Choose how features move: steps, presets and locks

Set which steps AI does, which {{brand}} does and which a person decides, for a board or for one card.

In short

"How it works" is a list of steps a feature follows from idea to live. Each row is Automatic, Ask me or Off, or names who does it. A board sets the rows. A card may change a row for itself unless a manager locks it. Three presets fill the rows for you: Quick, Normal and Careful.

Before you start

• Who: someone who manages the board sets the board's rows and locks. Anyone who may edit a card sets that card's rows.
• Plan: Boards is on every plan.

Set the board's rows

1. Open "Board settings". A product board opens on "How this board works".
2. Choose a "Preset": Quick, Normal or Careful.
3. Change any row. The preset then reads "Custom".
4. Press "Lock" on a row that no card should weaken.

Result: every card uses these rows unless it changes one. A locked row says "Locked by board".

Change one card

1. Open the Feature card, press "More" on its tabs and choose "How it works".
2. Choose another "Preset", or change a row.
3. Press the reset button on a row marked "Changed for this card" to return it to the board's value.

Result: a changed row says "Changed for this card". A row that follows the board says "From board". A locked row cannot be changed.

What the presets do

Good to know

• Normal is the default. Use Quick for small changes such as text. Use Careful for payments, sign-in, personal data or the database.
• {{brand}} suggests a preset from the change. If a Quick card touches payments, sign-in, personal data or the database, it warns you. Keeping Quick needs a reason everyone can read.
• Design approval is always a person. No preset changes that.
• "Ask me" means {{brand}} shows "{{brand}} asks" with "Move to {stage}" or "Not now" when the facts allow the move.
• Facts move cards automatically, decisions stay with people, and a card never moves backward by itself.
• Bug fix is a card's own preset: a Bug card on a product board follows it unless someone picks another.
• A change that touches payments, sign-in, personal data or the database needs two reviews and a way back before Release, whatever the preset.

If something goes wrong

• "Only someone who manages the board changes how it works." - ask a board manager.
• A row will not change because the board locked it. Ask a manager to unlock it.
• "How it works could not be saved" - the message gives the reason. Try again.

Related

• /help/boards/start-a-product-board
• /help/boards/test-and-ready
• /help/boards/feature-card
• /help/boards/board-rules