Choose task editing and assignment rules
Match project policy to how your team allocates and updates work.
A project’s task assignment policy controls edits and reassignment for people who already have the required write access. It does not grant access to a project or override a read-only organization role.
Compare the policies
| Policy | What an ordinary project writer can do |
|---|---|
| Open | Edit task attributes and assign work, subject to the remaining permissions. |
| Self or manager | Assign or unassign themselves; edit task attributes when assigned; cannot assign other people. |
| Manager only | Cannot edit task attributes or assignments unless they qualify as a manager. |
Project managers bypass these assignment-policy restrictions, but still need the applicable underlying access. Progress notes are treated separately from task-attribute edits, so a writer may be able to add a progress note even when an attribute is locked.
Choose a policy for the workflow
Use Open when contributors coordinate assignments together. Use Self or manager when people should claim work themselves while managers allocate work to others. Use Manager only when a designated manager controls attributes and assignments.
For example, a small internal-service team may let staff claim requests themselves. A tightly coordinated customer launch may leave reassignment to the project manager. Choose based on how the team actually works, not on the department name.
Configure and test
- Open the project’s Share & permissions controls using an account allowed to manage it.
- Review or change the task assignment policy.
- Tell the team which changes they should make themselves and which need a manager.
- Test with an ordinary project writer: try self-assignment, assigning another person, editing an assigned task, and editing an unassigned task.
- Check that a permitted progress note can still be added where expected.
Diagnose a disabled control
First check whether the person can edit the project at all. Then check the policy, their relationship to the task, and whether they qualify as a project manager. A task assignment alone is not permission to access otherwise unavailable work.
If a control appears available but saving is rejected, use the error and the server-enforced rules as the basis for investigation. Refresh and ask an administrator to review the specific task and project; do not solve every rejected edit by broadening the person’s organization role.