Doing the work
The board
The same project laid out by status: five columns, one card per task, and a task dragged to another column changes where it stands.
Every project has three views of the same work: the list, the board, and the calendar. The list groups tasks by task list, which is how you plan. The board groups them by status, which is how you answer where does everything stand? — five columns, one card per task, and nothing else on the page.
Switch between them with the List · Board · Calendar control at the top of the project. sjTasks remembers which one you chose for each project, in your browser, so the next time you open that project you land on the view you left. The board has its own address — send it to a colleague and they see the board.
The five columns
| Column | What is in it |
|---|---|
| Open | Nobody has started it |
| In progress | Somebody is on it |
| Blocked | Somebody is stuck — waiting on a decision, a file, another task |
| On hold | Parked on purpose. Nobody is stuck; somebody decided to stop for now, so it never goes late |
| Done | Finished inside the window you choose — the last 7 days to start |
Each column says how many cards it holds, and the Done count is a link: press it and the same finished tasks open as a list, with the window's dates in the address. Done has a small menu in its heading — Last 7 days, Last 30 days, Last 90 days, All time — so a project that has been running for a year is still readable, and the choice rides in the address so a link keeps it. Inside the window the cards come newest first, twenty-five at a time, with a 25 of 60 · show 25 more line at the foot; a 12 finished earlier · show all line under that widens the window to all time in one press. Canceled is not a column at all until you ask: a 3 canceled · show line under the board opens it as a sixth. On hold is always drawn, because parked work you cannot see is parked work you forget.
The cards
A card is a task — its reference, its title, and only the things that qualify it: who owns it, when it is due, its priority when that is not Medium, and 2/3 when it has subtasks. Subtasks are counted on their parent's card and never dealt out as cards of their own. A parent that cannot be finished yet says Blocked by acme-145 on the card, so you know before you try.
Click the title to open the task.
Moving a task
Drag a card to another column. That changes the task's status — the same change as picking a status on the list or on the task page, recorded in the task's history the same way. Dropping a card on Done marks the task done; dragging it back out reopens it.
Or use the … menu on the card and choose Move to …. It is the same move, for anyone working from the keyboard or on a phone, where dragging is not on offer.
If a move is not allowed — a parent whose blocking subtask is still open, say — the card stays where it was and says why. Nothing moves on the board until it has actually happened.
Guests see the board and can open every card, but cannot move one.
Two filters
The People menu at the top narrows every column to one person's work, or to what nobody owns. If your team uses tags, a Tag menu beside it narrows the board to the tasks carrying one. Both are in the address, so a filtered board is a link you can send. Those are the only filters on the board, on purpose: it is a status report, not a search. For anything finer, the Tasks table has every filter there is.