Use the Timeframe column to plan your features against time

Enabling the timeframe column on the Features board helps you to plan multiple features at the same time. With the timeframe column, you can overview what the team planned, and when things change, you can easily make changes to keep your plans up to date.

The Timeframes you assigned to features will automatically be populated when you use a timeline-based Roadmap. For example, you can create a feature launch roadmap to communicate high-level plans with go-to-market teams or use a releases timeline roadmap if you need an overview of milestones for your products with clear Timeframes. If you want to align your product team around outcomes, you can use a high-level objectives roadmap instead.

In this article:

• Enabling the Timeframe column on the Features board
• Assigning a Timeframe value to features
  • Setting a time range as a value with high-level dates
  • Clearing Timeframe values
• Filtering features by Timeframe
• Sorting features by Timeframe
• Bulk assigning a Timeframe to features

Enabling the Timeframe column on the Features board

You can add the Timeframe column on the Features board by following these steps:

1. On the Features board, click the  Add columns button and select Default fields ().
2. Then, toggle on Timeframe ():

Assigning a Timeframe value to features

You might already have timeframes assigned to your features if you used them to plan features on your roadmap. If this is the case, you'll already see the time frames assigned to the features when you enable the Timeframe column:

If you haven't set a timeframe for features yet, you can do so by clicking on the Timeframe value and selecting a high-level or specific date.

• Use high-level dates when you're planning features for broad time horizons - Years, Quarters, and Months.
• Use specific dates for more precise Start-End dates.

Note: Currently, you can only assign time frames to features.

Setting a time range as a value with high-level dates

When working with high-level dates, you might need to set a time range instead of a single time value.

To select a time range, select the start time and the end time, then in the Timeframe column, you'll see a range with the two values you set.
You can create ranges with any value: Years, Quarters, and Months:

Tip: Start with high-level dates as soon as you have some idea of timing for the topics you plan to work on and narrow them down as you get more clarity. This will allow you to align with your stakeholders earlier and set the right expectations.

Clearing Timeframe values

If you want to remove a time frame, you can do so by clicking the time frame value and then selecting Clear ():

Filtering features by Timeframe

You can use a filter to surface features with a Timeframe value associated with them.

You can access the Timeframe filter by following these steps:

1. On the Features board, click on the Filter icon ().
2. Then select the Timeframe () filter.

Alternatively, you can access filters by clicking the Filter icon () below the Timeframe column title.

Using Timeframe filters can help you answer questions like:

• What have we released in the last Quarter or Month?
  • For this, you can set a Timeframe filter with an End date only, selecting the option In this range. Here, you can select the last Quarter or Month you want to see.
    

    

• What are you planning to work on in the next Quarter or Month? 
  • For this, you can set the Start date and End date using In this range and selecting the next Quarter or Month.
    

    

• Which features haven't you planned yet?
  
  • To have an overview of the features you haven't planned yet, select Not set under Start and End date:
    

    

Sorting features by Timeframe

Once you set the time frames for the features you're planning, you can create a view to see the features sorted by the Start or End of the time frame.

To sort your features by the time frame, you need to ensure you're working on a Sorted list.

You can check this in the Features board header and make sure Sorted list () is selected:

To sort by Timeframe:

1. Go to the Timeframe filter ()  
2. Select the sorting option. You can choose to sort your feature by the time frame, Start or End date, and you can also decide if the sorting order () should be ascending or descending.

Note: The sorting logic includes high-level and specific dates. The high-level dates will be placed at the top when sorting specific dates in ascending order.

For instance, if you're sorting three features with the following time frames:

• Feature #1: planned for Aug 7, 2022    Aug 15, 2022
• Feature #2: planned for August
• Feature #3: planned for Q3

If you select ascending order, you'll see them in this order from top to bottom:

• Feature #3: planned for Q3
• Feature #2: planned for August
• Feature #1: planned for Aug 7, 2022    Aug 15, 2022

Bulk assigning a Timeframe to features

You can bulk assign a Timeframe if you're planning multiple features within the same Timeframe to save time.

To bulk assign a Timeframe to features, follow these steps:

• Hover over a feature to display the checkbox.
• Select the checkbox for all features you want to assign the time frame to.
• In the features' detail view, set a Timeframe, so the time frame will automatically be assigned to all features or subfeatures:

Note: Whenever you change the feature timeframe or release an email notification is sent to owners and/or followers when the option is enabled in Labs ().