Task Manager — How-To Guide

Prerequisites: SMF Works Pro subscription active. Setup complete (see SETUP.md).

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Table of Contents

1. How to Set Up a Project
2. How to Add and Manage Tasks
3. How to Use the Kanban Board
4. How to Track Progress with Stats
5. How to Handle Priority and Due Dates
6. Automating with Cron
7. Combining with Other Skills
8. Troubleshooting Common Issues
9. Tips & Best Practices

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1. How to Set Up a Project

What this does: Creates a project container for grouping related tasks.

Steps

Step 1 — Navigate to the skill.

cd ~/smfworks-skills/skills/task-manager

Step 2 — Create your project.

python3 main.py project add "Website Redesign"

Output:

✅ Project created: Website Redesign (website-redesign)

The slug in parentheses (website-redesign) is used in other commands.

Step 3 — Create more projects if needed.

python3 main.py project add "Q2 Marketing"
python3 main.py project add "Infrastructure Upgrade"

Step 4 — List all projects.

python3 main.py project list

Result: Projects are created and ready to receive tasks.

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2. How to Add and Manage Tasks

What this does: Creates tasks with title, priority, due date, and assignee.

Steps

Step 1 — Add a task to a project.

python3 main.py task add "Fix mobile navigation" --project website-redesign --priority high --due 2024-03-20 --assignee Alice

Output:

✅ Task created: TASK-A1B2C3
   Title: Fix mobile navigation
   Project: Website Redesign
   Priority: high
   Due: 2024-03-20
   Status: backlog

Step 2 — Add more tasks.

python3 main.py task add "Write unit tests" --project website-redesign --priority medium
python3 main.py task add "Design new homepage" --project website-redesign --priority critical --due 2024-03-15

Step 3 — View a task's full details.

python3 main.py task show TASK-A1B2C3

Step 4 — Edit a task.

python3 main.py task edit TASK-A1B2C3

The skill prompts you to update any field.

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3. How to Use the Kanban Board

What this does: Shows tasks organized by status column — Backlog, Todo, In-Progress, Review, Done.

Steps

Step 1 — View the board for your project.

python3 main.py board --project website-redesign

Output:

📋 Board: Website Redesign
═══════════════════════════════════════════════

BACKLOG (2)        TODO (1)         IN-PROGRESS (1)   DONE (3)
──────────         ─────────        ──────────────     ──────────
TASK-A1B2C3        TASK-D4E5F6      TASK-G7H8I9        TASK-J0K1
Fix nav bug        Write tests      Design homepage     Landing page
● high ⚠️ DUE      ● medium         ● critical          ✅ done

Step 2 — Move a task forward.

When you start working on a task, move it to in-progress:

python3 main.py task move TASK-A1B2C3 --to in-progress

When it's ready for review:

python3 main.py task move TASK-A1B2C3 --to review

When done:

python3 main.py task move TASK-A1B2C3 --to done

Step 3 — View all tasks across all projects.

python3 main.py board

Result: A clear visual overview of your project's work in progress.

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4. How to Track Progress with Stats

python3 main.py stats --project website-redesign

Output:

📊 Statistics: Website Redesign

Total tasks: 12
  Backlog: 3  |  To Do: 2  |  In Progress: 2  |  Review: 1  |  Done: 4

Completion rate: 33.3%
Critical tasks: 1
Overdue: 1

Assignees:
  Alice: 5 tasks
  Bob: 3 tasks
  Unassigned: 4 tasks

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5. How to Handle Priority and Due Dates

Priority levels (used with --priority):

Level	When to use
low	Nice to have, no urgency
medium	Normal work, no deadline pressure
high	Important, needs attention this sprint
critical	Blocking or deadline tomorrow

Viewing tasks by priority:

python3 main.py list --status in-progress

The board shows ⚠️ DUE next to tasks with overdue or soon-due dates.

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6. Automating with Cron

Example: Daily standup board print at 9 AM

0 9 * * 1-5 python3 /home/yourname/smfworks-skills/skills/task-manager/main.py board >> /home/yourname/logs/daily-board.log 2>&1

Example: Weekly stats report every Monday

0 8 * * 1 python3 /home/yourname/smfworks-skills/skills/task-manager/main.py stats > /home/yourname/Reports/weekly-tasks-$(date +\%Y-W\%V).txt 2>&1

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7. Combining with Other Skills

Task Manager + Self Improvement: Log learnings from completed tasks:

python3 main.py task move TASK-ABC --to done
python3 ~/smfworks-skills/skills/self-improvement/main.py log-learning "Learned that CSS grid works better than flexbox for this layout" --tags css,frontend

Task Manager + Coffee Briefing: Morning briefing includes calendar; add a task board review:

python3 ~/smfworks-skills/skills/coffee-briefing/main.py
python3 ~/smfworks-skills/skills/task-manager/main.py board --project myproject

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8. Troubleshooting Common Issues

Task not found: TASK-XYZ

Task IDs are case-sensitive.
Fix: Run python3 main.py list to see exact IDs.

Board looks cluttered

Too many tasks in one view.
Fix: Use --project PROJECT-SLUG to filter to a specific project.

Project not found: my project

You're using the display name instead of the slug.
Fix: Use the slug (lowercase hyphenated). python3 main.py project list shows both display names and slugs.

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9. Tips & Best Practices

Use projects to group work. One project per major effort. Don't put everything in one project — it makes the board unreadable.

Move tasks through status actively. The board is only useful if you keep it updated. Make a habit of moving tasks to in-progress when you start and done when you finish.

Use --priority critical sparingly. If everything is critical, nothing is. Reserve critical for actual blockers or same-day deadlines.

Set due dates on important tasks. Due dates trigger the ⚠️ DUE indicator on the board. Without them, overdue tasks are invisible.

Review stats weekly. The completion rate and overdue count from stats are your project health indicators. A rising overdue count signals capacity issues.