Labels, sizes and priority

Three small properties that make a long list sortable. Use them honestly and the list tells you something. Use them for theatre and every issue ends up Urgent, XL and labeled “important”.

Before you start

• Anyone in the workspace can set labels, priority and size on an issue.
• Creating, renaming or deleting labels is an Admin or Owner job, unless an Admin lets Members do it. Who can do what.
• Picking the sizing method is an Admin or Owner job too.

Steps

Set priority

Use Priority on the issue, on its row, in the new-issue form or in a row’s Properties… menu. There are five levels:

Priority	Use it for
No priority	Not decided yet. The default.
Low	Nice to have.
Medium	Should happen.
High	Matters soon.
Urgent	Drop what you’re doing. Rarely true.

Priority is the same five levels in every workspace. Nobody can rename them, which saves one meeting.

Size the work

A size says how big a piece of work is compared to others. It’s not hours, it’s not days, and Hydrant never turns it into a deadline.

Every size is stored as a rank from 1 to 6. The workspace’s sizing method only decides what those ranks are called:

Rank	T-shirt	Fibonacci
1	XS	1
2	S	2
3	M	3
4	L	5
5	XL	8
6	XXL	13

1. Set Size on the issue, its row or the new-issue form. Leave it empty if you don’t know yet; “No size” is a valid answer.
2. To change the method, an Admin or the Owner opens Settings › Issues, finds Sizing and picks T-shirt, Fibonacci or Off. The six ranks show under the choice.

Switching methods relabels every issue and clears nothing: an L becomes a 5, and back again. Off (“No sizes. Vibes only.”) hides sizes everywhere and refuses new ones, but keeps the stored values for the next method, and history keeps them too.

While you write a new issue with no size set, Hydrant may offer an Unsolicited opinion below the properties, such as Size M. It’s a guess from your draft’s title and description, made only when Hydrant is fairly sure. It’s right more often than a coin flip and less often than you’d like, so nothing is set until you choose it. Choose the chip to keep that size, or × to dismiss it for this draft. You can change it in Size like any other value. There’s no opinion when sizing is Off, and Hydrant never suggests the largest size; splitting work is your call. The guess is made by TypeSafe, a data processor; Privacy says what it receives.

Sizes don’t roll up from sub-issues. Where Hydrant adds them up, on Insights, cycles and projects, it counts T-shirt ranks as 1 to 6 and Fibonacci as its own numbers, and shows unsized issues separately instead of guessing.

Add labels to an issue

1. Open Labels on the issue, or choose Labels… from a row’s menu.
2. Type in Find labels… and pick one or more.
3. If the label doesn’t exist and you’re allowed to manage labels, choose Create ‘your name’, pick a color and press Create and add.

An issue can carry up to 100 labels. Please don’t test that.

In quick capture, the same Unsolicited opinion can suggest up to three labels, such as Label UX, once the title has a few words. Hydrant guesses from your draft and from a few recent issues carrying each label, so it learns what your labels mean in this workspace. Choose one to add it, or × to dismiss it for this draft; nothing is added until you do. TypeSafe makes this guess too; Privacy says what it receives.

Rather not hear it? An Owner or Admin can set size guesses, label guesses or duplicate hints to Off in Settings › Issues › Suggestions. Off means no opinion and no request: that draft text isn’t sent to TypeSafe for it. Duplicates Off also covers connected agents checking for duplicates before they file. Privacy says what each guess receives.

Manage the label catalog

Labels belong to the whole workspace. They live under Settings › Labels.

• New label: a name (up to 100 characters), a color and, if you like, an icon.
• Colors: Gray, Blue, Violet, Pink, Red, Orange, Amber, Green or Teal.
• Icons: pick one from the same icon picker used for projects, views and agents: about 200 icons, searchable, grouped from “Work and planning” to “Shapes and symbols”. No icon keeps a plain color dot. An icon shows tinted in the label’s color everywhere the label appears.
• Edit: select a label to open its editor in place. Color and icon save as you pick; a new name waits for Save label.
• Delete label…: only works on a label that has never been used: not on any issue, in any saved view, or anywhere in issue history. There’s no undo. A label that has seen action stays; rename it if it’s misleading.

A workspace can have up to 100 labels.

By default only Admins and the Owner manage labels and workspace views. To hand that to everyone, an Admin sets Who can change them to Every member on the same page and presses Save member access. The Settings map covers the rest of that page.

Use them

Priority, size and labels all work in Filter, and priority and size also work in Display for grouping and ordering. See Views, filters and saved views.

If you’re looking for dates: delivery targets live on the Roadmap, not in size or priority.

What you should see

Rows showing a priority icon, a size token and colored labels, and a list you can group by any of them. Size tokens disappear entirely when the workspace sizing method is Off.

If it goes sideways

• “Shared labels are read-only with your current access.” You can add existing labels but not create new ones. Ask an Admin, or ask them to switch on member access.
• “100 labels. Even bureaucracy has limits.” The workspace is full. Delete unused labels under Settings › Labels.
• “This label is retained by issues, saved views or issue history.” Labels that were ever used can’t be deleted, because history would stop making sense. Rename it instead, or just stop using it.
• Size is missing everywhere. The sizing method is Off. An Admin can turn it back on under Settings › Issues.
• “This issue changed. Review its labels before adding yours.” Someone else edited the labels while you were choosing. Review, then add yours again.