Practical guide

Queued is not started: explain agency work states clearly

Last materially reviewed 2026-09-19

Quick answerA queue records what comes next; active work records what the team is currently doing.
What to know

Give each state a useful meaning

ManyRequests distinguishes queued and active requests when its queue is enabled and the service has a concurrent-work limit. Our operating recommendation is to explain these states in the service welcome note. A submitted item can be safely recorded without having a producer assigned or a delivery commitment. If customers interpret every submission as work already underway, the interface can create expectations that your actual capacity cannot meet.

What to know

Use one visible example

For a fictional design subscription with one active request, a landing-page graphic may be in production while a slide redesign waits. The second request is not lost, but it has not consumed a second production slot. Explain what moves it forward: completion, an agreed reprioritization or a revised service arrangement. Avoid promising a start date automatically from its queue position when brief quality and review delays can change the sequence.

What to know

Separate waiting from blocked

An item waiting its turn differs from an active item blocked by missing client material. Record the blocker and who can resolve it. Otherwise a team can keep a blocked request active indefinitely while new work piles up behind it. Decide explicitly whether your service allows another request to advance during that pause. That is an agency policy to communicate, not a universal behavior we claim the platform enforces.

What to know

Review the transition, not just the count

At the daily handoff, check which request left the active state and why the next one was selected. Keep the original brief and request identity rather than duplicating it to make the board look fresh. A useful status note says what is happening and what the client needs to do. “Received; queued behind the approved homepage revision” is more informative than a generic promise that everything is in progress.

Continue when useful

Next: Concurrent requests and monthly limits solve different problems

Concurrent limits control work in progress; monthly limits control the volume allowed within a period.

Open Concurrent requests and monthly limits solve different problems →

Sources used for this page

These records support the facts and comparisons above. Merchant-controlled records are labelled so you can separate product claims from independent evidence.

  1. ManyRequests request queue — Merchant documentation · help.manyrequests.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-19
  2. ManyRequests active and monthly request limits — Merchant documentation · help.manyrequests.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-19