🕰️ Est. Time: 5 minutes

🎯 Goal: Understand how paused to do’s work, and how they influence other areas of the platform

🔑 Requirements: Access to the schedule permission, as well as an understanding of how the Schedule tool works

What are paused to do’s?

Paused to do’s are scheduled items or jobs which are set to the ‘paused’ status.

They allow you to create soft bookings, so that you can keep these to do’s in mind for capacity, whilst focusing on the tasks that are currently live across your business.

Why should I use paused to do’s?

Paused to do’s are a great way to understand your teams capacity to take on new projects without cluttering your schedule.

They allow you to create soft bookings, which don’t appear for team members in the To Do Screen, but are visible from the Schedule and are taken into account within the Availability module.

How do paused to do’s work?

Paused To-Do's in Streamtime are a handy tool for "soft bookings"—ideal for projects that are pending or awaiting resources. These tasks appear with a dashed outline, signifying their paused status, and are excluded from team members' individual To-Do lists to avoid premature work. It's all about keeping the team aligned and focused on tasks that are ready to go.

Whilst paused tasks may be hidden from individual To-Do lists, they're not forgotten. By adjusting the Visibility Setting to 'Include Paused To-Do's,' you can monitor these tasks and assess their impact on team availability, all without cluttering up task lists. It's a clean way to stay on top of things.

And when you're ready to move forward with the project, simply change the status of the To Do from Paused back to In Play from the schedule or by heading back into the job details view.

How do I…?

Pause A Job?

To pause a job, simply head to the job you’re looking to pause, and use the status button in the jumbotron to pause the whole job.

Pause A Specific To Do/Item?

To Pause a specific item, you can head to the item within the job, and switch the status. From then on, all To Do's scheduled for the item will also be paused until this is reactivated.

Reactivating them is straightforward—switch from 'Paused' to 'In Play' via the schedule or job details. Sorted.

Pause a To Do For a Specific Team Member?

Go to the Jobs screen, find the relevant To Do, and click the Play Button next to the team member's name. Hit the Pause Button, and the task disappears from their To Do list.

Schedule a Paused To Do?

Scheduling a paused To Do for a team member can be done within the schedule feature. First, include those paused to do’s on your view within the Schedule, and then follow the usual steps for Scheduling. Nothing else changes.

How paused work affects the availability view

This view is designed to prevent any potential double-booking, so it will sometimes show paused work as a placeholder. Here's the breakdown:

Scenario 1: A task is paused, but it's assigned to a specific person and date.

Does it show in Availability? Yes
Why? The system treats this as a tentative booking, reserving that person's time to prevent you from accidentally scheduling other work for them.

Scenario 2: A task is paused, but it's assigned to a general role (e.g. Designer, Copywriter) instead of a person.

Does it show in Availability? Yes
Why? This is crucial for resource planning. It shows that a portion of that role's future capacity is already earmarked, even if the job is on hold. This helps managers understand the true upcoming demand for that role.

Scenario 3: A task is paused, and its work hours are estimated but NOT assigned to a specific person or date.

Does it show in Availability? No
Why? The work isn't tied to anyone's specific schedule yet. Since it has no immediate impact on a person's capacity, it's hidden from the view to reduce clutter.

FAQs

How can I handle pipelines in Streamtime?
Paused to do’s are a great way to soft book your pipeline jobs within Streamtime. If you’re looking for support in creating a pipeline tracker in Streamtime, check out our top use cases for Priorities webinar here.