User Manual - Working with Other Users

Full Table of Contents Working with Other Users Creating and Managing Contacts Roles Owner role Worker role Observer role Sharing Relationships Peer-to-peer sharing Manager-subordinate sharing Sharing work Observing a task Adding an observer to a task Delegating a task Reassigning a task

Working with Other Users

Creating and Managing Contacts

Before you can begin sharing tasks you must setup all of the users with which you will share tasks. They are referred to as Contacts. When you create a contact, you also define the rules that control which of your groups of tasks can be viewed by that Contact. The Contacts pane on the left side contains a list of most frequently used Contacts that have allowed you to view their tasks. Click the "Manage Contacts" link:



When the Contacts page appears click "Create Contact":



The Create Contact page is displayed:



Enter the email address of a user you would like to add to your Contact List. The user does not have to be a current user of Task101.

For demonstration purposes we will be creating two contacts; Diane Doe as a spouse and Mary Wilson as a coworker. Let's begin by entering Diane's email address and then clicking the  "Create Contact" button:



Diane has been added to the contact list:



Diane is now a contact but she still cannot view any of John's tasks. In this example Diane is John's wife and we will assume that John wants Diane to be able to see all of his "Personal" tasks. This is where the Contexts come into play:



Diane does not have permission to see any of John's tasks. To allow Diane to be able to view all of John's tasks where the tasks' Contexts are "Personal", the Context needs to be checked:



Now let's summarize which of John's tasks Diane can see:

1. Diane can view all of John's shared "Personal" tasks. That is to say any of John's tasks where the context has been set to "Personal".
2. Diane cannot view any of John's "Personal" tasks that have been marked "Private".
3. Diane cannot view any of John's "Work" or "School" tasks.

These are General rules which govern all tasks.

Even though we have set down general rules for what Diane can see, Diane can see a task:

1. If John Delegates a task to Diane she may see the task.
2. If John Reassigns a task to Diane she may see that task.
3. If John adds Diane as an Observer to a task she may see that task.

These exceptions are specifically allowed by John.

If you don't allow a user to see any of your Contexts and you don't specifically add them to any tasks, then they can't see any of your tasks.

Consider these scenarios:

1. You wish to create a Contact that can only see a single task or specific tasks. You can do this by adding them as a Contact. Do not allow any Contexts. Then, add them to the specific tasks you wish them see by using the Delegate, Reassign, or Add observer Actions.
2. You wish to share all of your "Personal" tasks with your spouse or significant other. But there are one or two "Personal" tasks you don't want them to see. You can do this by adding him/her as a Contact and giving them access to your "Personal" Contexts. To keep certain tasks Private simply mark them Private on the task.

Now let's create a Contact for Mary Wilson as a coworker:



Since she is a coworker we will give her permission to see all of our "Work" tasks:



Now we have our contacts setup let's create a few tasks and share them.

Roles

Anyone who is participant in a task is assigned a role. If a user has a role in a task then that task is also on their task list. If a user does not have a role in a task they may still view the task, but it will not be on any of their Task Lists. Their are three Roles; Owner, Worker, and Observer.

Owner role

An owner is a participant who is responsible for the task. Their may be more than one owner. If you create a task you are the owner. If you Delegate the task to another user you are still an Owner, you have simply Delegated Work, you have not relinquished responsibility for the task. A tak can have more that one Owner.

Worker role

A Worker is a participant who will perform work on the task. A task can have more that one Worker. Workers have the ability to change and update the task. This is necessary to update the status of the task, make notes, enter information in the Diary, and even Delegate or Reassign the task. If the Worker Reassigns a task, that user is no longer a Worker on the task, the user the task was transferred to becomes a Worker. Ownership does not change. If a Worker Delegates the task to another User, the Worker becomes an Owner and the user that the task was Delegated to becomes a Worker.

Observer role

An Observer is a participant that is Watching a task. An Observer cannot change a task. An Observer is generally a user who just needs to be aware of the status of a task.

Sharing Relationships

There are two primary sharing relationships which are important to understand; peer-to-peer and manger-subordinate.

Peer-to-peer sharing

A peer-to-peer relationship is bi-directional. Example: Peer A shares tasks with another Contact, Peer B. Peer B shares his tasks with Peer A. A peer-to-peer relationship is typical in business where coworkers share work with each other and work as a team. In this type of relationship it is recommended that each peer add each of his other peers as a Contact and give each of them access to his/her "Work" tasks. This will permit fellow workers to keep track of tasks that they are working on as a team. A user in this type of relationship may wish to maintain certain "Work" tasks as Private while still sharing most other tasks. Another application of the peer-to-peer relationship could be spouses. Each giving access to "Personal" tasks to the other. In this scenario it may be desirable to mark certain "Personal" tasks Private. An example of a task to mark Private would be "Buy Anniversary Gift".

Manager-subordinate sharing

In a manager-subordinate relationship sharing is is uni-directional. The subordinate shares his/her tasks with the manager but the manager does not share his/her tasks with his subordinates. However the manager may require subordinates to provide him/her with access to the subordinates "Work" tasks. Again let us point out that the manager can only see Shared tasks. Task marked Private are not visible to everyone unless they are a Participant in the task.

