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Overview

As a supervisor, managing your team effectively is crucial for production success. Kitsu provides tools for task assignment, workload balancing, and team coordination.

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Accessing Team Information

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Team Page

Navigate to Team from your production menu to see:
  • All people assigned to the current production
  • Their roles (Artist, Supervisor, Admin, etc.)
  • Active status and availability
  • Department assignments
  • Contact information

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Filtering Team Members

Filter the team list by:
  • Department: Animation, Modeling, Compositing, etc.
  • Role: Artists, Supervisors, Managers
  • Status: Active, inactive, or on leave
  • Studio: For multi-studio productions
Use the department filter to quickly find artists in your specialized area for task assignment.

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Assigning Tasks

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Single Task Assignment

To assign a task to an artist:
1

Navigate to the task

Go to Assets or Shots page and find the task cell
2

Click the task cell

Opens the task panel on the right side
3

Find assignees section

Look for the assignee field showing current assignments
4

Click to add assignees

Click the + icon or assignee field
5

Select team member(s)

Choose from the list of available artists
6

Save assignment

Changes are saved automatically

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Multiple Assignees

Assign multiple artists to a single task when:
  • Task requires collaboration (e.g., lead + junior artist)
  • Splitting work between specialists
  • Cross-training or mentoring scenarios
  • Large scope tasks benefit from team effort
Best Practice: Clearly communicate roles when multiple artists are assigned: 
Assigned to:
- @senior_artist (lead, overall supervision)
- @junior_artist (base work, iterations under guidance)

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Batch Assignment

Assign tasks to multiple people efficiently:
  1. Select multiple tasks:
    • Click task cells while holding Ctrl/Cmd
    • Or use the checkbox column to select rows
    • Filter to show relevant tasks first
  2. Open action panel:
    • Action panel appears when tasks are selected
    • Shows bulk action options
  3. Assign to team members:
    • Click “Assign” button
    • Select the artist(s)
    • Confirm assignment
  4. All selected tasks are assigned to chosen artist(s)
Batch assignment assigns the same artist(s) to all selected tasks. Make sure this is appropriate for your workflow.

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Task Assignment by Type

Common assignment strategies: By Specialization
  • Modeling tasks → Modelers
  • Animation tasks → Animators
  • Lighting tasks → Lighting artists
By Experience Level
  • Complex/hero assets → Senior artists
  • Standard assets → Mid-level artists
  • Simple assets → Junior artists
By Availability
  • Check workload before assigning
  • Balance tasks across team
  • Consider deadlines and capacity

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Workload Management

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Viewing Artist Workload

Several ways to see what team members are working on:

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Team Workload View

From the Team page:
  1. Each person shows their current task count
  2. Color coding indicates capacity:
    • Green: Under capacity
    • Yellow: At capacity
    • Red: Overloaded

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Person Detail View

Click on a team member to see:
  • All their assigned tasks across productions
  • Task status breakdown
  • Upcoming deadlines
  • Recent time logged
  • Task completion rate

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All Tasks Filtering

Go to All Tasks and:
  1. Filter by assignee
  2. See all tasks for a specific person
  3. Check status, due dates, and priorities
  4. Identify bottlenecks or overallocation

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Balancing Workload

Strategies for even distribution:
  • Keep track of how many tasks each artist has
  • Aim for similar workload across similar skill levels
  • Account for task complexity, not just count
  • Sum estimated hours for each person
  • Compare to available work time
  • Redistribute if someone is overbooked
  • High priority tasks need adequate resources
  • Don’t pile all urgent work on one person
  • Spread critical path tasks across team
  • Some tasks block others
  • Assign dependent work to available artists
  • Avoid creating bottlenecks

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Reassigning Tasks

When workload needs adjustment:
  1. Identify overloaded artists
    • Review task lists and estimations
    • Check for deadline conflicts
  2. Select tasks to move
    • Choose tasks not yet started
    • Prefer moving entire asset/shot sequences
    • Consider artist specializations
  3. Reassign to available artists
    • Check target artist’s capacity
    • Communicate the change
    • Update estimations if needed
  4. Notify affected artists
    • Explain why task was reassigned
    • Provide context to new assignee
    • Update any related schedules

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Task Creation

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Creating Individual Tasks

If a task is missing:
  1. Navigate to the asset or shot
  2. Find the task type grid
  3. If a task cell is empty, click it
  4. Select “Create task”
  5. Assign immediately or leave for later

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Bulk Task Creation

Create tasks for multiple entities:
  1. Go to Assets or Shots page
  2. Click the task type column header
  3. Select “Create tasks”
  4. Choose which entities should get this task
  5. Confirm creation
  6. Batch assign to team members
Bulk creation is useful when adding a new task type to many assets or when production needs expand.

