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Your To Do List and Beyond: 8 Powerful Ways to Manage Your Tasks

There are so many things you need to do, and so many ways you could keep track of them. Search the App Store for "to do list," and you'll find thousands of tools that all promise to help you increase your productivity and get more done.

An app is only the start. There are also the various methods of keeping track of your to dos, each with their strong points and some so complicated there are entire books about them. It can be so tough to find the right method and app for you, it's often easier to just give up and try to juggle all of your tasks in your head.

It doesn't have to be that way. In this article, we'll take you through the most popular task management methods so you can pick out the perfect way to manage the things you need to do. Then, in a related article, we'll show you the best apps for each of those methods. That'll give you the tools you need to stay productive this year and beyond.

Choosing the Right Task Management Method

When it comes to task management, there's no one-size-fits-all option. Just as some people learn better visually while others learn far better audibly, there are task management methods that'll fit you perfectly—and others that'll never work for you no matter how hard you try.

In this article, you'll receive an overview along with the pros and cons of each of the following task management methods:

The "Grocery List" Method

The "Grocery List" method, or just organizing tasks in simple lists, is by far the most popular task management method. It's the way you'll likely organize tasks without even thinking about it. It puts all tasks and their respective due dates front-and-center with no fluff. There are dozens of apps that use this method of organizing your tasks, and their straightforward lists make the apps look and feel very similar to a grocery list you'd make when heading to the store.

These simple apps are great for people like myself that get a rush from finally checking tasks off of a list and moving onto the next task. When using a grocery list style app, there are no small details to check off, so you're left with the big picture for all of your tasks.

Grocery List apps often have some essential organization features to go along with the bare tasks. For instance, most have the ability to set a due date and some can set reminders for tasks using a device's location.

That being said, Grocery List-style apps may not be practical for everyone. If you need to manage small tasks within larger tasks or like being able to track the progress of a task or project, Grocery List methods aren't for you. Don't fret though, because there are plenty of other task management strategies for you.

The Grocery List Method Pros and Cons

Pros: Grocery List- esque applications are generally simple enough that they require little setup and are easy to use.

Cons: Not as great at tracking small details or handling large projects.

Getting Things Done®

Getting Things Done ® and GTD ® are registered trademarks of the David Allen Company.

For example, when working on an article, I can use a powerful list-based task management app to make a new project for the article and then add tasks for sections of an article, reminders to proofread, and make a list of all additional resources required to complete the article. At the same time, I can have projects for my home tasks, other ongoing projects at work, and more.

Most standard GTD apps have note taking and file-drop capabilities. This is very useful when starting a project, as you can attach all of your ideas and related files to the task, ensuring you won't forget any small details and giving you a one-stop-shop for your task's resources.

Some GTD applications also have built-in calendars that show your tasks and projects with their respective due dates. This can be an absolute godsend when juggling multiple projects for different clients with separate due dates. You'll also usually be able to keep up with notes and files related to your tasks in the apps.

The basic idea with GTD is that you can get everything out of your head and into your to do list app, organized in lists of related tasks with each task tagged (or categorized) according to the place or context in which you’ll do the task, and with any data related to that task attached as a note. It’s a lot of stuff in each tasks to make sure you won’t have to juggle anything in your head and can focus on what you’re doing.

Getting Things Done Pros and Cons

Pros: GTD applications can track every step of a task and often have other interesting features.

Cons: These applications can be confusing to set up and too cluttered for some.

The Text Editor Method

Using text editors for task management has been around for quite some time. In fact, the 'emacs' app in Terminal has its own text-based task management command. Text editors give you the freedom to manage tasks how you'd like and be free of the visual distractions of a Grocery List app.

If you already have a preferred text editor, there's no need to download another task management app: Just use what you already know. On top of this, the text file you use to manage your tasks is universal, so you can switch devices and platforms without disrupting your workflow.

Today.txt is even simpler than Todo.txt: it's a three line paragraph stressing one task. The text file starts with "If nothing else, today I am going to __ ." and ends with "If I do this and only this, it will be a good day." This makes the method more motivation than anything else, but it a good way to keep yourself focused when feeling distracted.

Either method—or your own personal method of organizing stuff you need to do in a text editor—could work equally well. And, if you already have a to do list app you like but want a way to keep yourself focused on what needs done today , Today.txt could be a good addition to your workflow.

The Text Editor Method Pros and Cons

Pros: Using a text editor is a simple and free way to manage your tasks. You can set up your workflow however you'd like, using programs you're familiar with.

Cons: Plain text lists can often be too barebones for some and require some setup and management to keep organized.

The Kanban Method

Take pen-and-paper to do management a step further with Kanban productivity. This method, in its purest form, takes Post-It notes, a cork board, and labels, and organizes tasks by progression. To start with Kanban, split your cork board into three sections: to do, doing, and done. Write tasks on color-coded Post-It notes and stick them in their respective step of progression. As your tasks progress, move them to their new spots on the cork board to track them. You can color-code tasks by client, project, or any other differentiator, and can add as much or little detail to each task as you want.

The Kanban Method Pros and Cons

Pros: The big picture is always in front of you and your team.

Cons: Small details can be left out, which may cause information overload for some.

The Rows, Columns n' Sheets Method

Spreadsheets are often overlooked when it comes to task management, especially in the mobile space. But they can be as powerful of a tool for task management as you let them be. Due to spreadsheets' flexibility, they're an especially great way to manage a ton of projects and tasks.

When using a spreadsheet, you can make different sheets for different types of tasks. For example, one sheet can be for work tasks and another for home errands, each with columns to keep track of data that makes sense for each. Tasks can be placed in individual rows, and cells can be color-coded to represent their importance or other key parts of a task.

If you're working in a team, you can use Google Sheet to make a no-frills group task management system. Just make a new shared Sheet, add your team members, and create color-coded cells to assign tasks. And since Google Sheets has a built-in chat client, it's easy to collaborate with team members.

The Rows, Columns n' Sheets Method Pros and Cons

Pros: You can use familiar tools to create a versatile environment for your tasks.

Cons: Like text-based applications, using spreadsheets for task management can be too basic for some. On top of this, using spreadsheets aren't the prettiest way to manage tasks.

Team-Based Productivity

To do apps aren't just for managing your own tasks. When you're working with your team, you need a way to keep up with what everyone's working on and what's left to finish your team projects.

Enter team-based productivity apps.

Team-based productivity apps are often list-based applications that let everyone have their own accounts. They're also usually web apps that'll run in any browser, with mobile apps to work on the go. Team members can add and edit tasks as well as discuss tasks within a comment thread or IM-like service, making collaborating and group task management far simpler.

Many team-based applications have features similar to that of the aforementioned GTD method. Beyond setting due dates, tasks can often have sub-tasks and the larger projects can be organized in their own boards or lists to keep everything organized for each of your different projects or clients. Most will even let you add files to tasks, so you can keep everything needed to complete the task in one spot.

Team-Based Productivity Pros and Cons

Pros: Team-based apps are generally cross-platform and are great for keeping teams on track and encourage collaboration. Additionally, they can be used for personal work if needed.

Cons: These applications can be time consuming to set up and expensive for a full team.

Good Ol' Pen and Paper

I'm sure you didn't expect to see this mentioned alongside methods of managing tasks with apps, but sometimes it's best to use pen and paper for task management—especially if you have a problem with checking Twitter instead of staying on task. When using a notebook to manage tasks, you're completely disconnected from the internet and its distractions, keeping you on track.

Pen and Paper Pros and Cons

Pros: Paper notes are distraction-free and require no connectivity.

Cons: Not as versatile as other methods in this list, and can be tough to back up.

The String-Around-The-Finger Method

Even though a notification on your phone can be a great reminder to complete a task, nothing jogs your memory like a change in something you use everyday. A classic example of this is tying a string around your finger. Or if you prefer a modern take on the method, wrap a rubberband around your phone.

The basic idea is: Put something in your way when you're thinking of something you need to do. Then, the next time you notice that thing—string, rubberband or whatever—your mind will be jogged to remember the task.

Getting a bit more technical with this idea, rearranging app icons or changing your phone's wallpaper are other good ways to jog your memory. If you're using this method on the desktop, you can set special photos or text as your screensaver or my personal favorite: putting a Post-It note in the center of my laptop's screen. Either way, doing something that's out of the ordinary can be a great way to make sure you remember what you need to do.

The String-Around-The-Finger Method and Cons

Pros: The simplest possible way to remind yourself to do something.

Cons: You might end up forgetting why you tied the string in the first place, and it works only well for single, one-off tasks.

Picking the Best Method for You

Like various learning methods, different task management strategies place focus in different areas. For example, the "Grocery List" method of task management places all crucial information upfront, while leaving many small details out of the picture. That's a great option if you just want a simple way to keep track of what needs done now .

But, if you're a more detail-oriented person, using a powerful task management will be more your speed. You'll be able to keep track of every tiny detail, manage multiple projects, and much more, all from one app. You can plan your whole life here, not just the stuff you're doing today.

Both the simple Grocery List apps and more advanced Getting Things Done apps, though, often have fancier interfaces, and they force you to work the way they're designed. If you're the kind that likes your tools to be deeply customizable or if the fancy interfaces of both of these methods throw you off, managing tasks in a text editor or spreadsheet may be best.

Working together? Give the team task management apps—or even a shared spreadsheet—a shot. Or if you'd rather a low-tech solution, mix everything up and write team tasks on a whiteboard.

There's no perfect way to manage your tasks, and you might even need more than one method to keep up with everything you're doing. Just experiment with your own variant of any of these methods, and start getting your tasks organized.

Go Get Things Done

If you're planning on using an app to manage your tasks, there are dozens of to do list apps that could work for you. But which one is the best for your needs? Here are our recommendations:

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Andrew Kunesh

Andrew is a freelance writer and user experience nerd from Chicago, IL. In his free time, you’ll find Andrew trotting the globe in search of the perfect cup of coffee. Follow @andrewkunesh on Twitter.

• Personal productivity
• Project management
• Task management & to-do lists
• Product management

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What is a task? and how to get more of them done

While the word “task” might bring about feelings of despair related to chores or undesirable actions, this is usually related more so to the way you have to manage your time than the task itself.

In this article, we’ll do a deep dive into tasks, show you the best ways to break down larger projects into them, while covering efficient approaches to manage and distribute tasks.

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What is a task in a project?

In project management, a task is a work item or activity with a specific purpose related to the larger goal. It’s a necessary step on the road towards project completion.

For example, it could be something as complex as a mobile app bug fix.

Or it could be something as simple as photocopying the latest brochure for distribution.

Single tasks are typically assigned to a single person or team, while the larger project could be a company-wide endeavor.

The task may or may not include a start and end date or a series of subtasks—this all depends on the complexity of the project at hand, which could be related to industry.

How do you break down a project into smaller tasks?

Even long term Scrum projects that last  11.6 weeks   on average make use of task management to get their work done efficiently and effectively.

Part of task management includes creating manageable workloads, considering task dependencies, and of course, communicating across teams to avoid double work or roadblocks.

To avoid these issues, you need some way to break down the high-level project deliverables and goals into tangible tasks.

In the next section, we’ll show you two of the most popular methodologies, Waterfall, and Scrum.

Work Breakdown Structure

The work breakdown structure (WBS) is the official method of breaking down projects in the PMI Guidebook.

To figure out how to break the entire project into tasks, you first need to divide it into the actual deliverables required to hand over the final product or result to the client.

For example, if you’re planning to make a mountain bike, you can break that down into the frame, handlebars, pedals, wheels, chains, and so on.

( Image Source )

You also need to work out the dependencies of the project (aka which deliverables require another one for completion).

If we were to simplify the WBS, the section on manufacturing the bike frame might look something like this.

Of course, each item contains multiple tasks such as sourcing vendors, reviewing designs, picking materials, and more.

But if you assign these tasks to teams who have the necessary skills to complete all of them, that’s what the top-level plan might look like.

If you use an Agile framework, like Scrum, you won’t bother breaking down the entire project into detailed tasks at an early stage. Avoiding this large-scale exercise in prediction is one of the primary principles of Agile.

Instead, you’ll focus on planning out a deliverable increment of your product in Scrum sprints . These are 2–4 week periods of focused work dedicated to delivering a working product version of the final deliverable.

The basis for planning out these iterations is a backlog of features or user stories (functionality from the user’s perspective). You may also have a product roadmap to outline the long-term product direction as well.

The product backlog is continually pruned and optimized before, during, and after sprints. Even if you’re not planning software projects, you can often single out elements that you can deliver in increments.

Before each Sprint, you meet with your team and stakeholders (invested parties) to discuss which user stories are the most important. You select a few items and create a dedicated sprint backlog.

Each user story is then further divided into tasks, and team members take ownership of the specific tasks they can handle.

It’s not ideal for all organizations or projects, but it’s an antidote against micromanagement in complex projects.

What size should a project task be?

So how granular should you get? What should the scope and length of the task in your project be?

It depends on the size of your project and your PM framework, but here are some rules of thumb.

The 8/80 rule for WBS

In traditional project management, a rule of thumb is that no task should be shorter than 8 hours or longer than 80 hours in the WBS.

That’s why the PMI recommends keeping tasks between 20–80 hours in the WBS.

Your individual teams can then have more granular task boards to manage their own to-do lists and/or break 2-week tasks down into daily sub-tasks.

Task length in Scrum

While user stories generally have no specified length, they’re often broken down into manageable chunks, usually one workday or less.

The official Scrum Guide doesn’t use the word tasks, but instead uses the term work unit:

“ Work planned for the first days of the Sprint by the Development Team is decomposed by the end of this meeting, often to units of one day or less. ”

On a Scrum board , you can use story points (at monday.com, we equate 1 SP to a workday) to estimate the length of the task.

Tasks shouldn’t require more than one resource

When you break down deliverables into individual tasks, time isn’t the only consideration. The best approach is to make sure the person (or resource) who’s assigned the task can complete it from start to finish.

For example, a graphic designer could create a wireframe for an app, but wouldn’t be able to create a working prototype.

So you should split the larger deliverable of a working feature prototype into wireframe/design and development (at the very least).

For larger companies, a resource could be an entire team that includes designers, developers, and software testers. In which case, you don’t have to get as granular when planning and assigning tasks.

