Recipe: Team Workload
Deep audit of how work is distributed across a team. Surfaces per-member assignment loads, items you've delegated, unassigned work, and imbalances.
Prerequisite: Read the
base skill for command reference and filter syntax.
Access level required: read-only.
Steps
Step 1: Get the team overview
Note the member list, shared inboxes, and the assignment summary. This gives you the high-level distribution.
Step 2: Review per-member assignments
For each team member, pull their current assignments:
bash
spark emails --filter "assigned_to:alice@co.com"
spark emails --filter "assigned_to:bob@co.com"
spark emails --filter "assigned_to:carol@co.com"
Note the count and scan subjects/dates to spot stale items (old assignments that may be stuck).
Step 3: Check what you've delegated
bash
spark emails --filter "assigned_by:me"
These are items you assigned to others. Cross-reference with per-member lists to see which are still open.
Step 4: Find unassigned work
bash
spark emails --filter "assigned_to:unassigned"
If the team uses shared inboxes, also check each one:
bash
spark emails shared@co.com:Inbox --filter "assigned_to:unassigned"
Step 5: Check open vs. done in shared inboxes
bash
spark emails --filter "is:shared_inbox_open"
spark emails --filter "is:shared_inbox_done"
The ratio of open to done gives a sense of whether the team is keeping up.
Step 6: Present the workload report
Summarize:
- Per member: assignment count and any notably old items
- Imbalances: flag members with significantly more or fewer assignments than average
- Delegated by you: N items still open, any that look overdue
- Unassigned: M items with no owner
- Throughput: open vs. done ratio across shared inboxes
Tips
- Run this weekly to catch imbalances before they become problems.
- The command's assignment summary is a quick snapshot; the per-member queries give the full picture.
- Stale assignments (older than 7-14 days) are worth flagging - they may be stuck or forgotten.
- is useful for managers and leads who delegate frequently.
- Compare this week's numbers to last week's (if you track them) to spot trends.
- Combine with
recipe-shared-inbox-status
- For large teams, focus on outliers rather than reporting every member - highlight who's overloaded and who has bandwidth.