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Setting Task Parameters

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Estimation

Set realistic time estimates:
  • Based on historical data when available
  • Factor in artist experience level
  • Include time for revisions
  • Account for complexity
Example estimations (in hours):
  • Simple prop modeling: 4-8 hours
  • Character modeling: 40-80 hours
  • Shot animation: 16-40 hours
  • Lighting setup: 8-16 hours

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Priority

Set task priority to guide artist focus:
  • High: Critical path, blocking other work
  • Normal: Standard production work
  • Low: Nice-to-have, fill time
Use priority sparingly. If everything is high priority, nothing is.

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Start and Due Dates

Schedule tasks effectively:
  1. Set start dates based on:
    • Dependency completion
    • Artist availability
    • Production milestones
  2. Set due dates considering:
    • Estimation duration
    • Buffer for reviews/revisions
    • Downstream dependencies
    • Production deadlines
  3. Avoid conflicts:
    • Don’t overlap complex tasks
    • Leave room for unexpected issues
    • Build in review time

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Team Communication

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Using @Mentions

Tag team members in comments: 
@artist_name Can you take a look at this reference 
and match the material in your model?

@lead_animator This shot needs to match the timing 
from SH010 - can you coordinate with that artist?

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Task Notifications

Team members are notified when:
  • Assigned to a new task
  • Task status changes
  • Mentioned in comments
  • Deadlines are approaching
  • Tasks are updated by others

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Status Updates

Encourage regular status updates:
  • Daily or weekly check-ins
  • Comment on progress or blockers
  • Update task status as work progresses
  • Flag issues early

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Monitoring Team Performance

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Task Completion Metrics

Track team efficiency:
  • Tasks completed per week
  • Average time to completion
  • First-pass approval rate
  • Retake frequency

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Timesheet Review

Access team timesheets:
  1. Go to Timesheets page
  2. View aggregated time by person
  3. Check daily/weekly/monthly logs
  4. Compare estimated vs. actual time
  5. Identify estimation improvement areas

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Production Quota

Some productions use quota tracking:
  • Daily/weekly task quotas
  • Expected vs. actual completion
  • Team velocity trends
  • Capacity planning

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Handling Common Scenarios

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Artist Is Blocked

1

Identify the blocker

Review task comments to understand the issue
2

Provide resources

Share references, clarify expectations, or connect with other team members
3

Adjust timeline if needed

Update due dates if blocker causes delay
4

Reassign if necessary

Move task to someone who can proceed if blocker persists

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Artist Is Overwhelmed

  1. Review their workload
    • Check task count and estimations
    • Look for competing deadlines
  2. Prioritize tasks
    • Identify what’s most critical
    • Mark others as lower priority
  3. Redistribute work
    • Reassign non-critical tasks
    • Move future tasks to others
  4. Adjust deadlines
    • Extend due dates if possible
    • Communicate with production
  5. Check in regularly
    • Monitor progress
    • Provide support

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Quality Issues

  1. Provide clear feedback
    • Specific, actionable notes
    • Visual references and examples
  2. Offer training
    • Share tutorials or documentation
    • Pair with senior artist
    • Schedule training session
  3. Adjust assignments
    • Match complexity to skill level
    • Provide mentorship opportunities
  4. Set expectations
    • Define quality standards clearly
    • Show approved examples

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Best Practices

1

Know your team

Understand each artist’s strengths, preferences, and development goals
2

Communicate clearly

Set expectations, provide context, and be available for questions
3

Balance workload

Distribute tasks fairly and monitor for overload
4

Provide timely feedback

Review work quickly to keep artists productive
5

Encourage growth

Assign stretch tasks and provide learning opportunities
6

Track performance

Use metrics to identify trends and improvement areas
7

Support your team

Address blockers, provide resources, and recognize good work

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Advanced Features

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Task Templates

Some studios set up task templates:
  • Predefined task lists for asset types
  • Standard estimations and priorities
  • Default assignees by department
  • Automated task creation

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Status Automation

Configure automatic status changes:
  • When all upstream tasks complete
  • Based on time-based triggers
  • Following approval workflows
  • Linked to external systems

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Department Management

Organize by department:
  • Assign departments to people
  • Filter tasks by department
  • Track department capacity
  • Report by department metrics

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Next Steps

Reviewing Work

Learn how to review and provide feedback on submissions

Tracking Progress

Monitor production progress and identify issues early

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