A milestone due in twelve weeks is easy to put off for eleven. Subtasks break it into steps with their own dates, so progress is visible every week and the owner always knows what’s next.
Add subtasks
- Open the team’s Milestones page and click the milestone’s row to expand it.
- Click Add subtask.
- Type the step in Subtask title… and press Enter.
- The box stays open, so you can type the next one straight away. Press Esc, or click away with the box empty, when you’re done.
New subtasks don’t have a due date yet, and the empty date shows in red as a reminder. Click the date next to a subtask to set one.
Subtasks are listed in due-date order, with undated ones at the end.
Tick them off
Click the circle next to a subtask to mark it done. It turns green and the title is struck through. Click it again to reopen it.
A subtask that’s past its due date and not done turns red, circle and all.
How progress is worked out
Once a milestone has subtasks, its Progress bar is the share of subtasks that are done. Three of four done shows 75%. The row also shows a count, such as 3/4 tasks.
A milestone with no subtasks shows 0% until it’s marked Completed, when it shows 100%. In the Kanban view, milestones with no progress yet sit in the Not Started column.
Progress and status are separate. Ticking off every subtask doesn’t mark the milestone Completed — the owner does that. See Update milestone status.
Subtasks become action items
Every subtask you add also creates an action item on the Action Items page, so the steps sit in the same list as the rest of the owner’s work.
- The action item is assigned to whoever owns the milestone when you add the subtask, on the same team. If the milestone is unassigned, so is the action item.
- Ticking off either one completes both. Reopening either reopens both.
- Changing the title or due date on either one updates the other.
- Deleting the subtask deletes its action item, and deleting the action item deletes the subtask.
Reassigning the milestone later doesn’t move existing action items to the new owner. Reassign those from Manage action items.
Subtasks brought in through a spreadsheet import don’t create action items.
Edit or remove a subtask
- Click the title to rename it; click away to save.
- Change or clear the due date with the date field.
- Hover and click the trash icon, then confirm Delete this subtask?.
Good subtasks
- Write each one as a finished state — “Pricing page live” rather than “Work on pricing”.
- Give every one a date. The red empty date is there for a reason.
- Aim for a handful per milestone. If you have twenty, the milestone is probably two milestones.
The team member guide on owning a milestone covers how to plan the steps and report on them in your sync.