John is the CEO of an online telemedicine company. He is pulled in all directions as he tries to bring his online health company to fruition while training his employees, getting licenses for his practitioners, and taking care of his family’s needs.
John invested in project management software and even hired a project manager to oversee the software development process, but the day-to-day tasks are slipping through the cracks.
If you, like John, are ready to learn some best practices you can employ in managing tasks and how to implement these practices in your current tasks, then this article is for you.
Task Management: The Ultimate Guide to Getting Things Done More Effectively – Chapter Index
According to Techopedia, “Task management is an activity in which an individual or team leader tracks a task throughout its life cycle and makes decisions based on the progress.”
More than just tracking, however, task management also involves delegating tasks to team members and setting deadlines so that each task—and the entire project—is delivered in a timely manner.
Task management entails determining the “who” and the “what” that are needed to achieve a particular project’s goal. Following that, creating and executing a plan, and staying updated with the progress, become easier.
For a task to be managed properly, there are three crucial stages that such a task must sail through: the planning, executing, and monitoring stages.
The questions to answer for the planning stage are “What tasks will be carried out?” “Which personnel or team crew will handle what?” and “How should these tasks be prioritized?”
Task management, in its basic state, entails breaking down a particular project into a series of individual tasks and/or components. This is a sure way to enhance productivity and help execute a project efficiently.
As soon as these questions are answered, the execution stage is next. The task manager then keeps an eye on the list of tasks, and monitors the execution and overall process.
Why Task Management?
There is every chance you are wondering why you need task management and what the fuss is about.
There is a disparity between an individual’s way of doing things and how a dedicated task manager executes the same. It is quite a bit more than just monitoring whole projects or individual tasks, since utilizing task management strategies has an effect on both the planning and the execution of what you do. It ensures your team is efficient and that no one is left behind.
For instance, in this time when tasks are done remotely, effective task management ensures that you are on the same page with your team and that tasks are achieved within specified time frames.
Here are some benefits of task management, when utilized:
It makes your work more efficient: Task management helps you stay on top of what is next and what is important, as opposed to spending your time thinking about what is next, thereby wasting more time. It helps to boost productivity.
It brings focus to your job: Task management clarifies and focuses your attention on the next step in completing the task, allowing you to cut off distractions that compete for your attention on the job.
It aids organization: Task management helps you put in place the right people suited for each role and helps you identify or determine when they step into the project. A project or task without a clear and organized way to work may evolve slowly and expend more time and energy than is necessary. With effective task management, you can be sure that everyone on the team knows where they belong, gets prompt delivery of information, and understands where they come into the process to achieve a common goal.
It identifies resource needs: In big organizations, it is usually a challenge to identify where and how resource needs are allocated, especially if there exists a lack of understanding about which tasks are most highly valued and who will provide oversight. Task management helps to bring together your team and processes, and this results in an efficient and streamlined workflow by giving clarity in terms of identifying priorities, needs, and available resources every step of the way in your project.
It creates room for better planning: Planning is crucial in projects and tasks alike, as well-planned projects save energy, expenses and time.
It creates an environment for improved workflow: The ability to oversee a large project is no easy task. Sometimes, there is a need for increased interdependence among multiple teams, and any slight failure might bring a setback to the entire project.
Effective task management, which enhances collaboration and communication, helps to strengthen as well as improve the workflow process. Bringing teams together and encouraging them to all work in synergy will show them that they are all working toward a single purpose, irrespective of their locations and departments. This, in turn, raises the standards in your business and eases your team members’ lives as well.
Monitoring: Task management uses a level of monitoring that allows you to see clearly the inadequacies in your plan. As you engage in active monitoring, it prevents delays, identifies task dependencies, and gives room to apply changes and tweaks where it is appropriate.
Improved collaboration: Collaboration is improved when you employ task management strategies. Task management involves team management. It gives your team a clear idea of who is working on what and how they should work together, especially when you have multiple departments and teams pursuing a common goal. Task management brings the individuals together irrespective of their responsibilities, even if they are working remotely. Communication, teamwork and sharing of ideas and files becomes a lot easier and helps individuals know what to do in order to proffer solutions to existing problems.
Project Management vs. Task Management
Project management is the parent of task management. To drive this home, task management can be subsumed under project management, as task management entails micromanaging.
Project management deals with more than tasks. In project management, you have to allocate resources, foresee and identify risks and form a liaison with stakeholders. Task management is targeted toward smaller details and ensures that, to achieve the main goal, everyone is effective in their parts. So while project management looks at the bigger picture, task management is concerned with focusing on details to complete the task.
Task management is, therefore, fundamentally a part of project management.
But how exactly do you manage tasks effectively? Let’s consider that next.
Chapter 2: How To Manage Tasks
Managing tasks effectively doesn’t have to be a complex process, even if it’s for a Fortune 500 company. Basically, there are three ways to manage tasks.
Three Ways to Manage Tasks
Task management has proven time and time again to be crucial in the delivery of a successful project. Managers employ whichever method they think is best for their team. Here are the three common methods for task management:
Write an old-school to-do list:This is the simplest way to handle your tasks. All you need to create a to-do list is a pen and paper.
The old-school way of writing a to-do list is good for tasks that are light and not cumbersome. All you need to do is write down each task, set a deadline for each of them, and mark each task off as you accomplish it.
