Turn a channel into a project
A project lives in a channel. Turning one on keeps everything the channel already has, its chat, its docs and its members, and adds the tabs you need to track work. A channel can have one project.
Who can turn on a project#
- Any member of a channel who isn’t a guest can turn on its project.
- In an org-wide channel, only org owners and admins can.
- Direct messages can’t have a project.
Whoever turns the project on becomes its first project admin. See Roles and permissions.
Turn on a project#
- Open the channel.
- Open the channel’s menu (Channel options, the ⋯ at the end of the channel’s tab bar) and choose Turn on project….
- Template: pick the template closest to how your team works. For Software, choose Scrum or Kanban under How does the team work?
- Key: choose the project’s key (see below).
- Confirm: check the tabs, types, fields and starter docs the template adds, then select Turn on project.
The project opens on its Board. Turning a project on needs a connection.
Tip: Nothing you pick is final. Project admins can change the types, workflows, fields, features and key later in the project’s Settings tab.
Templates#
Each template sets up item types, workflows (the statuses items move through), fields and a few starter docs in the channel’s Docs tab.
| Template | Best for | What it turns on |
|---|---|---|
| Software · Scrum | Sprints, a backlog, story points and releases | Sprints, releases, the calendar, and estimates in story points (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13). Types: Epic, Story, Task, Bug, Chore and Subtask |
| Software · Kanban | A continuous flow on the board, with a work-in-progress limit, and releases | Releases and the calendar. Types: Epic, Story, Task, Bug, Chore and Subtask |
| Design | Requests, briefs, reviews and approvals for creative work | The calendar. Types: Epic, Request, Deliverable, Task and Subtask |
| Ops/IT | Help requests and incidents, with categories, impact and due dates | The calendar. Types: Request, Incident, Task and Subtask |
| Marketing | Campaigns and deliverables, planned on a calendar | The calendar. Types: Campaign, Deliverable, Task and Subtask |
Keys#
Every item gets a key made of the project’s key and a number, such as WEB-42. The server numbers items, so two people creating items at the same time never get the same key.
- A project key is 2 to 6 capital letters or digits, starting with a letter (for example
WEBorOPS2). - It must be unique in your organization, and a key that was ever used can’t be taken again.
- If your key is also a common abbreviation, the dialog warns you: text such as
KEY-8in messages would then link to your items.
Project admins can rename the key later in Settings → General. Every item gets the new key at once, and the old keys keep working in messages and links.
The project’s tabs#
After the project is on, the channel shows these tabs, in the order the template sets:
- Board: cards in columns by status. See Boards and the backlog.
- Backlog when the project uses sprints, otherwise List.
- Sprints and Releases, when those features are on. See Sprints and Releases.
- Table and Calendar. See Views, filters and saved views.
- Reports, on desktop and the web, when sprints or releases are on.
- Settings, for project admins.
On phones, tabs that don’t fit move under More.
Project settings#
Project admins open the Settings tab, or Project settings in the channel’s menu. It has these sections:
- General: the key, the features (Sprints, Releases, Calendar), estimates (Story points, T-shirt sizes (XS–XL) or No estimates), the sprint length, how long done items stay on the board, the project’s time zone (used for its reports and its calendar), and, with GitHub connected, what happens when a pull request merges.
- Types: the kinds of item the project uses, and the workflow each type follows.
- Workflows: the statuses, the moves allowed between them, and fields a move requires.
- Board: the board’s columns, the statuses each one shows, and work-in-progress limits.
- Fields: custom fields, such as a text, number, date, checkbox, link, option or project member field.
- Labels: the labels people can put on items.
- People: the project admins.
- Danger zone: turning the project off.
You change settings on a computer or the web. On phones you can look at them but not change them. Every change needs a connection.
Turn a project off#
Project admins choose Turn off project… in the channel’s menu, or Turn off the project in Settings. The project’s tabs disappear for everyone in the channel. Its items and docs stay, its keys keep working in messages, and it can be turned back on with Turn project back on in the same menu.