A common issue we’ve heard from users is about duplicate tasks being created within a board. But, how can you effectively avoid duplicate tasks?

There are many strategies, but today we’ll focus on combating one of the underlying problems- abnormal card movements. By knowing how to deal with moving a card backwards, we can avoid duplicate tasks.

Abnormal Card Movements

When we use a Kanban board, each column in our workflow represents a phase in our process. We expect the cards to be moving from left to right until the reach the last phase. However, sometimes it’s necessary to go back one step for a particular matter, therefore moving the cards from right to left.

Sometimes, duplicate tasks can be created from moving a card backwards. If, for any reason, you identify that a matter is in the wrong column and you want to move it to a previous column (to the left), it’s important to keep in mind how this may trigger an automation.

In our example, we’ve identified a matter you want to move. We want to move a matter from “Due Diligence” to “Term Sheet”. By doing this however, we will trigger the automation to create the task “Draft Term Sheet”.

If you don’t want this duplicate task to be created, click on the yellow message on the card (as seen below).

When you click on this yellow warning text, a pop-up will appear that allows you to cancel the automation (below).

By doing this, no duplicate task has been created and we have successfully avoided any duplicate tasks that may arise with a backwards card movement.

Still Need Some Help?

Didn’t find what you needed? Learn more about automations in Legalboards here, check out more videos, or visit our support portal for more help.