Task Items

Items are the building blocks that make up your Statements of Work. They let you organize work in different ways - as requirements, tasks, milestones, dependencies, or deliverables. Items can be nested to create detailed work breakdown structures.

What are Items?

Items help you:

Break Down Work: Decompose large projects into smaller, manageable pieces
Choose Your View: Look at work as requirements, tasks, or deliverables depending on what you need
Create Structure: Nest items under each other to show relationships
Track Dependencies: Identify work that's blocked by external factors
Mark Milestones: Highlight important dates and checkpoints

The Five Item Types

Requirements

What they are: High-level business or functional requirements that describe what the system needs to do.

Use requirements for:

User stories ("As a user, I want to...")
Feature specifications
Business rules
Functional requirements

Can contain: Other requirements, tasks, milestones, or deliverables Cannot contain: Dependencies

Example: "User Authentication System - The system must provide secure login with email/password and social media options"

Tasks

What they are: Specific, actionable work items that someone needs to complete.

Use tasks for:

Implementation work
Bug fixes
Code reviews
Technical tasks
Research spikes

Can contain: Other tasks (sub-tasks) Cannot contain: Requirements, milestones, dependencies, or deliverables

Example: "Implement login form component with email and password fields"

Milestones

What they are: Important dates, checkpoints, or phase completions in your project.

Use milestones for:

Release dates
Phase completions
Client review meetings
Demo dates
Key deadlines

Can contain: Requirements, tasks, dependencies, and deliverables Cannot contain: Other milestones (no nesting)

Special properties:

Target Date: When this milestone is due
Stakeholders: People who care about this milestone
Critical Path: Whether this is on the critical path
Risk Level: Low, medium, or high

Example: "Phase 1 Complete - All core features implemented and tested by Dec 31"

Dependencies

What they are: External blockers or things you're waiting for from third parties.

Use dependencies for:

Third-party API access
Vendor deliverables
External approvals
Infrastructure setup
License acquisitions

Can contain: Tasks (to help resolve the dependency) Cannot contain: Requirements, milestones, other dependencies, or deliverables

Special properties:

External Owner: Who is responsible (e.g., "Stripe", "AWS")
Contact Email: How to reach them
SLA Date: When they promised delivery
Escalation Date: When to escalate if not resolved
Risk Level: How critical this dependency is

Example: "Stripe API Credentials - Waiting for API keys from Stripe support team"

Deliverables

What they are: Client-facing outputs or artifacts that will be delivered.

Use deliverables for:

Documentation
Reports
Deployed features
Training materials
Design assets

Can contain: Requirements and tasks Cannot contain: Milestones, other deliverables, or dependencies

Special properties:

Client Visible: Whether the client can see this
Delivery Date: When it will be delivered
Approvers: Who needs to approve it
Delivery Method: How it will be delivered (email, portal, etc.)

Example: "User Documentation PDF - Complete user guide with screenshots"

Item Properties

Every item has:

Basic Properties

Title: A clear description of the work
Description: Detailed explanation (optional)
Type: Which of the five types it is
Parent: Which item it belongs under (optional)
Sort Order: Where it appears in lists
Level: How deep it's nested (0 = top level)
Created/Updated: Timestamps

Enhanced Task Properties (Optional)

Projects can enable additional task management features through project settings. When enabled, task items gain powerful tracking capabilities:

Task Dates

When Task Dates are enabled for a project:

Start Date: When work on this task begins
Due Date: When this task must be completed
Tasks with overdue dates are highlighted automatically
Use dates to plan timelines and track deadlines

Best for: Projects with strict timelines, client deliverables, or milestone tracking

Task Assignees

When Task Assignees are enabled for a project:

Assigned To: Which team member is responsible for this task
Assignees are selected from your project team members
Filter tasks by assignee to see workload distribution
Track who is responsible for each piece of work

Best for: Team projects, distributed work, or accountability tracking

Task Costs

When Task Costs are enabled for a project:

Estimated Cost: Expected cost to complete this task
Actual Cost: Real cost incurred
Currency is set at the project level (USD, EUR, GBP, etc.)
Compare estimated vs. actual to track budget accuracy

Best for: Client billing, budget tracking, or financial reporting

Task Status

All tasks have a status (always visible):

Not Started: Work hasn't begun yet
In Progress: Currently being worked on
Completed: Work is finished
Blocked: Cannot proceed due to dependencies or issues

Use status to track progress and identify blockers quickly.

Enabling Enhanced Properties

These features are controlled through Project Settings:

Open your project settings
Toggle the features you want to use:
- Enable Task Dates
- Enable Task Assignees
- Enable Task Costs
Set your currency (if using costs)
Save settings

Once enabled, task forms will show the additional fields automatically. Existing tasks are unaffected - the new fields are optional.

Tiered Approach: Enable only what you need. Simple projects can use just basic task items, while complex projects can enable all features for full project management capabilities.

Hierarchy Rules

Items have strict rules about what can contain what:

✅ Allowed:

Requirement → Task
Requirement → Sub-Requirement
Milestone → Dependency
Deliverable → Task
Task → Sub-Task

❌ Not Allowed:

Task → Requirement (tasks can't contain requirements)
Milestone → Milestone (no nested milestones)
Dependency → Requirement

The application will prevent you from creating invalid structures.

Type: Which kind of item (requirement, task, etc.)
Title: A clear, descriptive name
Description: Details about what needs to be done (optional)
Parent: Whether it belongs under another item (optional)

For milestones, dependencies, and deliverables, you'll also provide their special properties.

Organizing Items

Nesting: You can nest items under each other to show relationships. For example:

A requirement can have multiple tasks underneath it
A task can have sub-tasks for more detail

Reordering: You can drag and drop items to change their order in the list.

Moving: You can move an item to a different parent, as long as the hierarchy rules allow it.

Item Prefixes

Many teams use prefixes to quickly identify item types:

REQ-001: User authentication
TASK-042: Create login API
MILE-003: Phase 1 complete
DEP-007: AWS account access
DELIV-002: User documentation

Best Practices

Choosing the Right Type

Use Requirements when: You're describing what needs to be built from a business perspective

Use Tasks when: You're describing specific work someone needs to do

Use Milestones when: You're marking an important date or checkpoint

Use Dependencies when: You're waiting on something external

Use Deliverables when: You're creating something for the client

Structuring Work

Keep it shallow: Try not to nest more than 2-3 levels deep

✅ Good:
Requirement
  ├─ Task 1
  ├─ Task 2
  └─ Task 3

❌ Too deep:
Requirement
  └─ Sub-Requirement
      └─ Task
          └─ Sub-Task
              └─ Sub-Sub-Task