How to Manage Developer Workload Across Multiple Projects?

[partomas]

Hello everyone,

We’ve recently started using the Project Management extension in EspoCRM for different development projects, and so far it’s been great – especially the task and subtask structure.

However, we’ve hit a challenge when it comes to sprint or To-Do planning across multiple projects. Specifically, we are struggling to manage and plan the workload for our developers when they are assigned tasks from different projects.

What we’re looking for is a way to see all tasks assigned to a specific developer (from all projects) in one place. Ideally, we’d also like to be able to prioritize those tasks and make sure they are handled one at a time – similar to what TMD or other Agile methodologies suggest.

Has anyone solved this kind of challenge using EspoCRM? Maybe with dashboards, reports, custom views, or another approach?

Any suggestions or shared experiences would be highly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.
Tomas

[victor]

While in the #ProjectTask entity, you have access to all Project Tasks and you can add Project, Stage, Timeline, Priority etc. to the List view. Here you can also see Sub Tasks and Parent Tasks:



1. Parent is indicated by a special icon displaying the current number of Sub Tasks.
2. Sub Tasks also have their own designations, clicking on which will immediately redirect you to the Detail view of its Parent Task.

[yuri]

Currently, it's possible to add the Project Task entity type to the Calendar. But it displays only events on date ends (it's a deliberate choice). If we could somehow make it configure to display the whole time span if needed, it would solve the problem I think.

[partomas]

We’re using the Project Management extension for multiple software development projects. The task/subtask structure works well, but we’re struggling with Agile planning across multiple projects when developers work in parallel on tasks coming from different projects. What we can do today (and why it’s not enough)


Community suggestions helped partially:

1. Using the ProjectTask entity list view (global list) lets us see all tasks from all projects and add columns (Project, Stage, Priority, Timeline, etc.).
   ✅ Good for visibility
   ❌ Not good for Agile backlog/sprint management, because we still lack a single, ordered backlog and sprint planning workflow across projects.
2. Adding ProjectTask to the Calendar is not solving it (shows mostly date endpoints, and calendar view is not a backlog/sprint tool).
   ✅ Useful for timelines
   ❌ Doesn’t support backlog ordering, WIP, sprint capacity, or “one task at a time” principles.

The actual problem


In our projects, ProjectTask includes both development tasks and project management/coordination tasks. The Project Manager needs to manage each project as a separate object (project plan, phases, PM tasks, milestones).
At the same time, developers need a single “Developer Backlog / Sprint view” across all projects, so they can plan and execute work in an Agile way without constantly switching between projects. What we need (native Agile workflow, developer-centric)


We’re looking for a native cross-project Agile backlog/sprint management approach, ideally built on top of ProjectTask, that supports:

1. Unified backlog across projects

• A single view that aggregates tasks from multiple projects
• Filterable by Assigned User / Team / Role
• Ability to keep a global order (rank) for tasks for a developer/team (drag & drop ordering)

1. Sprint planning across projects

• Ability to assign tasks to a Sprint (current / next) regardless of project
• Sprint should have at least: name, start/end dates, capacity (hours/points), team

1. Execution with WIP discipline (Agile)

• WIP limits per developer/team (e.g., max N “In Progress” tasks)
• At minimum: warnings/soft enforcement when taking more than allowed
• Ideally: a board/kanban view that respects WIP and prioritization

1. Separation of concerns

• PM keeps project-specific planning inside each Project
• Devs work primarily in the cross-project backlog/sprint view
• Both views remain connected (task still belongs to a Project and supports PM reporting)

Example user stories / acceptance criteria

• As a developer, I can open My Backlog and see tasks from all projects in one ordered list, then drag & drop to re-prioritize.
• As a scrum master/lead, I can build a sprint from tasks across multiple projects and see sprint capacity (sum of hours/points).
• As a PM, I can still manage each project separately and track progress, while dev execution happens in the unified sprint workflow.
• As a team, we can enforce or at least warn about WIP > 1–2 active tasks per person.

Question / request


Is there a recommended native way to achieve this today (without custom development)?
If not, could you consider this as a feature request / roadmap item: a cross-project Agile Backlog & Sprint capability (developer-centric) built around ProjectTask?

If you want, I can share more details about our workflow and what data fields we already use (Priority, Points/Hours, Stage, Group types).

Thanks,
Tomas