Setting Up Task Statuses and Your First Tasks

After your first client call, you leave with a list of things that need to happen. Getting those into BackOps early, before the to-do list lives only in your head, is one of the most valuable things you can do in the early stages of an event.

This page walks through how to configure your task system and start building your list.

States vs. Statuses

BackOps separates the concept of states and statuses, and understanding the difference makes the task system click.

States are defined by the system. There are five:

• To Do: work that hasn't started
• Active: work in progress
• In Review: work awaiting review or approval
• Done: completed work
• Archived: work that's been closed out or canceled

Statuses are the labels you create within each state. A single state can have multiple statuses, each representing a more specific condition.

For example, under To Do you might create:

• Not Started: hasn't been touched
• Scheduled: has a planned start date but hasn't begun
• Pending Assignment: waiting to be assigned to someone before it can start

Under Active:

• In Progress
• Needs Input

Under In Review:

• Awaiting Review
• Client Review
• Revisions Requested

Under Done:

• Completed

Under Archived:

• Archived
• Canceled

This gives you a precise read on where each task actually stands, without having to dig into the task itself to find out.

Configuring Your Statuses

Statuses belong to the event, so each event can use the labels that fit it. A template can create a starting set for you, and your organization can define its own statuses that an event status links to, so organization-wide task roll-ups speak one vocabulary.

You can also change statuses later from any task: open the task's Status field and choose Edit statuses. A state must always keep at least one status, so the last status in a state cannot be deleted.

There is no single correct set of statuses. Define what reflects how your team actually moves work through the event.

Creating Tasks

Once your statuses are configured, open the Tasks tab and click Add task.

A task needs only a title to get started; it lands in your first To Do status, and you can change that before you click Create task. Assignees, reviewers, priority, start and due dates, a phase and a description can be added now or later. If you are in a hurry to get your list down, create tasks by title and come back to add detail as you go.

A few things to know:

• Subtasks break complex work into smaller steps. Use Add subtask inside a task.
• Custom fields add event-specific data to tasks; you define them under Settings › Custom Fields, and each one can be shown as a column.
• Views let you see tasks as a List, Calendar, Gantt or Kanban board, with filters, grouping and saved views as the list grows.

The project management documentation covers all of these in detail. For now, the goal is to get your current list out of your head and into the system.