How to Use the Timeline View?

What Is a Timeline?

Timelines help companies stay on track and get their projects completed on time. They also help teams avoid surprises and make sure you have enough time to make changes if needed.

A timeline is essential in the product management process as it helps create a plan and organize the project’s tasks. It also helps to coordinate and manage different teams involved in the project.

You need to have a timeline that aligns with the company’s goals and objectives. The timeline should also be flexible enough to accommodate changes throughout the project.

How to Access the Timeline View in Chisel?

• To view the timeline, go to your workspace. 

• Now select ‘Timeline’ in the ‘Roadmaps’ category on the left-hand side of the board. 

• You will see a screen with components corresponding to features and your assigned timelines.

• To view the timelines corresponding to each feature, go to Treeview, and click on ‘Schedule.’ Here, you can view, change or remove the timelines. Simply click on the timeline, and the ‘Edit date range‘ box will appear. Save or remove the timeline as per your requirement.

• If you want to hide the Timeline tool from the treeview, simply toggle it off in the side panel of the treeview.

How To Assign Timelines?

• First, go to the ‘Treeview’ action in your workspace. Select the feature you want to schedule. 

• Once you hover over the feature, select the ‘Open feature’ icon. 

• The feature side panel will appear. Here select the ‘schedule’ tab.

• A rectangular bar next to the ‘timeline’ will let you assign dates: start and end dates to your features using the ‘Edit Date Range’ option.

• Select the start and end date from the displayed calendar. You will see the blue patch for your selected date range. Confirm it once, and then click on ‘Save.’

• Your features will be visible in the ‘Timeline’ view. 

• To add a new feature to the timeline, go to the ‘timeline’ section, and click on the date range you want to add the features. A separate box with ‘Add feature’ will appear.

• Here, ‘Name’ your feature, add a timeline and description, then click on the ‘Add’ button. 

• You can also automatically view the new feature in the ‘Treeview’ section. 

Zoom In and Zoom Out

To better view your timeline, you can select the options: Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly from the bar at the top of the page to view the timeline according to your requirements. 

Other Sections of the Timeline

You can simply hover over the ‘i’ icon on the said feature to get information like ‘Priority Score,’ ‘Alignment Score,’ ‘Kanban Status,’ ‘Release Status,’ and ‘Timeline’ of a particular feature in the timeline view. 

In cases where more information is needed to make decisions, you can click on the feature. Doing so will open the feature side panel. Here you can see the broader view of the feature, such as dependencies, feedback score, and so on. 

Rearranging Feature Timeframe and Order 

Another shortcut to extend or shorten the timeline of your features instead of going to the ‘Edit Date Range’ tab is to bring your cursor to either end of the feature bar. 

You will notice the drag cursor appear. Extend or shrink your features as per the requirements. 

You can also click on the feature to drag and drop from one place to another in a component. 

Export 

• To export your ‘Timeline’ data and store it in a pdf format, click on the ‘Export’ icon at the top right corner of the ‘Timeline’ page. 

• A bar with ‘Create a PDF’ will appear.

• You can edit the name of the PDF in the given box.

• Now click on the ‘Export’ button.

• You can view a PDF file of the timeline data in your ‘Downloads’ folder. 

• Click on the ‘Done’ button to resume your timeline work.

Milestones

The timeline view also lets you add milestones. Click here for more information on how to go about using milestones.