User task dependencies (watching or following certain tasks)

[jonathan-v]

Hello,

 

We are getting a lot of feedback from users regarding notifications that don't directly relate to their tasks.

I was wondering if there was a way where the user could "watch or follow" just certain assets that pertain to their needs.  Or is there a way to setup task dependencies similar to asset dependencies?

 

For example an fx artist is working on some type of character fx.  Their feed should really only update them on latest anim cache, camera, and layout geo.  Whereas now, they receive information on anything pertaining to the shot, which can be a ton of asset versions.  Ideally their would be a smart dependency that is aware of their task and notify the user of only things that they have selected or part of a task dependency package.

 

Not sure if this makes sense, but would love your thoughts on it.

 

Thanks,

JV

[Carl Claesson]

Hi Jonathan,

 

The flooding of published asset versions is something that is possible to limit today.

 

When a new version is published there are three different cases:

 

1. Version is published without reference to a task.

2. Version is published with reference to a task without dependencies to other tasks.

3. Version is published with reference to a task with dependencies.

 

In case 1-2, all assigned users on the parent shot will be notified.

In case 3, all users on the dependent tasks will be notified.

 

 

Follow/unfollow things is a feature that we have on the roadmap. But we're still in the phase if investigating exactly how it should work.

So feel free to send any requests on this our way and we'll take it into consideration.

 

Cheers,

Carl

 

[jonathan-v]

Thanks!  We are currently implementing method number 2, and are skeptical of giving the user the option to select dependencies upon asset publish.

 

I think exploring the following feature is definitely the best solution for this scenario.  Notifications are often a tough thing to manage and tend to just become overwhelming. 

Users are mainly only concerned with things that directly affect what they are working on.  So giving them the option to follow certain assets is a great idea.

That is probably the most important thing that we see is being able to follow an asset vs a task.  The task could consist of multiple assets that are of no use to other disciplines. 

So users could follow assets as they version up, and maybe these even appear in their notifications with a different color coated background.  Just something to visually help differentiate from everything else.

 

Thanks again for your help

[Carl Claesson]

I see, so setting up dependencies between tasks would not really work in this case, since you want to be able to get notified about a specific asset. Rather than all assets on a task.

 

I'll add this to the feature request as well and we'll see when we can get this into development.