A Task's state reflects its current lifecycle. Here's what each one means:
- PLANNED: The Task is parked on a named wake source — a time, a supporting Routine, an event subscription, or an explicit pause. It always states what will wake it.
- TODO: The Task is created and queued, waiting for Tycoon Agent or an agent to start execution.
- IN_PROGRESS: Execution is actively underway.
- DONE: The current success criteria are met with admissible evidence. A Done Task shows the accepted result, its evidence, and any limitations.
- CANCELED: The responsibility is ended.
A task with a deadline always carries a next-look time so it never sits in silence.
How do states relate to the board lanes?
They are two different things. The states above are what a Task stores. The Tasks board's four lanes — Needs human, Waiting, In progress, Done — are a read-only view of who owns the next move, derived from the state plus any live request, named wait, running execution, or person the Task is assigned to. A Task in TODO or IN_PROGRESS can show up in any of the first three lanes, and lanes never change a Task's state. See The Tasks board.
How is attention separate from task state?
"Needs you" is independent of the lifecycle. A live ApprovalRequest asks one named person for a concrete action and can appear on a Task in any lifecycle state. Task status, metadata, or a question mark in prose never creates user attention.
Routine schedules have their own lifecycle and may be paused without changing the Task lifecycle.
FAQ
Q: What if a task stays in progress too long?
A: Open the task and ask Tycoon Agent for a status update.
Q: What if DONE is not good enough?
A: Tell Tycoon Agent what is missing. She revises the same Task's success criteria, reopens it, and re-evaluates the evidence.
For reviewing past work, see view task history.