How to Set Up Tasks, Stages, and Kanban Boards in Odoo Project

A project board only helps if it matches how your team actually works and if people actually update it. The default Odoo Project setup is a starting point, not a finished workflow. Here is how to configure tasks, stages, and Kanban boards so the board becomes a tool your team uses rather than ignores.

Define stages that match your real workflow

The default stages (New, In Progress, Done) are generic. Map your own to your real process. For an Indonesian agency or service team, a useful set might be:

• Backlog / To Do — accepted but not started.
• In Progress — actively being worked.
• Internal Review — done by the doer, awaiting a check.
• Client Review — with the client for feedback or approval.
• Done — complete.

Keep stages few and meaningful. Each column should represent a real, distinct state of the work. Too many stages and the board becomes fiddly and people stop moving cards accurately; too few and it tells you nothing useful.

Set up tasks with the essentials

Every task should carry the basics that make it actionable:

• A clear title describing the actual work, not a vague label.
• An assignee — one owner, so accountability is unambiguous.
• A deadline where one exists, so reminders can fire.
• A description with enough context that the assignee does not have to ask.

Resist the urge to create a hundred micro-tasks. A task should be a meaningful unit of work, not every tiny step. Boards drown when overloaded with trivia.

Use the Kanban board as the daily view

The Kanban board — columns for stages, cards for tasks — is where the team lives day to day. Cards move left to right as work progresses. The discipline that makes this work: move your card the moment a task changes state. A board that reflects reality is invaluable; a board that is three days out of date is worse than nothing because people stop trusting it.

For teams that prefer it, Odoo also offers list and calendar views of the same tasks — but the Kanban board is usually the heart of the workflow.

Organise projects sensibly

Decide what a “project” means for you. For an agency, one project per client engagement is common. For an internal team, projects might be ongoing areas of work. Do not over-split — too many tiny projects fragment the view. Group work the way your team naturally thinks about it.

Add deadlines and activity reminders

Due dates alone are passive. Use Odoo’s activity reminders so assignees are prompted about what is due, and so overdue work surfaces rather than silently slipping. This is what turns the board from a static picture into something that actively keeps work on track.

Keep collaboration on the task

Encourage the team to comment and attach files on the task itself rather than discussing it in a separate WhatsApp thread. When the context lives on the task, anyone picking it up has the full history, and nothing important is lost in a chat scroll. This habit takes a little discipline at first but pays off enormously.

Start simple, refine later

The biggest setup mistake is over-configuring on day one — elaborate stages, custom fields everywhere, heavy automation. Start with clean stages, clear tasks, and the habit of keeping the board current. Add complexity only when a real need appears. A simple board the team actually uses beats a sophisticated one they abandon.

Getting the workflow right and building the update habit is what makes Odoo Project deliver. If you want help designing stages and a board that fit how your team works, we are glad to walk through it with you in a free, one-hour conversation.