How to assign and track tasks on WhatsApp

To assign a task over WhatsApp you create it with one owner and one due date, and the system sends that person a message; to track it you read the master row while they reply with a tap or a two-word command. The person doing the work never opens an app, and you never have to ask "is that done yet" in a group.

This is the practical walkthrough. For the wider picture, start with WhatsApp task management: the complete guide.

Key takeaways#

• One owner, one due date. A task with two owners has none, and a task with no date cannot be chased.
• Linking a number is a one-time step — the person texts a short code to the business number and is connected from then on.
• Closing a task is a tap or two words — done 2, or the Done button on the reminder.
• Group assignment gives each person their own copy — you still track one master row with live progress.
• Chasing is automatic and it escalates — you should not be anyone's reminder.

Step 1: link the person's number, once#

Each team member connects their WhatsApp number to their account once, by sending a short verification code to the business number.

This is a reverse one-time password: they message verify and the code, rather than waiting for an SMS. It matters for two reasons. It proves the number belongs to that person, and it is the opt-in — messaging someone who never opted in is both rude and against the platform rules.

After this, they never log in again.

Step 2: create the task with an owner and a date#

A title is enough to create a task, but a title alone is not enough to manage one. Add the owner and the date.

From the web app, the create modal opens from any page and typing @ inside it assigns a teammate without touching another field. Due date, priority and repeat sit one click away for when you need them.

A task can also come out of a WhatsApp message directly — remind me at 4pm to call the bank files a reminder in one line, deterministically. Turning a longer sentence such as "ask Ramesh to send the invoice by Friday" into an assigned, dated task is a plain-language feature and needs the optional AI layer switched on.

Step 3: what the assignee actually receives#

They get a WhatsApp message with the task and three buttons: Done, Snooze and Reassign.

That covers almost every real reply. Snooze offers an hour, this evening, or tomorrow morning. Reassign hands it to someone else, with the change recorded. If they would rather type, these work at any time:

The numbering is per person and refreshes with the list, which is why done 3 is unambiguous.

Step 4: assign to a group when the work is not one person's#

One task can be pointed at a department, a branch, a chosen set of members, every department head, or the whole company.

Each person then gets their own copy to complete, and you keep a single master row showing live progress. This is the difference between "I posted it in the group" and "eleven of fourteen have done it, and I can see which three have not". Members see their own copy; managers see the master.

Use it for the things that genuinely apply to everyone — a compliance acknowledgement, a stock count, an opening checklist — and not as a way to avoid deciding who owns something.

Step 5: let the chasing happen without you#

Reminders escalate on a fixed ladder, then stop. A browser push before the task is due, a WhatsApp message when it lands, then firmer chasing every four hours through its first day late — and the department head hears about it once a day until it is closed.

The escalation is the part that works. A reminder that repeats identically is trained into background noise within a week; one that changes channel and then involves someone else does not. That mechanism is worth understanding properly, and it is covered in why your reminders get ignored.

Every person also gets quiet hours, weekend pauses, and STOP. Respecting those is what keeps the channel usable.

Step 6: track without asking#

Tracking is reading, not chasing. Three places answer nearly everything:

• The day view — tasks grouped by day, overdue first, then today, then what is coming.
• The board — five columns: Not started, In progress, Waiting on, Blocked, Done. Waiting-on shows how many days something has sat.
• The reports — seven tabs over one date range, including who closed what and what was late.

Fixing things in bulk is deliberately cheap: select several tasks and complete, reassign, reschedule or tag them in one go, with permissions checked per task and every change written to the task's history. There is a single button that sweeps overdue work onto today, up to two hundred tasks at a press.

What to do when someone goes quiet#

Reassign it, and let the record show that you did.

The temptation is to send another message. But if the ladder has already climbed to a daily escalation and nothing has moved, more messages are not the missing ingredient. Reassign from the reminder itself, or in bulk from the board. Every reassignment is logged, so the Activity report replays who had it and when — which is a far better conversation to have later than "I told you about that".

Common mistakes#

• Assigning to a group chat instead of a person. A group message has no owner. See WhatsApp groups vs a task tracker.
• No due date. Undated work is invisible to every reminder, report and sweep.
• Turning on all eight organising fields on day one. Departments, branches, categories, projects, products, companies, tags and labels are all toggles. Start with none.
• Being the escalation yourself. If you are still the one asking, the ladder is not doing its job.

Sitatu runs all of this on the official WhatsApp Business Platform — see the full feature list, or start a free trial and try it with one team.