Accurately estimating task durations

The best way to predict the duration of tasks is to involve the actual resources who will handle the task in the planning process.

You don’t need to switch to Agile or Scrum to make this happen. You just need to involve the actual project implementers in the planning process, not just management.

Not only can they help with task durations, but they can also help with dependencies and expecting potential bottlenecks.

What is the best way to organize project tasks?

There are hundreds of different frameworks and methods for managing projects and breaking them down into tasks.

A few stand out because of their efficiency and ease of adoption and have become popular as a result.

Let’s take a closer look at these industry-leading options.

Waterfall refers to the traditional “predictive” project management approach. It’s called predictive because you plan every phase of the project from start to finish before even getting started.

The reason it’s called waterfall is that the projects are planned to follow a sequential order.

First, you start out by figuring out the requirements of the project. What deliverables do you need to deliver a finished product?

Then you move on to designing and creating (implementing) it. Finally, you verify that the product works as intended, and launch it. The last stage includes the long-term maintenance of the product.

While berating waterfall is a popular pastime among younger management professionals, it has its place.

For physical products with a lot of dependencies and high costs associated with actual production time, mapping out the entire project in detail can be the best approach.

Instead of a specific methodology, Agile outlines a core set of values and principles to apply to your projects. As a result, Agile is an umbrella term that covers many different methodologies and frameworks .

The most famous principle is to deliver working iterations of your project frequently. That’s in contrast to planning out an entire product from start to finish like with waterfall.

Lean, like Agile, is not a specific framework that details a project management approach. Instead, it refers to a management philosophy with a core set of principles.

The focus of Lean is eliminating waste in processes throughout each stage of production. The execution is what controls the outcome, after all.

Fixing bottlenecks between departments to speed up the final assembly is a good example.

Not to be confused with Agile, which is more about high-level concepts and principles, Scrum is an actual framework for project management.

It outlines clear rules, meetings (ceremonies), and deliverables (artifacts), not just values.

For example, Scrum teams should only include a maximum of 9 regular team members. Daily Scrum meetings should only last 15 minutes.

The entire process of designing and completing a sprint is laid out in detail. That’s what makes the Scrum framework so useful for teams that want to implement more Agile principles into practice.

How to use a project management platform for effective task management

Instead of slowing down your managers and teams with an inefficient process, take advantage of the latest task management software .

monday.com is a digital workspace with all the functionality a project manager could ever want, wrapped in a package that’s actually easy to learn and use.

Pick the framework or methodology you want to work with

If you want to reach a completely new target level of productivity, basic task management won’t cut it. You need to introduce a project management framework that goes beyond daily tasks.

Luckily, monday.com makes it easy to make the switch. We offer dedicated templates for everything from WBS to Scrum.

Develop the high-level project roadmap

For consistent results, you should develop a high-level project roadmap. It will help guide all decisions and priorities as the project progresses.

Get more granular with a WBS and other task boards

This is where you break the larger goals into smaller deliverables and start to establish the workload for each team or department that’s involved.

It should outline the overall process but may not specify every activity or task, depending on the scale of the project.

But it’s not the best for planning individual tasks within the involved teams or departments.

Which is why monday.com also offers more basic task boards that these teams can use to manage the day-to-day.

You can easily divide larger items into smaller subtasks and assign them as well.

Use integrations and automations to automate menial tasks

If you want to perfect your workflow , it’s not enough to create some new task boards. You also need to eliminate repetitive menial tasks.

For example, with our smart integrations, you can automatically update a card or create a new task when you receive an email or message.

It’s a useful feature for a wide variety of teams and use-cases. For example, your software team could get a new task with every bug report.

By automating menial tasks, you give your managers and team the time and space to focus on crucial high-level decisions.

Keep managers up to speed with dashboards and reports

Want to see at a glance if tasks are being completed on schedule, or which people (or teams) are available for last-minute work?

You can easily create and customize a dashboard that will give your managers instant access to all the information they need.

Master your tasks

Breaking down a project into tasks and assigning them effectively requires a bit of balance.

Finding the framework that works best for your industry and internal workflows and pairing them with the tips above can help you find the happy medium of management and autonomy that will allow your teams to thrive.

Whichever you choose, monday.com has the right templates and tools to help your projects succeed.

Project management

Task Management: Tips, Best Practices, Tools & More

Ever wonder how the most powerful people on earth actually get so much stuff done ?

People like Bill Gates and Elon Musk haven’t been super successful in their lives by accident. They’ve done it by organizing every hour of every day—scheduling their time so they’re productive and reaching their goals. 

This way of thinking is the crux of task management. After all, everybody has the same amount of hours in their day, but it’s how you organize those hours that determine how much you actually get done. 

The way we organize our working days comes down to strategy. Some people will stick to a to-do list , while companies may find it more useful to use task management tools to organize their calendars. In fact, companies that use techniques like task management spend 28x less money than those who try to deliver projects without a real plan or strategy. 

In this piece, we’re going to take a deep dive into: 

What is task management?

Why you should start thinking about task management

Three different ways you can manage tasks

The advantages of using a task management tool

How to choose the right task management tool.

Let’s get organizing

Robust task management software

Plan, track, and monitor all aspects of your tasks across every project or break them down even further with subtasks.

Track tasks with Teamwork

What Is Task Management?

Task management is where every task is scheduled and managed using details and deadlines to deliver projects on time. 

Task management isn’t as complicated as it sounds. It’s just a fancy way of planning how tasks are handled from the moment you put them into a schedule until they’re completed. We’re talking about setting deadlines, collaborating with team members, and creating project schedules that allow you and your team to be as productive as possible. 

When it’s done well, task management allows you to:

Manage your workload: See what’s on your calendar, what items you need to prioritize , and what deadlines you have looming

Boost productivity: When every task is organized, you’ll know exactly what you need to be working on and what needs to get done. All of the information for every task will be in one place

Create collaboration channels: Task management is about team management. Your team will have a better idea about who is working on what and when you expect them to collaborate on a task to get it completed quicker

Be more time efficient: Instead of deciding what task you should do next or what is more urgent, task management eliminates wasted thinking time. You’ll always know what you should be working on. 

What’s baffling is the number of businesses that still don’t have a process in place to organize and complete tasks in their pipeline. PMI's 2017 Global Project Management survey found that 37% of executive leaders admitted the biggest cause of failed projects was a lack of clearly defined objectives and discipline when implementing strategy.

In other words… not planning well enough. 

Why you should improve your task management process

Ever wonder how teams like Microsoft manage to release new products and features all the time? 

It’s no accident that their 3000-person team of developers is so meticulous that they’re able to release brand new versions of every one of their projects every three weeks. Their tasks are managed down to the finest details. Everyone knows what needs to be done, who will be doing it, and when tasks need to be delivered. 

You see, task management is just one part of the overall puzzle of project management . MetaLab Project Manager Kyria Brown put it best when she compared the planning, completing, and delivering projects to flying a plane. 

“At the most basic level, a Project Manager’s role is to ensure things run smoothly so the pilots and flight crew can do what they do best while the passengers feel safe knowing they’re not going to fall out of the sky or crash mid-flight,” she says.  

“None of us would make good pilots anymore than we’d make good designers or developers, yet as Project Managers, we get to be the shepherds of their successes and live our creative dreams vicariously through them.”

However, successfully landing that plane highlights the benefits of task management. Not only can task management help you see from 10,000 feet what everyone on your team is working on, but it’ll also give you a better idea of their capacity and what tasks they’re prioritizing. 

The good news is that task management isn’t exactly rocket science. On the surface, it involves three simple steps: 

Step #1. Create tasks: The first step is unpacking a project and creating individual tasks to deliver it. Once you know what these tasks are, you can turn them into actionable items by creating deliverables and setting deadlines

Step #2. Organize and prioritize: Think about every roadblock you might come up against during the project. Could a team sickness derail certain tasks? Does your team have the capacity to get them all done? Schedule the tasks on your team's schedule based on who has spare time 

Step #3. Monitor and update: Here’s where task management really comes into play. Once a project kicks off, you can use task management to monitor each task and change things in real-time. If a team member is running behind, you can re-allocate a task to another team member or change tasks around so the most important gets done first. 

The best way to actually manage tasks, however, is still up for debate.

How to manage tasks

We know you’ve heard it before, but it needs to be repeated— failing to plan is planning to fail. 

It’s obvious that task management is a crucial part of delivering a successful project, but it’s up to you to decide which method is best for your team. The most common methods for managing tasks can be put into three different categories: 

Manual: To-do lists, anybody?

Electronic: Spreadsheets/apps

Online: Cloud-based task management tools

The truth is that if you don’t have a way to manage your tasks, it’ll be an uphill climb to get everything done on time. Here are some ways to turn that pile of tasks into an organized timeline. 

1. Write an old school to-do list

Ahhh, the to-do list. 

It’s the simplest way to manage your tasks, and the good news is that all you need is a pen and paper to create one. If your task list is fairly light or straightforward, this method may be enough for you to organize your schedule. 

Simply write down each task you need to get done, add a deadline, and tick them off as you complete them. 

If you like the idea of planning tasks on a to-do list but you want to do it digitally, you can use an app like Todoist . In the app, you can create tasks, set deadlines, and have access to your digital to-do list no matter where you are. 

The good news: To-do lists are the task management equivalent of going off-grid. You don’t need an internet connection or to pay for an app to organize your tasks. 

The bad news: To-do lists are very basic and if you are managing anyone other than yourself, it’s not ideal. 

2. Use a kanban board

Kanban boards were developed in the 1940s by Toyota. In Japanese, Kanban means signboard—which is exactly what this task management system is. 

A Kanban board is basically a digitized post-it note board, and they normally look like this:

Managing tasks this way helps you to visualize every task inside a project and break them up into columns. For example, you can use columns to represent stages of a project’s workflow. Inside each column will be a card that represents an individual task. 

Let’s say your team is doing a website redesign . To get the project done, your team will have to complete tasks like selecting typefaces, collecting images, and building a mood board. Using a tool like Teamwork.com, you can organize these tasks into separate columns on a Kanban board: 

Once the project kicks off and the team starts working on each task, they will slowly make their way down the Kanban board into the completed column. Teamwork.com’s triggers also cut out the manual admin work by automatically re-assigning tasks and changing due dates when a task moves from one column to the next.

However, Kanban boards do more than just keep your tasks organized. It can also help you spot bottlenecks and raise the alarm if deadlines aren’t being met. If a task is overdue, your team will get a notification automatically and you can quickly address the problem before the entire project gets derailed. 

The good news: Kanban is a great way for your team to visualize every task inside a project. It gives everyone a clear idea about their workload, due dates, and how a project is progressing. 

The bad news: For big, complicated projects, Kanban boards can get busy and look overwhelming. 

3. Use a task management tool

A task management tool is the easiest way for teams to manage multiple projects at once. 

Not only will every team member have access to their own account, but they will be given their own schedule, task list , and due dates for every task assigned to them. It’s the easiest way for teams to collaborate and get projects done without having to waste hours every week in planning meetings. 

You will also have a 10,000 feet view over every project in your pipeline. A task management tool shows every task and which team member is working on them so you can better estimate your capacity for future projects, and you can also schedule people to work on multiple projects at once.  

The good news: Task management tools are perfect for teams who need to collaborate on projects and plan tasks based on capacity. 

The bad news: These tools will probably cost a little more than a pen and paper

When it comes to managing tasks at a team level, it’s a bit different from managing a shopping list. 

Small businesses managing tasks will look a lot different from companies with 50 projects in their pipelines. Even so, managing tasks using methods like spreadsheets, whiteboards, and post-it notes can be a recipe for disaster. 

Nobody wants to walk into the office on Monday morning and find this.

The big pull of investing in a task management tool is that it helps deliver projects successfully by recognizing that task management is team management. 

Before Telecommunications company Strencom started using a task management tool, they were trying to deliver hundreds of projects by using traditional tools like email, spreadsheets, and documents.

Not only were they struggling to deliver all of their projects on time, but their communications with clients also suffered. The company’s Director of Operations, Colum Buckley, says the company reached a point where managing projects using email and spreadsheets had become a total nightmare. 

So, they started searching for a task management tool that would keep tabs on deliverables, tasks, and deadlines, as well as involving their clients in the process. 

The company invested in Teamwork.com. Not only does the tool give them real-time insight into their pipeline, but it involves their clients, who can not track their project’s progress without the need for an official update from a project manager.

The result? 

Strencom has tripled its NPS score — a metric used to measure customer loyalty — in just five years. 

“Not only are we completing more projects in less time, but we’re getting a reputation for on-time delivery and reliability,” Buckley says. 

“Our project delivery is now a real value add, which is good for us in Operations and for everyone in the business.”

Picking the right task management tool for your specific needs is super important, so you need to do your research. 

Some tools out there are basic, and others have everything but the kitchen sink. So, it’s important to know exactly what you need before you invest. To do that, you should compile a “must-have” features list by asking yourself: 

What types of projects do you normally have in your pipeline? 

Does your team collaborate often and would you benefit from features like notifications and automated triggers?

How many people are on your team? (this will impact how much the tool will cost)

Do you need reporting and analytics features? 

Will you need time-tracking features? 

Would you benefit from project templates to improve your task management?

Will the tool integrate into your existing tech stack? 

Whatever task management tool you pick, make sure that it ticks all of the boxes on your list and doesn’t break the bank! 

For more details about getting started with a task management tool — check out Teamwork.com .

Teamwork.com is the all-in-one platform for client work.

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Task management software: 9 tools to consider

April 26, 2024 - 10 min read

The best task management software helps you accomplish your tasks efficiently, produce consistently excellent work, and make sure nothing is overlooked. 

Whether you have a large project to break down or you want to make it easier for your team to collaborate, a watertight task management system makes all the difference. Here, we’ve listed some of the most widely used features to help teams: 

• Define tasks and subtasks so they can plan, delegate, and assign resources
• Track tasks and identify risks as the project progresses
• Centralize tasks so they can collaborate effectively
• Prioritize tasks to reduce stress at the end of the project
• Give completed tasks the stamp of approval

We know some people who land on this post will be individuals working on their own, looking for a quick and easy way to get their to-do list under control. The tools we feature in this post are designed for companies, and our solution, Wrike , is best suited to large teams. 

