One task, many boards
Some work belongs to two teams at once. A security fix is on the platform board and the compliance board. A launch task is Marketing’s and Engineering’s.
The usual answers are both bad: copy the task and let the copies drift, or run a sync bot and debug it forever.
dotby has a third answer. Add the task to another project. There is still only one task.
How it works
Section titled “How it works”Open a task, add it to a second project, and it appears on that project’s board too.
What is shared, because it is one task:
- title and description
- comments and files
- sub-tasks and relations
- assignees and labels
What is per board, because each team runs differently:
- which column it sits in
- which sprint it belongs to
- where it sits in the ordering
So Engineering can have it in Fixing while Compliance has it in Awaiting evidence, without either team renaming their columns to accommodate the other.
Link status, or do not
Section titled “Link status, or do not”One switch decides how the two boards relate.
| Setting | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Link status on | Finish it on one board and every board knows. |
| Link status off | Each board tracks it at its own pace. Drift, by design. |
Link it on when “done” means the same thing to both teams. Turn it off when it does not — Engineering’s Done is often Marketing’s just started.
The original still owns the number
Section titled “The original still owns the number”A task keeps its original key and number — WEB-42 on every board it appears
on. Nobody has to learn a second name for the same work, and a number pasted in
chat resolves to one thing.
When to use it, and when not
Section titled “When to use it, and when not”Use it when the same work item is tracked by two teams.
Do not use it to give another team visibility — that is what a cross-project view, a filter, or an initiative is for. A mirror adds a task to somebody’s board, and a board full of other people’s work stops being a board.
| Situation | Use |
|---|---|
| Two teams both work on this task | Add it to both projects |
| One team just needs to watch it | A saved view or a @@ mention |
| Several projects serve one outcome | An initiative |
| Related but separate work items | A relation |
Availability
Section titled “Availability”This is a Pro feature. See Plans and billing.
- Break work down — relations, the lighter alternative.
- Project folders — cross-project views.
- Run an initiative — one outcome, many projects.