# Workflow

# Workflow and Card States

At the heart of Codecks is a unique workflow and conversation model. If you want to make sure to understand how magical Codecks can feel, then this is the part to pay attention to. It can turn your team work into a finely tuned steampunk machinery of joyful efficiency (_you can probably tell, we're really excited about this part_).

> Regular Codecks cards come with workflow states already built-in. Card can be in the following states:
>
> - Unassigned
> - Assigned
> - Started
> - Blocked
> - In-Review
> - Done

By default all cards are in Unassigned state. All other states are optional and may or may not be used depending on your own preference. We recommend using all of them to appreciate the full power of Codecks.

The only cards not using this workflow are [Hero Cards](https://manual.codecks.io/hero-cards/) and [Doc Cards](https://manual.codecks.io/doc-cards/).

> The color palette for workflow states can be changed in your [profile](https://manual.codecks.io/profile/#accessibility-workflow-color-palettes) to improve accessibility for color-blind users:

## Unassigned and Assigned card

![Unassigned card](https://manual.codecks.io/_astro/1%20Unassigned%20big.DzHunm4b_Zc6zFf.webp)

These are the defaults states for cards with (assigned) and without (unassigned) owners.

![Assigned card](https://manual.codecks.io/_astro/2%20Assigned%20big.CjY2YaC__ZGbySm.webp)

Cards can represent whatever you put on them. Not all cards will contain actionable tasks and it is completely fine for cards to always stay in this state if applying a work state to them makes no sense.

Examples for cards where it might make no sense to assign work states are technical or organizational look-up documents, overarching game design documents and similar cards.

> **Blocked Cards Create Active Conversations**
>
> When you mark a card as Blocked in Codecks, you're not just moving it to a parking lot. You're starting a conversation and pulling specific people in to help unblock you.
>
> This is different from traditional "Waiting" states where cards just sit. Blocked creates accountability: the people you mention get notified and the card stays visible as something requiring action.
>
> Snoozing is separate. That's for cards that were started but went quiet. It's a nudge from the system asking "is this still happening?" Use it as a signal to re-commit or put the work back.

## Started cards

![Started card](https://manual.codecks.io/_astro/3%20Started%20big.BcNDksVm_Z23MooA.webp)

Cards that represent tasks and that you are working on should be put into the _started_ state by pressing the play button on top of the opened card. The `spacebar` also starts the card whether you're hovering over a mini card or have the card opened. If the card has no owner yet, starting it will assign it to you first.

Without real-time tracking, clicking the play button on a started card toggles it back to _not started_. With [real-time tracking](https://manual.codecks.io/time-tracking/) enabled, the play button acts as a combined start-and-track control on your own task cards: a single click sets the card to _started_ and begins the timer. A second click then only stops the timer, leaving the card in the _started_ state. To mark a started card as no longer in progress in this mode, open the **…** (More Options) menu in the top-right of the opened card and pick _Unstart this Card_.

The play button has additional time-tracking duties when real-time tracking is on. It appears on Hero Cards and Doc Cards (which never enter the _started_ state) purely as a tracker, and it lets you track time on a card that is blocked, in review or owned by someone else without changing the card's workflow state. See [Time Tracking](https://manual.codecks.io/time-tracking/) for the full picture.

Started cards are shown in blue color and signal your teammates that you're actively pursuing the work that this card represents.

## Blocked Cards

![Blocked card with conversation](https://manual.codecks.io/_astro/4%20Blocked%20big.Bh17j2ma_1XhElP.webp)

Alas, as in life not everything in game dev or project management always runs smoothly. While you are working on the card, you may run into a roadblock in the form of missing information, missing assets or technical issues. In this case you may set the card to _blocked_ by clicking the exclamation point icon on top of the opened card.

This opens a special conversation thread. Use it to draw team mates into a conversation and to describe the issue that you're currently facing. Use the portrait icons or typing `@` to add as many team members as you need to resolve the situation. Whereas cards can only be assigned to one person at most, there is no limit to how many of your team mates can be involved in discussions.

If you're working solo or you are blocked by outside influences you can still set the card to blocked even without drawing in additional team members. This will help signal to yourself or to other team members why you currently can't proceed on a certain task.

Send the message by pressing `ctrl/cmd + enter` or click the send button and your mentioned team mates will receive a notification alert informing them that you are stuck and need help. Blocked cards are shown in red color.

As your team members reply to the block conversation and give you valuable information, you get notifications for each reply. Depending on the information you may want to draw in additional people by mentioning them in your comment. Team members that can't help may opt out of the conversation (see the [conversations document](https://manual.codecks.io/conversations/) for more info).

