Assign

This entry has no runnable specimen; the names and tasks in the illustration are fictional. Before shipping, confirm that assignees really are notified and check that long-unclaimed records get reviewed regularly.

{
  "states": [
    "unassigned",
    "assigned",
    "reassigned"
  ],
  "a11y": [
    "The assignee is not shown by avatar alone but also as readable name text",
    "The assign control is keyboard-operable and the change is announced through a status message"
  ],
  "motion": "The change takes effect immediately, with no animation needed"
}

{
  "id": "assignment",
  "type": "interaction",
  "name": {
    "zh": "指派",
    "en": "Assign"
  },
  "aliases": [
    "Assignment",
    "Assignee",
    "分配负责人",
    "认领"
  ],
  "granularity": "flow",
  "intents": [
    "require-approval",
    "organize-content"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "assignee",
    "collaboration",
    "task",
    "accountability",
    "ticket"
  ],
  "definition": "Handing one item of work to one person so that the record carries an explicit owner from then on: the assignee is visible in lists and filters, is notified when they receive it, and can be replaced when the work changes hands.",
  "boundary": "This entry covers the interface act of handing one item to one person; it does not cover how an organisation divides work, and it is not the same as granting permission — being assigned does not by itself confer the right to act. The test is that the record has one explicit owner at any moment: assigning the same item to several people makes responsibility vague again, and those people are collaborators or watchers rather than assignees. It is also not ordering a to-do list: assignment answers who does it, not when.",
  "signature": [
    "Each record carries exactly one assignee field at any moment",
    "The assignee is notified and can filter these records into a view of their own",
    "The assignee can be changed and the handover leaves a traceable record"
  ],
  "when": [
    "Several people share one list and duplicated work or unclaimed items must be avoided",
    "Work changes hands and it has to be clear whose it is now",
    "Workload or backlog has to be viewed per person"
  ],
  "when_not": [
    "One record is assigned to several people at once and responsibility blurs again",
    "Assignment substitutes for conversation and the assignee knows nothing beforehand",
    "The team is small and work is divided face to face, where the field is only upkeep"
  ],
  "tradeoff": "An explicit owner removes the gap where everyone assumes someone else is on it, at the cost of pinning responsibility to one person: when that person is away, leaves, or misjudges, work stalls quietly unless someone regularly reviews unclaimed and long-stuck records.",
  "comparison": {
    "focus": "Giving every item one explicit owner at any moment",
    "mechanism": "A single assignee field with notification and per-person filtering",
    "cost": "Responsibility pins to one person and stalls need active review"
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "assign-support-ticket",
      "title": "Wikipedia · Support ticket",
      "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Support_ticket",
      "claim": "The article explains that a ticket is a running report on a particular problem and its status, generally used in collaborative settings, and states that beyond the screening stage there is precisely one person assigned formal responsibility to move the issue forward, a baton that often bounces around many times as the issue evolves. This entry takes the single-owner and handover points from it.",
      "checkedAt": "2026-09-16",
      "archive": {
        "lookupUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260916*/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Support_ticket",
        "status": "unconfirmed",
        "checkedAt": "2026-09-22T12:00:10.112Z",
        "error": "save-request-failed"
      }
    },
    {
      "id": "assign-raci",
      "title": "Wikipedia · Responsibility assignment matrix",
      "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_assignment_matrix",
      "claim": "The article describes how a responsibility assignment matrix separates roles such as responsible and accountable to say who does a piece of work and who answers for it. This entry uses it to draw a boundary: the assignee field in an interface records one of those roles and cannot stand for an organisation’s full division of responsibility.",
      "checkedAt": "2026-09-16",
      "archive": {
        "lookupUrl": "https://web.archive.org/web/20260916*/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_assignment_matrix",
        "status": "unconfirmed",
        "checkedAt": "2026-09-22T12:00:25.516Z",
        "error": "save-request-failed"
      }
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "target": "human-approval",
      "kind": "related",
      "condition": "An action needs a named person to agree before it runs",
      "reason": "Assignment settles who does the work and human approval settles who releases it; both pin responsibility to a person but at different points in the flow.",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "target": "search-and-filter",
      "kind": "composes_with",
      "condition": "Users need to see only the records that belong to them",
      "reason": "The assignee field earns its keep through filtering; without it, assignment is metadata nobody uses.",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "target": "batch-actions",
      "kind": "composes_with",
      "condition": "Several records need handing to one person at once",
      "reason": "Bulk assignment cuts the cost of dividing work sharply but can also swamp one person in a single step, so the scope has to be shown before it runs.",
      "basis": "editorial"
    }
  ],
  "rules": [
    {
      "when": "A record is assigned to someone",
      "instruction": "Notify the assignee and say what the record asks of them and by when; do not merely update the field.",
      "strength": "must",
      "basis": "editorial"
    },
    {
      "when": "The assignee is changed",
      "instruction": "Keep a record of the change and the previous owner so the handover is traceable, and notify both people.",
      "strength": "recommend",
      "basis": "editorial"
    }
  ],
  "behavior": {
    "states": [
      "unassigned",
      "assigned",
      "reassigned"
    ],
    "a11y": [
      "The assignee is not shown by avatar alone but also as readable name text",
      "The assign control is keyboard-operable and the change is announced through a status message"
    ],
    "motion": "The change takes effect immediately, with no animation needed"
  },
  "demo": null,
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "editorialStatus": "drafted",
  "requirements": [],
  "demoCapabilities": [],
  "implementationNote": "This entry has no runnable specimen; the names and tasks in the illustration are fictional. Before shipping, confirm that assignees really are notified and check that long-unclaimed records get reviewed regularly.",
  "image": {
    "src": "/images/assignment.webp",
    "alt": "A fictional FIELDNOTES task list sketch: each row has a grey placeholder title bar on the left and an assignee avatar on the right, with one row’s avatar opened into a searchable person picker."
  },
  "searchTerms": [
    "负责人",
    "协作",
    "任务",
    "责任",
    "工单"
  ]
}