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 use-spark base skill for command reference and filter syntax.

Access level required: read-only.

Steps

Step 1: Get the team overview

spark team "Team Name"

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:

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

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

spark emails --filter "assigned_to:unassigned"

If the team uses shared inboxes, also check each one:

spark emails shared@co.com:Inbox --filter "assigned_to:unassigned"

Step 5: Check open vs. done in shared inboxes

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 team command's assignment summary is a quick snapshot; the per-member emails queries give the full picture.
• Stale assignments (older than 7-14 days) are worth flagging - they may be stuck or forgotten.
• assigned_by:me 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 a shared-inbox-focused view, or use this recipe for the broader team picture.
• For large teams, focus on outliers rather than reporting every member - highlight who's overloaded and who has bandwidth.