Legacy Workflow

Getting Started

This guide is specifically about Legacy Work. Before diving in, we recommend reading the Workflow System Overview first—it explains our overall system and shows how different initiatives work. You might also find it helpful to check the Unio Project Workflow to see how our main product workflow compares.

Overview

Legacy Work is our catch-all for client services and maintenance: website updates, ad-hoc client requests, package upgrades, one-off fixes, and everything else that doesn't belong in our main product or initiative spaces.

This workflow keeps this work visible and organized without cluttering up the Unio or Phase II spaces. We use task trackers to move work quickly from planning to execution, then into team sprints for actual work.

About Coordinated Breakdown

Like UA 740 - Unio Phase II and Social Media, Legacy Work uses the Coordinated Breakdown Model. Here's what that means:

Work stays organized in one place on the 🌊 Legacy Work Pipeline. A coordinator breaks down task trackers into child cards, then distributes them to team sprints for execution. This keeps everything visible for reporting and management.

The Legacy Work Space

This is where all legacy work gets tracked and coordinated. We create task trackers here, break them down, and send child cards to team sprints.

Think of this space as the coordination hub for client services and maintenance. The actual work happens in team sprints, but you always come back here to see the big picture of what's in progress.

Board Structure

Let's walk through the boards we use for Legacy Work.

🌊 Pipeline Board

This is where all legacy work lives while it's being tracked and broken down.

The three lists organize work:

• 📋 Needs Breakdown - Task trackers that need breaking down into sprint work
• 👀 Tracking - Task trackers tracking overall progress across sprints
• 🔜 Sprint Queue - Child cards ready to pull into team sprints

🚚 Shipped Board

Simple—this is where completed trackers live after all their child cards are done. It gives us history for reporting.

Complete Workflow

Now let's walk through how work actually flows from initial planning to completion.

Phase 1: Create Task Trackers

Most legacy work doesn't need the full planning ceremony (vision, requirements, spec, plan). Instead, we create task trackers directly on the 🌊 Pipeline Board in the 📋 Needs Breakdown list.

Here's what you'll do:

1. Create a task tracker on the 🌊 Pipeline Board
2. Link it to the appropriate project (UA 740 - Services, Website Maintenance, Connon, or Miscellaneous)
3. Tag it with client names if needed (for reporting and billing)

What you'll have at the end: Task tracker on 🌊 Pipeline Board in "📋 Needs Breakdown"

Example:

• Task tracker: "November 2025 - Website Maintenance"
• Link to "Website Maintenance" project
• Child cards will include site-specific updates for each client

Phase 2: Break Down & Distribute

Once the task tracker is created, a coordinator breaks it down into child cards and distributes them to appropriate team sprints.

How breakdown works:

1. Task tracker arrives at 🌊 Pipeline Board in 📋 Needs Breakdown
2. The coordinator breaks it down into child cards for specific team work
3. Tag each child card with the relevant client or project for tracking
4. Move the child cards to 🔜 Sprint Queue
5. Move the task tracker to 👀 Tracking
6. Child cards get pulled into team sprints (Design, Frontend, Backend, etc.) as capacity allows
7. When all child cards complete, move the task tracker to the 🚚 Shipped Board

Important note: Work flows into the same team sprint boards used for Unio and UA 740 work. Team members see all their work in one sprint, which keeps things simple and focused.

Phase 3: Sprint Execution

Child cards from the Legacy Work Pipeline's Sprint Queue get pulled into team sprints every two weeks.

Team members work from their regular sprints—they'll see Legacy Work cards right alongside Unio and UA 740 cards. This unified view means you only need to look at one place for all your work.

The sprint mechanics work exactly like the main workflow: cards move through To Do → Doing → Blocked → In Review → Done → Cancelled.

Phase 4: Completion & Shipped Tracking

The final step is completing work and tracking what's been delivered.

When all child cards complete:

1. Move the task tracker from the 🌊 Pipeline Board to the 🚚 Shipped Board

The 🚚 Shipped Board gives you history for sprint reviews and reporting—you can see everything that's been delivered over time.

Real Example: Monthly Website Maintenance

Here's how a recurring task tracker flows through the system.

Setup:

• Task tracker: "November 2025 - Website Maintenance"
• Linked to "Website Maintenance" project
• Created on 🌊 Pipeline Board in 📋 Needs Breakdown

Breakdown:

The coordinator breaks it into client-specific child cards:

• Child card: "Update ClientA website" (tag: ClientA)
• Child card: "Update ClientB website" (tag: ClientB)
• Child card: "Update ClientC website" (tag: ClientC)

Sprint Queue:

All three child cards move to 🔜 Sprint Queue, ready for the team to pull.

Execution:

• Design team pulls the three cards into their sprint
• Each team member updates their assigned client's website
• Cards move through To Do → Doing → Done

Shipped:

Once all child cards are done, the task tracker moves to 🚚 Shipped Board. Next month, we create a new "December 2025 - Website Maintenance" tracker and repeat.

When to Create a New Space

Most legacy work fits into the Legacy Work space. But if something is big enough, ongoing enough, and important enough to warrant its own coordination hub, you might create a new space for it.

Think about it this way: Do you need to see all the work for this thing in one place? Do multiple people need to coordinate around it? Is it happening for weeks or months? If yes to these questions, make a space. If it's smaller or one-off, keep it in Legacy Work.

Now You're Ready!

You've got the full picture: how to create task trackers, break them down, and move them through team sprints to completion. You know where work lives, who sees what, and how everything flows together.

Time to dive in. Create a task tracker for the next round of website maintenance, break it into client-specific work, or pull cards into your next sprint. Legacy Work is ready for you.