Running client work

The status email is a symptom. The client cannot see the plan, so somebody translates it into prose every few days. This path puts the client in the room, on terms that keep the plan yours.

1. One project per client

A project is the unit a client can see. Give each client their own, named the way they would name it, and keep the work for that client inside it. Internal odds and ends stay in General.

Do this: make a project for your most talkative client, or start it from the Client project template, which lays out kick-off, the work and wrap-up. The guide: Projects, lists, tasks and subtasks and Project templates.

2. Invite the client as a guest

A guest sees only the projects you name, reads everything in them, follows what they care about and writes notes. They cannot create or move a task, change a date, or see any other client. Guests are free, on every plan, in any number, so the choice costs nothing.

Do this: Team settings, Invite, the client's email, the role Guest, and tick their project. The guide: People, roles, and who sees what.

3. Put the conversation on the task

When the client asks about the homepage copy, they now ask on the homepage copy task, as a note. The designer on that task hears about it where she is already looking and answers there. The thread lives in one place, and it is the right place.

Do this: the next time a client emails a question about a piece of work, answer it as a note on that task and tell them where you put it. The guide: Notes on tasks.

4. Let the plan answer "how is it going"

A client who can see the project asks a better question: is anything late on my project. Most days the answer is nothing, and they can see that for themselves. If they want to be told, the daily summary email says it in one line, only when there is something to say.

Do this: open your client's project as they would see it and read it as a status report. If it does not read as one, the tasks need dates. The guide: The dashboard.

5. Read the hours back, if you bill by the hour

Estimates and logged hours live on the task, and the Hours logged report totals them by person and project over any dates, with the estimate beside the hours so you can see where you are over. It is a Studio-and-up report; the rest of the product is the same on every plan.

Do this: turn on time tracking in Team settings, Features, log one hour against one task, and open Reports, Hours logged. The guide: Reports and Dates, estimates and time.