Delivery · Intake Queue

Draft tasks

Draft a work stream's tasks with Next or by hand, then refine each one before the item is promoted.

Draft a work stream’s tasks with Next or by hand, then refine each one before the item is promoted.

Every work stream on an intake item needs at least one task before the item can be promoted. These draft tasks become the work stream’s real tasks the moment the item is promoted, so a good set of drafts means the team can start work on day one.

You can ask Next to draft tasks from the requirements in the work stream, add tasks yourself, or do both. Drafts are easy to change: rename them, assign them, set their priority, and fill in a description and acceptance criteria or a task template.

Before you start

Open the intake item from the Intake Queue, then select the work stream in the setup rail. The task list sits below the stream’s properties.

Leads can draft and edit tasks on every work stream.
Work stream owners can draft and edit tasks on their own streams.
Everyone else sees the tasks read-only.

Understanding the task list

Column or mark	What it shows
Task	The task’s title. Select a row to open the task.
Sparkle icon	The task was drafted by AI and nobody has edited it yet.
Assignee	Who will do the task. A dashed circle means nobody is assigned. Select it to assign someone.

Use the toolbar to find tasks:

Search by title.
Filter by Assignee, including Unassigned.
Sort by Title.

Draft tasks with Next

Next drafts tasks from the requirements placed in this work stream. The Generate draft button only appears once the stream has requirements.

Select Generate draft. Placeholder rows appear while Next works, and the toolbar shows what it is doing, for example Drafting tasks…, with the time elapsed.
Select the activity line to see each stage of the drafting in more detail. This is optional.
Wait for the drafted tasks to appear in the list, each marked with a sparkle.

To stop drafting part-way, select the stop button.

If drafting fails, you see Couldn’t draft the tasks. Select Try again.

Regenerate the drafts

Once a stream has tasks, Generate draft becomes Regenerate.

Select Regenerate. A confirmation tells you how many drafted tasks will be replaced.
Select Regenerate to confirm.

Regenerating replaces only the tasks Next drafted that nobody has edited. Tasks you added yourself, or drafted tasks you have edited, stay.

Steer the drafting

Use Configure to see what Next reads and tell it how you want the tasks drafted. Configure appears when the item came from a feature concept and the stream has requirements.

Select Configure. Generation settings opens.
Select Files to see which of the feature’s files the drafting reads.
Select Instructions and enter any steering you want applied, for example “Fewer, bigger tasks”.

Your instructions are used whenever Next drafts or regenerates these tasks.

Add a task yourself

Select Task in the toolbar.
Type a title and press Enter. The task is added and a new line opens, ready for the next one.
Press Esc when you have finished adding tasks.

Change several tasks at once

Hover over the left edge of a row and select its checkbox. Select the checkbox in the header to select every task. A bar appears at the bottom showing how many tasks are selected.
Choose Assign to assign them all to one person, or Delete to remove them.
Select the cross to clear the selection.

After deleting, a message such as 3 tasks deleted appears with Undo. Select Undo to bring the tasks back.

Open and edit a task

Select a task to open it in full.

Part	What you can do
Title	Select it to rename the task.
Assign	Choose who will do the task.
Priority	Choose Critical, High, Medium or Low. New tasks start as Medium.
Description	Describe what the task covers.
Acceptance criteria	List how you’ll know it’s done. Press Enter to add a criterion, or select Add criterion. Press Backspace on an empty line to remove it.

Your changes save as you go.

Move between tasks

The top bar shows where you are, for example 3 of 12.

Select the up and down arrows, or press K and J, to move to the previous or next task.
Press Esc to return to the list.

Apply a task template

If your organisation has delivery task templates, you can give a task a standard structure.

Select … in the task’s top bar.
Select Apply template and choose a template.

The task’s description and acceptance criteria are kept as sections, and the template’s sections are added. Each section has a heading you can rename and content you can edit. Select Add section to add another, or the bin icon beside a heading to remove one.

Delete a task

Select … in the task’s top bar.
Select Delete task.

A Task deleted message appears with Undo, in case you change your mind.

What happens next

When the stream’s tasks are ready, the owner hands them over with the check button at the top of the stream. See Setting up a work stream. When the item is promoted, these tasks appear on the work stream’s board in the project. See Work stream board.

Good to know

Drafts are only as good as the requirements behind them. Make sure each requirement is in the right work stream before you generate. See Intake requirements.
The Tasks column on the item’s overview, and the task count beside each requirement, update as you add and remove tasks.