I am routinely assigned to a verification subtask that is dependent on another subtask, and find it difficult to interpret my inbox notifications because the icons in the messages are counterintuitive to the message content.
The notification that I have been assigned to a new subtask shows a lightning bolt icon and no indication that the subtask is blocked, which appears to indicate an action is needed.
Meanwhile, the notification that the subtask has been unblocked has an hourglass icon, which makes it appear at first glance that it is currently blocked instead of ready for action.
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I believe this is intended: a task assigned to you is an important action, and the fact that it is blocked shouldn’t prevent you from reviewing the task. There are a lot of reasons why you should:
- you shouldn’t be the assignee
- the content is unclear
- the date is not correct
- …
Reviewing the task is definitely needed.
However I agree with you that the “unblocked” notification shouldn’t feature a “block” icon.
Upvoted!
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I definitely do want to receive the notification for the reasons you stated, but that doesn’t make the icons less confusing regarding the actual status of the tasks I’m being alerted to. It would just be helpful if the assignment notification indicated that the task itself was not yet actionable and the “you can get started” message didn’t look like something is on hold at first glance.
This was not actually a problem before they made the change to start the inbox in a collapsed view by default, as the notification used to come in showing the full task details immediately in the preview window. It’s a hassle to get an unclear and incomplete notification and then have to click through somewhere else to find out whether or not it’s something I can actually do right now. I’d be satisfied if the inbox view was a preference setting instead of being forced to use this “simplified” view that is creating confusion and extra effort. But, failing that, updating the icons to reflect the status of the task rather than the type of notification would go a long way to make the inbox useful again.
