New Feature: Assign Tasks to Multiple People

John Reeve | October 14th, 2008 | ,

We’ve recently launched a new feature in Intervals — the ability to assign tasks to multiple people. This multi project management tool is useful for a few reasons. First, the project manager can easily manage multiple tasks that require a team effort.
Second, other people can be kept in the loop throughout the life of a task, receiving email notifications as the task is updated (similar to a watch list in traditional issue tracking systems). Multiple assignees has been one of the top features requested by our customers, so we’ve made it available as a core feature of the Intervals team task management tools. And don’t worry if you are a one-assignee kind of task manager, the feature stays out of the way until you need it.

Task management: Assigning tasks to multiple people
Screenshot of a task being assigned to multiple people

8 Responses to “New Feature: Assign Tasks to Multiple People”

  1. Torin says:

    How are we able to manage parallel task status changes?
    If I have an “Orientation”: task assigned to Rick and Greg, how can Greg set his status to V&C, and how does Rick let us know when he has completed his “Orientation” task.

    Do I need to make duplicate tasks?!

    It seems that multiple assignees doesn’t really account for the complexity of multiple workers completing their tasks asynchronously.

    Suggestions?

  2. John Reeve says:

    If a task is assigned to two people then they would both be modifying the status on the same task. If you want them to update seperate tasks, than yes, the task would need to be duplicated. We added this feature to Intervals mainly so that multiple assignees could be “kept in the loop” on certain tasks.

  3. laura says:

    why are only certain team members viewable in the “Assigned to” drop down? I’m trying to assign a project task and don’t see the name of the person I need.

  4. John Reeve says:

    Laura,

    That is a good question. Before a person can be assigned to tasks, they must be assigned to that project. To do this, click on their profile and edit their project permissions. Or edit the project team section in the project profile. Once the person has been granted access to the project they will be able to own tasks, be assigned tasks, and follow tasks. If you have any questions, please contact our support team.

  5. bdot says:

    wow. another project tool that gave into the multiple assignee request. such poor project management practice.

  6. John Reeve says:

    Thank you for sharing your opinion. Whether or not it’s a poor project management practice is a matter of perspective. Intervals is just one of many online project management tools available. If this feature is not desirable, our users are free to move on to another app that is a better fit for their needs. Most of our customers agree, however, that multiple assignees per task is an essential feature and is a good project management practice.

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John Reeve
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John Reeve

John is a co-founder, web designer and developer at Pelago. His blog posts are inspired by everyday encounters with designers, developers, creatives and small businesses in general. John is an avid reader and road cyclist.
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Jennifer Payne
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Jennifer Payne

Jennifer is the Director of Quality and Efficiency at Pelago. Her blog posts are based largely on her experience working with teams to improve harmony and productivity. Jennifer is a cat person.
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Michael Payne
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Michael Payne

Michael is a co-founder and product architect at Pelago. His contributions stem from experiences managing the development process behind web sites and web-based applications such as Intervals. Michael drives a 1990 Volkswagen Carat with a rebuilt 2.4 liter engine from GoWesty.
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