A task is one piece of work with somebody’s name on it and a date. Everything else about projects is built on them — the progress, the hours, the invoice.
The five statuses
| Status | Means |
|---|---|
| To do | Not started. |
| In progress | Somebody is working on it. |
| Blocked | Cannot proceed. Something is in the way. |
| In review | Done, waiting to be checked or approved. |
| Done | Finished. |
Blocked is the important one
Most task lists have three states and force everything into them. Blocked is separate because it is the only status that means somebody else needs to do something.
A task sitting in in progress for a fortnight looks like slow work. The same task marked blocked is a question: blocked on what, and who is clearing it? That is a conversation; the other is a shrug.
Encourage people to mark things blocked rather than leaving them in progress. It feels like admitting failure and it is the single most useful thing on this screen — it turns a silent delay into a visible one.
In review is the second
Work that is finished by the person doing it but not yet accepted. Without it, everything sits in in progress until approval comes back, and you cannot tell what is waiting on you from what is still being made.
Five ways to look at them
| View | Best for |
|---|---|
| List | Everything at once. Sorting and filtering. |
| Board | Seeing what is stuck. Columns by status. |
| Cards | A visual read when tasks carry more than a line of detail. |
| Timeline | What overlaps, and what depends on what finishing. |
| Calendar | What is due this week. |
They are the same tasks. Use the board in a stand-up, the calendar when planning a week, the list when you need to find one thing.
What a task carries
- Assignee — one person, responsible.
- Mark to — others kept in the loop.
- Due date, and a start date if it matters.
- Priority.
- Milestone — which stage it belongs to.
- Estimate and spent hours.
- Subtasks, where one piece of work has parts.
Where to go next
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