If you’re looking for a web-based tool, try task management apps like the free version of Trello, Todoist, or Microsoft Planner, which is included in Microsoft 365. But if you’re looking for a truly scalable, powerful system that supports your entire organization , read on. 

We’ll start with Wrike . 

1. Wrike: Go beyond task lists with powerful task management tools 

Wrike is the work management platform for large companies, complex setups, and growing businesses. 

Managers often prioritize saving time and money when they want to implement task management software. Wrike will certainly help you here (our features include time tracking and budgeting as well as automation to optimize workflows ), but you get much more, too.

Our intelligent task management features track the jobs being completed across your company’s projects and subteams, helping you avoid mistakes and making sure nothing is overlooked. When you work within Wrike, your tasks are centralized, so completing them is collaborative, the ownership is clear, and accountability is guaranteed — no matter how many people are involved. 

What’s more, you can tailor your task tracking to the work your team has on their plates. All this leaves you with a system that supports your team’s collaboration throughout their working day, rather than just a checklist that tells them what to do. 

Hootsuite required one consolidated solution to simplify and manage large-scale projects across 16 offices. Wrike helped it track progress and communicate across regions, so now the team can update a task or a whole project in 30 seconds, restoring focus to the customer. 

With that in mind, let’s look at Wrike’s top task management features for collaborative teams. 

Create and assign tasks that reflect your work

To find a task management tool your team loves to use, you need to look at the way it fits the tasks they actually have to complete. 

For example, imagine you’re tracking tasks on a basic Kanban board – like the one you’d have if you used Trello . This suits relatively straightforward tasks like creating content for your company’s website. In this case, a task card for your creative and design team might move through columns labeled “Requested,” “In progress,” “In review,” and then “Published.” 

But suppose your creative team is producing content for an external client with a strict compliance process in place. In that case, your task cards might start to jump between columns as they’re reviewed and sent back to the writer. 

In this scenario, it becomes worryingly easy to lose track of who’s reviewed what. The workflow can stall, revisions can be overlooked, and tasks can even start to slip through the cracks. This is where Wrike’s custom item types save the day. 

Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach, custom items tailor task management to suit your team’s requirements. 

Every task you add to Wrike can accurately reflect the stages (and the people) involved. Instead of just showing the task as a card or a line in a spreadsheet, you get a single point of reference, with various trackable statuses, to help you accurately plan your resources and monitor your team’s capacity. 

The process is simple. Wrike includes out-of-the-box task templates, or you can edit and automate tasks unique to your team.

Paul De Leon, a Graphic Designer from the San Francisco Chronicle , said :  

“The way I’m able to customize Wrike to fit my workflow is one of the strongest features.” 

As well as tracking your customized tasks within Wrike, you can delegate them by assigning them to an individual, a job type, or a team. With a simple when/then automation, you can even make task assignment an automatic part of task creation or progress. 

Plus, when the next person in the chain picks up the task, they’ll see the entire comment history and have instant access to the documents they need, so they can easily understand the work that’s been done so far. 

In a nutshell, Wrike is set up to break complex projects into tasks that reflect your process, making it easier to: 

• Plan and schedule your projects 
• Assign each task in the process
• Track progress through detailed stages 
• Complete your work to a high standard every time. 

Choose the visualization that works for you

Once you have your list of tasks, seeing each one as part of the bigger picture helps you manage your work effectively. 

With Wrike, you can visualize your tasks in a way that makes sense for your team, and toggle between views to see the data from multiple angles. 

Try adding some of these views to your workspace. 

Gantt chart

Gantt charts are a popular way to visualize project timelines , milestones, and task dependencies (i.e., the order you have to complete your tasks to keep up the momentum on your project). 

Gantt charts are a common feature of task management software, but Wrike’s stand apart. Our charts are totally responsive. You can define task dependencies with an intuitive drag-and-drop function. Whenever you reschedule a task, the subsequent due dates will automatically adjust to match. 

TeamViewer is a software company that uses Wrike in its marketing and creative departments. Using the Gantt Chart view, it can visualize and adjust its project planning process at any time. Fabian Schenk, Marketing Project Manager, said :

“Depicting the dependencies and statuses gives you a good overview of what needs to be done and what’s going to happen.”

Kanban board

In Kanban methodology, tasks are visualized as cards that move across a board as they progress through stages. It’s a great way to get an interactive overview of your project’s status, identify roadblocks, and plan effectively. 

Kanban boards are particularly popular with development or Agile teams , but they can bring clarity to any organization. Sean Amster, Digital Strategy & Operations Manager at Frontline Education said :

“With Wrike, we’re able to create statuses that are really meaningful and tell us a story of where a task or a project is. Ultimately, that allows us to better communicate with management and leadership.”

You could even set up your team’s Kanban board with our Kanban project management template .

Calendar 

With Wrike, you can sync your projects to a shared calendar , which shows the tasks and deadlines coming up and keeps the whole team in the loop. This helps you plan your projects more accurately, coordinate your schedules, and even eliminate the need for email check-ins ( in our experience , teams can reduce internal emails by up to 90%) .  

Calendars can be filtered by project, with color coding to help you check your data at a glance. 

Teams that work with Wrike find countless advantages in visualizing their tasks from multiple angles. Compared to a simple list of jobs to be done, these top-level overviews can: 

• Show individual team members how their work fits into the big picture 
• Help managers identify and respond to risks and bottlenecks
• Encourage teamwork and collaboration that delivers great results 

Ultimately, by viewing the same task data through these various lenses, you know every decision you make about the work is informed. 

Instantly prioritize your workload

Once you can visualize your tasks in detail, it’s time to prioritize your work. This is where Wrike’s intelligent dashboards can give you the edge. 

Dashboards filter data about your tasks and their status on the project, team, or individual level. You can sort any number of tasks by due date, status, priority, or any other feature you choose. No matter how many tasks your team is taking on, you can be sure you’re devoting your energy to the ones that need it most. 

Our next-generation AI dashboards also include powerful risk management features . As well as visualizing and prioritizing your team’s tasks, Wrike can flag overdue tasks, tasks in danger of missing a deadline, or unachievable task dependencies that could potentially derail a project milestone. 

Most importantly, dashboards create a central source of truth for all the people working on your project tasks, which also supports them as they achieve their individual goals. 

Alongside team or project dashboards, creating a private dashboard — for example, as part of someone’s onboarding process — gives a team member a place to visualize their work in the way they want, monitor their incoming tasks, and start their day with a clear view of what needs to be done. 

Enhance productivity and collaboration when you manage tasks in Wrike

Wrike elevates task management by centralizing real-time data on all the work your team completes. Beyond task tracking, you get a host of other features to enhance communication and increase productivity as you complete your work. 

Gwynnie Bee reduced processing time by 60% , Siemens noted a 10% improvement in productivity , and F5 tracked a 33% increase in on-time delivery , all thanks to features that: 

• Automate notifications . Automation boosts collaboration by helping your team get answers faster, with tagged comments, automatic task delegation, and discussions attached to individual tasks. Plus, by keeping all your communications within Wrike, you reduce the chance of losing track of an aspect of your project. 
• Reduce admin tasks . Custom request forms can automate task intake, blueprint tasks can reduce your workload for repeatable jobs, and generating reports on your project progress can drastically reduce the amount of time your team spends in meetings. 
• Speed up approvals . Built-in proofing tools allow for easy commenting on the document itself, access to comment history, and quick approvals to move the task on at the touch of a button. 
• Integrate with other tools . Choose from 400+ integrations to connect Wrike to the other platforms your team uses – like Slack, Google Drive, Salesforce, and Tableau .

When you’re ready to graduate from basic work tracking methods, there are some serious advantages to choosing Wrike as your new task management platform. 

Pros: 

• Total customization for seamless work across teams 
• 360° visibility on every task you complete 
• Effortless task prioritization
• Desktop apps for Windows and Mac and mobile apps for iOS and Android
• Countless additional features to support every stage of your workflow
• Wrike is more comprehensive than the basic task management tools we mentioned earlier, so it might take more time to set up than a lightweight solution 
• Individuals and smaller teams may only need some of the features on offer 

Additional features

Wrike is a robust and scalable solution for your task management — and it includes countless other collaboration features to centralize and manage entire projects.  

These include:  

• Online proofing and approval tools for creatives, developers, and more
• Cross-tagging to share tasks and manage resources – even across the different teams involved in your project 
• Reporting features to measure the impact of your tasks and inform your strategy 
• Pioneering AI features , including generative AI and intelligent automation suggestions for your workflows 

As you know, there are other work management platforms out there that offer task-tracking features. Here, we compare those to Wrike, so you can make an informed decision.  

Asana is a project management platform with a reputation for attractive visuals and ease of use. Its task management features include dashboards so you can check in on tasks and view your project data. It also includes rule-based automations to save time on repetitive tasks. Asana is priced similarly to Wrike and offers a 30-day free trial. 

• Great to look at and relatively simple to use on the project level
• Custom fields in tasks help to sort and filter a team’s workload
• Customizable, including 200+ app integrations

Cons:  

• The Gantt view gives a simplistic view of the project timeline
• Dashboards are only available at project level, so you won’t be able to create a task management dashboard for individual teams
• Customization is available, but it tends to improve the visuals of the board rather than the structure of your work

We think Wrike is easier to use than Asana, has more features to aid collaboration, and offers more of the visibility that teams need. 

Find out more: Wrike vs. Asana

3. Basecamp

Basecamp was built by a web design agency struggling to find a tool to meet its needs. It’s widely used by smaller businesses for the scheduling, messaging, and monitoring jobs associated with good task management. 

• Shared workspaces and file storage for remote teams, which centralizes task management to an extent
• To-do lists to break complex projects into smaller tasks 
• Flat fee pricing model can offer good value for larger teams 
• All integrations have been developed by third parties, so we can’t vouch for their reliability 
• No inbuilt templates for projects or recurring tasks
• Basecamp can’t cover all the jobs teams complete (for example, there are no features for requests and approvals), so teams may have to juggle tools to take their projects from ideation to approval

In comparison to Basecamp, Wrike can take you to the top. 

Find out more: Wrike vs. Basecamp

ClickUp is a flexible task management tool that helps teams manage their tasks and streamline team collaboration. Like other tools on this list, it includes multiple views, integrations, and file management features ; it can also suit both developers and creative teams. 

• Easy to use and set up 
• Wide functionality with a long list of features 
• Mind map feature differentiates ClickUp from other task management tools on this list

Cons: 

• There can be bugs and issues with stability at scale, and some features can be inconsistent 
• No phone support option from the customer service team 

Wrike is better rated for professional service automation, performance, and reliability than ClickUp. 

Find out more: Wrike vs. ClickUp

Hive classifies itself as a “project management platform for hybrid work.” 

Like Wrike, it combines task management and communication features and includes templates that help reduce a team’s workload. Hive takes a “by users for users” approach to designing the platform, aiming at building a tool that connects all aspects of work. 

• Multiple communication features alongside task management tools
• Over 1,000 integrations via platforms like Zapier
• Like Wrike, includes a built-in time tracking tool to use as part of task and timeline management
• Lacks folders, spaces, and portfolio-level reporting, which is not ideal for managing tasks for larger teams
• Broad permissions, which might run counter to a business’ security concerns 

We’ve compared use cases for Wrike and Hive in detail. 

Find out more: Wrike vs. Hive

Like Trello, Jira is part of Atlassian. It’s popular with development teams and fans of Agile project management who regularly tackle their work in sprints. The platform includes customizable workflows and can track task progress as your project goes on. Its free trial period is only seven days, but the free plan includes up to 10 users. 

• Used by an active community of supporters and developers 
• Set up for bug and issue tracking, which is great for IT and engineering teams
• Customizable workflows and progress tracking
• Can be time consuming to set up
• Rated much lower for reliability and usability than Wrike

Wrike’s work management works for creative teams, marketing, professional services, and developers, too. 

Find out more: Wrike vs. Jira

7. Monday.com

Monday.com is a cloud-based collaboration and task management tool designed for remote teams. Monday includes customizable dashboards and other task management features for projects, but these generally only work on the project level, making it much harder to customize the setup for individual teams. 

• Familiar to teams that use spreadsheets, so the learning curve is manageable
• Includes automations to speed up task completion, like reminders 
• Customer support isn’t that strong – the only phone support available is for billing issues 
• No equivalent of Wrike’s cross-tagging, which makes it harder to track tasks across multiple projects 

Be one of the 2.4 million people who choose Wrike over Monday.com. 

Find out more: Wrike vs. Monday.com

8. Smartsheet

Smartsheet is another task management tool that looks similar to an Excel spreadsheet, but with more room to grow. This was one of the first tools to combine this familiarity with the added functionality of a work management tool. It now boasts a user-friendly visual layout and additional project management features. 

• Automations for your workflows, including templates and blueprints
• Includes team, project, or executive dashboards
• Reporting features create documents, graphs, images, and text boxes, making them easy to interpret 
• Larger accounts with more data and records can face issues with the app’s performance
• Spreadsheet format might not be ideal for larger teams

With Wrike, you can visualize your project as more than lines and cells. 

Find out more: Wrike vs. Smartsheet

9. Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects is a project management tool with planning, tracking, and reporting features, as well as communications and reminder tools. It’s part of Zoho One, a software suite of work applications used worldwide. If you already use Zoho’s other tools, Zoho Projects integrates seamlessly. 

• Includes Gantt charts that can be shared with teams or stakeholders (alongside multiple work views)
• Built-in timesheet feature
• Like the other tools on this list, Zoho includes a range of collaboration and communications tools
• Fewer pricing options than Wrike, and Wrike’s comparable plans offer more for the user
• Limited, less customizable reporting features make it more difficult to identify key metrics and resolve risks

Wrike is the best Zoho Projects alternative on the market. 

Find out more: Wrike vs. Zoho Projects

Wrike: Unbeatable task tracking, and so much more

When the creative team at Umpqua Bank needed to enhance visibility, track their deadlines, and consolidate their communications, they turned to Wrike. Jason Resch, the VP of Creative Services, said: 

“When we’re looking at 150 jobs a month, and trying to imagine how we’re going to accomplish getting all those jobs done, and how to organize them all – I can’t imagine how we would do it without a solution like Wrike.”

