How to assign tasks in WhatsApp so they don’t get lost: 7 rules

In small companies, tasks have long lived in messaging apps. It’s convenient: you say it and move on. The trouble starts a day later, when you need to work out who was told, by when, and whether it got done. Here are seven rules that solve most of that problem.

1. A task has one assignee, called by name

“Guys, the storeroom needs sorting out” isn’t a task. Everyone heard it, which means no one did. The right way: “Daniyar, sort out the storeroom.” Even if it’s a job for three, name one person who answers for the result.

2. A deadline is a date and a time

“One of these days,” “when you can,” “by the end of the week” — everyone reads these their own way. For you the end of the week is Friday; for the assignee it’s Sunday night. Write: “by Friday, 15:00.”

3. One task, one message

A two-minute voice message often holds three tasks. People will remember the first. Split them up: one message, one task. That way each one can be answered separately, and none gets lost in the retelling.

4. A task is assigned once it’s accepted

Sending isn’t the same as assigning. Ask people to reply with a short “got it.” No reply within an hour or two — send a reminder or call. This removes the main argument: “I didn’t see it.”

A task without a “got it” is your wish, not someone’s commitment.

5. Tasks go in direct messages, discussion goes in the group

In a group chat, a task disappears under forty messages within an hour. If a task came up in the group, repeat it to the assignee directly, or at least @-mention them. The group is for discussing; direct messages are for owning the result.

6. Deadlines move only by agreement

The problem isn’t that deadlines move. The problem is when they move silently and you find out on the due date. Agree on this: if you’re not going to make it, write in advance, with the reason and a new date. And the answer “ok, Monday then” should be written down too, not said in the hallway.

7. Once a day, a review

In the evening, spend five minutes: what’s closed, what’s open, what’s past due. It helps to keep the list in a note or a pinned message. Without this review, the first six rules stop being followed within a month. We’ve described what such a summary should contain in our article on the evening report for managers.

Message template

It looks formal, but it takes twenty seconds to write and saves you the “I thought it was due Monday” conversation.

Where it breaks down

While the team is five to seven people, you can keep the rules in your head. Beyond that, things start to slip:

• you forget who you assigned what, because there are already forty tasks;
• you have to do the reminding yourself, and it takes an hour a day;
• nobody replays voice messages to find the deadline in them;
• the evening review turns into a job of its own.

At that point the rules stay the same, but it should no longer be a person keeping track of them. That’s exactly what we’re building Zere for: a task is assigned by voice or text and has an assignee and a deadline right away; Zere waits for the “got it” herself, sends reminders, and delivers the review in the evening. To see how it looks in a work chat, visit the Group chats page.

But you can start without her. Introduce the first four rules on Monday, and a week later see how many tasks have stopped getting lost.