Sharing work

Let's see John's Task settings:



Note the task is shared and the Context is "Work". Looking at the Contact list above we can see that Diane should not be able to see this task. Let's login as Diane and confirm this:



Please note that John's contact name in the example above is in black. When a contact's name is in black this indicates that the contact has not confirmed their email address. Contacts with unconfirmed email addresses are not able to share tasks! In the image below John's name and email address are in blue indicating that he has confirmed his email address. Please note that the blue contact name and email address are also a links to his Task List. To learn more about confirming your email address click here. You will also see that Diane has given John permission to see all of her "Personal" tasks. Note that a link to John's task list is now under Contacts on the left:



You can click there to access his tasks as well. The users listed on the left under Contacts are arranged in sequence based on how often you click on them. The more often you use a contact the closer to the top of the list that user Contact will be. The maximum number of Contacts listed in the Contacts pane is five. If a contact is not listed, you can always access their Task List by clicking on "Manage Contacts" and then clicking on them in the full list of Contacts. Now let's click on Johns Contact and view his Task List:



You will note that when Diane looks at John's Task List there are no tasks to see "John Doe's Tasks (0 tasks)". This is because John has limited Diane to only see his "Personal" tasks and John has no tasks with "Personal" as their Context.

Now let's login and see if Mary can see the task:



Note that Mary has given John permission to see her shared "Work" tasks. Now we click one of the links to John and view hist tasks:



We can see John's task since he gave Mary permission to see his shared "Work" tasks and this one is shared. Any tasks that John has marked as Private would not be visible to Mary (or anyone except John). Now let's examine the task in more detail from Mary's view by expanding the task:



Mary can view the notes, but she cannot change them.

Observing a task

The Actions available to her are "Observe". Now let's view the"More" tab for this task:



You can see that Mary is not an Owner or Worker. This limits her viewing the task. She cannot change the task in any way. Mary can "Observe" the task. Clicking the "Observe" Action will add this task to Mary's Hot List. This will allow Mary to Observe the task from her Hot List and she will not need to view John's Task List in order to see this task. It will add Mary as an Observer in the Participants pane:



Mary is now an Observer which means she is Observing this task. Clicking "Stop Observing" in the Actions pane will remove Mary from the list of Observers and remove this task from her Hot List. Now let's look at Mary's Hot List:



First you will notice that the task is now in Mary's Hot List. The icons indicate that she is not the owner of the task, she is only an Observer (to learn more about task icons click here). The icons also indicate the task has notes. To the left you will note that the Hot List now has one task in it and that the Recently Update List has one task. The Recently Updated list contains this task because Mary added herself as an Observer by clicking "Observe".

Adding an observer to a task

You would add an Observer to a task if you wish to put the task on another user's Task List so they may Observe the task. They will not be able to change the task an will only have permission to view the task. If the new Contact is not a Task101 user, an email invitation will be sent to them requesting that they join you in using Task101.

Note: Adding an Observer to a task is similar to Observing a task. The only difference is who initiates the Action. Observing is when you want to watch someone else's task. Add Observer is when you want someone else to Observe one of your tasks.

Delegating a task

You would Delegate a task if you wish to give one of your tasks to another user to perform the work but are still responsible for the task. Delegating transfers the "Worker" role, but not the responsibility for the task. When you click "Delegate" in the Action pane of a task, several things occur;

1. The task is copied to your "Outbox". It will remain in your "Outbox" until you open the task and click "Cancel" in the Action pane which cancels the "Delegate", or the user to whom you have delegated the task clicks "Accept" in the Action pane to accept the task or clicks "Accept this task" in the email notification they receive.
2. The task is placed in the "Inbox" of the user to whom the task has been "Delegated".
3. If the new Contact is not a Task101 user, an email invitation will be sent to them requesting that they join you in using Task101. The email also notifies them that they have a new task from you. From this email they can register as a new Task101 user and Accept the new task in one seamless process.
4. If the recipient's profile is set to permit email notification when a task has been Delegated an email will be sent to them notifying them that they have received a new task. They may click "Accept this task" on the email which will then place the task in their Hot List.
5. The Task is added to your "Recently Updated" view.

Delegating a task gives another user the task while leaving the task on your task list. This allows you to monitor the status of the task. You remain the Owner of the task. The user that Accepts the task becomes a Worker on that task. Both have the ability to modify the task; Update notes, change Priority, etc. In addition, both may Delegate, Reassign or perform other Actions. An example of using this ability; The Manager Delegates a task to a subordinate. The subordinate is a member of a team and he Reassigns the task to another team member or perhaps to one of his/her subordinates.

Reassigning a task

You would Reassign a task if you wish to transfer Ownership and responsibility of a task to another user. Delegating transfers the "Owner" role from you to another user. When you click "Reassign" in the Action pane of a task, several things occur;

1. The task is copied to your "Outbox". It will remain in your "Outbox" until you open the task and click "Cancel" in the Action pane which cancels the "Delegate", or the user to whom you have delegated the task clicks "Accept" in the Action pane to accept the task or clicks "Accept this task" in the email notification they receive.
2. The task is placed in the "Inbox" of the user to whom the task has been "Delegated".
3. If the new Contact is not a Task101 user, an email invitation will be sent to them requesting that they join you in using Task101. The email also notifies them that they have a new task from you. From this email they can register as a new Task101 user and Accept the new task in one seamless process.
4. If the recipient's profile is set to permit email notification when a task has been Delegated an email will be sent to them notifying them that they have received a new task. They may click "Accept this task" on the email which will then place the task in their Hot List.
5. The Task is added to your "Recently Updated" view.

Delegating a task gives another user the task while leaving the task on your task list. This allows you to monitor the status of the task. You remain the Owner of the task. The user that Accepts the task becomes a Worker on that task. Both have the ability to modify the task; Update notes, change Priority, etc. In addition, both may Delegate, Reassign or perform other Actions. An example of using this ability; The Manager Delegates a task to a subordinate. The subordinate is a member of a team and he Reassigns the task to another team member or perhaps to one of his/her subordinates.