Tasks and child tasks

Tasks are where the work happens. This chapter explains the Tasks tab, how child tasks work, exactly how colors are calculated, and how to keep a long list tidy.

The Tasks tab

The Tasks tab shows every task in the project as a tree. Its title shows how many tasks there are. Each row shows, from left to right:

• an arrow to fold or unfold its child tasks
• an icon for todo lists (a checklist) and Kanban boards (a board); plain tasks leave this space empty, so names stay aligned
• its status dot
• the signal button, when the task is orange or red and its reason is not written yet (see Why a task is orange or red below)
• its name
• small icons for what the task holds: the ⑂ marker when it is shared with another project (chapter 12), a page when it has notes, a paperclip with the number of files, and, when the plugins are installed, a trigram for Yi Jing readings and two linked boxes for a draw.io diagram (chapter 14). Hover over an icon for details: the note's icon shows when the note was last edited.
• its created and modified dates
• buttons to add a child task (+), edit the task and delete it (✕)

The Modified date moves only when the task really changes: its name, description, color, notes or files, or a new child task. Opening a task, or saving its edit window without changes, leaves the date as it was.

[Screenshot: a row of the Tasks tab, with the type icon, status dot, name, content icons, dates and the +, edit and ✕ buttons labeled]

Click a task's name to open its notes.

Add tasks

Click + New Task, at the right end of the tabs, or press Ctrl+N. The button is there whichever tab is open: Andon switches to the Tasks tab and opens a small window under the button.

1. Choose what to create: Task, Todo list or Kanban board (chapter 10).
2. Type its Name, and a Description if you like.
3. Under Add it, keep At the end of the project, or choose Under followed by the current task's name to make it a child of that task.
4. Click Create, or press Enter.

The new item is highlighted in the list. Tick Add another to keep the window open and add several in a row. Esc or Cancel closes the window without creating anything.

To add a child task to a particular task, click the + button on its row, or right-click it and choose Add child task. The same window opens, set to add the new task under that one.

New items always go at the end of their list, which matters for the color rules below.

Child tasks can have children of their own, so you can break work down as far as you need.

Edit and delete

Click the edit button on a row to change the task's name and description. Click ✕ to delete it; Andon asks for confirmation. If it is the last task in the project, Andon warns you that deleting it will delete the whole project.

Before deleting a task, ask whether it should be red instead. Deleting removes the task, its notes and its history. If the task is shared with another project, deleting it here only removes it from this project; the other project keeps it.

How colors are calculated

A plain task without children keeps the color you set. Everything else takes its color from its children, by these rules checked in order:

1. If any child is orange, the parent is orange.
2. Otherwise, if the last child in the list is red, the parent is red.
3. Otherwise, if any child is green, the parent is green.
4. Otherwise, the parent is white.

The same rules give each project its color from its top-level tasks.

The rule about the last child is why order matters. Keep the task that shows where you stand now at the bottom of its list. When you abandon an approach and start a new one, add the new task after the red one.

Why a task is orange or red: Properties

Every task has a Properties window that keeps the reasons for its color, apart from its notes. Right-click a task and choose Properties….

The signal button. When you set a task to orange or red, a small button appears on its row, right after the status dot, in the task's color. It means the reason has not been written yet. Click it: Properties opens with the cursor in the field that matters. Once that field is saved, the button goes away. Nothing is forced: the color changes at once, and the button can stay as long as you like.

The signal appears only on plain tasks whose color you set on their own row. Tasks with child tasks, todo lists and their items, Kanban boards and cards don't show it. Neither do tasks that were already orange or red before this version of Andon: their reasons are probably in their notes already.

The Current tab shows the task's state and since when (filled in automatically), and the fields for that state:

Initialized and NTR tasks have nothing to fill in. Below the fields, the tab shows when the task was created and modified, and which projects hold it. Click Save to keep what you wrote; Cancel or Esc leaves everything as it was. Saving doesn't change the task's Modified date.

The History tab lists every state the task has been in, newest first, with its dates and how long it lasted. Each blocker keeps its own fields: a task that was blocked twice shows both blockers, what it waited for each time, the follow-ups and what unblocked it. The tab's title shows how many blockers the task has had. Changes made before this version of Andon were not recorded, and the list says so.

Followed up. Right-click an orange task and choose Followed up to record today as its last follow-up, without opening anything.

Search also finds tasks by what you wrote in these fields (chapter 11).

Sort and filter

Click the Created or Modified column header to sort: once for newest first, twice for oldest first, three times to go back to your own order. Andon remembers the sort for each project.

Sorting only changes what you see. Colors are always calculated from your own order, so a sorted view may not show which task is last for the color rules.

Type in the Filter field above the list to show only tasks whose name contains what you type. Clear the filter with the ✕ in the field.

Drag and drop

Drag a task to move it up or down the list. Drop it onto another task to make it that task's child. Child tasks can be dragged out to the top level the same way.

Select several tasks

Ctrl+click adds or removes a task from the selection; Shift+click selects a range. With several tasks selected you can move them to a folder, compare them, or branch them into a new project (chapter 12).

Folders for long lists

Folders keep a long list readable. They are only for display: they change neither the task hierarchy nor any color.

1. Select one or more tasks.
2. Right-click and choose Move to folder.
3. Pick an existing folder from the list, or choose New folder, name it and choose where to create it.

Folders can be folded and unfolded in place and can contain other folders. Right-click a folder to Rename it, Move to folder (nest it), Move out of folder, or Ungroup it to release its contents. Right-click a task inside a folder and choose Remove from folder to take it out. You can also drag tasks into, out of and between folders.

A folder can never be empty: when its last task leaves, Andon removes the folder, and any parent folder left empty with it.