Organising a project’s tasks

A project’s Tasks tab gathers the work to be done. You create tasks there, assign them, follow their status and break them down into sub-tasks, with three views: Kanban, List and Gantt. This article explains the Kanban and List views, the task form, sub-tasks, comments and filters. The Gantt view, dependencies, planning baselines and time spent are described in Planning a project and measuring time spent. The article is aimed at project leads and members of project teams.

Before you start #

• The Tasks tab appears only with the Project task permission at the Access level. The Execute level lets you create, edit, move and delete tasks. In the roles supplied, all employees have this level.
• You must also be able to write in the project: be its Project manager or a Developer, or a cross-project manager. A Viewer or Consultant opens tasks read-only.
• Only project members see its tasks, apart from cross-project managers (see Getting started with project management).

Counters and views #

At the top of the tab, three counters cover the tasks displayed: Created, Done (out of the total) and Overdue (due date passed, task neither completed nor cancelled). On the right, choose the view: Kanban, List or Gantt. Your choice is kept when you switch projects.

The Kanban view #

The Kanban board sorts tasks into four columns: To do, In progress, Done and Cancelled. Each column header gives its number of tasks, their estimated effort and the remaining work.

Each card shows the priority dot, the title, the estimated effort and remaining work, the labels, the main assignee and collaborators, the number of comments, the due date (in red if it has passed) and the progress of the sub-tasks.

• To change a task’s status, drag its card into another column.
• To create a task directly in a status, click Create a task at the bottom of the column.
• To add a sub-task without opening the form, type its title in Add a sub-task… on the card and press Enter. Tick a sub-task to complete it.
• Click a card to open the task form.

The List view #

The list shows one row per task, with the columns Task, Subtasks, Assigned, Status, Priority, Due date, Estimate, Actual and Remaining, then a Total row. If a planning baseline is active, a Variance column gives, in days, how far each due date has moved from the baseline; a task added since is marked “not in baseline”.

Click a row to open the form. The bin icon at the end of the row deletes the task if you are allowed to.

Creating a task #

1. Click Create a task, at the bottom of a Kanban column or at the top of the list. The New task form opens.
2. Enter the Title (required).
3. Choose the Main assignee (lead) and, if needed, Collaborators.
4. Tick Planning milestone if it is a milestone: it has a single date and appears as a diamond on the Gantt chart.
5. Choose the Sub-project (or None), then the Start and Due date (for a milestone: the Milestone date). The due date cannot be before the start.
6. Enter the Estimated effort, in hours or days depending on the project’s unit.
7. Choose the Priority (Urgent, High, Normal, Low), the Status (To do, In progress, Done, Cancelled) and Labels (Bug, Feature, Design, Urgent, Infrastructure, Docs, Test, UX).
8. Click Create task. The message “Task created” confirms it.

The main assignee and collaborators are notified in the bell and by email. An assignee who was not a member of the project joins it as a Developer. If you do not manage the project team, you can only choose among its members.

Opening and editing a task #

Click a task: the Edit task form opens. In addition to the creation fields, it offers:

• Remaining work: Illizeo calculates it and shows it greyed out; enter a value to correct it, clear the field to go back to the calculation;
• Depends on: the tasks that must finish before this one;
• Time: the time logged on the task against its estimate, and the Log time button;
• Sub-tasks and Comments.

Change what you need, then click Save. If you change the dates of a task linked to others, a message names the following tasks that were moved (see Planning a project and measuring time spent). A viewer or consultant sees the form titled Task, with greyed-out fields and a Close button.

Sub-tasks #

In the Sub-tasks section, type a title in Add a sub-task… and confirm. Tick a sub-task to complete it, untick it to reopen it; click its title to rename it. A task’s progress in the Overview timeline follows its ticked sub-tasks.

Comments #

In the Comments section, write in Write a comment… and click Send. You can edit or delete your own comments; an edited comment is marked “edited”. Comments appear in the project’s recent activity.

Deleting a task #

1. Open the task form and click Delete task, then confirm. In the list, you can also click the row’s bin icon.
2. The message “Task deleted” appears with an Undo button: you have a few seconds to go back.

Deleting a task is reserved for cross-project managers, the project manager, the person who created the task and its main assignee. A developer cannot delete someone else’s task.

Filtering tasks #

1. Click Filters, to the right of the tabs. The filter bar opens.
2. Combine: the Search in titles… field, Status, Priority, Members (click their photo, or Unassigned) and Tags, with the choice AND (all tags) or OR (any of them).
3. Active filters appear above the tasks, each with its cross; Clear all removes them all, Reset all resets the bar.

A filter on a member keeps the tasks where they are main assignee or collaborator. Filters apply to all three views and are reset when you switch projects. From the Overview, clicking a priority or a status opens this tab already filtered.

Good to know #

• Members are notified when a task is assigned to them or when they are added as collaborators, in the bell and by email.
• A completed or cancelled task no longer counts as overdue.
• Project templates create their tasks with the To do status, with no dates or assignee: complete them.
• All actions on tasks (creation, moves, reassignment, sub-tasks, comments) are traced in the Overview’s recent activity.

Frequently asked questions #

I can’t move a Kanban card. Why? #

You are a viewer or consultant on the project, or your role does not have the “Project task” permission at the Execute level. The cards are then read-only.

I can’t find a colleague in the list of assignees. #

If you do not manage the project team, only its members are offered. Ask the project manager to add your colleague in the Collaborators tab.

I deleted a task by mistake. #

Click “Undo” straight away in the message confirming the deletion. After that, the task is deleted.