Chapter 2
The organization structure
2.1The line
DeciDesk works with people, not with departments or teams. Everyone in the organization sits under exactly one manager; together that forms a tree from the board to the shop floor, in as many layers as your organization really has. That tree is called the line, and it determines two things:
- Seeing. You see your own work and the work of everyone below you, all layers deep. Whoever is above you sees your work in the same way.
- Handing out. You give work to yourself or to anyone in a layer below yours, in whichever branch. When a layer is skipped, the direct manager of the receiver always gets a notification: the line is never passed unnoticed.
In short: seeing follows your own branch, all layers deep; handing out may reach any layer below yours. Whoever stands above the receiver stays responsible for the work and can therefore always follow it.
2.2Building the organization chart
The organization chart lives under Organization › Structure. Administrators build and maintain it:
- The first person. In the Still to assign list, click Assign next to a person and choose At the top of the line. That person becomes the top of the tree.
- Everyone below. Drag a person onto the card of their manager, or use Assign and pick the manager from the list.
- Moving people. Dragging always works, also later. Whoever moves a person automatically takes their whole branch along.
- Multiple tops. An organization can have more than one top, for example two directors side by side.
Building and rearranging the structure sends no notifications: you can set up and rebuild the tree in peace.
2.3Inviting people and roles
You invite new colleagues under Organization › Users. With the invitation you immediately choose the manager, so someone lands in the right place in the tree at their first sign-in. There are three roles:
| Role | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Member | Works with their own actions, projects and meetings, within what the line shows. |
| Administrator | Additionally manages the structure and the users, and sees everything within the company. |
| Owner | Like an administrator, plus billing and the organization settings. |
2.4What the line means for each role
An example with four layers: Emma leads the company, Daan works under her, Lars under Daan, and Nora under Lars.
- Emma (layer 1) sees the work of Daan, Lars and Nora, and can hand out work to all three directly.
- Daan (layer 2) sees the work of Lars and Nora, and hands out to Lars and Nora.
- Lars (layer 3) sees the work of Nora, and hands out to Nora.
- Nora (layer 4) sees only her own work.
When Emma hands something directly to Nora, Lars gets a notification: work has been placed with someone below him. He remains the manager, sees the action in his overviews as usual and can reassign it if needed. This way a decision from the top can land directly with the person who will do the work, without sidelining the layers in between.
Handing out to someone beside or above you is not possible: work in an organization goes from top to bottom, and whoever hands it out must be able to oversee it. Downward any depth is allowed, but never unnoticed: the manager of the receiver always hears about it.
2.5The exception: the meeting
There is one deliberate exception. In a meeting, the person who assigns the action items may assign to all participants of that meeting, even when they stand beside or above him in the line. The decision was taken there together, so the work may be placed directly with whoever will do it. Outside the meeting the layer rule simply applies again.