The Public Jobs Board is a pretty important tool.

It's a simple way for us to collaborate on project management, it lets us know what's being worked on at any given time, and it lets us keep track of progress.

However, we need to use it correctly. I wouldn't worry for the first week if you don't know how to make tickets, or other such intricacies. You will learn it over time as you keep using it, and I'll be that annoying voice that steers you towards the right way to use it.

I will use "card" and "ticket" interchangeably, because I'm used to using both JIRA and Trello.

Here are the basics, from a user-driven perspective:

"I want to start work"

1. Take a look at the "In Progress" column first. If there is a task you want to work on in there, assign yourself to the card and join the members already working on that card. Trello doesn't enforce hierarchies, and each group may have a different way of getting things done. Coordinate with these teams individually.

   The key reason you look at the "In Progress" column first is in order to get current in progress tasks finished and out the door, rather than letting the In Progress column get needlessly clogged up with tasks either unfinished for months or being done at a snail's pace.

2. Look at a card from the "To Do" list. Assign yourself as a member to that card so that you are letting others know that you are working on it. Place the card in the "In Progress" columns.

"I think I'm done my job. What next?"

Place it in the "Verification" column. After that, inform the person in charge of verifying the work to check out what you did. The Verifier can be (but not limited to) the person that made the card, the team lead, or minister who deals with the card, that you have completed the task.

The card author, team lead, or Minister can then confirm whether the work has been completed to specifications outlined. For example, building a wall may require it to be y blocks tall and on a particular group. The Verifier would check for that, and if the requirements have been met they would then drag the card to "Completed this week".

Once the work is done, that's it! You can go back to the In Progress or To Do columns to see what else you can work on if you wish to continue doing these jobs.

"We want some work to be done."

Maybe you're on the project leadership side and you want people to work on tasks you define. In this case, you want to write a card and place it in "Backlog of Work & Ideas" if it's a broadly defined card. Place the card in "Jobs to Do" if it's a well defined as described below.

For placing a card in "Jobs to Do", consider whether your card describes a quantifiable task. This is important, in order to ensure that cards don't contain broad requirements that lead to mission creep and aimlessness.

Instead, think of yourself as an MMO quest giver. Figure out what requirements need to be met in order for a task to be considered complete.

If it's a simple procurement task, like "Collect a DC of Stone and deliver it to the factory building's mail room", then it's simple enough to understand what needs to be done in terms of card requirements.

To make life easy, you can use the checklist options.

Some tasks won't be so simple. For example, wall segments may have a particular design you want implemented, and therefore you would want to place more information on that card so that the worker doesn't have to repeatedly go back to the drawing board if the walls they build don't meet the specifications in your head. Maybe you would give them coordinates to the design on the creative server, attach some images to the card showing how it looks, or attaching a schematica file if the build is quite complex.

Furthermore, ensuring the tasks have clear goals and descriptions helps them get the job done quicker.

FAQ

"Do I get paid?"

Maybe. It depends on whether the person who created the ticket wants to pay you. If it's a government job, it will likely be voluntary work. If it's a private business, they may pay you.

"What about items I collect on the way?"

By default they're yours. If a task is to build tunnels and you bump into diamonds (for example) along the way, you keep those diamonds.

"Who can make cards on the Public Jobs Board?"

Anyone with access.

This is it for now! If you have any questions, post below.