Although to-do lists are ideal for personal tasks and will help you as an individual not go off the grid in your tasks, and cost less, they will only suffice for one person. You will need to find a more suitable option if the number of people you need to manage exceeds one.
Use a kanban board: Dating back to the 1940s and developed by Toyota in Japan, a kanban board is digitized. It makes use of columns and enables you to visualize all your tasks at once and break down the project into identifiable segments.
To paint a clearer picture, the columns can be used to show the various stages of the project’s progress and workflow. You will find inside each column a card that shows individual tasks. As the project starts, and the team executes each task, members will, in time, journey down the kanban board until they reach the completed column.
Kanban boards not only maintain an organized task list but also ensure that bottlenecks are not missed and alarms are raised if deadlines are looming. Your team gets notified automatically about tasks that are overdue and that, in essence, helps to keep the project on the right track.
Using a kanban board is an effective way to visualize all the tasks inside a project and gives team members clarity about their workload, idea status, project progress, and deadlines.
Use a task management tool:This is the easiest way for anyone to manage many projects at once. Aside from the fact that your team members have easy access to their personal accounts, they also have their separate schedules, lists of tasks, as well as deadlines assigned to each member.
Collaborations are made easy and time wastage is minimized, as there is no need to waste precious hours planning and attending meetings.
A task management tool will give you clarity as to who is handling what and when the due date for submission is. It also helps your team work on multiple projects at once.
Using a task management tool is efficient and perfect for projects that need collaboration and where tasks are assigned according to individual capacity. Task management tools are, however, reasonably expected to be more expensive than using pen and paper.
Now that you know the three different ways you can manage your tasks, the next step is to consider the specific strategies you’ll employ in managing your tasks.
Task Management Steps
Every good project that will result in success needs a plan or strategy. There are tasks and subtasks involved in a project and executing them well will definitely need proper planning.
Here are some steps you can take to manage your tasks more effectively:
1. Define everyone’s role: This is the first thing a project manager must do before anything else: define every individual’s role before allocating tasks to the team. Everyone on the team must not be in the dark about what they need to do or how their contribution keeps the project going. This brings unity in their efforts and streamlines it toward completing the project. It also gives team members a sense of responsibility and keeps their minds focused on the job once they are aware of what their roles are and how they will play out.
2. Use kanban for planning: Akanban board is a perfect way to plan projects and tasks. A kanban board presents you with a visual representation of your tasks or projects. This visual representation answers the most important questions: “What are the current tasks undergoing execution?” “How many tasks are yet to be completed?” “Are there tasks falling behind schedule and likely to derail the team’s concerted efforts?” and so on.
For this reason, the kanban board is the most efficient way for entrepreneurs to manage work-related tasks.
3. Stay on one task at a time: As a task manager, one thing you should never do is to try to do more things than you can handle. You might think it is helping to speed up the process when, in fact, it reduces your work rate and efficiency. When you consider your strategies, strike multi-tasking off the list. In place of doing it all at once, break enormous tasks down into doable bits and take on the tasks one after the other. This will give you a better result than multitasking.
4. Do the daunting tasks first: Anxiety is a natural feeling for humans especially when you face challenges. In the same vein, some really arduous parts of your tasks might bring the same anxious feelings. Do not leave the challenging bit for later. If you do, you might have dodged the real work for some time, but it is just waiting for you in the future. The best approach is to get the harder tasks out of the way. This takes a huge worry off your chest, and you feel better about it. So don’t leave the daunting tasks for later. Do them first.
5. Set deadlines and time limits: You must set realistic deadlines and time limits for each task. This is an important point that cannot be overlooked as you must define deadlines based on the associated activities and how crucial they are to the project. Ensure the deadlines and time frames are achievable and realistic.
It is also important to keep track of tasks while working and find a way to avoid undue stress on the team so they can achieve their set goals.
6. Communicate with clarity: Communication is such an important tool that its absence can bring about a dysfunctional team. Disengaged workers, according to Gallup, cause American businesses to lose between $450 and $550 billion annually. If anything, the numbers show how relevant communication is in business and team projects. It also reflects why effective communication is the most important task management strategy.
The job of a manager is to ensure that communication among the team is so streamlined that it happens easily without prompts. The manager must endeavor to create communication channels that make information flow as freely as possible and create an atmosphere where suggestions and questions are welcome so as to clear doubts. The manager can choose virtual communication in cases where physical communication is impossible or could be more expensive, as with remote workers.
7. Frequent collaboration: It is important that a project manager keep their task management ability open and clear, not hidden from the team members. This is even more important when you are dealing with a virtual team. Regularly communicating with your team members, asking them for updates on the progress of their tasks, setbacks they might have experienced, and challenges they may have encountered when applying the current strategy, provides feedback that can help you organize your tasks better. This may prove challenging at first, but recent developments in virtual collaboration tools and apps have helped to massively improve communication and teamwork.
8. Develop an efficient filing system: Paperwork is an inevitable part of project/task management. Large numbers of new documents are created and edited daily when you are working on a specific task. This can quickly develop into chaos if you don’t have a plan or system for filing. All the documents and raw data associated with a particular task or project must be arranged in the same place if you want to save time and avoid stress. You and your team will perform tasks better when they don’t have to search for scattered files or the newest version of an important document.
