yourself. You're now ready to use AI chat on your first project. Don't wait to do this — it changes how you interact with the rest of the setup process.
5. Try your first AI prompt
Open the project you created and type a simple prompt in the AI chat panel: "Summarize this project and suggest three next steps." The AI will read your current task list and respond with a project summary and actionable recommendations. This first prompt validates your entire setup — provider, model, and project data are all working together. If it responds correctly, you're ready to use AI for real project work starting today.