Projects with a finish line.
Every task in kata has a home: the Inbox, a project or an area. Every project has a colour and a progress meter, and can have a start and a deadline. Group projects into areas — Work, Home, Health — and let the Inbox hold everything that hasn’t found its home yet.
Timeline, progress, headings.
A project page opens with two bars: how far through the timeline you are, and how many tasks are done. Below, headings split the work into phases — Design, Build, Launch.
A deadline appears on the week page as a ⚑ row on the day it falls, so the finish line is always in view while you plan.
Structure is the database. Time is the view.
Scheduling a task doesn’t move it out of its project — it places it on the week. Tick it off on Thursday and it’s ticked off in the project. Tick it off in the project and Thursday updates. One database, two lenses.
On Sunday, drag tasks onto the days — up from Upcoming, Someday or a pinned project. That’s weekly planning in kata: a few drags, not a form.
The details
- Inbox
- Where anything without a home lands, to file later. Its count is what is still waiting, and nothing else.
- A colour per project
- Each project wears one of six colours, and its tasks carry a dot of it on the week page, so the page reads at a glance.
- Start and deadline
- Optional. Set both and the project shows a timeline bar with days left; the deadline appears on the week as a ⚑ on the day it falls.
- Progress
- A count and a bar on every project’s row, “4 of 10 done” on the project itself, and a ring on each task with subtasks.
- Areas and headings
- Areas group projects — Work, Home, Health — and can hold tasks of their own. Headings split a project or an area into parts, and become a project’s board columns.
- Pin to week
- From a project’s ••• menu. With Pinned chosen under the week in Settings, its open work sits at the foot of the week page.
- Complete a project
- Complete a project from its settings, and kata asks what happens to unfinished work. The Log records it, and you can reopen it there.
Questions about projects
Do I have to put every task in a project?
No. Every task has a home — the Inbox, a project or an area — and the Inbox is where anything waits until you file it. Many people keep small errands in an area like Home and never think about them again.
Can a project have sub-projects?
No. kata keeps one level: Area → Project → Heading → Task, and a project can sit in an area or on its own. Headings cover most cases where you would reach for a sub-project, without the nesting.
How do deadlines interact with the week?
A deadline is drawn on the day it falls, as a ⚑ row you cannot tick off. Tasks inside the project are scheduled separately, so you always see both the finish line and the steps to it.