Short answer: Most agency status sets fail in one of two ways — too many stages nobody uses, or too few to show where work is actually stuck. The fix is designing statuses around who is holding the work rather than what phase it's in. Six is usually enough, and the single most valuable one is a status that makes client-side delays visible, because that's the delay you're currently absorbing silently.
The two failure modes
Too many. Fourteen statuses covering every conceivable stage. Nobody remembers which is which, half sit permanently empty, and people default to whichever two they can recall. The extra granularity produces no extra information.
Too few. To Do, In Progress, Done. Everything meaningful happens inside "In Progress," which becomes a bucket holding work that's actively being built, work waiting on a client, and work someone forgot about three weeks ago.
A status set is useful when a glance tells you what's stuck and who has to move it. If you have to open tasks to answer that, the statuses aren't doing their job.
The set that works for most agencies
Backlog — agreed but not scheduled
In Progress — someone is actively working on it right now
Internal Review — built, being checked by your team before it goes out
Waiting on Client — sent, blocked on their response
Revisions — feedback received, changes being made
Delivered — done and accepted
Six covers the vast majority of agency delivery. Add a seventh only when you can name a decision it would change.
Why "Waiting on Client" earns its place
This is the one to add if you add nothing else.
Without it, client-side delays are invisible. Work sits in "In Progress" while you wait on feedback, so your board says you're behind when the client is. At month end, when a client asks why something slipped, you have no record — just a memory of chasing them.
With it, you can answer a question you currently can't: how many days per month does client-side delay cost us? That number is usually large, it's currently absorbed silently, and it's the foundation of every reasonable conversation about timelines.
Three rules for keeping it clean
Statuses belong to the service, not the client
Define them once per Space, per service line. If two clients receiving the same service have different status sets, you can't compare anything and every report is manual.
Name them for the person reading, not the person doing
If clients see any of this — through guest access, a shared view, or a portal — "Blocked" and "On Hold" are ambiguous and mildly alarming. "Waiting on Client" is neither. Write statuses that survive being read by someone outside your team.
Every status needs an owner
If a task in a given status has no obvious next actor, that status is a parking space. "On Hold" is usually this. Either name what's holding it — "Waiting on Client", "Waiting on Vendor" — or don't have it.
Frequently asked questions
How many statuses should a ClickUp workflow have?
Five to seven for most agency delivery. Fewer and you can't see where work is stuck; more and people stop using the middle ones. Add a status only when you can name a decision it would change.
Should client-facing and internal statuses be different?
They shouldn't need to be. If your statuses are named clearly enough that a client reading them draws the right conclusion, one set works for both — which also removes a translation step.
What's the most useful status for agencies?
A dedicated "Waiting on Client." It makes client-side delay measurable rather than absorbed, and it's what lets you answer why a deadline moved with evidence rather than recollection.
Can I change statuses without breaking existing tasks?
ClickUp will prompt you to map existing tasks to new statuses when you change a set. Do it on one Space first and check your saved views and automations afterward — those are what usually break.
The short version
Design statuses around who's holding the work. Six is enough. Add "Waiting on Client" today — it makes visible the delay you're currently eating without a record.
And if your clients can't see any of this, none of it changes how often they ask where things stand. See what it looks like from their side — 7 days of full access is $1.