Today we are releasing our first closed beta phase. It is the first version that is available to a selected public. Some highlights of what the tool can already do:
Task list, Kanban view, Timeline view / Gantt chart
Tasks can be viewed as normal task lists with custom columns, column order, sorting, filtering, grouping, inline edit and more. A click on a task opens the task view where you can see more details.
In addition to the normal list view we also already added a Kanban view / Pipelines which display each task as a card in either a column, a swim lane (group of rows) or both.This makes it easier to see what happens and what needs to be done next.
And the timeline view or Gantt chart shows all tasks on a timeline axis, representing the time of the task as a box. This allows for better planning of the tasks.
Task view
The task view is still a bit rudimentary, but the essentials are already there:
- Participants with rights (read, write, customize) & Owners
- Due dates and periods
- Dependencies (Blockers and Duplicates)
- Custom fields
- Rich text descriptions (HTML/Markdown)
- Subtasks
- Conversations
Blockers
A task may depend on another task (or multiple) in various ways. For example task B can only start when task A is finished. For each blocking dependency you can define the order (A blocking B or B blocking A) and the type of the blocking (End/Start, Start/End, End/End, Start/Start), which lets you control on when the blocked task becomes unblocked (e.g. B may start once A ends or B can already start but not end before A ends). All blockers are also visible in the timeline view and can be added there directly.
Duplicates
If a task is a duplicate of another task, you can connect the tasks so the system knows that they are duplicates. The duplicate will be grayed out to show you that no work is needed on this task. At the same time the system will treat blockers from or to a duplicate as an issue and allow you to reposition the blocker automatically to the original source task.
Drag & Drop
Good UX means that the customer should be able to use our tools in a way that feels right for them. One way to achieve this is by allowing the user to reconfigure what they see. And the best way to do this, is by simply grabbing something and dropping it where the user wants to have it.
That’s why today we shipped drag & drop across all views.
- Grab a task, move it into another category or grouping and it will automatically update.
- Sort tasks by moving them within their list.
- Grab a column and move it to the left/right to change the order or to resize the column.
- Grab a card in the Kanban view and move it into another column or swim lane.
- Grab a task in the timeline view (Gantt chart) to set the due date and/or working period for the task.
- Grab a task connector in the timeline to connect two tasks as blockers
Mentions
Basically all bigger text fields support mentions. A mention is when you type @ to point at a person or # to point at a task, project, document or folder. The mention has two functions:
- The link to the resource always stays updated. Lets say you mention a task, the link will always be correct – no matter if you rename the task, change details or move it to a different project.
- The resource will receive a notification. If you mention a person, this person will receive a notification you mentioned them. If you mention a task, the task will have a note that it was mentioned somewhere.
Basic mobile experience
The web version already offers a basic mobile experience. Elements are scaled down and placed in a way so they work better on a smartphone.
API & MCP
The entire system is built around a new framework that allows us to expose all features via a REST API. This means that clients can easily develop own business logic around our existing tools. The API is using OpenAPI specs and allows for basic CRUD and custom actions.
In addition the framework can expose all functions also via MCP. This allows AI tools to directly access and interact with the task management tool. In our internal processes we are already using the task planning via MCP connected to our development IDEs and marketing tools to structure and organize our own workflows.
What’s next?
Next on our roadmap (no specific order):
- Milestones
- Extended search
- E-Mail notifications
- Two-Factor Authentication, FIDO & SSO
- Real time updates via Websocket
- Recurring tasks
- Calendar view
- More/finer user roles and rights
- And maaaaaaany more …
What feature would you like to see next?
Tell us what you need in a Task & Project management tool and help us shape our tool in the right direction. Mail to hello@lupineo.com