@bea
In a task tracker, Assignee is usually the person currently responsible for doing the work, while Owner is the person ultimately accountable for the task or outcome.
For example:
Role | Meaning | Typical question |
|---|---|---|
Owner | Accountable for the task/result | “Who makes sure this gets done?” |
Assignee | Expected to perform the current work | “Who needs to act on this now?” |
A task might be:
Implement sharing permissions
Owner: Eric
Assignee: Alex
Eric owns the outcome, coordinates decisions, and follows it through to completion. Alex is currently implementing it.
The distinction becomes especially useful when work moves between people. For example:
Design → Engineering → Review
The Owner can remain Bea throughout, while the Assignee changes from Bea → Eric → Gabo depending on whose turn it is.
If your tracker is simple and tasks normally have one person responsible from beginning to end, I would only use “Assignee.” Adding Owner creates unnecessary ambiguity.
For Seed's Boards/task model, I'd probably define:
Owner: the person accountable for the task reaching its intended outcome.
Assignee: the person currently expected to take the next action.
That also fits nicely with a workflow-oriented Board because assignee is dynamic; ownership is persistent.
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