9. Keep track of things: Developing a system for managing tasks creates the foundation for a successful team. However, tracking this system’s efficiency is a completely different thing. Most days are filled with activity and go by in a heartbeat. During all this activity, it is important to monitor how well team members are able to achieve goals and to assess whether the system you have designed is indeed working. Using project reporting tools represents the best way to do this. Newer reporting tools use features like project reports, time reports and resource reports to show how effective the current model is in terms of team members’ productivity and how well they are utilizing time and resources.
10. Never forget risks: It is necessary to accept that sometimes things will not go according to plan. Therefore, it is important to think about the potential pitfalls in your current task management strategy so that you can be ready for every eventuality.
11. Use a dedicated software:The right tool at the right moment can work wonders for you and your team. A dedicated online software solution can exponentially raise the chances of your project’s success. Due to the abundance of options in the market today, it is necessary to research and choose the software that is easy to adopt and aligns with your finances and the requirements of your team.
This is why, later in this article, we included the top 25 task management software out there, so that you can compare and choose whichever suits your team best.
12. Be open to feedback: Communication and feedback represent a critical part of improving any system. It is important to remember that this must always be a two-way process. You should give feedback to your team members where necessary and ask them to do the same during and after tasks.
Many projects where team members are afraid to express what’s on their mind suffer from lack of information that may eventually jeopardize the whole operation.
Need more task management ideas? Below is a video that gives you “The 3 Best Methods for Task Management”
Chapter 3: Task Management Tools
Pen and paper, notepads, kanban boards, journals, software, etc. have been mentioned throughout this article, and these are tools that can help you manage your tasks effectively.
Before we delve deeper into task management tools, one important question remains: Why should you use tools to manage your tasks?
To answer this, let’s consider the benefits of task management tools.
Benefits of Using a Task Management Tool
Other than speed and ease, using tools to manage tasks has numerous benefits, and some of them include:
Keep tasks in one place
Even for teams with a limited number of members, using a task management tool can give huge rewards. If all the team members used separate calendars, notes, documents and emails, the project manager would never be able to properly track who is handling what. A good task management tool will bring all tasks together in one place to help maximize efficiency, productivity and improve collaboration among team members. Within the same task management tool, you can easily plan and organize tasks.
Prioritize your work
It is impossible to be effective in today’s world without having a structure that helps you prioritize tasks and information. Most people are not as effective in managing their time as they think they are. In fact, research from the Pew Research Center states that 70% of Facebook users spend time using the app every day. This means that one’s task may always be at the mercy of the next notification that comes in, even when it is not important.
Using task management tools helps to arrange all your tasks according to priorities, track deadlines, and delegate tasks properly. This will ensure that the right amount of time is being spent on priority tasks without any distraction.
Improve collaboration
Teams are more effective when there is a common understanding of the goals and the strategy that is being used to achieve these goals. With a visual task management system, team members can easily see what their colleagues are working on. This makes it easy to search for information, identify problems early, and exchange ideas and solutions.
Track team progress
According to research conducted by the University of Ottawa, 33% of projects fail because they lacked involvement from senior management. Using task management tools helps you to constantly be present and easily notice when your attention is needed in certain tasks. Specialized charts will also help you monitor progress and track milestones that will help you keep your project on schedule.
Put project work at your fingertips
Task management tools will help team members have access to the task list round the clock, no matter what part of the world they’re working from. The sight of tasks being steadily checked off the to-do list also can help boost team spirit and morale.
Set due dates and never miss deadlines
With task management tools, keeping tabs on deliverables, tasks, and deadlines is so much easier. You may also involve the clients in this process to allow a transparent flow of information that promotes customer trust and loyalty.
Now that you’re sold (hopefully) on why you should employ task management tools, you should know that there are certain things you must look out for in a task management tool before opting for one.
Key Components of a Task Management Tool
Even in its simplest form, a task management tool serves to help teams, companies, and individuals stay organized.
This organization entails arranging tasks according to their priorities, visualizing the status of projects as they are being worked on, and analyzing results to determine future strategies.
The following are the important features found in all reliable task management tools:
Prioritization: Since all your tasks cannot be addressed at once, the key in task management is to decide which tasks are more important. The task management tool helps you achieve exactly that. Using a color-coded system that is easy to understand, team members will be able to identify which tasks to prioritize and which ones to de-emphasize. Messages should easily be converted to tasks that can be filtered and arranged by their deadlines so that time is effectively managed.
Visualization: Task management tools can help you observe the state of tasks at a simple glance. This visual medium should not be complicated and must be easily accessible to team members. Tasks are usually arranged in a checklist, with subtasks added underneath for detail. Different tools offer different methods of visualizing tasks and workflow, including project boards like kanban boards and Gantt charts.
Analysis: This is an important part of tracking the progress of any task or project. Task management tools allow you to analyze data, whether through customized templates or formulas. They produce data that can be easily understood so that team members can easily observe what they have done, how they are doing, and where they can improve.
Any tool lacking in any of these three departments loses its essence as a task management tool. So what kinds of task management tools are available?
Types of Task Management Tools
Manual Task Management Tools
These are basic forms of a task management system that use physical items like blackboards, whiteboards, cork boards, or just a simple stretch of paper that has been fixed on the wall. These kinds of tools are only effective for people who are dealing with a small number of tasks that are similar. They are basic tools that are non-virtual. Companies with standardized tasks frequently use these tools because they do not require any serious updates or special attention. This allows them to be able to adapt the tool to multiple tasks with no stress.
