Catana Documentation
  • 🐱Overview
    • Introduction
    • Installation
  • 📖Core concepts
    • Regular and expiring TODOs
    • Assigning TODOs
    • Create, update and delete
    • Validation
    • Ignored TODOs
  • 🔔Triggers
    • Overview
    • Date
    • GitHub Issue closed
    • GitHub Pull Request closed
    • Ruby Gem released
    • Ruby Gem upgraded
    • Ruby Version released
    • Ruby Version upgraded
  • 🤖Commands
    • Overview
    • Done
    • Bump
    • Link
  • 🔗Grouped TODOs
    • Overview
  • ⚙️Configuration
    • Open GitHub issues
    • Enforce expiring TODOs
    • Rules
    • Exclusion list
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On this page
  • Implicit and explicit assignment
  • Assigning users when enrolling a repository
  • Assignees leaving your organization

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  1. Core concepts

Assigning TODOs

PreviousRegular and expiring TODOsNextCreate, update and delete

Last updated 9 months ago

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When a TODO is introduced, it's likely to remain unresolved for an extended period of time because its author may forget to address it. Additionally, when a TODO lacks clear ownership, it becomes the responsibility of everyone.

To help prevent this problem, Catana implements a convention that requires each TODO to be assigned to a team member. Assignees will receive email reminders about their TODOs and will be assigned on issue tickets when a TODO expires.

TODOs can only be assigned to GitHub team members. A team member is a user who has access to the repository where a TODO lives.

Implicit and explicit assignment

Implicit assignment occurs when Catana automatically assigns a TODO to its git author. On the other hand, explicit assignment allows developers to directly assign a user to the TODO.

By default, Catana requires assigning TODOs explicitly. Explicitness helps identifying TODO assignees in a quick glimpse, without having to leave your code editor. You can configure this behavior in your Catana dashboard and choose to opt-in for automatic assignment.

Assigning users when enrolling a repository

When a repository is enrolled for the first time, Catana will attempt to assign each TODO to its original git author. Catana will leave the TODO unassigned in the event where the TODO author is no longer a team member. You'll be able to manually assign it, either through the Catana UI or by modifying the TODO and explicitly assigning a user.

Assignees leaving your organization

When a user leaves an organization, triaging its TODOs across all repositories is usually overlooked and yet another common cause for finding them unresolved years later.

Catana will surface TODOs assigned to a user that left your organization by opening a ticket in your issue tracker. Triaging these TODOs and/or re-assigning them is crucial for keeping your codebase well maintained.

📖
Catana assigns users on GitHub tickets when a TODO expires.
Catana leaves TODOs unassigned when enrolling a repository if a TODO author is no longer a team member.