009
LVL 00 — CADET PILOT SESSION 009 DAY 9

THE TASK BOARD

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SYS.SCENARIO
🏢 Your team lead opens the task management board. "This is how we track work. Every bug, every feature, every improvement starts as a ticket. You pick a ticket, create a branch named after it, do the work, push, request review, merge. No ticket = no work. No branch = no commit. This is the workflow."
CONCEPTS.UNLOCKED
📋
Task Management
Every piece of work is a ticket: ID, title, type, priority, status, description, assignee, acceptance criteria. No ticket = the work doesn't exist.
→→→
Workflow States
BACKLOG → TODO → IN PROGRESS → CODE REVIEW → QA → DONE. Work flows left to right. Every ticket lives in exactly one column.
🏷
Ticket Types
🐛 Bug, ✨ Feature, 🔧 Refactor, ⚡ Performance, 🔒 Security, 📚 Documentation. The type determines how you approach the work.
🚦
Priority Levels
🔴 Critical (deploy now), 🟠 High (this sprint), 🟡 Medium (soon), 🔵 Low (backlog). Priority determines what you work on next.
🔄
The Full Workflow
Pick ticket → Create branch → Code → Commit → Push → Pull Request → Review → Merge → Close ticket. This is the professional loop.
📆
Sprint Planning
Organizing work into 1–2 week cycles. Commit to a set of tickets, deliver them, reflect, repeat. Predictable rhythm, sustainable pace.
HANDS-ON.TASKS
01
Tour the Task Board
▶

Browse the project board. Read 10 ticket descriptions. For each, identify:

FieldExample
IDPIXELCRAFT-042
TitleBrightness slider clips at max value
Type🐛 Bug
Priority🟠 High
StatusTODO
Acceptance CriteriaSlider value clamps to 0–100 range
02
The Full Workflow — Your First Ticket
▶

Ticket: PIXELCRAFT-000 — "Add your name to the contributors list in README.md"

Step 1 — Move ticket to IN PROGRESS

Step 2 — Create the branch:

git switch -c intern/yourname/PIXELCRAFT-000-add-contributor

Step 3 — Edit README.md, add your name under "## Contributors"

Step 4 — Stage and commit:

git add README.md git commit -m "Add [Your Name] to contributors list (PIXELCRAFT-000)"

Step 5 — Push to remote:

git push origin intern/yourname/PIXELCRAFT-000-add-contributor

Step 6 — Create a Pull Request on GitHub

Step 7 — Get review, address feedback

Step 8 — Merge PR → move ticket to DONE

03
Write a Bug Report
▶

Find a real bug in PixelCraft (look carefully). Write a proper bug report:

Title: [What's broken — one line] Type: 🐛 Bug Priority: [Critical / High / Medium / Low] Description: [What's happening] Steps to Reproduce: 1. Open PixelCraft 2. Click [specific action] 3. Observe [specific problem] Expected Behavior: [What should happen] Actual Behavior: [What actually happens] Screenshots: [If applicable] Browser/OS: [Chrome 120 / macOS 14]
04
Scan the Backlog
▶

Read the next 20 tickets in the backlog. For each, estimate:

DifficultyCriteriaTime Estimate
🟢 EasyOne file, clear fix, no new concepts< 1 hour
🟡 MediumMultiple files, some research needed2–4 hours
🔴 HardArchitecture decision, new concepts, multi-day1–3 days
Estimation is a skill that takes years to refine. Being wrong is normal. The goal is to get better at it over time.
05
Ticket Etiquette
▶

Professional habits that separate juniors from seniors:

RuleWhy
Always update ticket statusTeam knows what's in progress
Comment on blockers"Blocked by PIXELCRAFT-003"
Link related ticketsShows connections between work
Include screenshots in bugsWorth a thousand words
Don't work without a ticketUntracked work creates chaos
CS.DEEP-DIVE

Project management is a state machine.

Each ticket transitions through defined states. TODO → IN PROGRESS → REVIEW → DONE. This is a finite state machine — and they're everywhere.

// State machines appear everywhere in CS:

TCP connections  → LISTEN → ESTABLISHED
                   → CLOSE_WAIT → CLOSED
Traffic lights   → RED → GREEN → YELLOW → RED
Parsers          → track grammar states as
                   they read tokens

// The Kanban board = a visual state machine.

// WIP (Work-In-Progress) limits prevent overload.
// Same concept as:

Connection pools → limit concurrent DB connections
Thread pools     → limit concurrent tasks
Rate limiting    → limit requests per second

// Constrain the system to prevent collapse.
"Write 5 Real Tickets"
[A] Create 5 realistic tickets for PixelCraft bugs or improvements you've observed while using the app.
[B] Each ticket must have: title, type, priority, description, steps to reproduce, expected behavior, actual behavior.
[C] This practices both observation and professional communication — skills valued as much as coding ability.
REF.MATERIAL
VIDEO
GitHub Pull Request Tutorial
Fireship
Fast walkthrough of the pull request workflow — forking, branching, creating PRs, code review, and merging.
PRGITHUBWORKFLOW
VIDEO
What Is Agile? — Atlassian
Atlassian
Clear explanation of Agile methodology, sprints, and how teams organize work in cycles.
AGILESPRINTS
ARTICLE
Kanban — Atlassian Guide
Atlassian
Deep dive into Kanban boards, WIP limits, swimlanes, and how to visualize workflow. Reference for understanding task boards.
KANBANWIP LIMITS
ARTICLE
Collaborating with Pull Requests — GitHub Docs
GitHub
Official GitHub docs on PRs, reviews, requesting changes, and merge strategies. The reference for the PR workflow.
PULL REQUESTSOFFICIAL
VIDEO
How to Write Good Bug Reports
Techworld with Nana
Practical guide to writing bug reports that developers actually want to read — reproduction steps, expected vs actual, screenshots.
BUG REPORTSCOMMUNICATION
// LEAVE EXCITED BECAUSE
You completed the full professional development workflow: pick ticket → branch → code → commit → push → PR → review → merge → close ticket. This is EXACTLY what engineers at every tech company do daily. You're practicing the real process from Day 1.