inprogress

In progress is a status used in project management and software development to indicate that work on a task, feature, or bug has begun but is not yet finished. It sits between the initial planning stage (often labeled "To Do" or "Backlog") and completion (often "Done" or "Closed"). The exact wording varies by organization and tool, with alternatives such as "In Development," "In Progress," or "In-Progress."

In practice, tasks marked as in progress appear on kanban boards, scrum boards, or issue trackers to communicate current activity. They help teams visualize work in flight, assign responsibility, and estimate remaining effort. Transitions from in progress typically move to intermediate states such as "Code Review," "Testing," or "Review" before final completion. Some systems implement work-in-progress limits to prevent overloading team members and to reveal bottlenecks.

Effective use of the in-progress state depends on clear definitions and discipline. Challenges include status drift, where items remain in progress too long, or inconsistent naming across tools. To mitigate this, teams often require regular updates, limit WIP, and link in-progress tasks to time estimates or SLA targets.

Examples: Jira uses a workflow with statuses including "To Do," "In Progress," and "Done." Trello or Asana commonly place items in an "In Progress" column or list while work is underway.

See also: Work in progress, Kanban, Agile, Project management, Issue tracking.