There’s a wide range of task tracking and project management software on the market right now. Whether you need to get on top of your tasks as a small business owner or bring international teams together, there’s a solution out there for you.  

But of all the options, Wrike offers the best task management software as part of our full-service work management platform. You’ll deliver your best work more easily, more collaboratively, and more efficiently than you could do with another solution, and Wrike will scale up with you as you grow.  

Find out what Wrike can do for your team when you book a demo today . 

Elaine McDonagh

As Senior Manager of Self Service at Wrike, Elaine leads a global team in optimizing self-service resources. With a background in community management, she’s passionate about empowering customers to do the best work of their lives.

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20 Best Task Management Software Tools to Elevate Your Workflows [2024 Edition]

Sudarshan Somanathan

Head of Content

May 14, 2024

Just a few years back, I was always stuck in a cycle of frustration and self-blame—all because my professional workload was spiraling out of control . I’d make ambitious plans for me and my team and watch in agony as they fell flat. Things became so bad that I got used to the anxiety that accompanied my zillion unattended tasks. What followed was constant overwhelm, a clear lack of motivation , and even sneaky health repercussions. 😔

Eventually, I confided in some peers and realized that I was definitely not alone. In fact, there’s research revealing that as many as 41% of workers experience stress due to their heavy workloads. 

I was able to get out of this rough patch over time, and I cannot emphasize enough how life-changing it was for me to find the right task management software. You see, it’s never the amount of work that creates chaos—but poor task management.

In my case, for instance, I once unknowingly orchestrated a team burnout as I had the habit of setting over-enthusiastic ( read: unreasonable ) deadlines and delegating tasks without realistic workload considerations. It was only after I found my perfect task management tool that I had the knowledge and visibility needed to make more practical choices.

I’d call myself a much saner task manager now, and I hope my team here at ClickUp agrees. We have worked together to bring you this article exploring the 20 best task management software , with a special focus on tools that can assist you in assigning tasks and optimizing priorities effectively in 2024. You can learn about their key features, limitations, and pricing before locking your ideal task manager tool. 🌻

What Should You Look for in a Task Management Tool?

• 1. ClickUp—best overall project & task management software

2. Asana—best for remote teams

3. jira—best for experienced it professionals, 4. monday.com—best for marketing and pmo teams, 5. trello—best for small teams, 6. hive—best task management software for multi-layered team collaboration, 7. meistertask—best for kanban task management, 8. ntask—best task management software for scheduling, 9. zenhub—best for software teams, 10. zoho projects—best for complex project management, 11. activecollab—best for personalized task management experience for client-based workflows, 12. wrike—best for scalable workflow management, 13. todoist—best for teams on a budget, 14. proofhub—best for granular task tracking, 15. smarttask—best for managing multiple projects, 16. hubspot (hubspot task management)—best for crm tasks, 17. paymo—best for client tasks and bookings, 18. timecamp—best for time tracking and billing tasks, 19. any.do—best for creating to-do lists, 20. smartsheet—best for spreadsheet-style task management, leveraging the best task management tools: which one to pick.

For cross-collaborative teams like mine, task management software doesn’t just help identify, monitor, and manage tasks . It goes beyond supporting a simple to-do list and offers features to efficiently collaborate on elaborate workflows for effective goal completion .

The best task management software allows my team to set deadlines, prioritize tasks , track progress, and adjust schedules with ease, which results in smoother decision-making. Other useful functionalities that we prioritize include:

• Flexibility: In my experience, good task management software is always the one that has a user-friendly interface. Bonus points if it runs smoothly on all major operating systems across devices, giving my team more control over everyday work
• Time tracking: We find it’s best to go for a task management solution that lets us improve our time management through seamless time tracking
• Task automation: As your business grows, automation plays a key role in expanding your task base sustainably. The best task management software lets us automate recurring admin tasks, leaving everyone more time to focus on cognitively demanding, high-level assignments
• Communication support: Because I’m running a busy, distributed team, I value tools that support productive task-related discussions, file sharing, and instant announcements
• Reporting and analytics: We’ve noticed that quality task management software provides reporting features to record and analyze information (like clock-in/clock-out data, absence, and overtime hours) for productivity analysis, invoicing, and payroll management
• Integration with other tools: Now this may be a personal preference, but I like it when my task management system integrates with other software we use, like messaging apps , project management tools , and writing assistants , simply because this eliminates context switching and makes team collaboration and task monitoring way easier 😇

20 Best Task Management Software for Balanced Task Planning and Execution

When we started testing out the tons of task management apps available on the market, one aspect was clear—they’re not all cut from the same cloth. For instance, some are versatile tools, while others focus on nailing specific functions like task dependencies.

We eventually narrowed down to 20 best task management software that just had to be on our list. We cherry-picked them after considering diverse criteria like feature set and affordability, so you’re sure to find something that addresses your immediate needs. 🧐

Here’s a snapshot of our list, which will be followed by detailed and honest reviews of each software:

1. ClickUp —best overall project & task management software

Why end with a bang when we can start with one? 💥

We might be a bit biased here, but ClickUp has repeatedly proved itself to be the best task management solution for individuals, professionals, and teams alike. It’s not just us; even G2 considers it to be the best-rated task management and team task management software , ranking it #1 in 15+ competitive categories in 2024!

What makes ClickUp click is its AI-enabled, end-to-end support for managing tasks and priorities, monitoring progress, and staying productive.

How we use ClickUp for hands-on task management

The way we leverage ClickUp for my team is pretty straightforward—for starters, we go to ClickUp Tasks for everything, from centralized task planning and scheduling to tracking individual assignments.

I love how the platform makes our task management process super intuitive and data-rich. We get to categorize team tasks by type and set Custom Task Status from To Do to Done to make tracking effortless. We can use as many Custom Fields as we want to set deadlines, add assignees, and define further details we want to track or filter through. For each task assignment, our team can also: 

• Add links and comments to centralize contextual knowledge and discussions
• Specify task dependencies to offer visibility for schedule management
• Define subtasks and checklists to support extensive deliverables 
• Use @mentions and action items to delegate tasks and share updates

Our Task View is by default a pop-up window, but we can also minimize it to a sidebar or Task Tray if we want to keep our individual to-do lists accessible or track time as we go.

If you are a visual task manager like me, there’s good news! I frequently use the 15+ project views of this task management software for comprehensive visibility over our entire workflow—I manage tasks on Kanban boards, sort through them in the List view, and visualize timelines with colorful Gantt charts. 🌈

ClickUp comes with a drag-and-drop Calendar view that aids our granular task planning. We also make use of the Recurring Tasks feature to schedule routine stuff, like meetings and sprint retrospectives, and visualize or adjust our day-to-day directly on the Calendar.

At any given day, we have 100+ active tasks across departments, and it’s near impossible to follow up on each one of them. Thankfully, we can stay on top of our task lists with ClickUp Reminders . We create them from any task comment or notification, which gives us more flexibility to manage team tasks seamlessly from any device we’re on without losing sight of inter-departmental dependencies.

And, if we’re dealing with an overwhelming workload, we identify what to prioritize and deprioritize using ClickUp Task Priorities and its color-coded tags. We also lighten team workloads with ClickUp Automatons , which lets us automate time-consuming tasks like checking emails or organizing documents.

Bonus! Our secret to stress-free productivity? ClickUp Brain and pre-made templates

Beyond tracking and prioritizing tasks, ClickUp also lends us a hand with Project Management . For instance, we employ ClickUp Brain , the platform’s AI assistant, to automate project summaries, task planning, and task standups and updates.

ClickUp Brain is a neural network connecting the team’s tasks, documents, and discussions living on the platform—it helps us extract and summarize information and action items through simple prompts and questions.

We also take our productivity to new heights with numerous customizable ClickUp templates that help us standardize task assignments immediately! If you’re new to the platform, the ClickUp Task Management Template can be a great starting point. By downloading this free template , you can organize your tasks into Lists like Action Items , Ideas , and Backlog for easier navigation. Open separate views to track assignments by department or priority label. 🚩

ClickUp best features

• 1,000+ templates to kickstart skillful task management
• Intuitive task scheduling platform with time tracking
• ClickUp Dashboards for real-time task tracking and productivity metrics
• ClickUp Goals to set measurable task KPIs
• Task Checklist feature for easy to-do list creation
• Multiple project views like List, Table, and Timeline
• Custom task statuses to complement your workflow
• A Bulk Action Toolbar to edit multiple tasks at once
• Automates recurring, error-prone tasks
• Built-in task prioritization levels  
• Universal Search and Tags to access tasks quickly
• Supports task generation directly from ClickUp Docs and Whiteboards
• Integrates with 1,000+ apps like Slack, Gmail, Zoom, Outlook, and HubSpot
• Dedicated mobile app for iOS and Android
• Compatible with Mac, Windows, and Linux
• Built-in chat and file-sharing options for task collaboration
• Easy-to-use, no-code interface

ClickUp limitations

• It takes time to explore all its task management features (you can leverage the ClickUp Help Center to ease the learning curve)
• A dedicated subtask reporting feature would be a great add-on

ClickUp pricing

Most of ClickUp’s task management features are accessible on the free plan. The price-to-features ratio on the paid options is one of the best in this space.

• Free Forever (supports unlimited tasks and members)
• Unlimited: $7/month per user
• Business: $12/month per user
• Enterprise: Contact for pricing
• ClickUp AI: Add to any paid plan for $5 per member per month

*All listed prices refer to the yearly billing model

ClickUp ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.7/5 (9,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (4,000+ reviews)

The platform has garnered largely positive reviews as a task management solution. Here’s how one user describes their experience :

My favorite feature is the ‘add to’ function for tasks, which enables me to have a central location for all major projects. Within the project/Epic, subtasks can be assigned to the correct space/list to be worked on by whoever needs it. Having a top-down view of the location and status of each subtask is invaluable to keeping track of what is completed and incomplete. Adding custom fields wherever I need them is also fantastic.

There’s no milder way to put it—we just love Asana as an online task management software for remote teams! For starters, we can use pre-built templates to organize our remote projects and coordinate on tasks and updates using the centralized Inbox feature.

As we tested the tool further, we noticed that it was incredibly easy to add and track cross-team tasks across multiple projects. Essentially, I can ensure the same task is never duplicated in another department, which is a common pain point for remote teams!

Its breadth of features is quite similar to ClickUp (you can check out a detailed ClickUp vs. Asana comparison here ). For instance, I can add task descriptions in the form of bulleted lists, embed files to add context, set due dates, and add assignees in a few clicks. It’s also effortless to create subtasks, identify blockers, and streamline approvals on task changes.

What makes Asana stand out among its alternatives for me is the Workflow Builder feature —it gives us a smooth interface to create workflows without coding, helping us automate routine tasks and expedite projects. This quality task management software also features a My Tasks list , which helps prioritize work by auto-promoting tasks based on due dates.

Overall, Asana is a collaborative task management tool for anyone working remotely —my distributed team was able to communicate directly within the app, encouraging cross-functional collaboration with minimal friction. For added transparency, we recommend adding relevant collaborators to your team’s tasks to keep them updated on progress async.

Asana best features

• Templates for task management
• Remote-friendly collaboration tools
• Zero-code workflow builder
• Search and filtering options for simpler navigation
• Integrates with apps like Slack and Dropbox, as well as ClickUp
• Mobile app for Android and iOS

Asana limitations

• May be challenging to implement for larger teams
• Storage and collaboration features could use improvement

Asana pricing

• Personal: Free forever (for up to 10 users)
• Starter: $10.99/month per user
• Advanced: $24.99/month per user

Asana ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.3/5 (9,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (12,000+ reviews)

Many users have favorably reviewed Asana’s auto-reminders feature, like this one :

I like how Asana helps us to make and assign tasks to employees in our team, and also it auto gives them reminders to complete the tasks on time. Their reminder emails are very much helpful, this way our co-workers have the list of To-Do’s ready without checking multiple messaging platforms and emails.

When I first started exploring Jira, it was evident to me that this was not as beginner-friendly as other alternatives due to a somewhat complex feature set. But then, Jira is a popular task management software option among seasoned professionals in industries like IT, finance, marketing, and HR, so it was worth a try.

To give you some context, Jira was first launched by Atlassian as an issue-tracking tool for software developers—but has now branched out to become a useful tool for project managers and task managers alike. In my experience, I found it to be an incredibly handy tool for Agile project management .

My team tried to set up a sample workflow for a complex Agile project, and we were able to break everything into manageable sprints . We got the option to set up tasks under:

• Company-managed projects: A standard admin-controlled workflow
• Team-managed projects: A more self-contained workspace for independent teams

Jira’s multiple views, like boards and timelines, makes it easy to track sprint tasks and identify roadblocks to ensure continuous improvement . The tool also supports team collaboration by allowing members to brainstorm and exchange task information across departments through shared workflows.

Moving to productivity, it’s worth noting that Jira, like ClickUp , lets us update custom task statuses in real time, while its automaton feature allows for running manual actions in the background. Plus, project managers can automate work using its numerous task management templates . 😀

Tip: Explore the Jira-ClickUp integration to manage your Agile workflow better!

Jira best features

• Workflow automation support
• Multiple task views for agile teams
• Templates for niches like human resources , marketing, and IT
• Integrates with Atlassian Work Management and other popular apps
• Effective task management apps for Android and iOS

Jira limitations

• The system can be slow at times
• The user interface and dashboard design could be improved

Jira pricing

• Free: Up to 10 users
• Standard: $8.15/month per user
• Premium: $16/month per user
• Enterprise: Contact sales for pricing

Jira’s business support is only available on paid tiers. However, free plan users can seek out community support .

Jira ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.3/5 (5,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (13,000+ reviews)

Bonus read: Check out these Jira alternatives !

Can using Monday.com for managing tasks can make Mondays less dreadful? We think yes! This simple task management software provides all key features, from multiple task views to task templates, that you’d find in most Monday alternatives .

However, what our research team loves the most is the software’s specific task management features for marketing and PMO teams . For example, marketing teams can benefit from key features like brand asset management , robust Gantt charts (to build task timelines), and campaign tracking . Meanwhile, PMO teams rely on features for monitoring OKRs , identifying dependencies, and tracking time for future task planning.

