Choose what to track on each task

The checklist is in place: workstreams as task groups, the documents and steps as tasks. Now each task needs the same few facts beside it, set up so that the team, and later the client, read them the same way. Who is doing it, for which party, by when, how far it has got, and where the draft is.

The question that decides the columns: what will someone ask about this task on the next status call? Track that, and leave out what nobody will fill in.

Add the columns

1. On the board, click the plus button (Add column) at the right end of the column headings. The column types are grouped under General, People, Selection, Time, Files & Links and Activity. Click More columns to open the Column Centre, which describes each type and lets you search them.

   

2. Add the columns a deal checklist usually needs:

   What the team asks	Column type
   How far has it got?	Status
   Who in the firm is on it?	People
   Whose action is it: buyer, seller, lender?	Dropdown
   When is it due?	Date (or Date range for a period, Date & time for a meeting)
   Where is the draft, and the signed copy?	Files

3. Rename each column to what it holds ("Responsible party", "Deadline", "Signed version") with Rename in the column's menu. Add a Description in the same menu if the column needs explaining; it shows as an icon on the heading.

Set up the status labels

4. Click any cell in the Status column, then Edit status at the bottom of the list.

5. Rename the labels to the stages your team uses, such as Not started, Draft circulated, Agreed form, Signed. Click the colour swatch beside a label to change its colour, and the information icon to add a description, so everyone uses "Agreed form" for the same thing. Click new label to add one, and drag the handle to put them in order.

   

6. Mark the labels that mean the work is done as a success criterion with the tick-circle icon. A task whose status is a success criterion counts as finished, so it drops out of My work when someone hides completed tasks. Click Save.

7. If you remove a label that is already in use, Juristic asks what happens to those tasks. By default their cells are cleared; click the line that says so to pick a label to replace it with instead, then click Delete.

Set up the dropdown options

8. Click a cell in the Dropdown column, type an option such as "Buyer" and choose Create as a new label. Add "Seller" and "Lender" the same way.

9. To colour the options, open a cell and choose Edit labels, then click each option's colour. Options you leave alone stay grey.

10. To list the options from A to Z in every picker and filter, turn on Sort options alphabetically in the column's menu.

Fill new tasks in automatically

11. Open the column's menu and choose Set default value to give every new task a starting value, such as Not started in Status or the responsible partner in People. Defaults apply to tasks added from now on; tasks already on the board keep their values.

    

12. For a Status, Priority or Label column you can also click the star beside a label in its editor to make it the default for new items.

Put the reference number first

13. If a column holds a reference that must read first, such as the item number from the SPA schedule, choose Pin before Item in its menu. The column sits to the left of the task names, and Excel and Word exports keep it there. Unpin from Item puts it back.

Read each group at a glance

14. Each task group ends in a summary row: the share of tasks at each status, the people assigned, the span of the dates and, for number columns, a figure. Click a number column's summary to choose the Function (Sum, Average, Median, Max, Min or Count) and a Unit, such as a currency for purchase price adjustments.

    

Tips from practice

• Fewer, well-defined columns. A column nobody fills in makes the board look less finished than it is. Five columns with clear labels beat fifteen.
• Assign people, not initials in a text column. People in a People column see their tasks in My work. If you pick someone who is not on the matter yet, Juristic offers to Add to matter so they can see what they are assigned to.
• Other types worth knowing. Numbers and Calculation for amounts and thresholds, Priority for what must happen first, Country for cross-border filings, Time tracking for hours, Link for a data room folder, and Latest comment or Latest update to see the last word on each task without opening it. Each board can have one Latest comment and one Latest update column.
• Decide the columns once. If the firm runs many deals the same way, put these columns in a template so every new board starts with them: see build the firm's deal checklist template.

Before this: set up the deal checklist board. Next: give each workstream its own view.