Electronic Task Management Tools
Electronic task management tools range from simple spreadsheets to intensive management application apps. These tools provide project teams with increased functionality and flexibility. Unlike the manual task management tools, they can be carried around on your computer or mobile electronic device. They do not have restricted space and allow users to import as much or as little information as they want. Electronic task management tools contain much more advanced features compared to manual tools, such as resource tracking and analytics.
Online Task Management Tools
Online management systems have improved upon the electronic management tool by adding the boundless expandability of the internet. They are packages that allow team members to connect with each other from remote locations and still effectively monitor tasks. Online task management tools allow their users to work and store their information on the cloud so that individual members can properly manage their personal storage, and critical information is properly backed up.
The internet connection allows team members to communicate faster and collaborate more effectively. Task updates can be automatically communicated through emails, and client emails can be automatically converted to tasks on the tool. Thanks to online task management tools like kanban boards and project boards, teams who take on many tasks with varying descriptions and priorities can easily share information over an internet connection.
How can you choose the right tool for managing your tasks? Let’s look next into that.
Choosing the Right Task Management Tool
It is essential that you choose a task management tool that matches your purpose, price range, and existing work environment. This process takes a lot of time and careful research, as there are many task management tools that are available to choose from. They range from simple checklists, which may not even require an internet connection, to a full-fledged project task management software with a wide range of functionalities to satisfy even the most demanding teams. The simplicity or complexity of a task management tool hardly matters when selecting the one you need; it is more important that whatever tool you select can help you and your team organize yourselves better, collaborate, work faster, and be more productive.
The essential questions to ask yourself before selecting a task management tool are:
What type of tasks do you usually encounter?
How often is collaboration needed for tasks to be completed?
How many people are on your team?
Do you need the data analysis feature?
Are the time-tracking features essential?
Will you need to integrate the tool into existing systems and applications?
Is remote access essential?
Whatever you end up picking should tick all the boxes for you so that you not only get things done, but you get them done properly and effectively.
Even though, as you can see, there are several tools available to help you manage your tasks more effectively, task management software is the most popular for a reason: it’s the most effective. And for this reason, task management software will be specially highlighted next.
Chapter 4: Task Management Software
Task management software is a tool that allows your team to turn large projects into manageable tasks and then helps you, usually in a shared virtual workspace, collaborate, plan, track and ultimately complete those tasks.
If you’re not yet sold on task management software, then let’s discuss why you should employ one—or more.
Why Do You Need Task Management Software?
Task management software will help you to avoid wasting time organizing sticky notes, searching your inbox for an important email, or writing endless numbers of to-do lists. These nifty tech platforms provide management solutions by helping team members collaborate, prioritize tasks, manage time effectively and meet deadlines—all in one tool.
Here are 11 reasons you need task management software:
It helps your team to collaborate effectively: Task management software can allow up to 50 team members to communicate remotely. Beyond that, it also allows you to invite guests, which may include external specialists or clients. This, along with live editing features, provides full transparency over your tasks and allows effective feedback and exchange of ideas.
Track time spent on work: Task management software helps to monitor the amount of time spent solving tasks. This, in turn, helps to monitor and improve the strategy used for delivering tasks.
Organize, prioritize, and assign tasks: Task management software helps to eliminate the guesswork in planning. It will make sure that team members can see which tasks are most important or time intensive. It also clearly shows what tasks each member is currently handling, so that work can be delegated effectively without overworking anyone.
Update status of tasks online: The ease of updating tasks in task management software allows team members to save time and observe changes in real-time. It also allows you to identify tasks that may require special attention or intervention.
Monitor progress in real-time: The progress of tasks can be easily tracked in task management software. The software will allow you to check in on the status of your team’s projects immediately and easily assess your next move.
Attach notes, files, links, and make comments to tasks: Task management software features allow important documents, links, and comments to be uploaded so that collaboration among team members is seamless.
Share tasks with the team: You can easily delegate tasks among team members once they have been created with task management software and everyone is signed up.
Create personal to-do lists within tasks: Task management software helps you create customized to-do lists that can be saved and easily reused. This is important for teams that work on similar tasks regularly.
Keep tasks in one place: Task management software represents a pool of all the resources needed to effectively manage as many tasks as possible, all in one place.
Put project work at your fingertips: Tasks can be accessed in this kind of software without restriction on team members’ location. Team members can carry software in their portable electronic devices and interact with the rest of the team effectively.
Set due dates and never miss deadlines: By setting reminders and due dates for small sub-tasks and larger projects, you will be able to keep up with deadlines and deliver on time thanks to task management software.
Now that you’re 100% sold on task management software, the next step isn’t to run off to buy yourself one. Before doing that, you need to arm yourself with the knowledge of what to look for in your ideal task management software.
Key Features of the Best Task Management Software
To find your perfect task management software, you must first navigate the numerous options available in the market. The software you choose should provide features that are most important when it comes to managing your personal tasks, team members, and the general growth of your business.
However, there are certain important features that you must look out for when shopping for task management software. Some are:
Robust task lists: Typically, task lists are created at the start of a project after consideration from all stakeholders involved. The best task management software contains detailed task lists that help you observe the status of tasks and see which team members they are best suited for.