I think Monday.com also stands out with its smooth interface . Its Work Management feature lets you create no-code marketing workflows for specific functions like content creation, social media, and event planning.

I consulted a few project managers who use the tool, and they even appreciated its intuitive layout. For example, the platform allows them to make informed decisions by accessing quick overviews of task progress on a dashboard. 📈

Plus, Monday.com allows you to organize workspaces into projects with individual tasks and subtasks, complete with color-coding options to help you track task priorities and statuses easily.

Overall, it’s a powerful task management tool—quite similar to ClickUp and Asana in terms of design and feature set. Plus, the platform integrates with top marketing tools as well as other collaborative platforms ( including ClickUp ).

Monday.com best features

• Includes 200+ automation options
• Color-coded custom task statuses and priority levels
• User-friendly project templates
• No-code workflows setup
• Offers a mobile app for iOS and Android
• Integrates with over 200 apps

Monday.com limitations

• The initial setup tends to be overwhelming
• Some users struggle with custom reminders and experience delays in notifications

Monday.com pricing

You can access the following plans by first signing up for a 14-day free trial:

• Free: Up to two users
• Basic: $9/month per user
• Standard: $12/month per user
• Pro: $19/month per user

Monday.com ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.7/5 (10,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6/5 (4,000+ reviews)

I’m a religious fan of Kanban boards, which is partly why I always have a blast using Trello. One of the main reasons why I put it high up on our list is simplicity—most project management software are not as easy to learn as Trello, which makes it perfect for managing linear tasks on a smaller scale.

This good task management software is all about moving tasks like sticky notes on a drag-and-drop Kanban board for easier status tracking. Individuals can use it to create personalized task lists, while team members can rely on advanced checklists to add context to tasks by adding due dates and assignees. 

As far as basic task management is concerned, this software supports task prioritization through labels like high, medium, or low priority. Say I want to access a specific batch of tasks and prepare a quick status report—all I have to do is filter through these labels.

Trello’s no-code (and cute!) automation tool called Butler is also incredibly comfortable to use. Even the less tech-savvy members of my team can automate recurring tasks by creating simple rules, buttons, and commands.

Trello lets us view tasks on calendars, timelines, and neatly organized tables, which is often more than enough to manage workloads in smaller teams. However, if you’re running a larger team or a more complex project that requires agility and a wider variety of project views, Trello alternatives with enterprise features may be a better option.

Trello best features

• Butler—a no-code automation tool
• Kanban-based task tracking software
• Includes checklists, calendars, and timelines
• Color-coding helps prioritize tasks
• Android and iOS mobile apps
• Integrates with other task management systems like ClickUp and Jira

Trello limitations

• Gets costly as users increase in number
• May not support complex project management

Trello pricing

Trello’s free plan is pretty generous and supports up to 10 boards. You need to get a Premium tier to access more views and AI-driven features, which are necessary for effective task management in modern workspaces.

• Standard: $5/month per user
• Premium: $10/month per user
• Enterprise: $17.5/month per user

Trello ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.4/5 (13,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6/5 (23,000+ reviews)

Here’s what one user had to say about completing tasks and projects with Trello:

Trello provides software development projects with a smooth platform for managing Agile and Kanban workflows. Tasks can be easily created and organized because of its user-friendly interface and customisable boards, lists, and cards. While Trello’s ease of use is one of its main advantages, it might not have all the complex project management capabilities of more all-inclusive applications. 

I had little idea of what Hive is like when I first started testing it. The platform advertises itself as an all-encompassing project management software with use cases ranging from project and resource management to client engagement. While I mostly explored features for task management, I can confidently say that this tool wins when it comes to facilitating team collaboration.

Hive provides any hybrid team with a task management platform to:

• Assign, track, and execute tasks together, regardless of location
• Monitor upcoming tasks across departments
• Streamline task intake data with forms
• Collaborate async or live with Hive Notes and Text and Voice Chat

Like ClickUp, Hive supports project collaboration by letting teammates communicate across projects by leaving comments on action cards or tagging team members.

Collaboration here is smoother because you get to observe your tasks from unique angles . For example, we can use the Portfolio view to get a detailed overview of tasks across projects or the Label view to categorize subtasks. I thought I could focus better by activating the My Actions view to display my task assignments in a concentrated way. 

We can also rely on key features like task status to easily track progress, templates to customize project layouts and business processes, and notifications to never miss a beat. Plus, Hive offers Workflows App —a no-code task automation tool to help you cut down on manual labor and design personalized automated workflows. 

Hive best features

• Collaborative task management tool
• Supports individual, group, or project discussions
• AI assistant ( HiveMind ) and templates to support standard tasks
• My Actions view tracks all the tasks assigned to you 
• Includes a no-code task automation tool
• Integrates with Dropbox and Google Drive

Hive limitations

• The mobile app has limited functionality
• UX may get compromised with many collaborators

Hive pricing

Hive’s free plan neatly supports basic task management for all your projects, but you’ll have to upgrade to paid plans for features like custom fields, task labels, and an in-app calendar.

• Starter: $5/month per user
• Teams: $12/month per user

Hive ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.6/5 (500+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (100+ reviews)

Bonus: Check out these Hive alternatives !

Most alternatives to MeisterTask include Kanban boards as one of their key features. However, I’d emphasize that MeisterTask excels as Kanban-based task management software because of how user-friendly and intuitive it is. 😻

The tool is beautifully crafted and provides customizable Kanban-style boards that let us organize and monitor task cards. We can mark if tasks are In Progress , Done , or on the To Do list (or create custom sections). What’s cool is that we can also switch to a Gantt-like timeline view to access more linear scheduling.

These boards keep all work centralized and let us communicate effectively through task comments. We can mention teammates in the comments, add them as project watchers, and assign them tasks directly from the board. Whenever you manage projects prone to changes, just activate real-time notifications to keep everyone in the loop about the latest updates.

Besides collaborative boards, the software offers personal Kanban pinboards called Agendas , where we can organize all the tasks assigned to us, as well as access due dates and important files faster.

Many user reviews for MeisterTask compliment the tool’s pretty interface —here’s what a verified user shared:

The colorful Kanban-type interface, the multiple project lists you can have, tags, integration from MindMeister, easy integration from other websites to spawn tasks. I use it on my phone, tablet, and iPad.

MeisterTask best features

• Easy-to-use Kanban boards to track project progress
• Can serve as a personal task management software
• Task-related collaboration through comments
• Dashboards to track tasks, time-tracking data, and notifications
• Lets you automate recurring tasks
• iOS and Android mobile apps

MeisterTask limitations

• The software could benefit from adding a workflow calendar to its features
• Notifications may be delayed on mobile devices

MeisterTask pricing

• Basic: Free (doesn’t allow integration with other apps)
• Pro: $6.50/month per user

MeisterTask ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.6/5 (100+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (1,000+ reviews)

nTask serves as an SMB-focused hub for tracking and scheduling tasks under three sections: To-Do, Workflow, and Projects . The idea is to create both personal and professional task lists, as well as define workflows for specific functions like designing, fund management, and freelancing. 

In my opinion, the Projects tab has quite a clutter-free interface to design granular schedules and assign tasks or entire task lists to your teammates. If you’re new to the platform, you can start with a weekly scheduling sheet to create a baseline of tasks, along with descriptions and assignees. Then, you can use the Task Builder to add tasks as needed.

As a visual task management tool, my team was able to use nTask to plan and prioritize tasks on a Kanban layout, manage interconnected delivery timelines, and visualize projects with color-coded Gantt charts.

For example, we scheduled tasks by setting planned and actual due dates and creating task dependencies and milestones to ensure timely completion. Then, we set priorities, custom statuses, and real-time notifications to ensure no action remains overlooked.

nTask’s robust time-tracking capabilities help us stay within realistic timeframes. I can monitor time spent on tasks and estimate the time my team will need for future tasks, which makes scheduling (and invoicing) easier over time.

nTask best features

• Offers multiple project views (board, grid, list, and calendar)
• Comprehensive task tracking
• Visual task management and task scheduling through Gantt charts
• Recurring tasks feature with daily, weekly, or monthly repeats
• Integrates with 1,000+ tools like Apple Calendar, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams
• Android and iOS support

nTask limitations

• Attaching documents and images to tasks may be challenging
• User interface could be more intuitive

nTask pricing

You can access a 7-day trial period for all plans. NGOs may be able to get up to 50% off upon contacting sales.

• Premium: $3/month per user
• Business: $8/month per user

nTask ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.4/5 (10+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.2/5 (100+ reviews)

ZenHub is a project management solution that primarily caters to software development teams. It provides a native GitHub integration via a browser extension for Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. This helps reduce context switching by keeping project tasks connected with GitHub code. 

Plus, ZenHub offers automatic task updates as users complete issues in GitHub, streamlining task completion by eliminating manual status check-ins from your team’s to-do list. There are also automated hand-offs to update all connected workspaces.

This online task management software and software development tool brings tasks together on intuitive, drag-and-drop Kanban boards , allowing teams to view all current tasks and their statuses.

Use these boards to prioritize tasks, track projects, and attach pull requests to corresponding issues. Group related issues into Epics or connect various private and public GitHub repos to a single board. 👨‍🏫

Additionally, ZenHub offers sprint planning features, making it a handy tool for agile teams . It lets us set automated sprint cycles, auto-generate new sprints with prioritized and unfinished tasks, and receive periodical reports on progress.

I’ve also heard pretty exciting things about ZenHub AI (automatic issue categorization, sprint reviews, etc.). However, I wasn’t able to get past the waitlist to try out its beta program.

ZenHub best features

• Various key features for agile teams
• Native GitHub integration
• Provides spring planning and tracking
• Boards with intuitive task management capabilities
• Automate repetitive tasks and hand-offs
• Acts as a visual task management tool with roadmaps and timelines
• Integrates with Figma, Miro, and Loom

ZenHub limitations

• Steep learning curve
• The interface may be challenging to navigate

ZenHub pricing

• For Teams: $8.33/month per user (annual billing after a 14-day free trial)
• For Enterprises: Contact sales for pricing

ZenHub ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.3/5 (30+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.4/5 (30+ reviews)

Zoho Projects is a reliable project management software with features such as issue tracking, team monitoring , project timesheets, and resource utilization charts. From the range of use cases we explored, this platform can be excellent for managing complex projects in industries like marketing, construction, IT, and consulting.

Zoho Projects offers a comprehensive toolset for task management that assists us in breaking projects down into milestones, task lists, and subtasks for simpler tracking. This task management platform is all about details—each task can have attributes like assignees, work hours, priorities, and reminders. Plus, we can use timesheets and timers to record time spent on each task.

We were able to schedule tasks on a calendar and get an overview of team members’ capacity simultaneously. This, I think, is crucial for balanced task planning and avoiding the risk of team burnout.

Like many Zoho alternatives , this tool simplifies task organization by providing Kanban-style boards with drag-and-drop task cards and flexible statuses. As for planning and tracking complex workflows, we can use Gantt charts to identify granular team tasks, set dependencies, and monitor deadlines to ensure everything is done on time. ⌛

I believe that using Zoho Projects is great for consolidating your task ecosystem when you use other Zoho applications, such as Zoho Mail or Zoho CRM, as the tool gives you a unified view of your tasks across sister platforms.

Zoho Projects best features

• Quick-access Gantt charts
• Supports versatile task management use cases
• Highly customizable workflows with project templates
• Easy task scheduling on calendars
• Integrates with various Zoho, Google, and Microsoft apps 
• Task management apps (iOS 9.0+ and Android 4.1+)

Zoho Projects limitations

• Initial setup may be challenging
• Software customization can be time-consuming 

Zoho Projects pricing

• Free: Up to three users
• Premium: $4/month per user (10-day trial)
• Enterprise: $9/month per user (10-day trial)

Zoho Projects ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.3/5 (300+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.4/5 (400+ reviews)

Reviews mostly mention the product to be useful, albeit confusing at times. Here’s an excerpt :

Zoho Projects is useful when using to assign tasks, getting multiple projects done, and needing to know who will do it by when. It allows people to go in and time themselves to track how long it took them to do it. It does get really confusing at times to create tasks because of the many tedious needs that can be miscommunicated while trying to assign (tasks). 

ActiveCollab is all about increasing productivity and meeting deadlines with ease in client-based workflows. Whether you’re a startup or a small creative team, the tool lets you invite unlimited clients to the platform for improved collaboration and feedback loops. In my opinion, this alone can help eliminate those hard-to-keep-track-of client meetings and follow-up email chains.

My experience? Besides adding tasks for my team, I was also able to break down complex actions into subtasks for my clients, ensuring all assigned tasks got done as planned. Additionally, we saw functions to:

• Add due dates, assignees, and detailed task descriptions
• Group tasks based on different criteria
• Duplicate repetitive tasks

This online task management software offers only three project views to choose from, which is less than what ActiveCollab alternatives typically offer. Still, it includes frequently used views—the Kanban board, Gantt chart, and List view. 📝

I know automation is a recurring theme at this point, but still worth a mention—ActiveCollab can reduce manual labor by automating recurring tasks like drafting weekly reports. And, if you need to ensure actions are completed in a fixed order, just create dependencies between multiple tasks.

ActiveCollab stresses the importance of a personal task manager, which freelancers may find useful. It provides a My Work page where you can find and organize your task assignments by project, client, or due date. 

ActiveCollab’s timesheets also impress me quite a bit. Besides getting an overview of all my time records, I can access project-level time tracking for easier billing. I can even revisit my productivity in terms of the comments posted, tasks created or closed, or due dates modified.

ActiveCollab best features

• Excellent personal task management software
• Tools to automate repetitive tasks
• Dependencies for completing tasks in a specific order
• Android and iOS smartphone apps
• Integrates with other task management tools like Asana and Trello

ActiveCollab limitations

• The file-sharing feature of this task management software could be simpler to use
• Adding more customization options could be beneficial 

ActiveCollab pricing

All plans come with a 14-day free trial. However, you have to subscribe to the most expensive plan for features like workload management and days-off planning.

