Manage Tasks

As a TaskRay user, tasks will be your main touchpoint for managing work and collaborating with other team members on projects. Each task represents a specific piece of work that needs to be completed on a project, including details, checklists, and deadlines.

In this article, we walk through everything you need to know about working with tasks in TaskRay. The article focuses on managing tasks through to completion, covering relevant task functions, such as updating details and checklists, mitigating roadblocks, and logging time (if applicable).

Task Management: Overview

When a task is assigned to you, you are responsible for managing it through to completion. While the specifics of what each assigned task entails could vary, there are always going to be some common steps that you will need to take to effectively track progress and ensure that every bit of work is accounted for. 

Below are some examples of what could be part of managing a task through to completion:

• Task status updates: As you work on an assigned task, you will be moving it through different statuses through to completion. Keeping task statuses aligned with the progress of work ensures visibility and accuracy for project completion.
• Managing details: Whether you need a comprehensive overview of the work on a task or need to update some field-level information, every task has a detailed view. You can access a task's detailed view by clicking or double-clicking on the task in any of the main TaskRay views. 
• Roadblocks: The unexpected happens and it can stall the work from moving forward. If an assigned task encounters a roadblock. you might need to mark it as blocked until the issue is resolved.
• Checklists: Some tasks could have checklists, which you can review and manage under the Checklist tab. Checklists are a great way to track progress and ensure that all granular details are accounted for on the task.
• Collaborating via Chatter: If you need to collaborate with other team members or provide a status update, the Chatter tab on the task is the place to do so.
• Time tracking: Finally, if time tracking is part of your organization's process, you will also log the hours spent on managing the work on the task.

TaskRay offers flexible options for managing assignments, and the following views are most commonly used for this purpose:

• My Work: A central workspace for end users to review assigned tasks and manage quick updates.
• Kanban View: Visualizes work in status columns and presents a streamlined way to manage assignments, making it easy to see task distribution and collaborate with other team members.

Task Management: Workflows

TaskRay provides flexibility through various options to manage assigned tasks. In this section, we outline some of the most common types of updates that could occur on tasks throughout their lifecycle. 

Update Task Status

Updating task statuses as you work through them is an important step for tracking progress. Task status lists represent the different stages that tasks move through over the course of the project lifecycle.

Kanban View

When using Kanban View, you will find that each column represents a status list, making this view the perfect place to visualize how the tasks are progressing on projects. Tasks can be moved between columns to track progress.

To update a task's status in Kanban View, drag and drop the task card to the applicable List column. When the work on a task is finished, the task can be designated as done by moving it to the column configured for task completion (e.g. Finished). 

My Work

To update a task's status in My Work:

1. Locate the row for the task that you want to update and hover over its status box to view quick actions.
2. Click on the double-arrow icon.
3. Using the Change Task Status List menu, select a new status.
4. If you would like to complete the task, you can either:
   • Use the Change Task Status List menu and select a status that represents task completion (e.g. Finished).
   • Click on the checkmark icon in the task's status box.

Blocked Tasks

In the event that a task encounters a roadblock that prevents the work from moving forward, the task can be marked as blocked. This allows for accurate tracking of encountered issues on projects, as well as for insights and reporting.

Block a Task in My Work

1. Locate the row for the task that you need to block and hover over its status box to view quick actions.
2. Click on the warning icon.

This will mark the task as blocked. Once the issue on the task is resolved, it can be unblocked by following the same steps.

Block a Task Through Task Details

Tasks can also be blocked via their detail panes. For context, Blocked is a checkbox field on the TaskRay Task object. Therefore, blocks on tasks can be managed by updating the checkbox field directly.

1. Locate the task that you need to block in any of the main TaskRay views and open its Task Details. 
2. Locate the Blocked checkbox on the detail layout, click to edit it, and set it to true (checked).
3. Click Save.

This will mark the task as blocked. Once the issue on the task is resolved, it can be unblocked by updating the Blocked checkbox to false (unchecked).