1 00:00:00,500 --> 00:00:09,500 Welcome to this video. It is part of a series of tutorials to explain basic concepts of phabricator.wikimedia.org.

2 00:00:09,994 --> 00:00:18,194 The most relevant concepts to understand are tasks and projects. Tasks get associated with project tags.

3 00:00:19,110 --> 00:00:26,311 A task in Phabricator defines some work to do. It could be a software bug report or a feature request, for example.

4 00:00:27,446 --> 00:00:29,932 A task always has a Summary at the top.

5 00:00:31,053 --> 00:00:39,917 Below the summary is the Status. The status can be Open, Stalled, Resolved, Declined, Invalid, or Duplicate.

6 00:00:40,733 --> 00:00:47,732 For more info, see Task status and life cycle on the help page which brings you to the life cycle page.

7 00:00:48,852 --> 00:00:55,693 Note that "Stalled" means "Blocked". A task is not stalled just because nobody is currently working on the task.

8 00:00:57,175 --> 00:01:03,262 Next to the status is the Priority of the task. This expresses how urgent the task is.

9 00:01:04,185 --> 00:01:08,706 Setting the priority can be tricky, because a task can be in more than one project.

10 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:16,519 Priorities should reflect reality and do not cause it. That often means that the task priority should be low.

11 00:01:17,294 --> 00:01:24,699 Some maintainers and teams do not use the Priority field, and use columns on their project workboard for planning instead.

12 00:01:25,337 --> 00:01:28,954 For more info, see Prioritization on the help page.

13 00:01:29,773 --> 00:01:36,500 Next to Status and Priority is the visibility of the task. By default, tasks are public.

14 00:01:37,415 --> 00:01:43,900 If a task should not be public, then see Restricting access to tasks on the help page.

15 00:01:44,653 --> 00:01:51,613 A task should also have a description with more information which allows anyone else to understand what the task is about.

16 00:01:52,675 --> 00:01:58,734 The task description and other aspects can be edited by selecting "Edit Task" in the sidebar.

17 00:01:59,599 --> 00:02:05,604 This can be helpful to reflect progress on a task or update the task scope, based on added comments.

18 00:02:06,386 --> 00:02:14,337 In the sidebar are the associated project tags. If a project has a workboard, the workboard column is shown in brackets.

19 00:02:15,813 --> 00:02:21,956 These project tags allow others to find and see the task when they look at tasks in a certain project.

20 00:02:23,372 --> 00:02:29,737 The project could be a codebase or a team. Clicking on a project tag brings you to that project.

21 00:02:30,813 --> 00:02:34,332 The sidebar also shows the individual assignee of a task.

22 00:02:35,181 --> 00:02:38,918 This is the person who works or plans to work on the task.

23 00:02:40,615 --> 00:02:44,147 Most tasks do not have an assignee. This is normal:

24 00:02:44,921 --> 00:02:51,698 Anyone can create tasks. Many tasks will stay open because nobody has decided yet to work on them.

25 00:02:52,692 --> 00:02:57,800 You also see individual subscribers who receive notification updates about the task.

26 00:02:58,864 --> 00:03:05,743 Below the description, the "Related Objects" box shows dependencies between tasks as a hierarchy graph.

27 00:03:06,884 --> 00:03:11,260 Further below are comments on the task added by any interested people.

28 00:03:12,213 --> 00:03:17,537 If somebody created a patch in Gerrit for a public task and followed the commit message guidelines,

29 00:03:18,102 --> 00:03:23,161 then Gerritbot will automatically comment and add the "Patch-For-Review" project tag.

30 00:03:24,018 --> 00:03:30,372 Tasks can have due dates. Due Dates can be set by selecting "Edit Task" in the sidebar.

31 00:03:31,653 --> 00:03:35,052 Tasks can have story points if you do agile development.

32 00:03:36,215 --> 00:03:44,664 Tasks can be classified via subtypes. For example, a task can either have a Bug Report subtype or a Feature Request subtype.

33 00:03:45,945 --> 00:03:53,702 The subtype is set when creating the task. The subtype can be changed via the "Add Action..." menu above the comment field.

34 00:03:54,689 --> 00:03:58,412 To create a new task, click the Favorites icon in the top bar.

35 00:03:59,205 --> 00:04:06,293 The entries in your Favorites menu can differ from this video. Some entries depend on the permissions of your account.

36 00:04:07,252 --> 00:04:10,821 You can customize your menu entries via "Edit Favorites".

37 00:04:11,669 --> 00:04:15,253 To create a public task, select "Create Task".

38 00:04:16,533 --> 00:04:19,144 This option brings you to a blank default form.

39 00:04:20,281 --> 00:04:28,137 There are also other, specialized forms to create tasks with prefilled values or show specialized fields for some teams.

40 00:04:30,047 --> 00:04:35,719 If you create a task for the first time, first visit and read the link in the box at the top.

41 00:04:37,674 --> 00:04:41,246 Enter the task summary. It should be clear and specific.

42 00:04:43,685 --> 00:04:50,761 Enter the task description. It should allow anyone else to to understand and reproduce, not only members of your team.

43 00:04:54,520 --> 00:05:03,118 Add project tags. This task is about the house. Type ahead and select the project that implements the code to be changed.