• Plus: $9.5/month 3 users/month
• Pro: $8/month per user/month
• Pro+Get Paid: $11.75/month per user

ActiveCollab ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.2/5 (90+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (300+ reviews)

Wrike is well-known for its robust task and workflow management features. But what many users miss is how beautifully scalable it is! For instance, the platform lets me build a library of custom tasks that mimics our core processes—we can use it as a baseline for all our future workflows. And the best part is, we can expand this library to build a workspace tailored to a role, department, or even industry.

During the time we tested this tool, we created multi-level task lists across levels like folders, milestones, phases, and projects. Some of us even created personalized dashboards by pinning important tasks from our to-do list, all automatically sorted by priority and due date.

Like most of Wrike’s competitors , the platform supports strong teamwork —we can collaborate on real-time project plans, task assignments, and decision-making within the platform. Plus, the software includes built-in proofing tools for quick yet detailed task feedback and task automation to save time and increase work efficiency.

Additionally, Wrike allows project managers to build customizable reports on task and team performance. I was, for instance, able to further optimize workflows by analyzing relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) on dashboards.

Wrike best features

• Comprehensive project dashboards with personalized reports
• Supports feedback-friendly team collaboration
• Multiple project views
• Visualize tasks in views like Gantt Chart, Kanban, and Calendar
• 400+ third-party integrations
• Task automation

Wrike limitations

• Could use more custom display options
• Some users experience task syncing issues

Wrike pricing

Wrike offers integrations and additional cloud security features for an extra fee, but all of the following plans contain task management features:

• Team: $9.80/month per user
• Business: $24.80/month per user
• Enterprise and Pinnacle: Contact sales

Wrike ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.2/5 (3,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.3/5 (2,000+ reviews)

While many Todoist alternatives on our list offer additional project management features, this veteran app is purely focused on task management. I think Todoist is one of the few apps that consistently upgrades itself within its niche space. For instance, we can now create detailed daily to-do lists and set recurring tasks using natural language.

The tool ticks all the boxes for basic task planning and management—we can create tasks and subtasks, determine priorities, add due dates, and set reminders to ensure nothing goes overlooked. 👀

Although it’s primarily a task management app, Todoist can help you manage small-scale projects as it includes goal-setting features , labels to categorize tasks, and task descriptions to keep information centralized.

I personally loved its Upcoming calendar view —it displays which tasks are due urgently, and if anything’s too demanding, I can use a drag-and-drop function to reschedule assignments. And if I need to focus on team tasks that are currently due, I simply go to the Today view .

While Todoist’s simple navigation and low price make it a handy tool for personal task management, it’s also a good to-do list app for teams on a tight budget . Its project management features aren’t too comprehensive, but you can still assign tasks and leverage comments for better teamwork and transparency. Here’s what a small business owner had to share after using the tool :

Extremely easy to use for all levels of technological understanding. I use Todoist several times a day and we have integrated this across our whole team. We’ve experienced far less chance of tasks being lost or forgotten and people stay accountable because of the notifications received upon completion.

Tip: ClickUp has a neat Import from Todoist feature if you need to switch to a more extensive project management tool in the future.

Todoist best features

• Efficient daily task management
• Multiple task views (including Kanban boards and lists)
• Basic team collaboration support
• Easy navigation to monitor project progress
• Integrates with various productivity and time-tracking apps
• Has a to-do list app for Android and iOS

Todoist limitations

• Integrating the software with some apps may be challenging
• It would be beneficial if the app displayed tasks when you’re offline

Todoist pricing

• Beginner: Free
• Pro: $4/month per user
• Business: $6/month per user

Todoist ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.4/5 (700+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6/5 (2,000+ reviews)

Besides being a good task management tool, ProofHub is a task tracking software that lets you easily create task lists and individual tasks, assign them to more than one team member, and closely follow due dates and priorities across task categories . I am particularly in awe of the platform’s Table view for task tracking—I get to monitor progress percentages for actions in different categories (without being a pesky micromanager). 😁

Similar to ProofHub alternatives , the software is fully customizable —we can build personalized workflows and use custom fields to capture any task-related data my team deems important. Custom fields enhance task tracking —because we customize them to track virtually any detail, be it deadlines or output.

Speaking of tracking, ProofHub has an intuitive interface for creating task dependencies for ensuring tasks are completed in a predetermined order. If you want to offer more clarity to assignees, leave comments on tasks or use mentions to guide them.

Additionally, ProofHub offers various reporting options to help gain insight into a project’s progress. You can enhance resource allocation by analyzing resource utilization reports or track project-specific progress with task completion reports.

ProofHub best features

• Multi-faceted task tracking software
• Customizable workflows
• Supports task-related discussions through comments and mentions
• Reports to gauge task progress
• Various project views like Kanbans and tables
• Mobile-friendly

ProofHub limitations

• Notifications can get difficult to manage
• Some users find its customization features complex

ProofHub pricing

Note that ProofHub currently avoids the per-user billing format, which may make it appealing for some teams.

• Essential: $45/month for unlimited users
• Ultimate Control: $150/month (or $89/month for a limited time offer)

ProofHub ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.5/5 (80+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6/5 (90+ reviews)

SmartTask includes all key features you’d typically find in a task management tool. You can set deadlines, add dependencies, and manage tasks in views like calendar, list, and board. I’d highlight that you can create a realistic workflow here by optimizing dependent, overlapping, and ignored tasks—this is the kind of visibility you need when your team is juggling 5+ projects simultaneously.

This software stands out for me especially because of its tools for managing multiple projects simultaneously in a cross-functional setup. Its Project Portfolios feature allows you to create multiple boards to track separate goals, aligning your marketing, sales, and design teams. To play it safer, you can even share task lists across teams to prevent orphaned actions. 

SmartTask supports team collaboration by letting us comment on tasks and generate real-time notifications for updates. We can also invite clients, vendors, and external stakeholders to collaborate on any task or project by sending them an invitation.

Plus, it provides dashboard reports on both project tasks and sales that you can easily find through its advanced search bar. 🔎

SmartTask best features

• Internal and external team communication
• Set recurring tasks (daily, weekly, or monthly)
• Task and sales reports
• Supports managing tasks across projects
• Time tracking for individual tasks
• Task management tools for iOS and Android

SmartTask limitations

• The UI and UX could use some improvement
• Adding more integrations would be useful

SmartTask pricing

SmartTask may offer discounted pricing to NGOs upon contact. Eligible startups can also apply for a $1,000 worth of credit.

• Free Forever
• Premium: $7.99/month per user
• Business: $10.99/month per user

SmartTask ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.5/5 (60+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.6/5 (30+ reviews)

I’ll admit that HubSpot Task Management is far from a traditional task manager—it’s more of a suite designed to help marketers streamline Customer Relationship Management (CRM) processes. Now, we know that effective CRM depends on properly storing, tracking, and managing lead- and customer-based activities. HubSpot helps you streamline these scattered tasks to boost revenue.

We explored this software extensively and can confirm that it reduces the need to switch between multiple tabs when talking to prospects, all thanks to dashboards that centralize all CRM work. In terms of use cases, utilize the dashboards to track your to-do list items, view prospect details, and stay on top of meetings. 

Need to create new tasks? Do that directly from your workflows, email inbox, or to-do list. And if you need insights from past task performances, like deals made and activities completed, leverage HubSpot’s reporting tools. This platform simplifies communication with email templates (for sending messages in bulk) and real-time team chat. 

While sales and marketing teams may enjoy HubSpot’s task management style, some of HubSpot’s alternatives could be a better choice for companies in IT or finance. You can even consider the HubSpot-ClickUp integration if you want to organize your customer-facing processes more diligently.

HubSpot best features

• A wide array of CRM functionalities
• Live team chats
• Dashboards to centralize prospect-related work
• Integrates with apps like WordPress, Gmail, and Zapier
• iOS and Android mobile app for HubSpot CRM

HubSpot limitations

• Limited option to prioritize tasks
• Workflow automation is limited on the free plan

HubSpot pricing

For individuals and small teams:

• Starter: $15/month
• Professional: $800/month

HubSpot (CRM) ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.4/5 (11,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (4,000+ reviews)

Paymo is a simple task management software and invoicing app rolled into one, so I can see how it holds enormous appeal for professionals and freelancers who want to manage client work, time tracking data, and resources within one platform . It lets you automatically set up ghost bookings based on the task details you’ve entered in the past, as well as receive a visual overview of all bookings for the immediate team on a single screen. 🖥️

Paymo also simplifies managing resources by allowing multiple managers to work on scheduling to avoid overbooking or underbooking. We can:

• Book time for time-sensitive tasks by the hour
• Accommodate unscheduled tasks with a simple drag-and-drop function
• Visualize our team’s availability on timelines
• Send booking notifications only to relevant team members

The platform lets my employees view their tasks in a single view, while our task managers monitor both their personal tasks and team’s work in separate views. Like with most Paymo alternatives , we get project views like Gantt charts, Tables, and Calendars to visualize tasks.

Paymo also encourages team collaboration, offering a detailed Task View to chat in real time about the latest task updates. Finally, Paymo provides task priority levels like critical, high, normal, or low across teams, which we can adjust based on our delivery commitment to clients.

Paymo best features

• Timelines to assess employee availability
• Allows booking time for client tasks by the hour
• Real-time chat
• Project views like Gantt chart and Kanban board
• Integrates with apps like Slack, Google Calendar, and JotForm
• Mobile app support for iOS and Android

Paymo limitations

• The mobile app may be tricky to navigate
• Takes time to train employees to use the platform

Paymo pricing

• Free (for up to five clients)
• Starter: $5.9/month per user
• Small Office: $10.9/month per user
• Business: $16.9/month per user

Paymo ratings and reviews

• Capterra: 4.8/5 (400+ reviews)

I have talked to many freelancers about their task management routines, and I think one of their main problem areas is connecting tasks to tracked hours and, eventually, invoices. That’s precisely why I made sure this handy all-in-one tool was on our list.

While most TimeCamp alternatives on this list include typical task and project management features, TimeCamp shifts its focus to time-task budgeting instead.

With its one-click time-tracking capabilities , you can track your or your team’s working hours effortlessly. You can use this data to standardize times for specific jobs, plan and create task assignments and invoice estimates, and monitor each team member’s productivity.

TimeCamp also provides features for measuring the profitability of your projects and tracking billable hours, streamlining invoicing and resource management. Basically, the tasks you had to do manually, like creating invoices and approving timesheets, are automated on this platform.

Although this software highlights time tracking, it’s still a task management tool. Its TimeCamp Planner product helps you organize tasks and monitor their progress on Kanban-style boards. 

If you’re dealing with repeatable tasks, automate them by specifying information like due dates, assignees, and progress statuses. Plus, you can switch from team task overview to your own using the My Tasks feature , which displays your assigned tasks on a list, calendar, or timeline view.

Note that TimeCamp’s time tracking and task management features are available on separate pricing plans .

TimeCamp best features

• Comprehensive time-tracking tools
• Kanban board for easy task tracking
• Personal task lists
• Can automate repeatable tasks
• Includes apps for Android and iOS
• ClickUp (you can use this integration to time your ClickUp tasks and enjoy billing accuracy)
• Google Calendar

TimeCamp limitations

• The user interface and server load time could be better
• The tool may be buggy at times

TimeCamp pricing (for TimeCamp Planner)

• Starter: $2.99/month per user (best for freelancers)
• Premium: $4.99/month per user (ideal for businesses tracking profitability)
• Ultimate: $7.99/month per user (for better analytical reporting)
• Enterprise: $11.99/month per user (for higher security and custom integrations)

TimeCamp ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.7/5 (100+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.7/5 (500+ reviews)

Any.do specializes in providing easy-to-use to-do lists to help you achieve both personal or professional goals efficiently. It caters to individuals, families, and teams, and is available via 10+ platforms, including Mac, Safari, and iPad.

During my time with this tool, I was able to organize my to-dos in separate lists and projects, all color-coded to set clear priorities and determine task categories. We can enhance our task lists with:

• Subtasks and attachments for added task awareness
• Deadlines and reminders

Sharing responsibilities is also simple—just share a task list with your teammates or family to collaborate on task completion . For example, you can assign different items on a grocery list to family members and track the list to ensure they complete the task successfully. If there’s an urgent matter you wish to discuss, use the chat function to communicate in real time.  

For companies looking for a task management tool with project management capabilities, Any.do is a solid choice as it also offers features like customizable workflows, views, pre-made templates, and powerful integrations with other work tools.

If you want more comprehensive workflow features, though, explore some more advanced Any.do alternatives .

Any.do best features

• Provides simple to-do lists
• Great as a daily task manager
• Lets you share lists with teams, family, and friends
• Reminders for timely task completion
• Has apps for iOS and Android
• Integrates with other task management tools like ClickUp and Asana (via Zapier)

Any.do limitations

• Some users desire more integrations (like with Microsoft Calendar)
• Limited advanced features for this price range

Any.do pricing

Remember to get a Family or Teams plan to access shared lists.

• Premium: $2.99/month per user
• Family: $8.33/month per four users
• Teams: $4.99/month per user

*All listed prices refer to approx values billed annually

Any.do ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.2/5 (100+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.4/5 (100+ reviews)

At the time of reviewing this tool, we noted a few less-than-positive reviews by Android and iOS users, mostly about some UX elements. However, the reviews for the overall functionalities are quite positive. Here’s what a sales manager who uses the product had to say :

With Any.do, organizing my tasks is simple and fast. The app works fine, and it does the job that it’s supposed to do, setting daily reminders and scheduling to keep myself on track of what’s going on. I love apps that offer a simple, minimalistic professional design.

Smartsheet is a spreadsheet-like task management tool . It’s great for those who are comfortable tracking tasks in Excel but are open to switching to a tool with less complicated calculation work. The tool is popular in construction, healthcare, and education industries where task management is all about working with scattered data.

Like ClickUp, Smartsheet offers comprehensive project and task management tools for handling different workflows. For example, it lets you schedule tasks, create subtasks, allocate resources, and track assignments efficiently from one platform. ✅

Here, tasks are represented on spreadsheets for individual projects. Like most Smartsheet alternatives , we can add basic task information, like due dates and assignees, in clear fields and columns. We can also merge several spreadsheets to have a consolidated view of our tasks across categories.

However, these aren’t traditional spreadsheets—they also provide the advanced features of a modern task management tool. For instance, we can use checkboxes, dropdown lists, and comments to interact with tasks on Smartsheet.

