Tasks and boards

A task is work that gets finished. Every task sits on a task board in a space, and a space can have several boards. For records you keep and update, like contacts or inventory, use a table.

Boards

To add a board, click the + beside a space’s name and choose Task board. Pick a template (General, Customer Success, Engineering, Marketing, Recruiting, Sales or Support) and click Create task board, or choose Custom to write your own statuses.

With one board, the sidebar shows it as Tasks. With more, Tasks shows every task in the space together and expands to list the boards.

• Board view shows a column per status; List view shows rows.
• Drag a card to another column to change its status, or within a column to reorder it.
• Right-click a card to change its Status or Priority, or Delete it.

The board’s three-dot menu has Edit statuses, Edit fields and Delete.

Statuses

Each status has a name and a State: Backlog, Ready, Active, Blocked, Done or Canceled. The General template has exactly those six statuses. In Edit statuses:

• Add status adds one; drag to reorder; the X deletes one.
• Presets replace the list with a template’s statuses.
• Removing a status that has tasks moves them to the first status; Matter says how many.
• Save changes applies your edits, and Reset discards them.

My Tasks, and a space’s Tasks page when it has several boards, show one column per state, so different boards line up.

Fields

The Fields tab lists the board’s custom fields, like a deal size or the company a task is for. Every task on the board has them, each with its own value. The types are the same as a table’s. Turn on a field’s On cards switch to show its value on cards. You can also add a field from any task with Add field.

A Relation field links tasks to rows of a table. Choose the table under Linked Table, then pick rows on each task. The row lists the task under Linked from.

Create a task

Click the + on a column, hover the board in the sidebar and click its +, or press ⌘K and choose New Task. The task opens beside the board. Type a title; if you leave it empty, with no details, Matter discards the task. A title already used on the board gets “ (2)” added.

The task page

The task’s properties:

• Board: move the task to another board, keeping its state.
• Status, Priority and Due date.
• Owner: the person responsible. Only people own tasks. New tasks are yours, or belong to the person the board is filtered to.
• Subscribers: the people following its updates. The owner is added automatically.
• The board’s custom fields.

Below them:

• Updates: progress notes, newest first.
• Threads: conversations linked to the task. A bold title has updates you haven’t read.
• Plan: a checklist of steps. Type a step in the last row, check steps off, or drag to reorder. Cards show progress, like 2/5.
• Details: the description. Agents read and edit it too.

Have an agent work on a task

A person owns each task, and agents work on it in threads:

• Start task starts a thread on your saved model and device. The agent works until the task is done or it needs you, keeping the plan current.
• The arrow beside it offers Plan: the agent researches the task, updates its description and plan, and asks you questions, without doing the work.
• New thread opens a thread about the task for you to write in.

See The assistant.

Task updates

An update is a short progress note. Agents post them from threads, typically when they pick up the work, hit a blocker and finish. Each shows on the task and, as Task update, in its thread. Click one on the task to open its thread at that point. A hollow dot means it came from a thread you can’t open. Updates aren’t edited; status and completion live on the task.

Task suggestions

In a thread, an agent can suggest follow-up work. A Suggested Task waits above the composer; expand it to see its board and details.

• Save creates the task.
• Start creates it and starts it in a new thread. Its arrow also offers Start in this thread.
• Type in the field under the details to ask for changes. The agent can suggest a revised task.
• The X dismisses it.

Suggestions only come from turns you sent. Routines put work in your brief instead; see Home and the brief.

My Tasks and filtering by person

My Tasks in the sidebar (⌘2) shows every task you own, across all spaces, in one column per state.

On a board or a space’s Tasks page, the filter at the top shows All tasks, My tasks, or one person’s tasks from the User menu. Matter remembers All tasks or My tasks for each page; a chosen person lasts until you quit.