Good development work does not happen in isolation. It takes place when everyone on the team is on the same page about what they have been working on, what is
Good development work does not happen in isolation. It takes place when everyone on the team is on the same page about what they have been working on, what is blocked, what is being tested, and what is ready to ship. Day 7 of our SuiteCRM is about working with a system that keeps workflows organized and ensures total transparency. Such a system ensures that nothing is ever lost due to negligence and lack of coordination. Let us understand “Flight Task Manager” and how useful it is for your workflow.
Flight Task Manager Overview
The Flight Task Manager is the team's internal project and issue tracking system. All development tasks, bug reports, client requests, and deployment checklists are managed here.
️ Task Structure
- Projects — Top-level containers for a client or internal initiative. Each project has a status, owner, and deadline.
- Tasks — Individual work items within a project. Have assignees, priority, estimated hours, and status.
- Issues — Bug reports or problems found during QA. Linked to tasks or projects. Have severity levels.
- Milestones — Date-based checkpoints within a project. Tasks are grouped under milestones.
Task Statuses
| Status | Meaning | Next Step |
|---|---|---|
| Backlog | Logged but not yet scheduled | Move to To Do when sprint is planned |
| To Do | Scheduled for current sprint | Pick up and move to In Progress |
| In Progress | Actively being worked on | Move to Review when code/work is ready |
| In Review | Awaiting QA or peer review | Move to Done if approved, or back to In Progress |
| Done | Completed and verified | Archived after sprint close |
| Blocked | Waiting on external dependency | Move to To Do when the sprint is planned |
Issue Severity Levels
| Major feature broken, workaround exists, but painful. | Definition | Response Time |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | System down or data loss. No workaround available. | Immediate — same day fix |
| High | Major feature broken, workaround exists but painful. | Within 24 hours |
| Medium | Feature partially broken, workaround available. | Within current sprint |
| Low | Minor UI issue or cosmetic bug. | Next sprint or backlog |
Writing Good Issue Reports
A well-written issue saves hours of back-and-forth. Include all of these:
- Title — Short, specific summary (e.g., "after_save hook fires twice on Account update in SuiteCRM 7.12").
- Steps to Reproduce — Numbered, exact steps another developer can follow.
- Expected Result — What should happen.
- Actual Result — What actually happens.
- Environment — SuiteCRM version, PHP version, browser if UI issue.
- Logs — Relevant lines from suitecrm.log (attach, don't paste walls of text).
- Screenshots — For UI bugs, always include.
Never mark an issue as Done until QA has verified the fix in the staging environment. "Works on my machine" is not QA verification.
Learn More: Day-6: SuiteCRM API & OAuth — Authentication & Endpoint Mastery
Daily Workflow
- Check Flight dashboard — review assigned tasks and open issues.
- Update task status before starting work (To Do → In Progress).
- Log hours on tasks daily — don't batch-log at the end of the week.
- Add comments for any blockers or decisions made during implementation.
- Move completed tasks to In Review — never self-approve to Done.
Conclusion
The Flight Task Manager is only as valuable as your work ethic and intent to ensure transparency. Make sure that you are updating your task status before you begin work, log hours daily, and create reports meticulously that can help someone facing the same issue. Deploying Flight Task Manager successfully in your workflow can help reduce deadlines, facilitate quicker QA cycles, and reduce the time spent chasing updates through chat.
In Day 8 of our SuiteCRM training, we will study something extremely interesting. The “General Prompt Conventions,” “OutRight Brand Book,” and “email and website standards” make sure that output remains on-brand and consistent. It is the layer that sits above the code and ensures that what is being delivered has the quality of OutRight stamped right across it.
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