This is a great task management software for teams working on extensive projects as it includes templates for agile project management, OKR tracking, budgeting, and resource management.

It also supports task automation, real-time collaboration , and advanced analytics. Plus, it integrates with services we may already use, like Google Workspace and Microsoft Teams.

Bonus read: Explore ClickUp vs. Smartsheet !

Smartsheet best features

• Spreadsheet-based project management tool
• Advanced functionalities for monitoring complex projects
• Supports real-time team communication
• Templates for agile project management
• Integrates with numerous communication, data visualization, and project delivery apps
• Available as an iOS or Android mobile app

Smartsheet limitations

• There may be a steep learning curve for users figuring out advanced features
• It could benefit from adding more template options

Smartsheet pricing

• Free (for up to two task editors)
• Pro: $7/month per user
• Business: $25/month per user

Smartsheet ratings and reviews

• G2: 4.4/5 (14,000+ reviews)
• Capterra: 4.5/5 (3,000+ reviews)

Our first-hand experience with these tools has been both adventurous and enlightening. We think each of these options understands their target users and strives to deliver. However, if you’re still struggling to find “the one,” make a list of what you really prioritize in a task management platform.

Typically, great task management software provides features that help you plan, organize, track, and assign tasks, but you shouldn’t have to pay a fortune for these functions. Some features, like reminders, automation, and task views, are the bare minimum, and we see them in almost every tool we discussed.

What you can explore is the overall functionalities you get for a given price. Say Tool A gives you 30 advanced features and the more popular Tool B gives you 25 advanced features at the same price point—you know what to pick!

Lastly, the best task management tools are supposed to make your life easier, not vice versa, so ensure your chosen tool is easy to implement and fun to work with! 🥳

If you absolutely can’t make a choice, we’ll be cheeky and persuade you to try ClickUp ! It’s got all the features you’ll need to streamline task management with minimal effort. Whether you want to set goals, track and assign tasks, manage time, reduce manual labor, or communicate with your team, the possibilities are endless.

Sign up to ClickUp today and enjoy the best toolkit a free task management software has to offer! 💖

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• Project Management

Minimize Work Clutter With the Best Tips for Deprioritization

Noah Edis, a seasoned technical content specialist and systems engineer, brings extensive expertise in modern software. Outside work, catch him competing in dodgeball or immersed in programming.

As Garfield says, “ I hate Mondays. ” It’s just the start of a week, and already, there’s a lot on the line: a to-do list that’s a mile long and project updates that don’t seem to end.

What’s even more worrying is that this chaos resonates with everyone, especially your team members. A constant feeling of being overwhelmed can ultimately lead to disengagement, which costs the global economy nearly $9 trillion in lost productivity.

Managing multiple projects can easily lead to crippling organizational complexity, which is why you need always to plan ahead. But with only so many hours in a week,  you can’t do everything at once. 

What you should consider here is deprioritization – yes , the real solution to workload management is to actually deprioritize tasks. There’s an art to putting things on the back burner so you can instead focus on what truly matters. 

Deprioritization: Moving Ahead Requires Taking a Step Back

We all know about prioritization. The common practice is to decide what tasks are most important and to tackle them first. But what does the other side of the fence look like?

Deprioritizing tasks means deliberately choosing which can be postponed, scaled back, or even eliminated. This work strategy helps you focus on the stuff that really needs your attention right now and what can be let go. Most importantly, it avoids feeling overwhelmed, and trying to do everything at once.

Here’s a quick rundown of how deprioritization usually works:

• Write down everything that needs to be done to get a comprehensive view of your workload.
• Assess your tasks based on their importance and urgency.
• Identify the tasks that you should consider deprioritizing.
• Move the low-priority tasks to the bottom of your list or categorize them as backlog items.
• Communicate with your team about which tasks you’re deprioritizing and why.

Consider the Kanban system in this case. Using Kanban, you can visually manage your tasks on a board (digital or otherwise). The different stages – “ To Do ,” “ In Progress ,” and “ Done ” – show the status of all your tasks at a glance.

The Kanban board also often includes a backlog column where you can place your lower-priority tasks. Revisit and re-evaluate these tasks regularly to decide if and when they should be moved back into the active workflow stages.

Why Deprioritization is Your Work Best Friend

The goal of deprioritizing tasks is to have a clear mind. Instead of feeling weighed down by an endless to-do list, you get to be in control. There are a lot of benefits, and it might even be your new work best friend. Here are some common reasons why:

• The Ultimate Stress-Reducer : Constantly juggling tasks can lead to employee burnout . Deprioritizing helps reduce the mental load and actually makes working much more enjoyable.
• Increases Everyone’s Productivity : When you know where to focus, you’re more likely to make real progress. A targeted approach boosts productivity because everyone knows what to do and when to do it.
• Results in Better Quality Work : Undivided attention frees the mind from thinking of too many irrelevant things and focuses on your tasks individually.
• Maximizes Time Management Efforts : Deprioritization helps you use your time better. Knowing the tasks that can be set aside frees up a lot of time for activities that align with your goals and leads to a healthy work-life balance .
• Helps You Make the Right Decisions : When you regularly review the urgency of your tasks, you get to develop a clearer sense of priority. This results in better decision-making skills because you know what needs your immediate attention and what can wait.
• Encourages Some Strategic Thinking : Deprioritization requires you and your team to think more strategically about your goals and how to best achieve them.

Implementing deprioritization into your workflow can dramatically improve your task management. By deprioritizing tasks, you can work smarter, not harder. 

Best Ways to Deprioritize Tasks Effectively

Have you heard of Parkinson’s Law ? It’s a great principle related to deprioritizing tasks. It basically states that “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” 

In other words, the more time you give a certain task, the more difficulty it builds.

Say you’re given a project due in a week but should only take a day to finish. At first, there’s relief as you think you have more than enough time to finish. But, the extra time results in the task growing bigger and more complex than what was initially intended.

Without clear boundaries on when to start and finish tasks, you’re at risk of allocating your time and resources inefficiently. This also overworks your team really badly. 

Deprioritization avoids this by knowing which tasks to set aside, so you’re left with the tasks to prioritize. This should end up with a much more realistic timeframe for your pipeline.

That being said, starting out deprioritization from scratch can be overwhelming. But don’t worry – I’ve got you covered. 

Here are the tested and proven ways to apply the concept of deprioritization in your organization to manage your workload the right way: 

1. Get stuff done with a project management tool

Deprioritizing tasks means having a strong project management tool like Teamhood . With the right tech, your business can soar without the hassle. And with Teamhood, you can take advantage of a Kanban-powered workspace, including status groups, nested swimlanes, and rows, to do much more with pinpoint precision.

Teamhood’s Projects Prioritization List , for instance, lets you use its List view to visualize item details and make the right decisions based on priority. Here’s how it works:

• Rows categorize your items. This divides your list into clear sections that can be collapsed and expanded easily.
• Edit the fields (columns) in your List view to suit your needs. You can choose from all the default fields available and edit them as needed. This flexibility lets you only see the information relevant to your current priorities, making it easier to identify and set aside lower-priority tasks.
• Create custom fields if you need to add more specific information to your items, a handy feature that helps you tailor task details to fit your specific workflow.
• Add tags for an additional layer of information. Mark clients, incentives, projects, or other relevant categories.

With these features, Teamhood allows you to see the big picture, helping you organize and deprioritize tasks consistently. This leads to a more productive and less stressful workday for everyone. Allow yourself to set aside less critical tasks without losing sight of them.

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2. Visualize to maximize

Just having a large to-do list doesn’t cut it anymore. You need to take the extra step to time block your work so you know how long it’ll take. 

People often underestimate how long tasks will take and overestimate how much they can fit into a day. Remember that this leads to burnout and so much resource is wasted when time isn’t managed right.

By plotting all your priorities into your schedule, you can get a clear visualization of your availability. You basically gain a realistic perspective on what you can actually take on. 

This approach not only streamlines your workflow but also reduces stress – making your workdays more efficient and manageable.

3. It’s okay to let go

It’s perfectly fine to let some things go – that includes your tasks. Reduce the load on your weekly plate by delegating, bumping, or dropping the tasks for which you don’t have the time or bandwidth.

When time-blocking priorities, be sure to review your to-do list. But deciding which ones to let go can be tough. Strategies like the Eisenhower Matrix help you categorize tasks based on urgency and importance.

• Both Important and Urgent : These tasks should be prioritized and scheduled on your calendar right away. Complete these tasks without delay.
• Important but Not Urgent : These tasks are usually long-term goals. Plan to fit them into your week if there’s time, but you can also schedule them for future dates.
• Not Important but Urgent : These tasks require your immediate attention but don’t impact your long-term goals that much. As a leader, you can delegate these tasks to someone else so you can free up your time for more important work.
• Neither Important nor Urgent : These tasks should be dropped from your weekly plan altogether. These can be distracting and add unnecessary work clutter.

You might forget, but we’re only human. Getting rid of non-essentials can be such a productivity hack that improves your outlook in the workplace.

4. There’s no shame in saying “no”

Beyond time blocking, it’s smart to respectfully decline projects and meetings that you can’t accommodate. Now, I know that saying “no” at work is not as easy as saying no to a night out with friends, but it’s a good habit to practice for effective time management.

Be honest and direct about your workload and priorities. People are more likely to understand if you’re straightforward about your limits. You can also offer alternatives or suggest a colleague who can help. Refer to your prioritized task list when declining new requests to support your decision.

There’s absolutely no shame in protecting your time and bandwidth. This helps you avoid overcommitment and allows you to deliver high-quality work consistently. 

5. Remove those pesky distractions

Deprioritization requires removing your work distractions. This is anything that pulls your attention away from the important tasks at hand, and that includes low-priority tasks. Here are the many other common work distractions:

• Having to constantly check and respond to emails.
• Browsing social media platforms, trapped in an endless scroll.
• Unplanned meetings that interrupt your workflow.
• Non-urgent calls and text messages.
• Background noise in the office or at home.
• Attempting to handle multiple tasks simultaneously.
• A disorganized desk or digital workspace.

Without the distractions, you can focus better on your high-priority tasks and maintain a productive workflow. It’s a must to always protect your schedule from getting too full.

6. Nobody gets left behind

A successful organization depends on teamwork. Your team is there to provide valuable insights into what tasks to consider. With multiple minds working together, you can create the best work pipeline.

Taking collaboration seriously doesn’t just make for a better workplace, either. There’s an impressive 21% boost in profitability . It’s a win-win situation.

Collaboration leads to more effective decision-making and increased buy-in from team members, and this leads to a more cohesive approach to managing workloads. 

Image: Pexels

7. Take care of yourself and your team

Productive workplace = Healthy team. 

While it might seem counterproductive, not overloading your work can help you finish tasks more. When you overwork yourself, you’re more likely to feel stressed, exhausted, and overwhelmed. It just makes work so much harder to complete.

Create boundaries that prevent burnout and ensure you and your team have the energy and focus to tackle high-priority tasks. This means establishing a clear start and end time for your workday. Stick to your schedule as much as possible. Avoid the temptation to work long hours just to get more tasks done.

When you establish healthy work habits, you can create a positive work environment where everyone feels valued and supported. 

8. Review and reassess your priorities 

Think of deprioritizing tasks as cleaning out your closet regularly. It’s all about figuring out what you have and need while removing the unnecessary stuff.

When you make reassessments, you’re basically taking a step back to evaluate your current workload. This identifies what tasks are done, what are still important, and what can be set aside. 

Some low-priority tasks can then also be moved to higher-priority tasks. It’s a matter of reviewing what’s on hand and staying on top of things. Staying flexible and open to change makes sure that your time and energy are focused on the tasks that will have the greatest impact. 

Deprioritize to Prioritize

Deprioritization is a powerful strategy for streamlining your workload to achieve better results. Don’t hesitate to deprioritize tasks when necessary – it’s a strategic move that can lead to greater success in both your personal and professional life.

Truly, there’s power in setting aside the less important tasks. 

And for even more support in managing your workload, consider turning to Teamhood. This robust platform has a range of features designed to simplify work management. 

Welcome Teamhood into the team and elevate your productivity today.

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• 18 time management tips, strategies, an ...

18 time management tips, strategies, and quick wins to get your best work done

Today, we’re constantly interrupted by tools, notifications, emails, social media—you name it. In our distraction economy, chaos has become the norm.

Time management templates can help you take back your time and bring more mindfulness into your daily routine. Instead of letting your to-do list dictate how you spend your time, you can use time management strategies to intentionally set your daily priorities and focus on the most relevant work.

There isn’t one right way to manage your time. In this article, we’ll cover 18 different tips, strategies, and quick wins to help you take back control of your tasks—and your time.

What is time management?

Time management is the practice of managing your work in order to ensure you’re spending your time as intentionally as possible. Time management can  increase productivity —but the biggest advantage of effective time management is the ability to better prioritize your day so you can make space for rest and self care.

The benefits of time management

Good time management strategies can help you organize and prioritize tasks so you can:

Feel like you have more time in your day.  When you’re intentional about where your time is going, you may find that you reduce unnecessary tasks, de-prioritize work that doesn’t need to get done today, and accomplish things in less time. You won’t literally have more time in your day—but you may find that you accomplish more in the same amount of time.

Establish boundaries between work and personal time.  Improving your time management isn’t about squeezing out every second of productivity you have at work. Rather, these strategies can help you get your most important work done—and identify what work can wait until tomorrow. By prioritizing the work that needs to get done today and clarifying what work you can defer to a later date, you’re also establishing boundaries between your work time and your personal time.

Reduce stress.  Without effective time management, it can feel like you never have enough time at work. You might feel like you’re running around and putting out fires—which can lead to increased stress and, ultimately, burnout. In fact, according to the  Anatomy of Work Index , 71% of knowledge workers reported feeling burnout at least once in 2020.

Improve productivity.  There are a variety of time management tips to help reduce procrastination and increase productivity. By identifying your main priorities for the day, you won’t just be more productive—you can also feel confident that you’re working on the right things each day.

Break bad habits.  No one wants to procrastinate. But over time, bad habits can pile up and get in the way of high-impact work. (Trust us, we’ve been there too.) Time management strategies can help you identify and break out of bad habits.

