How many times have you wanted to fire off a quick command, such as M-!, but the directory you want to run the command in isn't the same as the directory of the current buffer? In those situations, you want a quick way to change the default-directory for only the next command. That is what Springboard aims to solve.

Bind it to a convenient key, like Control-., and after you press it you'll see a handy Helm buffer showing the directories of all the files you've recently visited, plus the permanent directory list from springboard-directories -- a good place to list your active project directories.

Type a few chars to narrow down to the directory of interest, then just type your command, like M-!, C-x C-f, or whatever custom bindings you may have to run PCVS, Magit, etc. The moment you type your command, Springboard disappears, and if your command needs minibuffer input, you'll now be in the minibuffer for that new command.