Assign a task to a teammate
Anyone can assign to anyone — unlike conversations. The difference is deliberate and worth understanding.
Conversations can only be reassigned by managers and admins. Tasks can be assigned by anybody, to anybody. That inconsistency is deliberate and rests on one distinction: workload versus records.
A conversation is work somebody has to do now, and pushing it onto a colleague changes their day without their agreement. A task is a note about work — it has a due time, it can be declined, renegotiated or moved. Restricting it would be noise rather than protection.
Steps
Open the task and change the assignee
Anyone can assign a task to anyone — no manager required, unlike a conversation.
If that surprises you, the line is workload versus records. A conversation is work somebody must do now; a task is a note about work that can be renegotiated, moved or declined.
Understand why this differs from conversations
Workload versus records. If it seems inconsistent, that is the line — and knowing it explains several other permissions in the product.
Brief them in the task text
The task text is the handover. "Priya asked for the contract by Friday — the template is in the shared drive" is a briefing. "See chat" is not, particularly for an agent who cannot see the chat because it is not assigned to them.
Do not use tasks to route conversations
If a colleague should answer the customer, a manager should assign the conversation. A task about a conversation the assignee cannot open is a dead end.
Attach the contact
It gives the assignee everything: the history, the notes, the previous calls. Far more useful than anything you could write in the task itself.
Reassign before people leave
Tasks assigned to a deactivated user go quiet. Put this on your offboarding checklist alongside conversations and workflow ownership.
Check it worked
Ask the person you assigned it to whether they can see everything they need from the task alone. If they had to come and ask you, the briefing was too thin.
The parts people get wrong
- Agents can assign tasks freely but still cannot assign conversations. That is the record-versus-workload line, not an oversight.
- The task list can be filtered by assignee, so a manager can see the whole team's outstanding commitments.