Dynamic kanban boards: Kanban boards allow team members to visualize workflow and production cycles. The software should have kanban boards that can be fully personalized to allow team members to organize their tasks into columns with labels such as to-do, in-progress and done. This gives a sense of transparency to the whole project and allows team members to focus on priority tasks.
Instant email notification: Efficient task management software usually contains built-in email notification templates that are associated with different tasks. Whenever a task has been completed or reaches certain predetermined stages, an email notification is instantly sent out to selected team members using your desired template.
Team collaboration tools: It has been said that team collaboration is the key to the success of any venture. Good task management software enhances this collaboration by giving team members a platform to communicate on. For instance, when a comment is uploaded regarding a task, an email notifies the other team members assigned to it. Even if a team member isn’t assigned to the task, they may access the conversations through different features within the software.
Accurate time tracking: Tracking the progress of tasks is the most important part of management. If tasks aren’t being performed on time, then the project is in trouble. Task management software tools should help you to monitor deadlines and ensure that you are always on time with delivering tasks.
Tags and filters: Apart from priority tags, there is a need for even more task identifiers in task management, especially in big projects where tasks have a higher chance of slipping through the cracks. These tags should be easily customized. The tasks may be tagged and filtered according to categories, such as difficulty or progress, which helps managers know which tasks have been started or otherwise delayed.
How to Choose the Right Task Management Software
Task management is not just about making a to-do list and ticking off tasks once they’re done; it’s about team management. It’s collaborating with team members, prioritizing tasks, managing your time, and monitoring progress. Therefore, picking a pocket-friendly software that permits the following features is essential.
Task planning and creation
Task management software allows for simpler ways of planning projects. It allows managers to easily create an overview of the project and share it with the stakeholders involved. The collaboration features of these software options also allow for brainstorming, which is needed for identifying, creating, and prioritizing tasks. Task management software allows for the creation of customized plans for new projects. They also use templates to organize tasks, and this is very useful, especially if your team constantly handles similar projects.
Task assignment
The next stage encompasses the ability to delegate tasks and tools to single or multiple people. Most task management software allows you to assign tasks—some more than others. Some software are able to assign multiple team members to a task, while others limit you to one team member per task. Task management software also monitors related tasks and makes sure that team members don’t work on tasks with incomplete information. They make sure certain tasks are not worked on until their affiliated tasks are completed.
Task tracking
A software that allows you to track task progress, observe status updates, and monitor deadlines is essential. Your tasks can be synced to your calendars and emails to make sure that you are constantly reminded of deadlines. You can arrange your tasks according to due dates or priorities, among others, so that you can work on the most important tasks first.
Integrations
Effective task management software allows you to integrate it with other apps. This is especially important when you are collaborating with other professionals outside your team or working on a project with specific requirements. The ability to integrate third-party apps like Dropbox, One Drive, Workspace Calendar, and Zapier can prove to be very effective for your team management.
Now that you’ve chosen the perfect requirements for your task management software, the next question is: How exactly do you use this new piece of tech now in your possession?
How to Use Task Management Software
While each task management software has its own unique way of being used, and you might have to learn from the developers (perhaps from their knowledge base), there are some general usages they have in common.
First, the task page of your task management tool is the most important part of the software. You should make it a priority to visit it first thing every day. The tasks that have been assigned to you will be displayed on this page, and it is important to make sure that your priorities for that day are aligned with what you see on the task list. If not, then it is necessary to quickly make the required changes.
The details of tasks will be displayed once the task is clicked. Related information such as task documents, audio messages, links, and status updates can be easily attached to your tasks so you can always access them with ease.
A long task list may be daunting, but it is important that you stay calm and avoid being overwhelmed. Avoid multitasking too, as this inevitably leads to mistakes.
Finally, it is important to update your to-do list once you complete any individual item. An easier way to stay on top of your and your team’s deadlines and tasks is to check your to-do list at the end of the day and mark your tasks accordingly (i.e., “in progress” or “done”). This means that you will begin the next day with a clear idea of your progress and what your next priority should be.
Have you researched the numerous task management software available in the market and are still confused on which to choose? No worries, we got you covered below.
Best 25 Task Management Software Solutions
Here are the best 25 task management software out there, mostly based on popularity:
1. SweetProcess
SweetProcess allows you to document standard operating procedures (SOPs) and easily share them among team members.
It can be used for a wide variety of tasks, from routine day-to-day operations to major projects. You can use SweetProcess for your personal projects or as part of a team.
Its collaboration features allow team members to collaborate on projects in real-time, despite their location.
SweetProcess also allows you to attach images and videos to your tasks and processes to improve clarity. It is perfect for supporting collaboration between team members with features like live task editing and real-time updates and feedback.
Pricing: SweetProcess is priced at $99 per month for a team of 20 people. It offers a free 14-day trial and a money-back guarantee 30 days after purchase.
2. Monday
Monday is an excellent task management software as it prioritizes simple, visual layouts that help clarify your work sequence.
It won the 2019 Webby Award for best productivity platform.
Monday allows you to customize its spreadsheet-like interface but also includes an exciting number of features that make it more aesthetically pleasing and interactive than a regular spreadsheet.
These features include message boards, task management boards, and some easy-to-read visualizations that allow you to display your project data and quickly get an idea of your progress.
Members can collaborate by uploading relevant files and assigning deadlines and tagging members on tasks.
