User roles: control who can do what in your project
Flying Donut provides three roles — Follower, Member, and Administrator — so you can give each person the right level of access.
Three roles for different needs
When you invite someone to a project, you assign them a role. The role determines what they can see and do. You can change roles at any time from project settings.
| Capability | Follower | Member / Admin |
|---|---|---|
| View project, backlog, board, and sprints | ✓ | ✓ |
| Create and edit cards and tasks | — | ✓ |
| Move cards between columns, sprints, and backlog | — | ✓ |
| Assign cards and tasks to team members | — | ✓ |
| Create and manage sprints | — | ✓ |
| Invite other team members | — | ✓ |
| Configure project settings (labels, columns, type) | — | ✓ (Admin) |
| Enable integrations (Git, API, file storage) | — | ✓ (Admin) |
| Delete the project | — | ✓ (Admin) |
Follower
Followers have read-only access to the project. They can view the backlog, board, sprints, cards, and all project activity — but they cannot modify anything.
- Ideal for stakeholders who need visibility without editing rights
- Great for management, clients, or cross-functional observers
- Users browsing public projects act in a Follower role automatically
- Followers can leave the project at any time
Example: A product manager invites the VP of Engineering as a Follower so she can check sprint progress and board status without accidentally modifying any cards.
Member
Members are full contributors. They can create and edit cards, manage tasks, move items across the board, participate in sprint planning, and invite other team members. Members can do everything except delete the project or change project-level settings.
- Create cards, tasks, sprints, and backlog buckets
- Assign cards and tasks to themselves and other members
- Move cards between backlog, sprints, and board columns
- Add comments, descriptions, and attachments
- Invite new members to the project
- The default role for most team participants
Example: All developers on a team are added as Members. They self-assign cards, break them into tasks, move them across the board, and use commit messages to update progress.
Administrator
Administrators have full control over the project. In addition to all Member capabilities, they can configure project settings, enable integrations, manage board columns, and delete the project.
- All Member capabilities, plus:
- Change project type (Scrum, Kanban, Scrumban)
- Configure board columns and WIP limits
- Enable and configure Git integrations, API access, and file storage
- Manage project labels
- Change project visibility (public/private)
- Delete the project
Example: The team lead and the scrum master are both Administrators. They set up the board columns, configure the GitHub integration, and manage sprint schedules. Developers are Members who focus on delivery.
Choosing the right role
- Use Follower for people who need to see progress but should not modify work — executives, clients, external reviewers
- Use Member for anyone actively contributing to the project — developers, designers, QA, product managers
- Use Administrator for people responsible for project configuration — team leads, scrum masters, project owners
- When in doubt, start with Member and promote to Administrator when needed
- You can change roles at any time from project settings without affecting existing work
Workspace-level membership
When using Workspaces, members can also gain project access through workspace membership. Workspace members appear in project member lists, allocation charts, and assignment menus across all projects in the workspace.
Common questions
Can I have multiple Administrators?+
Can a Follower become a Member?+
What happens when I remove a team member?+
Do roles affect billing?+
Set up your team with the right access levels
Invite members, assign roles, and give everyone the right level of access for their responsibilities.