ForumsQuestionsHow to do proper delegation


How to do proper delegation
Author Message
Peter Scott

Posted: Jan 14, 2009
Score: 5 Reference
I'm contemplating how to delegate tasks efficiently. I have a pro account and full sharing both ways with collaborators. But I'm missing something on delegation that I suspect isn't in Toodledo yet.

Ideal scene would be: Create task, assign it to collaborator, this makes a "linked" version of the task show up in my task list as "Delegated". When the collaborator marks it done my version goes to a status of "Ready for Review" or similar, at which point I can mark it completed or bounce it back.

When I assign a task I can't just forget about it. I need to know that I've delegated it. So I have to create another task for myself as a reminder, put it in my "Waiting For" folder, and find it when the assignee has completed the work. (An alternative would be to mark it using the Status field but it amounts to the same outcome.)

At the moment, my collaborator assigns a task back to me when they finish it so I get to see it. Unfortunately, assigning an existing task to a different collaborator makes it go into No Folder (with no way to reassign the folder), which is problematic.

Searching my collaborators' tasks for tasks assigned by me would be at best tedious. I hesitate to bring this up because this is a todo list not an enterprise workflow system, but still, collaboration is in Toodledo so I might as well see how far it goes.
Jake

Toodledo Founder
Posted: Jan 14, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Thanks for the suggestion.
Jay

Posted: Jan 15, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Great suggestion. I have same issue.
Canyon Russell

Posted: Jan 15, 2009
Score: 1 Reference
I would love to see a delegation feature that allows delegation to people not using Toodledo.

I would imagine that you could create a "delegation task" that would ask for an email address. It would then put a "follow up" or "waiting for" task in your list. It also emails a "this has been delegated to you" email to the address entered. This email could contain a "click when finished" link that when followed marks the waiting for task as done and creates a "review delegated task" in your normal list.

Just a suggestion.
Jake

Toodledo Founder
Posted: Jan 15, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Thanks for the suggestion.
Ryan

Posted: Mar 25, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
I know it's a little late to respond to this, however I wanted to give my support to Mr. Scott's suggestion. This would be a huge benefit since I coordinate and delegate a lot of tasks.
RJK

Posted: Jul 15, 2009
Score: 1 Reference
Peter,

I share your thoughts. Did you get any where with Toodledo about tweaking it differently?

The only thing I do different that what you described is...before I delegate to my EA I clone the task, than assign it and change my cloned version to state delegated. As I'm gathering my thoughts (pre-delegated) I put tasks for my EA in her folder (not assigned) and status is waiting.

That make sense?

Ryan

Posted by Peter Scott:
I'm contemplating how to delegate tasks efficiently. I have a pro account and full sharing both ways with collaborators. But I'm missing something on delegation that I suspect isn't in Toodledo yet.

Ideal scene would be: Create task, assign it to collaborator, this makes a "linked" version of the task show up in my task list as "Delegated". When the collaborator marks it done my version goes to a status of "Ready for Review" or similar, at which point I can mark it completed or bounce it back.

When I assign a task I can't just forget about it. I need to know that I've delegated it. So I have to create another task for myself as a reminder, put it in my "Waiting For" folder, and find it when the assignee has completed the work. (An alternative would be to mark it using the Status field but it amounts to the same outcome.)

At the moment, my collaborator assigns a task back to me when they finish it so I get to see it. Unfortunately, assigning an existing task to a different collaborator makes it go into No Folder (with no way to reassign the folder), which is problematic.

Searching my collaborators' tasks for tasks assigned by me would be at best tedious. I hesitate to bring this up because this is a todo list not an enterprise workflow system, but still, collaboration is in Toodledo so I might as well see how far it goes.
gerardb

Posted: Jul 22, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
This is indeed also what I'm looking for
Tyler

Posted: Jul 22, 2009
Score: 1 Reference
I had several important features I wanted before committing to learning and using a task management app.

ToodleDo didn't have all of these, but had more than most, and also I was drawn by the strong relationship between end-users and developers in these forums.

(That indicated to me that the app was in constant development and had committed users, so I figured that the features I wanted would eventually be implemented. And in the short time since I became a paid member, I have indeed seen many, many improvements to the app, so I feel I made the right choice!)

Anyway, just wanted to say that the ability to easily delegate tasks with both TD users and others was one of the important features I was looking for -- Peter's outline of how this could work, or a variation thereof, seems like it would serve this function well...

So +1 on delegation features.


This message was edited Jul 22, 2009.
David Perkins

Posted: Oct 28, 2009
Score: 1 Reference
This is exactly what I am looking for as well. I need to be able to follow up on delegated tasks. The reassign field should continue to show who the task has been assigned to, so that it can be reassigned if necessary! This is a critical piece for me!
Jake

Toodledo Founder
Posted: Oct 29, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
This isn't possible now, but we hope to improve the collaboration tools in a future update.
Graham

Posted: Nov 09, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Dear Administrator, many thanks your way when you do. Even if in interim steps. I have numerous staff and to be able to even email them a task would be a start. Bring it on yesterday is not soon enough. In saying that, in general great app.
Dallin

Posted: Dec 01, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Do you have any estimate to when a feature like this might be available? I for one would find it immensely useful.

I agree with whoever it was that said tasks should be delegable to non-toodledo users via email. Perhaps when you choose "delegated" from the status dropdown, another field could appear that would say "To whom?" where you could enter an email address of someone to delegate to. Then once you save a task, an email could go off to them indicating that they've been assigned a task (along with the details). It would also be nice if there was a link right in their email that would say "Click here when you've completed this task" which if clicked would tick it off on the delegator's list.

I also second the feature of a "tickle", meaning that I could go to the same screen on the task where I first delegated it and click "send a reminder" which would kick off an email to the same person reminding them about the task. In this area, it would help to be reminded of WHEN the last reminder was sent (for example "Josh was last reminded of this task on 11/15 at 2:00PM. Remind again?)
Jake

Toodledo Founder
Posted: Dec 02, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
Thanks for the suggestions. These are on our to-do list, but we don't have a timeline that we can comment on.
Erik Huddleston

Posted: Dec 12, 2009
Score: 0 Reference
I am just starting to consider Toodledo seriously (use Things today). Tracking commitments that I have delegated to others is critical to GTD. It looks like this is a known limitation of Toodledo, but I am concerned that it has been hanging out there for over a year with no meaningful comments. Is there a posted statement of direction on the forums somewhere that I have missed?
Jake

Toodledo Founder
Posted: Dec 13, 2009
Score: 1 Reference
This has been on the to-do list for a long time, and it is a big project, but we are getting closer to having this completed. I don't have a timeframe, but it is near the top of the list.
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