Custom Boards — Build Exactly What You Need

Not every workflow fits a standard template. Custom boards exist for the teams that know exactly what they need — and for the ones still figuring it out.

Start from a minimal base. Add the fields, statuses, and views that match your actual process. Nothing more, nothing less.

Who It's For

Custom boards are for any workflow that doesn't fit the built-in types:

  • Marketing teams managing campaigns or content calendars
  • Design teams tracking design requests and deliverables
  • HR and recruiting teams managing hiring pipelines
  • Operations teams running process checklists
  • Product teams building kanban boards without the full scrum overhead
  • Any team that has a specific workflow and wants it tracked properly

Tip: Before creating a custom board, check the built-in types — R&D, Feature Requests, Bugs, Customer Success. If one is 80% of the way there, it's faster to customize a pre-built type than start from zero. The built-in types come with sensible defaults and multiple views ready to use.

What You Start With

A new custom board is intentionally minimal:

  • Item levels: Item → Sub-item → Detail (fully relabelable)
  • Statuses: Todo, In Progress, Done — the bare minimum
  • Custom fields: None pre-configured
  • Views: One default list view

Everything else is up to you.

Configurable Hierarchy

Custom boards support the same three-level hierarchy as built-in boards, but every level is relabeled to match your workflow.

The defaults — Item, Sub-item, Detail — are placeholders. Rename them to anything that makes sense:

Example Workflow Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Content calendar Campaign Article Draft
Hiring pipeline Role Candidate Interview
Design workflow Project Screen Revision
Marketing operations Initiative Task Checklist Item
IT operations Ticket Subtask Action

You can enable one, two, or all three levels. If your workflow is flat — just a simple list of items — disable the lower levels entirely.

Setting Up Your Custom Board

Step 1: Define Your Item Labels

Go to Board Settings → General and rename the hierarchy levels to match what your team calls their work. This affects how the board is labeled throughout the interface — button labels, column headers, breadcrumbs.

Step 2: Configure Your Statuses

Go to Board Settings → Statuses. Start with the three default statuses and:

  • Rename them to match your team's language
  • Add new statuses for each meaningful state in your workflow
  • Organize statuses into groups (e.g., "Active", "Blocked", "Done")
  • Set colors and icons for quick visual scanning

Most custom workflows work well with 5–10 statuses. Add more only when each additional state represents a real decision point or handoff.

Step 3: Add Custom Fields

Go to Board Settings → Custom Fields and add the columns your workflow needs. Available field types:

Type Use Case
Text Notes, descriptions, free-form input
Number Scores, counts, estimates, revenue amounts
Date Deadlines, milestones, scheduled dates
Select Single-choice categories, stages, types
Multi-select Tags, labels, multiple categories
URL Links to external resources, documents, or tools
User Assign a team member to a specific role on the item

Fields you add appear in the item detail panel, as columns in list view, and as filter and group-by options in views.

Step 4: Create Your Views

Go to Views and create the views your team will use most. A few common patterns:

  • Kanban by status — drag-and-drop board for visual workflow management
  • List grouped by assignee — who owns what
  • List filtered by due date — what's coming up
  • List filtered to "In Progress" — active work only
  • Table view with all fields visible — full data overview

Save each view with a clear name. Pin the most important ones to the sidebar.

All Features Work on Custom Boards

Custom boards have access to every Lifecycle OS feature. Nothing is locked to built-in board types.

  • Automations — Trigger actions when status changes, dates approach, or fields update
  • Custom fields — All field types available
  • Views — All display modes: list, kanban, table, calendar
  • Member management — Invite members with role assignments
  • Permissions — Per-board viewer/member/admin roles
  • Notifications — Mention teammates, follow items, get alerts
  • Activity history — Full audit trail on every item
  • Integrations — Connect GitHub, Slack, and other external tools

Common Custom Board Patterns

Kanban / Simple Task Board

A flat list of tasks with kanban view as the primary display. No hierarchy — just items with status and assignee.

Statuses: Backlog, Todo, In Progress, Review, Done

Fields to add: Priority (select), Due Date, Team Member (user)

Primary view: Kanban grouped by status

Content Calendar

Items are articles, videos, or posts. Track from idea to published.

Statuses: Idea, In Draft, In Review, Scheduled, Published, Archived

Fields to add: Content Type (select), Publish Date (date), Author (user), Channel (select), Word Count (number)

Primary view: Calendar view by Publish Date + list view filtered to "In Review"

Hiring Pipeline

Items are open roles. Sub-items are candidates. Track the hiring process per candidate.

Statuses (at candidate level): Applied, Screening, Interview 1, Interview 2, Offer, Hired, Rejected

Fields to add: Role (select), Department (select), Hiring Manager (user), Interview Date (date), Source (select)

Primary view: Kanban grouped by status, filtered to current open roles

Design Request Queue

Items are design requests from internal stakeholders. Track from request to delivery.

Statuses: Requested, Queued, In Design, In Review, Revisions, Approved, Delivered

Fields to add: Requested By (user), Project (text), Figma URL (url), Due Date (date), Priority (select)

Primary view: Kanban grouped by status + list view sorted by Due Date

Marketing Campaigns

Items are campaigns. Sub-items are deliverables. Track from planning to launch.

Statuses: Planning, In Production, In Review, Approved, Live, Complete

Fields to add: Campaign Type (select), Launch Date (date), Budget (number), Channel (multi-select), Owner (user)

Primary view: List grouped by Campaign Type + calendar view by Launch Date

When to Use Custom vs. a Built-In Type

Situation Recommendation
Building software or running sprints Use R&D board
Managing customer feedback and roadmap input Use Feature Requests board
Tracking defects with QA workflow Use Bugs board
Managing customer accounts and onboarding Use Customer Success board
Unique workflow that doesn't match the above Use Custom board
Built-in type is close but not perfect Start with the built-in type, customize it

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