Patent ID: 8141078

Claim:
A method, in a data processing system, of sharing tasks between a plurality of individuals in a share group, comprising: receiving a task message distributed to computing devices associated with the plurality of individuals, wherein the task message identifies a task to be shared between the plurality of individuals; outputting an indicator of the task to a user of the data processing system requesting whether the user wishes to accept the task; generating an acceptance message in response to the user accepting the task, wherein the acceptance message indicates the user's intent to complete the task; distributing the acceptance message to computing devices associated with each of the plurality of individuals; calculating a completion time interval value specifying a completion time interval in which the task should be completed by the user in response to the user generating the acceptance message, wherein calculating the completion time interval value comprises calculating the completion time interval value based on at least one of a preferred completion time interval value specified by a creator of the task, a default completion time interval value, whether the task has dependent tasks, or whether the task has been previously accepted for completion but was not completed; associating the completion time interval value with a task entry in a to do list data structure maintained by the data processing system; monitoring the to do list data structure to determine if the task is completed within the calculated completion time interval; in response to the task not being completed within the associated completion time interval, releasing the task back to the share group, wherein another individual in the share group may accept the task; and distributing a task update message to the computing devices associated with each of the individuals in the share group indicating that the task was not completed within the completion time interval and is available to be accepted.