I use a Kan Ban board style project as a master board for several teams. Some teams like to have their own board too.
We have tried to set up rules where moving a task in the source project (i.e. move to in progress, from “next”) “creates” that task in the appropriate section of the master board. The first time a task is dragged into one of these sections, the rule works (ex. moving from “next” to in progress on the source board, creates the task under “in progress” on the master board). However, when that task is moved to in-review on the source board - the task does not change sections on the master board (source board has a rule that if a task is moved to “in review” on this project, create that task under in-review on the master project).
If instead we use a custom field to trigger these rules, then it all works (ex. if status set to in review on source project, create this task under in-review on master project) - tasks would move around as expected.
One of two things could be done to make this experience better:
make it so that the rules work? or
make it so that a project can be filtered for tasks from a source project then status could managed all in one spot?
Something worth checking. In your Master Project is there any other rules that are operating on if a Task is moved to “In-Review”? As they maybe conflicting with your Source Project rule.
If not it sounds like a bit of a bug so maybe worth contact Support to see if they can help.
I actually don’t think it’s a bug. @Craig_DHA, can you post a screenshot of the exact rules you have set up in the source and master projects? (Not the ones involving custom fields that are working, but the initial ones that aren’t working.)
Below is an example of a set of rules that don’t work - the rules on the left are in the source project, and the rules on the right are in the master project.
Basically when I move it around in the source project, I also want it moved in the master project (which I accomplish with “Add to another project” - and this works well if a “custom field change” is used instead of a “section-move” in the source project, but chaining these things in the same rule doesn’t work):
Most master project rules pertain to board status, but we’re actually not using the status in this example, but I don’t think this should matter.
if I move a backlog item into a “Next” section in my source project, the task is successfully added to the master project under the correct section.
If I subsequently move that task to an “in progress” section in the source project, the task does not change sections in the master project - it stays under next.
To re-iterate, if I use a custom field change as a trigger in the source project (instead of section moves) the tasks move around in the master project as you would expect.
Hi @Craig_DHA
I think it it is because the Task is already in the Master Project. So it fails the rule because it is already in the Project So it can’t add it to the project.
Having a quick look there doesn’t seem to be an action that allows you to move a Tasks between sections in another project.
The reason I would suggest Custom Fields work is that the custom field is in both projects. So an update of the Custom Field when in one project is reflected in the other project.
The workaround would be to have a rule in your source project that when moving section triggers a custom field change and in the master project have a rule that on custom field change moves to different section.
From a Product feedback point of view. The suggestion would be to add a Trigger or Action that allows a Task to be moved between sections in another project.
Thanks, unfortunately this also fails - “When task is moved change the custom field” does not trigger anything in the master project related to the custom field.
Let’s modify my source project rules to be:
Rule 1. When task is moved to Next, add to master project under Next, AND update board status to next (the only change here is the board status update)
Rule 2. When task is moved to In progress, update board status to in progress.
Example:
Step 1. Move task to Next in source project - the rule will add this task to the master project, under the Next section, and update the board status to Next - perfect.
Step 2. Move the task to In Progress in the source project. The rule will update the board status to In Progress BUT the task remains in the Next section of the master project - this doesn’t propagate.
Given that this works when I use custom fields, this would have to be a bug/design issue with “move section” rules, no?
The reason that the custom field rules work and the section rules don’t is that:
a custom field (assuming it’s an organization-wide field; that is, lives in your Custom Fields Library) added to multiple projects is the same object in all of those projects. I.e. when you see or reference a custom field in multiple projects, it’s the exact same field (the same object in technical terms); whereas
sections are wholly and completely project-specific. The object representing a section only exists in the one project where that section was created. Yes, you can create a section in Project B which happens to have the same name as a section in Project A, but they are two totally distinct and unconnected objects.
Because custom fields can span (so to speak) multiple projects and sections don’t, the only way to to create a rule that impacts multiple projects is to use custom fields - as you’ve discovered!
Thanks, Phil - this explanation makes sense. Although I knew that sections were project specific, of course, I didn’t realize that I had created the correct condition by having the board status in both projects. On the surface it seemed to me that it shouldn’t matter whether anything is in both projects for these rules.
So perhaps the feature is a “Trigger or Action that allows a Task to be moved between sections in another project” - as Jason suggested
I’ve tried to do this efficiently, but it would be great to mirror another projects kanban board. For example, when they move the project to a different column, it also gets moved to a specific column in a different board. They are the same project cards on 2 different Kanban boards.
One thing I have done is made a rule so that when the project status is changed, the project card is supposed to move to a different column. However, for some reason this rule just is not working. It only works when the status is changed on the secondary Kanban board.
For example, if there is a research team and client success team with 2 separate kanban boards. When the research team changes the status of a project to “Ready for delivery to client”, it would be great for that to mirror onto the client success kanban board and go into our “Ready for delivery” column. I’ve tried this but it just doesn’t work unless its done on the client side kanban board!
