Checklists

Lightweight tick-off lists inside a task, and reusable checklist templates.

A checklist is a list of items inside a task. No assignee, no dates — just things to tick. It keeps a task readable while making sure the small steps actually happen.

#Checklist or subtask?

☑️Checklist item

Small, same person, no scheduling. "Update the changelog", "Add a regression test".

🔗Subtask

Needs its own owner, date or estimate.

If you would never put a due date on it, it is a checklist item.

#Adding one

Open the task and add items to the checklist section. Tick them as you go; the task shows completion progress.

#Groups

Items can be organised into named groups, so one task can carry several distinct lists — "Before merge", "Before release", "After deploy" — without becoming an undifferentiated wall of ticks.

#Templates

Reusable checklists you attach to a task rather than retyping. This is where checklists earn their keep: a definition of done, a release checklist, a code review checklist, an onboarding sequence.

Build from something real
Take the list a team already keeps in a doc or in their head and make it a template.
Keep it to what gets skipped
A template listing the obvious steps trains people to tick without reading. Include the steps that actually get forgotten.
Attach it to the task
Add the group from the template when you create the task.
Revise it after incidents
When something is missed, that is the moment to add the item — while you still remember why it matters.

#Definition of done

The most valuable checklist most teams can have. Disagreement about "done" is the single most common source of rework.

A concrete example:

Acceptance criteria met
Tests written and passing
Code reviewed
Documentation updated
Deployed to staging and verified

Tip

Write it once as a template, attach it to every task, and the conversation stops recurring.

#Keeping them honest

Ticking without doing

The failure mode of every checklist. It happens when the list is too long or the items are obvious. Cut it back to what genuinely gets missed — a five-item list people read beats a twenty-item list they tick through.

Checklists that duplicate the workflow

If an item is "code reviewed" and you also have a Review status, you are tracking the same thing twice and they will disagree. Pick one.

Stale templates

Give each template an owner. A checklist enforcing last year's process is worse than none.

#Where checklists show up

Checklist completion appears on the task, on board cards, and in progress reporting — so a task at 8/10 is visibly nearly done without opening it.

🏷Next: custom fields and statuses

Shaping tasks to your own workflow.