Pricing: Monday is free for up to two users, and subscriptions are priced from $14/user/month.
3. Asana
Asana is one of the most popular software out there, and it is very well-suited to large teams.
Asana has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to use. The software also functions offline to allow you to continue updating your tasks and then sync it with the rest of your teammates’ work once you’re back online. It offers project templates that can be designed to fit your project’s specific tasks.
Pricing: Asana’s premium package begins at $10.99 per user, per month. The free option allows only ten members and excludes features like the dashboard, task analytics, and Gantt views, among others.
4. Trello
Trello is task management software with a free option that is great for small- and medium-sized business needs. It uses a kanban-style tool to help you organize your project.
You can add tasks, descriptions, and deadlines with a Trello card. These cards are easy to move around on Trello’s kanban board. It may be great for beginners, but it lacks powerful automation features and may not be suited to large operations.
It has some downsides when it comes to tracking time and task progress metrics. You may start your business with Trello, but if you plan to expand, expect to be shopping around for a more advanced tool as your business grows.
Pricing: Trello is free for up to 10 boards, and its paid “Business Class” annual subscription starts at $9.99 per month, per user.
5. Todoist
Todoist task management software works as a to-do list that gives a clear overview of tasks. Its unique features help you organize tasks by date, color code, and much more. You can access many curated templates, such as social media calendars, product roadmaps, development workflows, etc.
Adding new tasks, comments, recurring due dates and subtasks is easy with Todoist.
Pricing: The free plan allows you to handle up to 80 tasks. Subscription plans start as low as $3 per month to $5 per month. You can use both paid plans for free for 30 days and even get a refund 30 days after purchase.
6. Wrike
Wrike is a wonderful task management software for modern enterprises with an emphasis on remote work.
Wrike doubles as one of the best workflow management and board meeting software, which allows you to further simplify your workload. It fosters remote team collaboration with features like real-time editing and feedback on tasks.
Pricing: Wrike plans are divided into Professional ($9.80 per month; five to 15 users); Business ($24.80 per month; five to 200 users); and Enterprise (Quote-based plan; five unlimited users). Its free plan accommodates up to five members.
7. ClickUp
ClickUp is a task manager with powerful features for managing your team’s projects on one platform.
Team members can plan projects, schedule tasks, and manage resources in a centralized space. ClickUp helps team members and other stakeholders to collaborate easily. Team members can also create Gantt charts, calendars, and timelines to visualize tasks and workflow.
It also contains reporting features that allow you to create custom dashboards, as well as six built-in report types for team reporting.
Pricing: ClickUp’s free plan is robust and contains primary features. The unlimited plan starts at $5 a month per user and offers additional features.
8. Basecamp
The major specialty of Basecamp is the ridiculous amount of integration it allows.
Basecamp Personal, the free version of Basecamp, offers three projects, up to 20 users, and 1GB of storage space. This version of their tool is great for personal projects, students, freelancers, families, and light use.
Pricing: Basecamp Personal is free but a bit feature-lite, so many will feel compelled to upgrade to the professional paid plan. Basecamp subscription costs $99 per month.
9. MeisterTask
MeisterTask is software that helps teams get more work done in a shorter time. The MeisterTask user interface is straightforward and easy to navigate. It offers lots of tutorials and articles that make using the task management software easy.
Some of their other features include data backup and recovery software, kanban boards, in-depth reports and statistics, etc. You may also become a “watcher” and stay in the loop to monitor task progress after you have assigned them to team members.
Pricing: The Basic plan is free and is suitable for simple task management, while the Pro plan ($8.25 per month) is suitable for extensive integration and automation. The Business plan ($20.75 per month) is used for extensive group sharing. The Enterprise plan is used by enterprises that require more advanced custom features and is therefore specially priced.
10. Any.do
Any.do is task management software that offers features like calendars, planners, and reminders. There are other incredible features that make it unique, like the “Moment” feature, for example, which allows you to get a push notification telling you about all your plans for the day.
Other features include voice entry, automatically clearing finished tasks, and a free reminder tool that lets you add daily, weekly, and monthly reminders.
Pricing: The billing cycles Any.do offers includes: one month at $5.99 per month; six months at $4.49 per month; 12 months at $2.99 per month.
11. Smartsheet
Smartsheet task management software is easily adaptable for users that have expertise in working with Microsoft Excel because of their similar spreadsheet interface.
Smartsheet takes it further by avoiding complicated formulas and making sure that you can add customized logos and different colored themes for separate projects.
It offers simple functions like assigning tasks, subtasks and resources. Team members get real-time updates when changes are made. Smartsheet also allows shared views, activity logs, and status reports that help team members remain organized.
It can be integrated into numerous apps and can be made extensible through REST API and Webhooks.
Pricing: Smartsheet starts at $7 per user, per month, with a range of three to 25 users. They also offer a 30-day free trial.
12. Taskworld
Taskworld is a type of task management software that encourages smarter collaboration among team members. It has an interactive interface that allows users to have a comprehensive overview of tasks in real time.
Tasks can be updated on multiple projects at the same time, and recurring tasks can be created for routine jobs.
Taskworld offers a “task points” feature so that you can order tasks based on their complexity. Other features include a common workspace that aids collaboration, checklists to break down complex tasks, tags, labels, file and image attachments.
