Assigning Tasks to Others

by David Alison

All too often a project fails or a problem happens in a business because something doesn’t get done correctly, on time or in some cases at all. In order for a group of people to function properly together each team member needs to know their role and just as importantly how to properly task others on their team when they need to delegate something. This is just as true of peers working together as it is in a classic manager / subordinate relationship.

Here is a list of do’s and don’t’s for sharing tasks with other people

Do: Keep the task assignment simple
When you assign a task to someone think it through and make it as clear as possible without being too wordy. This is of course easy for small, simple tasks (Example: Replace the toner in the printer) but not so on larger tasks. If the task requires more than a short paragraph to describe then chances are you should break it up into multiple tasks.

Don’t: Keep people working on something you no longer need
The one thing that’s worse than telling someone that you no longer need something they are in the middle of working on is to just let that person keep working on it when you know it’s no longer needed. Business needs, competitive threats and reactions to industry news can all quickly change priorities. Letting someone continue to spend time on a task that will only result in it being filed in the trash can is incredibly demoralizing.

Do: Make the task clearly achievable
The best tasks to assign to others (and even yourself) are tasks that have a very clear completion status. There is a reason many contractors ask their clients to sign off on work being complete; it signifies to both parties that the project is done. If you have a task that has a subjective completion make sure you add something measurable so that both you and the assignee understand what needs to be done. Example: “Improve system performance for Widget creation” becomes “Reduce Widget creation time to under 0.5 seconds”.

Don’t: Call someone to ensure they “Got the email”
You create a task for someone, define it well and then send off an email assigning it to someone. Then you immediately grab the phone (or hit them up in IM, or walk by their desk) and ask if they got the email. While that may be fine for something really critical it often breaks down the productivity of the person performing the task for you. SharedStatus can help here because if you assign a task to someone else and they accept it, you can receive a notification.

Do: Set a due date
Having a task without a due date means that it will likely never get done. How so? Tasks without due dates are often to be completed “as time permits” or “when you are free”. If the task isn’t needed right away, set a due date a few weeks out. At a minimum it allows the person actually performing the task to clearly slot it into their existing schedule.

Don’t: Task someone while in the middle of a conversation
The scenario: two people are discussing a particularly vexing problem and realize that something needs to be done. One says to the other “If you work up the data on that problem and send it to me, I can get it fixed”. Since it’s said during the course of a conversation it often gets overlooked because the conversation continues on and may cover other topics. Take a moment right then to record the task or assign it to the person as soon as you return to your desk.

Do: Set expectations for communication
As tasks progress, it’s important that each person (assigner and assignee) are able to communicate on how the task is progressing, especially if this is a complex task with external dependencies that may delay it being achieved. Keeping a running status of the progress of assigned tasks can go a long way towards helping the assigner know what’s going on and not having to constantly ask for updates.

Following these basic guidelines will help you minimize meetings to check on the status of tasks you’ve assigned (or been assigned) and keep each of your respective team members focused on what they need to get done.