Feature Idea: create card/task from Mattermost

[biva]

Summary:

1. Write a message on Mattermost, for example: /card @tom Buy cookies
2. This creates a card Buy cookies in Focalboard, assigned to Tom

This could be improved in the future with the following ideas:

3. Define a specific syntax to include additional information (content, date, board, status, priority, project, ...). For example /card @tom Buy cookies [2 chocolate + 1 nuts] would add the content 2 chocolate + 1 nuts to the card
4. A message is automatically created on Mattermost, in reply to the original message (in the same thread), providing the link to the card on Focalboard
5. If no project/category is specified, it could be automatically flagged as "to be sorted"

As far as I understand:

6. I'm not sure how all this is already the project of https://github.com/mattermost/focalboard/discussions/349
7. This feature would be the mirror feature of https://github.com/mattermost/focalboard/issues/282.

How important this is to me and why:

Importance: High

Use cases:

1. We use Mattermost extensively to manage todos. But the current plugin is not advanced enough and not transparent enough (not everybody can see all the pending tasks)
2. We discuss a topic on Mattermost, and a todo is decided: the follow-up is currently not easy, while Focalboard could provide that

Additional context / similar features: With Asana, sending an email with a specific syntax creates a card/todo in Asana.

[chenilim]

Thanks @biva! This is great feedback. Slash commands are something we haven't fully explored yet. Some quick thoughts / brainstorms:

• Currently, each channel is associated with a Focalboard workspace with (possibly) multiple boards
• So, a /card command would need to indicate the board, e.g. /card [My Todos] @tom Buy cookies.
  • Or maybe we can just configure the "default" board to insert into
• Maybe it's useful to specify the type of card? e.g.
  • /card task @tom Buy cookies
  • /card feature-idea Slash command support
  • /card bug P2, S3, @joe fix css

Taking a different tack, maybe what we want is some accelerator UI, e.g.

• Press Cmd+I
• New card UI pops up
• Same as card editor, except you can also pick the board to insert into
• Ok creates the new card and posts the link as above

Curious to hear if a slash command would still be preferable. Maybe it's easier to automate?

Also, if other commands are desirable, e.g.

• /assign [Buy cookies] @bob
• /set-status [done] [Buy cookies]

This is a rich area to explore.

[biva]

Thanks for your encouraging reply. My feeling:

• As a first step, it could start with something very simple like /card @tom Buy cookies. For the board assignation, the 2 solutions make sense for me: either insert it in the associated Focalboard workspace (I prefer this solution) or configure a "default" board
• Assigning the type of card, the board, the deadline, ... are interesting additional features, but they can be introduced in a second phase
• The accelerator UI is another interesting route:
  • In this case, how would Mattermost know where to post the link? I think it's very key to be able to follow a conversation and see the corresponding todos in the conversation (in the thread)
  • Typing an easy command like /card @tom Buy cookies is, in my opinion, a more convenient process for the user, with fewer steps and without using the mouse. Once the link is created with the command, the user can click on it: the card UI pops up and the user can edit it with additional details
  • In the future, maybe both routes can be available, users will choose what they prefer? (for the development, I would start with the command route, I think it's easier to implement, isn't it?
• In the thread, I think it's important to see the link to the card, but also some details (at least the title of the card and the assigned person, in addition to the link).
• Other commands are possible but I don't think they are a priority: managing todos and cards will be much easier and convenient directly from Focalboard

[chenilim]

Good points. Yup, agree that the /link is more versatile as you can insert it in a thread. Being able to specify a "default" board in the workspace (the first one by default) makes this, and other commands, easier.

As for additional details of the card, I posted a new feature idea #386 on unfurling links to cards. We should define and use a standard in-message view of cards we can use here and elsewhere. Anyone, please add any thoughts you might have on what that view should show. Thanks!

[biva]

@chenilim Unfortunately I have no skills for coding, but happy to test and give feedback when you have a first version :)

[biva]

Hello @chenilim for information, Nextcloud just introduced this feature, and it works well :) (see the paragraph Integrated chat and task management in https://nextcloud.com/blog/nextcloud-hub-22-introduces-approval-workflows-integrated-knowledge-management-and-decentralized-group-administration/

Were you able to make some progress on your side? Thanks for your great work, we're now starting to use it and we like it :)

[biva]

Hello @chenilim Congrats for your last improvements, I notably love the calendar view :)

Regarding this card creation from within a thread/message in Mattermost, were you able to look at the solution proposed by Nextcloud/Talk? Something similar would be great!

The more we go, the more I think this feature would replace the Todo extension in a better way. And the more I think you're right to go for a UI instead of a slash command. Something like a new menu item ("create card from this message") in the 3-dots menu would be the best IMO.

I hope this message is not too intrusive in your team, and I wish you good luck!

[wuwinson]

Additional feedback from this thread

[victorehernandez]

Love this idea! I would really like the ability to create AND update a card from a Mattermost message.

Likely, it may already be under consideration - how about using the same approach as with our integrations to Jira, GitHub, etc.? E.g.,

This approach would open a modal pre-populated with the desired description (e.g., the content of the message) and allow for selecting certain contexts, such as the target Board, assignee, or other attributes. Similarly, this could be used to add/attach to an existing card.

[biva]

I definitely like your idea @victorehernandez !

@chenilim We remain open if you have anything to suggest or to show us for testing or feedback. Good luck :)

[biva]

Hello @chenilim I really like the new features enabling to include a link to a card within a Mattermost conversation. But in my opinion, it's really a shame that we cannot create a card in an easy way, from a conversation in Mattermost. In order to start easily, would it be possible to add a feature in the 3-dots menu, creating a card from a message? As a first step, a very simple card could be created, in the board corresponding to the channel, with nobody assigned, and the title of the card is the content of the message.

Then it could be improved with all the suggestions above (notably change the title, content, person assigned, ...)

Thanks a lot in general for your great work!

[chenilim]

Thanks for the feedback @biva! cc @wuwinson.

[wuwinson]

Thanks for the suggestion @biva! Agreed that this is a an important feature and something we're considering for our longer term roadmap. In the meantime, we've opened it up to the community in case someone wants to implement this sooner. Thanks again!

[biva]

Hello @wuwinson , thanks for your kind words. Unfortunately, I have no skills in coding, so I can't help very much :/ I'm a bit disappointed that it's only "long term" and not faster, but obviously I understand you have a lot to do and that you have to prioritize... Just a kind nudge to remind you that Slack and Nextcloud already implemented it in a nice and simple way :P

1. Slack:
   1. You can add or update tasks from any channel or direct message
   2. With Trello plugin, you can add new cards
   3. With Asana plugin, you can create tasks from the shortcuts menu, or from specific messages
2. Nextcloud: you can turn a chat message into a task and vice-versa

[jonathanvisser]

I really like this idea - so many tasks come up in messages - it would be great to ensure they're actioned by placing them on associated Boards without having to copy'n'paste in two directions to make it happen.

Just an idea, but I can see that the Todo plugin already enables you to create a task with copied message content - via the "Message Actions" context menu on each message. It also supports posting task creation back to the originating channel.

So, maybe the shortest gap to get this implemented would be to enhanced the Todo plugin so that "Send Todos" has an option to target a board/state as well as private todo lists.