My Specs
The My Specs tab answers a question the task list cannot: of everything I could work on, which actually matters most?
A list of tasks tells you what is yours. It does not tell you that finishing one of them would let three other people start. My Specs works one level up — at the specification level — and ranks your work by who is blocked behind you.
Why this is useful
On a large programme, most of your tasks look equally urgent. They are not. Some sit on the critical path of somebody else’s work, and some do not.
My Specs looks at every specification you have an open task on, works out who could act on it next and who is parked waiting on a dependency, and then sorts your work accordingly. The specification that frees the most colleagues rises to the top.
This is the personal view of the same information the project’s Progress tab shows for the whole programme. The two always agree — My Specs simply filters it to you.
The three groups
Your specifications are sorted into three groups, shown in this order.
| Group | What it means | Why it is ordered this way |
|---|---|---|
| Unblocking Others | Finish these and other people can start. You can act now, and at least one other person is waiting on this specification. | Most people freed comes first |
| Free to Progress | Nothing is stopping these — the next move is yours. You can act, and nobody is waiting behind you. | Nearest milestone first |
| Waiting on Others | Parked until someone else acts. Your task here is waiting on a dependency somebody else holds. | Alphabetical by reference |
Each group shows a heading, a count, and a one-line reminder of what it means. Empty groups are hidden.
Unblocking Others rows tell you how many people are waiting. Waiting on Others rows name who is holding it, so you know exactly who to chase.
A specification only ever appears once. If you hold several tasks on it in different states, it is shown in the most urgent group that applies.
What counts as “yours”
A task on a specification counts as yours when either:
- the task is assigned to you; or
- the task is unassigned and is explicitly held by a delivery team you are a member of — work nobody has picked up yet that falls to your team.
A task assigned to another member of your team is not counted as yours. Team membership alone does not make a colleague’s task your responsibility — only your own assignment, or unclaimed team work, does.
Searching
Use the Search specs… box at the top of the tab to narrow the list by reference or name. The search applies across all three groups at once and is kept in the page address, so a filtered view can be bookmarked or shared.
If nothing matches, the tab says so — this is different from having no specifications in play at all, which shows its own message.
Opening a specification
Click any row to open that specification. From there you can work on the narrative, update its tasks, or review its readiness in the usual way.
When the tab is empty
If you see “You have no specs in play right now”, it means you have no open tasks on any specification, and none of your teams hold unclaimed work on one. This is a good state to be in — check the My Tasks tab for work that is not tied to a specification.