Work with tasks on the Kanban board

A task board is a task management tool that helps you visualize work and divide it into specific stages that you can define yourself. This is a kind of interactive map of the employee's work.

Work with Kanban board is similar to the work with the list, you can create new tasks, edit or complete existing ones.

Also, the Kansan board is not just an interactive planner, but a tool that helps keep track of deadlines ⏰.

At Uspacy, we took this into account 😉 That's why the Board mode has two views: My Kanban and Deadlines.

Here, we’ll show how to work with your Kanban board.

Board views

The Kanban board is a virtual planner for working on tasks, which consists of certain stages that are created independently by users. Or you can use the ones provided by the system.

Each stage is a separate column, where tasks are placed and where they are fixed as a result.

You can also see how many tasks are included in each of the stages.

Tasks can be easily moved between stages. To do this, just pinch and drag it.

Similarly, you can also change the order of the stages themselves.

Task card

A task on the board is a separate block-card placed in the stage you need. It contains brief information about the task itself:

1. Name.
2. Description, if available.
3. Image, if it is inserted directly into the description.
4. Interaction menu with the task.
5. Deadline indication.
6. Status and priority.
7. Complete button (for users in the role of task creator, participants, and person responsible) or Do not observe button (for users in the role of observers) or Accept button (for users in the role of task creators if the task is ready for review).
8. Button for restoring a completed task, i.e., to return to work.
9. Number of subtasks.
10. Number of comments.
11. The number of scheduled activities for the task.
12. Task creator and person responsible.

All these elements of the card are interactive, meaning they can be interacted with. We discuss this in more detail in another part of the article.

How to create a new stage?

To do this, click on the three dots icon next to the stage where you plan to create a new one. Then, in the menu, select the Add stage to the right option.

Next, specify its name and select a color. You can pick from the suggested standard colors, or customize your own using the palette or by entering a HEX code.

To make sure the stage is added to the board and saved, be sure to click on the checkmark.

Now the stage is active, and you can use it to plan your work on tasks.

How to hide a stage (collapse) it?

To do this, click on the arrow icon in the desired stage.

As a result, it will collapse and save space on your board.

Of course, at any time, you can return the stage to its standard view. To do this, click the arrow again.

How to edit a stage?

To do this, click on the three dots icon next to the stage you want to edit. Then, in the menu, select the Edit option.

Next, make the necessary changes to the stage's name and/or color.

And click the checkmark to save the changes.

How to delete a stage?

To do this, click on the three dots icon next to the stage you no longer need. Then, in the menu, select the Delete option.

However, you cannot delete a stage that has at least one task attached to it.

So, first, clear the stage of tasks. Then, proceed with deleting it.

Actions with tasks

When clicking on three dots, a menu of interaction with the task appears. It contains the following items: Edit, Copy link, Duplicate and Delete.

When you click on the Edit item, an active task editing form will open. You can make changes to the necessary fields at once.

Afterward, click the Save changes button for the changes to take effect.

When you click on the Copy link item, the system will notify you of the successful action with a special notification.

You can forward this link to colleagues in a chat or paste it into the browser's address bar to open the task in a new tab.

After clicking on the Duplicate item, the full task creation form will open. However, the fields will already be filled with information. In other words, the form will look the same as the task whose copy you are creating.

Of course, you can make the necessary changes. Then, click the Create a task button.

As a result, the new task will be placed in the first stage of your board (no matter its name). You can move it to another stage that fits it best.

After clicking on the Delete button, a confirmation form will appear.

Quick task editing

It’s not necessary to go to editing mode if you only need to change the deadline, priority, task creator, or person responsible.

To set a new deadline for the task, just click on the current one and select a new value.

To set a different priority for the task, click on the current priority and select the desired value from the list.

To assign a new person responsible or task creator, click on the photo icon. Select a user from the list or use the search bar.

As a result, all changes will be immediately displayed.

Creating tasks

You can add a task to the board in two ways. The first is to use the full task creation form. To do this, click on the corresponding button.

After that, the task creation form will open. Here, you need to fill out all the necessary fields.

The second way is to use the quick task creation form. To do this, click on the plus sign located under the name of each stage.

In this form, you need to enter the task name and description.

Task completion

You don’t need to enter the task viewing form to complete it. Just use the special flag button located in the task card block on the board.

After that, the task is considered completed and receives the Completed status. If needed, you can return this task to active work.

Subtasks, activities and comments

As already mentioned, on the board in the task cards, there is a special indicator that shows whether there are any subtasks created for the task.

If you click on it, an additional tab will open. This tab contains the list of subtasks.

If you click on the name of the required subtask, its card will open. And if you click on the priority marker, you can quickly edit that parameter.

There is also a special indicator in the task cards that shows whether there are scheduled activities related to the task.

If you click on it, an additional tab will expand. It contains the list of activities.

If you click on the name of the desired activity, its card will open. If you click on the priority marker, this parameter can be quickly edited.

There is also a special indicator for the number of comments left in the task.

Task search and filters

Above the task board, there is a search bar and filters.

Filters help find a task or a specific group of tasks that share common characteristics. For example, you can set the display of tasks with an unspecified deadline.

Or find all tasks where you are the task creator and the priority is very high or high.

By using the search bar, you can find tasks by their name.

❗️Note that the search always takes the filter settings into account. The values set in each of the filters will affect the search results.

If you have additional questions or you need to contact the support, send a request to this email [email protected]