work flow, criteria pattern???

work flow, criteria pattern???

Please help i want to create a work flow using tasks and mail.

Example: i want to create a task for a date in seven days from when a date is completed in a custom date field.

There are other tasks i would like to complete also that will be from tick boxes, date fields and when leads are converted etc.

Is there somewhere i can read up on this, here or else where, do i need to learn some basic and i mean very basic programing skills???

thank you in advance.

matt