Pricing: Taskworld offers two paid plans. The Professional plan is priced at $14.99 per user, per month when paid monthly ($10.99 per user, per month, billed annually). The Enterprise plan is billed according to the special needs of your project.
Taskworld offers a 15-day free trial, and you may receive up to three months free by subscribing annually.
13. ProofHub
ProofHub serves as a cloud-based solution for many enterprises. It uses key features like Gantt charts, notes, to-do lists, calendars, milestones, timesheets, and more.
ProofHub has a reporting engine that helps users generate reports to monitor their resource use and project progress.
Pricing: Proofhub offers a free version with limited features and paid subscriptions starting from $45 per month.
14. Teamwork
Teamwork is a powerful task management software that is rising in popularity, thanks to the simple user interface that allows users to manage multiple projects easily.
Every member of the team can use the software to track their important tasks and highlight how the progress of some tasks affects other team members.
This feature-rich software is suitable for almost any enterprise.
Pricing: Its free plan covers a maximum of two projects and subscriptions begin at $10 per month when paid annually. Enterprise plans are negotiated separately.
15. Jira
Jira is an excellent software for helping teams track time and carry out detailed planning that requires organization. You can create stories and issues for each team member to assign separate tasks.
A unique feature of Jira is that it allows you to create your own workflow, i.e., submission path. You can track tasks more easily thanks to its highly visible boards. You create different tags and filters for the cards, like released, unreleased, and in-progress. It also supports integration with over 3,000 third-party applications.
Pricing: Free plan is for up to 10 users. Standard subscription is priced at $7.50 per user per month; and premium at $14.50 per user per month. You can request customized pricing for over 100 users.
16. Evernote
Evernote is task management software designed to take and organize notes during meetings or while managing projects. It has an easy-to-use interface and allows you to affix pictures and screen captures from the web, share notes with your team and so much more.
Evernote allows you to manage tons of information in a single place with lots of other features that make sure your files are always accessible.
Pricing: Evernote has a free version. Its paid plans include Personal at $7.99 per month; and Professional at $9.99 per month.
17. Sendtask
Sendtask is a task management tool that helps you create to-do lists for your tasks.
It allows ease in collaboration with your team members, clients, and suppliers under a single dashboard. Clients and suppliers can collaborate with your team without joining the application.
Auto-reminders and direct integration with Slack are added advantages.
Pricing: The software is still in its beta version, so it’s free for use. The website also says that current features will always remain free, so you still can plan a long-term partnership with the software.
18. Nifty
Nifty is a great piece of software that helps you visualize your tasks all at once and break down your projects into tasks to fulfill big goals.
You can filter and view all the tasks by their deadline to know which one to tackle first. In addition, you can filter tasks by categories, milestones, and more. Task templates can also be stored for recurring tasks.
Nifty also allows you to move your tasks from pre-existing platforms like Trello very easily.
Pricing: Niffy subscriptions start from $39 per month to $399 per month for an enterprise plan. It also allows a 14-day free trial for you to test out the software.
19. Airtable
Airtable allows you to create and assign tasks, attach files (including notes) and set statuses. It also allows you to manage projects in multiple views through the gallery, grid view, calendar view, and the kanban.
It is a suitable collaboration tool for all business sizes, whether small or midsize businesses, or large enterprises, especially if your team members prefer to manage projects on tools like Microsoft Excel. That’s because it has a spreadsheet interface and focuses on data organization.
Pricing: Airtable offers four pricing plans: Free, Plus ($12 per month), Pro ($24 per month), and Enterprise, which requires you to contact Airtable for a quote.
20. Hitask
Hitask simplifies task management by helping you easily construct new projects, assign and share tasks, share a central archive and calendar, send and receive notifications, and synchronize information across all devices.
It’s one of the simplest and easiest-to-use task management software, and this allows teams to set up new projects very quickly.
One nifty feature Hitask has is its repeating tasks feature. It saves you the time of creating the same tasks over and over again. This allows you to create repeating events, be it daily, weekly, monthly or yearly.
Pricing: Pricing starts at $4.98 per month and it also has a free plan.
21. nTask
As an online task management tool that helps to keep teams productive, nTask provides members with tools that allow efficient collaboration between team members. These tools include scheduling meetings, assigning tasks, generating progress reports, setting recurring tasks, sharing files, attaching files to tasks, and generating checklists.
nTask can be used by anyone as it is easily learned and has a simple interface. It’s especially great for individuals and small teams.
Pricing: nTask offers a free version and a paid version at the affordable rate of $2.99 per month.
22. Things 3
Things 3 is an award-winning personal task manager for Mac and iOS.
The tool blends beautiful design with robust task management features like to-do lists, calendars, and more.
Things 3 mobile app has a beautiful design, including smooth animations, a dark mode, and solid project documentation capabilities. The software also integrates with many iOS-specific tools, like Apple’s Calendar and iCloud.
Other task management software, like Slack, Asana, Evernote, Basecamp, and Jira can be connected to Things through an account with Zapier.
Pricing: Things 3 is priced at $9.99 for iPhone/iWatch, $19.99 for iPad, and $49.99 on the Mac. It comes with a 15-day free trial.
23. Taskque
Taskque is a web-based project management software that is designed to allow you to monitor and optimize performance.
Taskque also allows for enhanced collaborations among members and helps maximize productivity.
Automatically assigning tasks to the next available team member to zero down on your work is one unique feature of Taskque.
