The goal of the To-do list in Karbon is to quickly identify tasks that require your attention now, and to give you a personal capacity management tool for planning the completion of that work.
Index
Indications your To-do list isn't working
Here are two indications your To-do list isn't working as well as it could:
You find yourself asking, "can I do this now, or am I waiting for something else to happen before I start?"
Your To-do list contains so many items you can't easily identify what should be a priority.
If this is the case, read on to see how you can make your To-do list more manageable and work for you instead of against you.
Filtering your To-do list
To-do filters let you turn off certain items, ensuring that what you view is a true representation of what you need to work on.
At the top of your list, you can choose to only view certain types of to-do items (work, email, notes, tasks), and/or items in chosen status(es).
When you add filters, you'll notice that the numbers in your period tiles now indicate the number of items showing.
You'll see a separate figure indicating the number of items on your To-do in total.
If you navigate away from your to-do list, any filters you have applied within the current session will be remembered.
Filter by Status
Filter by Status allows you to find out what needs your immediate attention. We recommend looking at items that are In Progress or Ready To Start first. Remove Planned items to make your To-do list more actionable. If they're not ready for you to start (or in progress) they're not really ready for you "to do" yet.
Filter By Type
Filter by Type makes it easier for you to prioritise based on what you want to action first. We recommend looking at notes and emails first as they typically contain time sensitive information and need a quick response. We also recommend removing work assignments. If you need to view or report on Work Items, Karbon's Work Kanban board is a great tool for this. The To-do list is better focused on specific actionable items.
For Managers
Follow up on items you've assigned your staff by navigating from your To-do list to a colleague's To-do list or items you've assigned.
If you manage multiple team members, sort by assignee by clicking on the slider on the right.
Sorting your To-do list
Sorting your to-do items ensures that you can find your most important items first.
You have a range of options to sort your To-do list using the sorting slider.
Drag & drop: Items will display based on the customized order you have chosen with the 'drag and drop' function. Karbon will remember this order, even if you choose to sort or filter your items by something else.
To-do date: Items will display based on the day that was set to be done. This filter is popular in This Week and Next Week to-do periods to see items by day and organize the week.
Due date: Items will display based on the day they are due. An item with no due date will be included under the section 'No due date'.
Status: Use this filter to see items based on progress status. For example, you might want to see 'Planned' or 'Ready To Start' items.
Last updated: Items will display based on their latest activity timestamp.
Work: Items will be categorized by the piece of work they are a part of. Items that don't belong to any work item will be clustered under the section 'Not part of work'. If there is an email attached to multiple work items, it will be listed under the primary work item.
Client: Items will be grouped by the client they are associated with. If an item is not linked to a client, it will be included under the section 'Not linked to a client'.
Assigner: Items will be categorized by who has assigned the item. Very handy if you are looking at prioritizing your partner's requests.
Assignee: Items will be grouped by colleague who assigned the items.
All sorting views except for 'Drag & drop' will split your items into sections. You will be able to expand and collapse these sections as well as bulk update them.
Drag and drop to reorder
Organize your to-do list and plan each day, by rearranging your items into your customized order of priority. You can rearrange your to-do items by dragging and dropping them into an order that makes sense to you. You can rearrange them within one specific period, or move them to different to-do periods by dragging them to the period you wish to move them to.
To rearrange an item within the same period, first make sure your to-do list is sorting by 'Drag & drop'. You can then click on the item, drag, and drop it where you’d like it to be. You should see a line that indicates where the item will be dropped.
To move an item to another period, click on the item and then drag and drop it on the period button you’d like it to be.
As new items are assigned, they will appear at the top of the list.
To-do list Automation
Make sure the status of items you need to do is being elevated automatically — you shouldn't need to update the status manually.
For Email and Notes, adjust your Global Automators to set them as ready to start the moment they are assigned.
For Tasks within Work Items, make sure your Tasklist Automators are changing the task status to ready to start as soon as prior sections are complete.
Tasks and subtasks in To-do lists
Be selective in the number of tasks surfaced on To-do lists. It's essential that someone on your team has clear ownership of every task, however there are more elegant ways to achieve this than simply assigning every task to item individually.
For example, when constructing Work Templates, consider this example of two ways to build a section that outlines the same three tasks:
In the top example, the assignee will receive three line items in their To-do list. That adds up quickly if you're serving 10-20 clients.
In the bottom example, the tasks are indented as subtasks under a main task. This creates a clear visual indication that completing the subtasks is required in order for the owner of the main task to mark the item as complete.
Furthermore, since only the main task is given an assignee, that person will only receive one item in their To-do list (not three), which is perfectly adequate to draw their attention to this work item section. Once they navigate to the Work Item they will see the full list of required subtasks to complete.
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