Projects and tasks
Connect the company mission to concrete work that has an owner, a next step, and a clear finish.
Move from direction to deliverables
The mission describes why the company is working. A project groups the work needed for a particular result. A task describes a deliverable small enough for one owner to move forward and for another person to review.
For example, a mission to improve the first customer experience could lead to an onboarding project. Its tasks might include reviewing the setup flow, proposing changes, checking the implementation, and preparing a release note. Each task should point back to the result it supports.
Use states that explain the next step
- Ready: the owner has enough information and permission to begin.
- In progress: work is underway and the next deliverable is known.
- Blocked: a named dependency or missing decision prevents progress.
- In review: prepared work is waiting for a specific assessment.
- Done: the agreed completion evidence is available.
These are recommended concepts for the proposed model. A state change should carry meaning; moving a card to Done should not substitute for checking its result. The work preview lets you explore sample state changes without executing a task.
A task that can be reviewedDraft the release announcement. Owner: Growth. Input: approved release notes. Done when the final text and intended audience are ready for human review. Sending the announcement is a separate action.
Make dependencies explicit
Record what a task needs, where that information comes from, and who can supply it. When work is blocked, identify the smallest decision that would unblock it. Avoid repeated attempts that cannot resolve the dependency.
Before assigning a task, check its owner, inputs, finish condition, and approval boundary. Those four details make the work easier to coordinate and harder to mistake for a completed result.