Work Item
Reading time: 9 minutes
Last updated
Reading time: 9 minutes
Last updated
In short: Work Items in Timebook are essential for organizing and tracking your Team’s tasks, from small issues to large epics. It covers how to create, manage, and customize Work Items, set dependencies, and use Work Item cards effectively. The article also explains the concept and the dedicated [Work Items] module.
In Timebook, Work Items are the backbone of your team’s work, capturing everything from the smallest tasks to the biggest epics. Whether you’re tracking bugs, tackling new features, or writing up user stories, all Work Items serve one purpose—getting things done.
Work Items can vary greatly in scope. A simple task might take just a few hours, while an epic can span weeks or even months. But no matter the size, Timebook has you covered. Every Work Item plays a role in the execution phase of your planning, helping you break down work into actionable steps, track progress, and keep your team on course.
You can personalize certain aspects of your Work Items and how they behave in Timebook. For more information, see Work Item preferences
Timebook offers different types of Work Items to help teams manage both the discovery and execution phases of product development. Making the most of these phases is crucial for building successful products:
Discovery focuses on identifying Opportunities, exploring Solutions, and defining what to build.
Execution is about implementing those solutions through development, testing, and delivery.
Each Timebook Work Item type serves a unique purpose. Here’s an overview of how they might fit into your workflow:
Assumption
Use this to document hypotheses or beliefs about your product or users that need validation during the discovery phase. In Timebook, Assumptions are the most obvious choice for adding Work Items to Solutions. This helps connect the discovery and execution phases.
Task
Use this to represent specific, actionable units of work that contribute directly to the delivery of a project.
Bug
Track and resolve defects or issues identified in your product during the execution phase.
Story
Define specific, user-focused requirements that the team will implement during the execution phase.
Feature
Group related Stories to deliver a cohesive piece of functionality within the execution phase.
Epic
Organize multiple Features or large initiatives into a high-level plan for long-term execution.
By selecting the appropriate Work Item type, you can categorize items into discovery and execution phases and effectively track the transition from problem identification to solution delivery.
Timebook has a dedicated module for managing Work Items, offering multiple perspectives through different data layouts. The [Work Items] module is designed to focus on the execution phase of product development, making it ideal for analyzing and tracking all the work.
As a Team Owner or Admin, you can customize the [Work Items] module in Team settings. You can create custom statuses, enable Sprints, or increase automatization by integrating with Git.
For more information, see Work settings in Team
Each Timebook has its own [Work Items] module, allowing you to manage all work assignments for a specific Team in one place. This keeps work organized and simplifies tracking.
In addition, you can find all the Work Items relevant to you in My Work. There, you can quickly access items you’ve created, those assigned to you, and the ones you’re watching.
Team level
Each Timebook Team has a dedicated module for managing Work Items, allowing team members to view and organize tasks through various data layouts.
The Team-level Work Items module is designed to help track, assign, and coordinate tasks within the team. By default, each Work Item created in this module is assigned to the Team, but this can be adjusted as needed.
[My Work] module
In [My Work], you only see the Work Items that are relevant to you.
This module has dedicated sections that automatically display Work Items you’ve created, assigned to others, or marked as watched.
As a Team Leader, you can use the [Work Items] module to organize and prioritize tasks for others, reassign work, or link Work Items to Goals at the Team or Workplace level.
As a Team Member, you can use the [Work Items] module to stay focused on your individual tasks, provide updates on collaborative work, and mark the progress of your assignments.
The [Work Items] module holds all the work-related data for your Team, which you can customize using various layouts, filters, and grouping options. Additionally, you can save these customized views as public for all members to access or keep them private for your personal use.
[Backlog] is a pre-configured data view in the [Work Items] module. It is just above the list of your Work Items. The [Backlog] view shows all the uncompleted Work Items not planned for . This means you can find all the unplanned and unfinished work of the entire team in one place. With [Backlog], you can plan and track work with less effort.
We have dedicated articles that explain how to manage data views and layouts in several Timebook modules, including this one.
For more information, see Layouts & views
In the [Work Items] module, you can efficiently manage many items at once using the [Edit multiple items] button. After clicking it, an overlay will appear, allowing you to select multiple or all items and apply specific actions to them. This feature lets you quickly move items in bulk to a different Sprint or Project, assign them to others, or delete them permanently.
You can create Work Items in the [Work Items] module in any Team. You can also create them contextually in other places in Timebook, like , and the process is nearly identical to the one explained below.
To create a Work Item:
Click the [+] button at the top of the list of Work Items. The button placement may vary depending on your chosen data layout.
Give your new Work Item a meaningful name. At this stage, you can also:
Change the type of this Work Item (to “Task” or “Bug,” for instance).
Add a short description.
Define basic properties, such as Assignee, Priority, or .
Click [Create...] to save your changes. The new Work Item is added to the list.
Open the Work Item to edit its details and access all the available options and properties.
When editing a Work Item, explore sections and tabs on its card to easily access all management options. See below for more information.
In Timebook, each Work Item has its own card that displays all the options and properties you can use to manage it. In different , you can also use cards to move your Work Items around. For instance, you can drag and drop a Work Item card to:
Mark the status and progress of the Work Item in the Board layout.
Change the Work Item’s position in the List layout.
After you open a Work Item card, you can manage and navigate using the options in the top bar.
You can safely close a Work Item card by clicking out of it. We will save all the changes you made to the Work Item.
When you look at the left side of a Work Item card, you’ll notice several sections. Each section has a specific purpose: to help you describe your work, categorize it, or add supporting resources.
Here’s an overview of the sections of a Work Item card and their purpose:
The sections presented above are not exclusive to Work Item cards.
Cards of other object types in Timebook, such as Goals or Tickets, have nearly identical designs.
When you look at the right side of a Work Item card, you’ll notice several tabs. They allow you to further define your Work Item, provide an update, and track changes over time.
Here’s an overview of the Work Item card tabs and their purpose:
Properties
You can use multiple fields in this tab to fine-tune, categorize, or track your Work Item. You can start by changing Priority or Status, but the flexibility of our properties can handle even the most complex cases.
Comments
This tab allows Workplace members to communicate, share updates, and collaborate directly within the Work Item. They can ask questions, provide updates, or offer feedback, making it a central hub for work-related communication. You can mention others using the @ symbol and notify specific people directly.
Activity
This tab tracks all actions and changes made to a Work Item, providing a detailed history of events. It displays them in chronological order, showing when changes were made and by whom. The information in this tab is generated automatically, usually including status updates, priority changes, reassignments, and comments.
We put all the tabs in a drawer, so you can hide them by clicking the [Collapse/Expand] button at the top of your Work Item card.
For more information, see our separate article dedicated to
For more information, see
