I really like Tasks plugin, but trying to set up a simple workflow is honestly kind of frustrating for me.
I know Obsidian is all about customizing everything, but I really just want basic, straightforward lists—like Open, Waiting, Next Actions, etc. I’ve looked for plugins to handle this, but most of them just do way too much. I don’t want heavy Kanban boards or massive, complex GTD Dataview dashboards. It feels like there’s no lightweight middle ground.
I’ve actually started building my own small plugin to solve this, but before I sink too much time into it, I wanted to ask here to make sure I’m not reinventing the wheel.
Does anyone else feel like this simple workflow is missing? Or is there a minimal setup/plugin you use that handles this without turning your vault into a complex software project?
Before i moved on to kanban (because i really love kanban) I worked with the tasks plugin and a custom dataviewjs-Callout i cobbled together. It checked a couple of specified files. If there were any open tasks due today or past due it rendered them in a callout box. Usually the date was derived from the daily-note-title or a property.
It worked fairly well and i’d consider it a lightweight solution for task-management. In Tasks you can make custom status for tasks and define how they loop into each other. Then you can filter and group it in the box aswell. So it’s about finding what you like and just make it a template to reuse everywhere.
Here is how it could look like. On the right one of the original task-source-files. Top left the rendered Box, bottom left the code. Maybe that’s something to get you started without making your own plugin? Also the rendering of the checkbox as done is due to the theme, i reckon. There should be a way to show “In Progress” differently in the checkbox.
If you want some more ideas on what to put in the query, just let me know. I’m happy to help
Here the Code for reference:
```dataviewjs
let boxTitle = 'Tasks';
let calloutType ='Todo';
const query = `
(path includes 01_Portal/test2.md) OR (path includes 02_Projects/01_foo/05_backlog/foo.md)
(scheduled on or before 2026-07-28) OR (due on or before 2026-07-28") %>)
group by function task.status.name
limit 5
`;
function callout(type,title,text) {
const allText = `> [!${type}] ${title}\n` + text;
const lines = allText.split('\n');
return lines.join('\n> ') + '\n'
}
dv.paragraph(callout(calloutType, boxTitle,'```tasks\n' + query + '\n```'));
```
Yes, this is the exact friction I’m trying to address.
While I understand and appreciate Kanban as a workflow, using an actual board view is just a friction generator for me—it throws way too much irrelevant information at you all at once.
In my ideal setup, I’d have a single “daily bucket” that I can just empty out every day. The problem is that my tasks live inside project notes—which is where I want them, because that’s where the context and info are. But what I really need is to distill those notes into a high-level view (just “Next Actions for Today”) so I can process, review, or postpone them.
When I try to pull everything onto a single page, it gets way too busy, way too fast. I want to be able to feed more and more into the system (including future recurring plans) without it bloating my daily view.
It basically feels like a constant tug-of-war: I want a dead-simple “next action” list, but I also have a massive amount of project notes that I need to keep hidden until it’s actually time to work on them.
Do a thing for [[People/Joe]] about [[Projects/Project-X]] #followup 2026-07-29
Etc… then, it shows up on #followup, Joe, project-X, and Today (if today is the 29th) - its context aware, so you can flip to ‘task mode’ and navigate your structure like a Todo inbox, or as you navigate pages/folders anywhere, the sidebar show that page’s tasks (good If you use Daily note) and also related tasks, inbound tasks (tasks that mention the file you are in etc)
The whole idea was that I just wanted it ‘to work’ and not have to adapt to any systems
Kanban for me only works with regular planning sessions.
I have the columns inbox, backlog and waiting. All usually folded away. And planning, ready, doing, done. That reduces. All with WIP-Limits.
The issue arises managing multiple projets at the same time, because every project has its own board. That makes annoying overhead and i have no way to solve that yet.
But actually “state=ready” in my callout would solve that and only show the “next action” list across the projects.
But these kanban-boards are only for trivial tasks.
For more complex tasks i am using bases and patiently wait for the kanban view from the obsidian team themselves
Thanks, but this is too much enforced structure. While I like put things in structure this (for me at least) is not very effective, I’m spending too much time aligning properties.
Having used various Kanban-style tools like Trello, Jira, and GitLab, I’ve hit the exact same roadblock with all of them, you nailed it perfectly:
The issue arises managing multiple projets at the same time, because every project has its own board. That makes annoying overhead and i have no way to solve that yet.
I’m starting to think the board format itself might be the root of the problem. When you need to separate signal from noise, standard boards quickly become cluttered and overwhelming. I do like generic Bases approach, but setting up and maintaining them adds its own friction.
