When every project follows the same path, you stop reinventing your process and start trusting it. Pair sub-statuses (the stages a project moves through) with checklists (the work inside each stage) and you get a repeatable pipeline that tells you, at a glance, exactly where everything stands — and what to do next.
Think in two layers
A reliable project system has two moving parts, and they do different jobs:
- Sub-statuses are the big phases a project passes through — think Kickoff → In Progress → Review → Wrap-Up. They answer “where is this project right now?”
- Checklists are the concrete to-dos inside the project — the goals you tick off as you go. They answer “what’s actually left to do?”
Used together, your sidebar’s Projects list becomes a live map: the sub-status shows the phase, and the checklist shows the progress within it. No status meeting required.
Set up your pipeline once
Design the stages first, then reuse them on every project so nothing drifts.
- Open Projects in the left sidebar and open (or create) a project.
- Define the phases that fit your workflow as sub-statuses — keep them few and meaningful, like Kickoff, In Progress, Review, and Wrap-Up.
- Inside the project, add a checklist of the goals that have to happen — brief, assets gathered, draft delivered, client sign-off, final files sent.
- As work moves forward, drag the project to its new sub-status and tick checklist items as you complete them.
Tip: Resist the urge to create ten sub-statuses. Four or five clear stages beat a sprawling list every time — if a stage never tells you something new about where a project stands, it’s not earning its place.
See the whole board at a glance
Once your projects share the same stages, the card view becomes a true pipeline. Switch between docket and card views to read your work the way you think:
- Card view groups projects by sub-status into columns, so you can spot a logjam — five projects stuck in Review — in a single glance.
- Docket view gives you the detailed list when you need to scan due dates, clients, and checklist progress in one place.
Because every project rides the same rails, you’ll start to feel the rhythm of your studio: where things speed up, where they stall, and which stage quietly eats the most time.
Keep clients in the loop
A clear pipeline is even better when your client can feel the momentum without an email thread. Use client discussions on the project to share updates as you cross stages — “moving into Review this week” — so approvals and feedback land right where the work lives. The checklist gives you a tidy talking point, and the sub-status sets expectations about what’s coming next.
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