---
title: "Managing assignments under open collaboration"
description: "Assign circles, roles, and members to projects and tasks, adjust or remove those assignments, and follow task assignment activity in the project activity feed."
category: collaboration
section: projects-and-tasks
type: Tutorial
lastUpdated: 2026-08-26
locale: en
canonical: https://support.talkspirit.com/en/collaboration/how-to-manage-assignations-within-open-collaboration
---

# Managing assignments under open collaboration


You assign circles, roles, and members to a project from its access settings, and to a task from the task's **Assignees** section. Under open collaboration any combination of circles, roles, and members can be assigned, with no fixed circle boundaries, and task assignment activity is recorded in the project activity feed. For the model itself, see [Open Collaboration on Projects](/collaboration/what-is-open-collaboration-on-projects).

Managing a project's access requires the **Admin** or **Owner** role on that project. Roles and circles come from the Structure module, so they are available to assign only where your organisation uses it.

## Assign a circle, role, or member to a project

Assignments to a project are managed from its access settings.

1. Open the project and select the actions menu (the **...** icon in the project header).
2. Select **Manage access**.
3. In the **Share project** panel, search for a member, role, or circle and select it. It is added with the **Contributor** role.
4. Open the assignee's menu to change the role to **Viewer**, **Contributor**, **Admin**, or **Owner**.

A circle or role assignment always reflects that circle's or role's current membership: when someone joins or leaves it in the Structure module, the project's access updates automatically. An assigned circle or role also lists the project on its **Projects** tab in the Structure module.

![Share project panel showing Aiko Tanaka as Owner, the Lead Engineer role and Product Development circle as Contributor, with the permission dropdown open on the Lead Engineer row](/images/collaboration/how-to-manage-assignations-within-open-collaboration/share-project-panel.png)

## Assign a circle, role, or member to a task

A task draws its assignees from the project it belongs to, so only circles, roles, and members already assigned to the project appear.

1. Open the task.
2. In the **Assignees** section, open the assignee picker.
3. Select members, roles, or circles from the grouped list.

By default a task accepts several assignees. A project can restrict this from its settings under **Task assignee limit**, where **One member per task** or **One assignee per task** replaces the default **Multiple assignees**.

![Assignees picker open on a task, showing the Members, Roles, and Circles groups](/images/collaboration/how-to-manage-assignations-within-open-collaboration/assignees-picker.png)

## Remove or change an assignment

Removals and role changes are handled from the same **Share project** panel.

- To remove an assignee, open **Manage access**, open the assignee's menu, and select **Remove**.
- To keep a role or circle assigned but exclude one of its members, open that assignee and clear the individual member. The role or circle stays assigned; only that person loses access.
- To change an assignee's role, open its menu and select a new role.

> **Note:** You cannot remove or demote yourself from a project you own. Ask another owner to make the change.

## Track assignment history

The project activity feed records task assignment changes alongside other project activity.

1. Open the project's actions menu.
2. Select **View activities**.
3. The **Activity** panel lists the project's activity, including each time a task is assigned to or unassigned from a member, role, or circle, alongside task and board changes.

![Activity panel open on the Mobile App v2 project, listing task assignment entries with author and time](/images/collaboration/how-to-manage-assignations-within-open-collaboration/activity-panel.png)

## What's next?

- [Open Collaboration on Projects](/collaboration/what-is-open-collaboration-on-projects)
- [Adding, editing, archiving, and deleting tasks](/collaboration/how-to-add-edit-archive-and-delete-tasks)
- [Making my tasks private](/collaboration/how-to-make-your-tasks-private)
- [Adding an extra project board](/collaboration/how-to-add-an-extra-project-board)