44 00:05:04,613 --> 00:05:11,675 If you are a member of a team and your team plans to work on the task, then you can also add the project tag of your team.

45 00:05:13,673 --> 00:05:21,627 You can search for projects by selecting the magnifier button. This also displays the first sentence of project descriptions.

46 00:05:24,244 --> 00:05:30,585 Here we add the #Electricians team project tag, so the task will be shown on the Electricians project workboard.

47 00:05:31,973 --> 00:05:39,111 Do not set a team project tag if unsure. Teams themselves decide which tasks they want to have on their list.

48 00:05:41,175 --> 00:05:47,572 Scroll down and check the task preview. If everything looks fine, press the "Create New Task" button.

49 00:05:49,851 --> 00:05:54,738 A task should have a scope and definition which allows closing the task at some point.

50 00:05:55,590 --> 00:06:02,646 If a task is never-ending, for example "Maintain the garden", use or create a project tag instead.

51 00:06:03,783 --> 00:06:07,493 Anybody who is logged in can add comments to a task.

52 00:06:08,203 --> 00:06:12,052 You can explicitly mention other users by using the @ prefix.

53 00:06:13,097 --> 00:06:21,085 Mentioned users will get subscribed to public tasks. In security tasks you will have to explicitly add them as subscribers.

54 00:06:22,285 --> 00:06:26,707 For more info, see Formatting and markup on the help page.

55 00:06:27,905 --> 00:06:35,303 You can quote previous comments via the comment dropdown. Please remove unneeded parts of a quote to keep it readable.

56 00:06:36,586 --> 00:06:42,225 You can also create tasks via email or comment on tasks by replying to email notifications.

57 00:06:43,293 --> 00:06:51,824 Remove unneeded quotations, and use the "-- " standard delimiter to make Phabricator strip your email signature.

58 00:06:53,795 --> 00:07:02,652 You can access common actions via the "Add Action..." menu at the bottom. These actions are also available via "Edit Task".

59 00:07:04,144 --> 00:07:10,924 You can change the assignee (for example, to claim a task yourself), project tags, or the task status.

60 00:07:13,138 --> 00:07:21,469 However, to mark a task as a duplicate, you have to use "Edit Related Tasks... > Close As Duplicate" in the sidebar.

61 00:07:24,193 --> 00:07:27,365 You can upload file attachments, for example a screenshot.

62 00:07:28,493 --> 00:07:35,936 Note that you cannot upload a file and afterwards restrict access to the file. Only administrators can delete files.

63 00:07:37,063 --> 00:07:41,362 For more info, see Uploading file attachments on the help page.

64 00:07:43,412 --> 00:07:47,998 Dependencies between tasks are called parent tasks and subtasks.

65 00:07:49,337 --> 00:07:57,973 Subtasks have two semantic meanings: Subtasks either block work on their parent task, or subtasks break up the work

66 00:07:58,218 --> 00:08:06,709 needed to later resolve their parent task. You can edit these dependencies via "Edit Related Tasks..." in the sidebar.

67 00:08:08,505 --> 00:08:18,052 Enter words included in the task summary, or directly enter task numbers, like "T123". Choose "Select" and save.

68 00:08:19,692 --> 00:08:25,173 Task dependencies are shown as a hierarchy graph in the "Related Objects" box.

69 00:08:25,460 --> 00:08:32,412 Here we could also change the task status to stalled, as no work can be done before the subtask has been resolved.

70 00:08:35,589 --> 00:08:44,012 To create a new subtask of an existing parent task, select "Edit Related Tasks... > Create Subtask" in the sidebar.

71 00:08:45,189 --> 00:08:51,092 Subtasks inherit the project tags, assignee, and subscribers from their parent task.

72 00:08:51,956 --> 00:08:58,636 Please review and correct data before creating a subtask, to avoid unneeded notifications or confusion.

73 00:09:00,403 --> 00:09:08,600 If a task requires several small steps, then you could also use checkbox items in its description instead of subtasks.

74 00:09:09,589 --> 00:09:18,351 If you often create repetitive tasks, consider using a template, URL parameters to fill in fields, or a dedicated Form.

75 00:09:19,410 --> 00:09:25,341 For more info, see Passing certain values in the task creation URL on the help page.

76 00:09:26,694 --> 00:09:32,758 If you use a certain Form more often, then you can add this Form to your Favorites menu in the top bar.

77 00:09:33,607 --> 00:09:37,413 For more info, see Default fields on the help page.

78 00:09:39,173 --> 00:09:46,013 You can also subscribe to an individual task, so you will receive notification updates about changes in that task.

79 00:09:47,212 --> 00:09:55,852 Depending on your settings under "Email Notifications", you will receive notifications via email or in the top bar on the web.

80 00:09:56,424 --> 00:10:01,476 For more info, see Receiving updates and notifications on the help page.

81 00:10:04,933 --> 00:10:13,172 For feedback or questions about Wikimedia Phabricator, use the discussion page of "Phabricator/Help" on mediawiki.org.

82 00:10:13,939 --> 00:10:23,292 For questions not about phabricator.wikimedia.org but about Phabricator in general, go to discourse.phabricator-community.org

83 00:10:25,000 --> 00:10:26,700 Thank you for watching!