Once the underlying issue is resolved, you can unblock the card by clicking on the _unblock this card_ button below the block conversation. This will put the card back into its previous state. The special block conversation will be closed doing this.

If you are running on [real-time tracking](https://manual.codecks.io/time-tracking/) the time that the card spends in blocked state is not counted towards the work time of the card.

## In-Review Cards

![Review card with conversation](https://manual.codecks.io/_astro/5%20In-review%20big.BNQYsoqk_2rpJp.webp)

Let's assume everything now goes swimmingly and you're able to finish the work on the card. If you are looking for the opinion or approval of other team members, you can put the card into _review_ state by clicking the _question mark_ icon above the opened card.

Doing this opens a special review conversation. As with block conversations or regular conversations you may select as many team mates as you want or need. All mentioned team members get a notification and can support you with the required feedback.

As with block conversation it is not required to draw in any person at all and you can set the review state even if you're the only participant. In-review cards are shown in turquoise color.

Once you've gained enough feedback you may end the review state. _Close review and mark as done_ ends the review and sets the card to done in one step. _Cancel review_ ends the review without setting the card to done.

> Based on the review feedback you may have learned that there is more work to do. If the amount of additional work is substantial we recommend to end the review state and set the card back to _assigned_ or _started_. This signals clearly that you're not looking for more feedback as you are working on the extension. Once you are done with the new work you may open a fresh review state for new feedback.
>
> For smaller feedback tasks it is often easiest to just keep the card in review state and handle the feedback right away, informing your team mates about any additional updates in the existing thread.

## Done Cards and Archived Cards

![Done Card](https://manual.codecks.io/_astro/6%20Done%20big.I0UlIwnm_Zd0MzW.webp)

Done cards are shown in green color and represent cards that don't have any actionable tasks left to do. You may reach this card state after going through the whole _started_-_blocked_-_review_ workflow or by simply setting a card directly to done. How many or few of the workflow steps you use is up to you and your team. We recommend using the full workflow for maximum magic of course.🧙‍♂️

Cards which are done feel great but might clutter up your Decks, Runs and Milestones as time passes. Codecks auto archives done cards once they haven't changed for a set amount of time. You can customize that time limit or disable auto archiving in the organization settings (reachable via the joystick button in the top left). Doc Cards are never auto archived, and neither are cards with an open conversation (for a Hero Card, this includes its Sub Cards' conversations).

![Archived Card](https://manual.codecks.io/_astro/7%20Archived%20big.44r0GCyn_ZgevwS.webp)

Archived cards look like regular cards with an additional icon on the card. By default they are hidden from the deck view or search results but can be retrieved by using the _include archived_ button in the top-right area of any search popup box. As a shortcut, Decks, Runs and Milestone views also feature a _include archive_ button directly next to the search input field.

You can also skip the auto-archival step and manually archive cards by clicking the _archive_ button in the bottom right area of opened cards. Cards that were archived but not done yet, are shown in a dark gray color to signal that they have become obsolete.

Once a card has been archived you may choose to delete it by using the _remove_ button again in the bottom right area of the opened archived card. It is a good idea to keep around most archived cards to look up information at a later point. Deleted cards no longer show up in decks or search, but you can still reach them through the activity feed or their id, and bring them back with _Restore Card_ in the card's More Options (…) menu.

You can use the [bulk action bar](https://manual.codecks.io/bulk-actions/) to archive multiple cards.

## Snoozing Cards

![Snoozing Card](https://manual.codecks.io/_astro/8%20Snoozing%20big.C2JJI3k3_Zovcsa.webp)

Once a card was started and hasn't been touched in a long time, it will enter a snoozing state. This is basically the app asking: _"Hey haven't heard from you in a long time, is everything okay?"_. You can hit the snoozing icon at the top of the opened card to continue. Editing the card doesn't unsnooze it.

This state should help you and your team identifying stale tasks. You can configure the time it takes for an untouched started card to snooze via the organization settings.

> With [real-time tracking](https://manual.codecks.io/time-tracking/), starting or stopping a timer counts as activity on the card. If a timer runs longer than the maximum tracking time, Codecks stops it at that limit and notifies you; the card's state doesn't change. The duration can be configured in the time tracking section in your organization settings.
>
> If you open up Codecks in the morning and noticed that you forgot to turn off tracking, you can head to the card's history and edit the tracked time entry there. You should be able to reconstruct the proper tracked time by looking at when you started the tracking and when you approximately left work.