Task Responsibility
Summary: Responsibility is layered: assignee (plan), scheduled/forecast (time set aside), committed (confirmed), workflow members (who can change state), and owners / managers who close and stand behind the work.
What it is
Runcible separates who is supposed to do the work from who has time on the calendar, who confirmed they will do it, and who can change the task's state. That layering is intentional — it lets you plan before you know the person, and hold people accountable without pretending a due date is a commitment.
The layers
- Assignee — the people you plan to have do the work.
- Assigned to a Role — assign (and even schedule) a role first; name a person later. Useful for estimates, future capacity, departmental queues, and “up for auction” work.
- Assigned to a Person, Team, or multiple people — named ownership. Your org can require an individual, or allow teams/multiples.
- Scheduled (Forecast) — people who have time allocated on a calendar.
- Committed — people who confirmed they will perform the work in that time frame.
- Workflow Member — people who can change the state of the object. Unlike assignees, workflow members are not limited to project membership — work can leave the project and move through the broader organization.
- Owner (Creator) — by default, closing a task requires the owner's approval unless the workflow is changed.
- Project Manager (the “Agent”) — responsible for quality, budget, and time for the project's customer (internal or external).
- Account Manager — owns the customer relationship; can see everything on the work.
- Executive Sponsor — last-resort decision maker; repairs damaged relationships when they fail (they often do).
Tip: Runcible estimates costs by the role a task is assigned to — even when the named person is still unknown.
Assignee scenarios
- Pick List — people take work from a list and assign it to themselves. Dragging a task onto your schedule/agenda/timecard assigns it, places it on your schedule, and confirms the appointment.
- Self Manage — assign work so the person chooses when to pull it from their list.
- Auction (Using Awards) — put work up for people with the right skills to claim. (Details forthcoming.)
Tip: When a workflow sends a task back into a project, route it to a group who can redistribute it — not to a single bottleneck.
Assigned vs scheduled
Assigned means the task is your responsibility versus someone else's. Due date and priority advise when it must be done. Until the work is on someone's calendar, nobody has set aside the time — it is still waiting in a list or the Activity Stream.
Until the person confirms the appointment, they have not committed.
Responsibility for doing a task can be in these states:
- Unassigned
- Assigned
- Forecast
- Confirmed (Scheduled)
- Done
Common operating styles:
- Don't assign or schedule — people choose work and complete it.
- Assign but don't schedule — people choose when among their assigned work.
- Assign and schedule loosely — people organize their week.
- Assign and schedule precisely — they know when to work on it.
- Assign precisely and auto-commit — they are obliged to a specific time.