In my company, one of the projects I am on closely resembles the second option. The second option is more relatable to a typical medical device product development cycle. One of the main problems is time. Assigned tasks or action items may get pushed back when members are bombarded with multiple priority tasks. This is also an issue of limited manpower. However, hiring more manpower depends on the budget at a given time which changes. To circumvent this, communication and understanding are needed on all fronts. For example, my supervisor may allocate a little more time for some action items if it does not hinder the due date. Otherwise, the action item might get split between a few members of the team.