It’s usually described as “one of the best task managers that’s a step up over a regular to-do list app.”
Pricing: Taskque has a free version limited to five people and a $5 per month plan designed for businesses.
24. Flow
Flow is task management software that helps team members communicate effectively and spend less time discussing tasks. It allows users to visualize tasks through kanban boards and offers features such as social collaboration and dynamic issue tracking.
Flow helps in prioritizing multiple to-do lists and therefore allows tasks to be managed effectively.
Flow basically helps you to focus on work.
Pricing: Subscription to Flow is priced at $53 per month for six people. You have to contact Flow directly to access its pro plan.
25. Quire
Quire is suitable for small- to medium-sized businesses. With Quire’s nested task list you can break down tasks into small, manageable steps for easier implementation.
It helps you to manage to-do lists and tasks, and it facilitates collaboration across teams.
Quire offers useful features such as document management, live editing, discussion boards, file sharing, milestone tracking and project planning.
Pricing: Quire is priced at $8.95 per month. It also comes with a free version and a 30-day free trial.
Now you have 25 of the most popular task management software from which you can choose, depending on your needs, to manage your tasks.
Despite this, choosing can still be a daunting process. If you are still confused, you can try SweetProcess, and then decide if it’s for you. It’s free to try and no credit card is required.
Let’s discuss SweetProcess next.
Chapter 5: How To Manage Your Tasks Effectively With SweetProcess
Whether you are managing a team of experts or you’re hiring your first employee, SweetProcess gives you the systemization you need to help organize and grow your business.
This task management software allows you to centralize everything related to a particular project or task so that you never have to waste time worrying about “Who kept what?” and “Who is working on what?”
SweetProcess allows you to document procedures and make sure that everything that concerns that task is kept in one accessible place. This feature helps to remove guesswork from recurring tasks and allows new employees to hit the ground running.
Jamie Ramsden, business intelligence and lean Six Sigma champion at Turkstra Lumber, describes how they supercharged their employees’ efficiency by creating seamless business processes—a great example of SweetProcess in action!
The team at Turkstra Lumber was effective at doing their jobs without documented processes, but they weren’t as coordinated as they should be. They performed tasks in different ways, creating inconsistency across the organization.
Having everyone on the same page, working with the same processes and procedures, was imperative to achieve the great results they desired.
There are several ways the team at Turkstra Lumber is benefitting from implementing SweetProcess in their organization, but one notable way is that even though the organization already boasts of great employees, it has been able to equip them with the business processes and procedures they need to perform tasks efficiently instead of wasting time and resources. By doing so, its employees are now even more productive.
Moreover, with SweetProcess the organization fosters collaborations among employees as it allows everyone to contribute to creating business processes, procedures, and policies.
Another organization, out of hundreds, that has benefitted from SweetProcess’s easy process documentation in completing tasks is Onogo.
According to Florinela Serban, head of operations at Onogo: “The main difference with SweetProcess that appealed to me is the ease of use… There’s a lot that you can also do with the content. You can add videos and photos and links to more information; and not only that, but you can also run it as tasks and on the backend.”
All the procedures that have been used in solving tasks remain saved in SweetProcess and become a rich knowledge base for a new employee who is encountering new challenges or clients who want to learn more about the process.
Other than documenting procedures and processes, SweetProcess makes it easy for you to track the activities and task history of team members. It saves you time and allows you to always remain on top of situations.
To sum it all up, SweetProcess allows you to:
Document your procedures step by step.
Combine several procedures to form a workflow.
Turn your procedures into actionable tasks and assign tasks to team members.
Restrict access to selected members of your team.
Get team members to suggest improvements.
Create a decentralized knowledge base from your procedures and policies.
Integrate with over 1,000 apps.
Track changes made to tasks with version history.
Embed files and videos to your tasks and procedures.
Collaborate in real-time with team members.
Secure your account with two-factor authentication.
Get access to email and phone support if you need help.
Edit screenshots and images right inside SweetProcess.
Want to find out if SweetProcess is the solution your organization has been waiting for to better manage tasks? Then take advantage of the free trial.
SweetProcess allows users to experience a 14-day free trial that requires no credit card information for you to access. After which you can subscribe for $99 per month ($82.50 if you pay annually) for a team of up to 20 people and pay an extra $5 per month ($4.17 if you pay annually) for every team member you add over this number. If your team is not up to 20 members, then you can contact SweetProcess to gain access to their special pricing for smaller teams.
You can use your active SweetProcess account with the iOS and Android app options, without any additional fee. Simply head to your apps store, search for SweetProcess and download it for free.
SweetProcess guarantees you’ll get your money back if you are not satisfied with the progress made within thirty days of using the software. We also offer a free one-hour phone consultation to brainstorm strategies to grow your business.
There you have it! Task management operations, as crucial as they are, do not need to be a source of stress, or be stressful in any way. This is especially true if you employ a reliable task management solution like SweetProcess.
Now you should have everything you need to know to tackle all your task management challenges. You just need to take the correct next step and try SweetProcess for free.
Join more than 40,000 thriving companies today and allow SweetProcess to help organize your processes and tasks for speedier business growth.
Do it with SweetProcess, click here to learn more
Great breakdown of project management software options! Your analysis of SweetProcess and its simplicity is spot on. Thanks for the valuable insights!
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