Planning · Planning steps
Work stream step
Complete a board of tasks as part of planning, and feed its results into the item's files.
Complete a board of tasks as part of planning, and feed its results into the item’s files.
Some planning needs real work before the next document can be written: interviews, a security assessment, access to a system, a cost estimate. A Work stream step puts that work on a board of tasks inside planning. The item cannot move on until the board is complete, and everything the tasks produce, their attachments and a summary of each task, goes into the item’s files for the steps that follow.
Work stream steps are optional. They appear only if your organisation’s planning workflow includes one.
Before you start
- Open the item from Planning → Portfolio, and select the work stream step in the step rail. See Portfolio item.
- The item’s owner, or one of the work stream’s named owners, can open the board, generate tasks and complete it.
- To see the whole board, your role must include access to delivery work streams. Without it, you see only the tasks assigned to you.
Understanding the step
The header shows the step’s name and how many tasks are done, for example 3 of 8 done. Once the board is closed, it shows Completed.
Before the board is opened
Until someone opens it, the step explains what it is and shows:
- The step’s brief, if your organisation wrote one.
- The board’s columns, for example To do → Done, and who owns it.
- Any starter tasks that opening the board will create, with who each is for.
The board
Once open, the step shows the board of tasks. Move each task across the columns as it progresses. Working on the board is the same as on any delivery work stream board. See Work stream board.
If you only have tasks on it
If you cannot see the whole board, the step lists Your tasks on this work stream. Select a task to work on it. Your tasks also appear in My Tasks.
Open the work stream
- Make sure the work stream step is the current step. It opens only when it becomes the active one.
- Select Open work stream.
The board is created, along with any starter tasks.
Have Next plan tasks
- Select Generate tasks.
- Optionally, add a note to steer the run, for example “Only the access tasks — skip interviews for now.”
- Select Generate.
Next plans tasks from the step’s brief, the item’s overview, requirements and PRD, and its files. A status shows its progress. Select Stop to stop it.
Send files from done tasks
Files attached to done tasks are added to the item’s files when the board is completed. If some are waiting, a note says how many. Select Send now to add them straight away.
Complete the work stream
When every task is done:
- Select Complete work stream.
- Read the confirmation. Every task’s attachments, and a summary of each task (its outcome, owner and comments), are added to the item’s files so the next step’s generation can read them.
- Select Complete work stream.
A progress list shows each file as it is added. Files that are already there are skipped. If something fails, select Try again.
The board then becomes read-only and the step header shows Completed.
Reopen the work stream
If you need to add or change tasks after completing the board, select Reopen. You can only reopen it while the step is still active.
Approve the step
Once the work stream is complete, approve the step from the action bar to move on. Until then, the approve button is greyed out with Open this step’s work stream and complete it first or Complete this step’s work stream first.
What happens next
- The tasks’ output is in the item’s files, grouped under work streams. Next reads it when it drafts later steps. See Files and the context vault.
- The next step in the workflow becomes the current step.