HP Docket Workflow Status Tags

This document will help everyone become familiar with a standard that we wish to use for all items in Docket.  Using a common workflow will allow everyone to speak the same language within Docket and immediately understand the status of anything in Docket.

The Projects & Tasks Workflow:

This is the preferred workflow we should all use. 

The “Active” and “Deferred” lanes are tied to automated reporting, and the “Completed” and “Cancelled” lanes are essentially ignored for any reporting.   (You do not have to worry about the automated reporting, but if you are curious about it please ask Eric Xavier and he can explain how you can use it.)

Once an item is moved to the “Cancelled” lane, it signifies an active decision was made by a task’s owner and the task should not be used again.  Things moved to the “Cancelled” lane (Rejected, Cancelled, Abandoned) are considered dead items that cannot be resurrected.

Definitions of Swim-Lane Tags:

Active Status Tags

“Proposed” and “Requested” are the preferred starting points for any new item in Docket. 

Proposed

This status is for anything created without someone else external asking for the task to be done.  It is an entirely internal proposition, such as when you come up with an idea for helping someone else: “I’m going to do this”.  You are taking on this task yourself in order to help someone or otherwise improve a process. 

This status puts a task on your radar, but otherwise, you are not dealing with it until time allows.  Most tasks will start off as “Proposed”.  

Requested

This status is for external, official, or formal requests from another person or department.  Therefore, there is an “approval” tied to the status.  The “approval” portion of the “Requested” status allows for later “Rejection” of the request if needed, but keeping a log of the task.   It is otherwise the same as “Proposed”.

In Progress

This should hopefully be self-explanatory.  It is for things that are on the “front burner”, a priority to-do, or otherwise on the forefront of your efforts.  This does not mean that you are necessarily “actively” working on a task with this status at any given moment.  We all get pulled into other tasks or otherwise are interrupted and can also have many things “In Progress” at once. 

“In Progress” simply means that it is within your realm of focus of things on your current plate.  You might not get to it today, but you plan on working on it soon.  Tasks can bounce back and forth between “In Progress” and “In Customer Review”.  (The “In Progress” is not driven by any API, the same as “On Hold”.)

This status is in contrast and opposite to anything in the “Deferred” lane.

In Customer Review

This is akin to user-acceptance testing or a point where you have completed a task, and have requested someone else to review, test, or otherwise provide feedback or confirm the task in some way.  It is a way to leave the “Active” Swim-Lane.  Tasks can be momentarily sent here, putting the task on someone else’s plate but not a task they created (or want to create) for themselves.

You still own the task and it is still “Active”, and you need to keep in touch with anything you have put “In Customer Review” to know when the ball has been tossed back into your court.  (See the section on “Assignees vs Followers” for a quick way to ask a customer for an update).

Deferred Status Tags

Pending Approval

Placing a task into the Deferred Lane with the tag of “Pending Approval” signifies that other parties need to approve your work or task, answer a question, or you are waiting for information from another party before you can do any more work on the task.  You are waiting for them before you can continue. 

Tasks here are sitting on a “warming plate” as no work is being done by you at the moment but can continue at any point when the approval/question/information request is met.

On Hold

This status represents an active decision you have made to halt work on a task – for any reason you decide.  It has been “back burnered”.  The reason is moot, and it may be uncertain/unknown when the task can re-commence.  You are not thinking about this task, and it is no longer a priority but could become actively “In Progress” again at any time.  (The “On Hold” is not driven by any API, the same as “In Progress”.)

It is critical to note the difference between “On Hold” vs. “Abandoned”, which is a status resulting from things out of your control and effectively terminates a task.

Not Started

This status should never be used.  It will likely be deleted from Docket or edited to reflect another type of status. 

Completed Status Tags

Completed

This indicates that you were the “final step” in the task or process.  You completed it and marked it as done.  Or the task, if it went out to someone else, has come back to you as the ending point.  There is no more work to do on the task.

Handed Off

This is for when a task has been given to another external party to complete and has effectively left the realm of your control – it is no longer on your burner.  Your part in the task or process is effectively complete as the initiator/owner, but the task or process itself still has more work to be done by others (in another department or location) who can create a new task or project to continue the work as they need to.  It is not the same as “In Customer Review” as this task is no longer considered “Active” for you. 

(It is also not meant to transfer ownership of a task.  If you need to give a task to another person, make them the “assignee”.)

Cancelled Status Tags

Rejected

This status should be self-explanatory.  There was a decision that the work did not meet the requirements of another party.  Most tasks will not ever use this status and will likely use one of the other two for this lane.

Cancelled

The task was stopped in its tracks, never to be worked on again.

Abandoned

The task was dropped because a resource (people/funds/time) is no longer available.  It now lives in the Isle of Misfit Toys and won’t be playing with anyone ever again.

Example Lifecycle of a Task

Other Standards of Practice

Assignees vs Followers vs Shared

When you create a task, you are assumed to be the one responsible for it as the task owner.  However, you need to officially designate yourself as the “Assignee”.  This enables other reporting functions and is helpful when using the dashboard feature and creating widgets.  You can have co-owners who share in your glory, and they would need to be added (with you) as assignees.

Followers: are "interested parties".  They have a stake or interest in your project.  This is useful to provide status updates to people who might like to know your progress, as they can be alerted to changes in status or receive notifications for any active conversations involving your task.  You can alert the followers to any comment by using the “@followers” tag in your comment.  Followers can also elect to “unfollow” your task (but don’t be offended, it’s really not you).

Followers are a good way to include persons who are reviewing your task if you change the status to “In Customer Review”.  By making a comment in your task and including the “@followers” tag, they will be notified of your request/comment for an update.

Sharing:  Share a Folder or Project with users and groups to give them access to that Folder or Project. Once a Folder or Project is shared with a user, they will also have access to all of its Subfolders, Subprojects, tasks, and subtasks. As you add tasks, Subfolders, and Subprojects to a parent Folder/Project, those items are automatically shared with the users and groups who have access to the parent Folder/Project.