6 time management strategies to increase productivity

One of the easiest ways to build your time management skills is to incorporate a tried-and-true time management strategy into your daily routine. Time management strategies help you set time limits on work, tackle one task at a time, and schedule your day with more intention.

1. Timeboxing

Timeboxing  is a goal-oriented time management strategy where you complete work within “timeboxes.” This strategy is particularly effective if you aren’t sure how much time you’re spending on each task and want to approach your  to-do list  more intentionally.

Timeboxing helps you break down large tasks into smaller pieces, and then complete those pieces in a reasonable amount of time. Each task should have its own unique timebox that lasts no more than three hours. For example, if you need to write a blog post, you might create a two-hour timebox to write an outline. Then after taking a break, you can create another three hour timebox to begin the first draft. By breaking the work into smaller pieces, you can make steady progress towards your goal over the course of days or weeks.

2. Time blocking

Time blocking  is similar to timeboxing, but instead of scheduling specific time for each individual task, you’ll practice blocking off set periods of your calendar for related work. When you use time blocking to schedule your work, you’re effectively breaking the work week into discrete time slots where you can work on projects, communicate with coworkers, take a break, or even exercise. Time blocking can help you dedicate more time to flow and  deep work  by allowing you to focus without being interrupted.

To create a time block, start by figuring out your daily or weekly priorities. Then, group similar tasks so you can work on them in one time block. Finally, practice scheduling blocks of focus time on your calendar to help you stick to your time blocked schedule.

3. Pomodoro method

Similar to timeboxing and time blocking, the  Pomodoro method  helps you tackle work within short time frames and then take breaks between working sessions. The Pomodoro time management strategy is particularly helpful because it actively encourages regular breaks, which are good for intrinsic motivation —and good for your brain. In fact, research suggests that taking breaks makes people  more creative .

To use the Pomodoro method, you need a timer, a prioritized to-do list, and a “snooze” feature on your notifications. Start by setting your timer for 25 minutes, and try to spend that time exclusively working on a task—avoid checking your text messages or social media if possible. Then, once time is up, take a five minute break. Ideally, aim to do something physical during your break, like grabbing a snack or getting up to stretch—but it’s ok to check your devices or see if you got an important ping while you were focused on your task.

Repeat the process of working for 25 minutes and then taking a five minute break four times. Then, after the fourth working session, take a longer 20-30 minute break.

4. Eat the Frog

Mark Twain famously said, “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning.” The  Eat the Frog  time management strategy takes inspiration from this quote and encourages you to tackle big or complex tasks first before working on your less important or less urgent work. This strategy is particularly helpful if you split your days between regular, daily work and high-priority tasks.

With the Eat the Frog method, you can ensure you’re getting to your most important work every day. To get started with this time management strategy, make sure you’re tracking your work and priorities in a centralized tool. Look for a way to connect your  daily tasks to company goals . That way, you can better identify which tasks to prioritize every day, and make sure you get those to-dos done first. Then, once you’ve eaten your frog for the day, you can move on to the rest of your work.

5. Pareto principle

If eating a frog first thing in the morning doesn’t sound appetizing, you might prefer the Pareto time management strategy. The  Pareto principle  is the opposite of the Eat the Frog method—this strategy encourages you to get quick tasks out of the way, so you can feel more accomplished and motivated as you head into your day.

Often called the “80/20 rule,” the Pareto principle has one fundamental rule: you spend 20% of your time on 80% of your work. If you can get those 80% of your tasks out of the way in relatively quick order, you free up your workday to tackle the 20% of your work that will take 80% of your time.

6. Getting Things Done (GTD)

The  Getting Things Done  method was invented by David Allen in the early 2000s. According to Allen, the first step to getting things done is to write down everything you need to do. By freeing up brain power and instead relying on  task management tools , you can focus on taking action—and not remembering what you need to do.

To use the GTD method, capture all of your upcoming work in one place. Then once you’ve written down everything you need to do, sort and prioritize your work. For example, you might have work you no longer need to do (that goes in the “trash”), work you want to do eventually but not right now (that goes into a “later” project or folder), work that is dependent on other tasks, and so on. The tool should capture all the details—it’s your job to take action on them.

6 time management tips to get more done

You may or may not like using an established time management strategy to organize your work. Not every time management strategy is effective for every person—that’s why there are so many of them in the first place. Instead, try these six tips to build your time management skills.

1. Connect daily work to goals

Time management isn’t always about getting all of your work done—rather, it’s about identifying and prioritizing your most important work. In order to do that, you need to connect your day-to-day work to team or company goals so you can identify the most important tasks to tackle daily. But, according to a recent  survey of over 6,000 global knowledge workers , only 26% of employees say they have a very clear understanding of how their individual work relates to company goals.

The best way to coordinate work and priorities across all levels of your organization is with a  work management tool . With work management, you can connect daily work and team projects to company objectives, so your team members always understand how their work impacts company priorities.

To ensure we’re prioritizing the right work, we use OKRs to set quarterly goals that ladder up to bi-annual goals. On a weekly cadence, our team leads make sure that the work the team is doing ladders up to these goals.”

2. Prioritize and organize your work

Whether you like the Eat the Frog method or prefer the Getting Things Done approach, it’s critical to know which tasks are important. Inevitably, you’ll have a task that shifts in priority or a deadline that gets moved up or down. If you don’t have clarity on which work is more important, you won’t be able to adapt and prioritize the right work.

Why does prioritizing work matter? You might be familiar with burnout, which impacts a growing number of global employees every year. But what’s less documented is how unclear priorities contribute to burnout. According to the  Anatomy of Work Index , 29% of the knowledge workers who reported feeling burnout cited feeling overworked from a lack of clarity on tasks and roles as a contributing factor. Knowing which tasks to prioritiz

e can help reduce that feeling and increase confidence that you’re working on the right tasks every day.

3. Plan ahead at the end of each day

The workday often feels like a scramble because we’re already behind by the time we get started. If you’re the type of person who goes through emails every morning trying to figure out what to prioritize for the day, you’re not alone. Fortunately, there’s a better way.

Instead of trying to figure out what you should be doing in the morning, spend the last five minutes of each day preparing for the next one. This can increase motivation because you know exactly what you’re doing every day before you even log on. It’s also a valuable way to make sure you’re going to get your most important work done every day. Instead of reacting to an email or request at 4:30 in the afternoon, you can make sure to incorporate that important work into the next day’s schedule.

4. Say “no” or delegate

One advantage of clarifying your priorities is that you gain an understanding of what’s less of a priority as well. It’s not always easy to say “no” to work—but it helps when you can explain that you’re saying “no” because the work doesn’t align with your current priorities. Defining priorities for yourself—and sharing those priorities with your team members—can give everyone more clarity.

If the work has to get done, but still isn’t a priority for you, see if you can delegate it to another team member . Keep in mind—delegating doesn’t mean the task isn’t important, it just means the work isn’t in line with your current priorities. It could be that this work is more relevant for someone else’s expertise—and when you reassign it to them, you’re ensuring the work is done by the best person for the job.

A strategy we have put in place to make sure our team is efficient is to be clear around what you will and won't do as a team... Having clear visibility of your work makes decisions easier around what you will focus on and what you won't focus on. If you can be very clear around that it helps drive efficiency and clarity around what our teams need to be focusing on.”

5. Audit your tasks

Similar to saying “no” to work, take some time to look through tasks you committed to a while back and are still working on. Is there anything that’s currently on your plate that no longer aligns with your team’s goals?

When you find these tasks, ask yourself if this work needs to be done at all. If it’s no longer important to your team, consider putting the work on hold. If the task still needs to be done, ask yourself if you’re the best person for the job—and if not, go through the same delegation exercise to figure out who is.

6. Ditch handwritten to-dos—use a tool

If you’re still tracking your work by hand, it’s time to upgrade to an online tool. As satisfying as it can be to take notes manually, written  to-do lists  are disorganized, prone to mistakes, easy to lose, and ineffective.

Instead, make sure the majority of your project management is happening in a dedicated tool.  Project management tools  offer a variety of features that make it easier to get the most out of your time. With a project management tool you can:

Coordinate cross-functional work and track exactly who’s doing what by when.

Communicate about work, share feedback, and  report on project status  in one place.

Track progress in real time to accurately see where work stands.

See due dates and  dependencies so you can hit your goals without scrambling.

Plus, if you think there’s nothing quite like crossing a task off your written to-do list, wait until you see a herd of  celebration creatures  fly across your computer screen.

6 time management quick wins

The time management strategies and tips we outlined above are helpful—but they take some time to implement. Looking to get started in the next five minutes? Try these six quick wins to improve your time management right now.

1. Snooze notifications

We’re constantly bouncing between apps, notifications, and tasks. In fact, the average knowledge worker  switches between 10 apps  up to 25 times per day. That’s why it’s harder to focus on the task at hand and get into a good flow—which means work takes longer.

When you can, turn off your notifications or use “Do not Disturb” features to temporarily disable notifications. That way, you can dive into deep work—while also letting your team know you’ll be getting back to them later. Most tools show that you’re temporarily snoozed, so team members know not to expect a reply from you right away. If necessary, they can usually choose to override the feature, so you’re never too far out of reach.

To be most productive, I find it helpful to block off time between meetings when I intend to work on different projects, making sure to leave time for short breaks. I also find it helpful when I (and folks around me) update Slack statuses to “Heads down” so nobody expects an immediate response.”

2. Organize your physical space

Think back to how clean your desk was when you first set it up. You likely had a computer monitor and a keyboard, maybe a notepad, but probably not much else. If you’re anything like us, that clean desk didn’t last long. Over time, you’ve inevitably accumulated papers, boxes, books, sticky notes, and stray wires.

A messy desk might not seem like much, but visual clutter can influence mental clutter, and make it hard to focus. Take a quick five minute break to organize your desk. Throw away any papers that are no longer necessary, stack your books in a neat row, and coil any stray wires that might be lying around. Then, when you get back to work, you may find that it's easier to focus.

3. Group like tasks

Every time you switch between tasks, your brain has to find the relevant context and information for that new task and bring that knowledge to the forefront of your mind. Sure, it takes mere seconds for your brain to do that—but if you’re constantly switching between tasks and projects, that means you’re forcing your brain to work overtime.

This can lead to reduced productivity—not to mention increased exhaustion at the end of the day. So instead, try to group like tasks. See if you can work on all of your tasks for one project, or all tasks for the same deliverable, in the same time block. When you do, you’ll spend less time context-switching and more time focused on getting high-impact work done.

Working in batches, especially with planning, really helps you prioritize the work while still giving you the ability to be dynamic to what's happening or what may be coming.”

4. Work on quick tasks in between meetings or focus time

You likely have a few tasks every day that take five or 10 minutes to complete. These can be quick responses to a team member, fixing a typo on a document, or submitting a work request form to another coworker.

If you have this type of work, store it somewhere that’s front and center—like a project management tool—but don’t immediately work on it. Instead, save these tasks for those five minutes between meetings or 10 minutes immediately after lunch as you get back into the swing of things. Not only will you be able to quickly tackle this work—and feel good for doing it—they also won’t take up valuable mental energy that could be spent on more complex work.

5. Stop trying to multitask

Simply put, multitasking is a myth . While it might feel like you’re doing more than one thing at the same time, when you attempt to multitask you’re actually forcing your brain to quickly switch between tasks. Every time you switch between work, your brain needs to find the information and context for that task. Not only does this take more effort than simply focusing on one to-do, it also exhausts your brain.

Instead of multitasking, aim to work on one task at a time, so you can get into flow while working.  Flow state  happens when you’re so focused that you feel like you’re “in the zone.” When you get into flow, you’re able to get more work done more efficiently, since your brain is only focusing on one task at a time.

6. Take breaks

It might seem counterintuitive, but one of the best things you can do to improve your time management is to take a break. We tend to react to feeling behind on work by just doing more of it, but your brain needs time to rest and recharge. If you’re overworked and burnt out—you won’t be able to get anything done, much less tackle your most important work.

If taking a break feels hard to do, you’re not alone. According to our research,  32% of knowledge workers  who feel burnout report not being able to switch off or disconnect as something that fuels their burnout. Because they can’t switch off, they get burnt out, and when they’re burnt out, they can’t switch off—it’s a never-ending cycle.

If you struggle to remember to take breaks, consider scheduling them into your calendar. Then when the break pops up on your calendar, force yourself to take it—even if you just stand up to stretch. Even though it might feel stressful to take that break, you’ll feel better once you do.

To help ensure you don't burn out while working remotely, find new ways in this digital world to separate yourself from your screen and to take the time that you need. Also, I highly recommend the one-minute dance party–just get up and move around.”

Take control of your time

Ultimately, time management is more of a state of mind than anything else. To effectively manage your time, prioritize your work so you know to work on each day. Instead of letting your to-do list dictate your priorities, focus your attention on your intention to really drive impact.

To get started, make sure you’re tracking work in a centralized tool. Ready to get started? Learn how Asana can help you  organize your tasks and hit your deliverables .

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What every new manager needs to know.

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New managers can say “I don’t know.”

As someone who has committed her career to helping managers be more effective and impactful, there’s one piece of data that continually haunts my dreams: Nearly a third of employees believe that interacting with their manager is the most stressful part of their day, according to a 2021 Grant Thornton report.

This means that for many, a manager is more stressful than a project deadline, a commute, and childcare, to name a few typically stressful things.

For new managers, this statistic is particularly scary. Often employees are promoted into the role of manager without formal training or a clear roadmap of how to be successful. Of course new managers don’t want to stress out their employees, but they inevitably do when they aren’t quite sure how to behave as a manager and haven’t yet mastered the skills required to excel in the role.

As a management professor and researcher, I’m often asked, what’s the most important skill for a new manager to have?

I find this to be an impossible question — like being asked to pick a favorite child — because new managers need a range of skills in order to be effective. But there are a few things that every new manager should know in order to build the skills, attitude and resilience to be successful.

Fortnite Servers Are Down Here s When Chapter 5 Season 3 Begins Updated

Ethereum etfs approved: insights into the sec’s decision, forbes asia 100 to watch 2024 nominations are open, expectations make (or break) a relationship.

The venture capitalist, Marc Morgenstern, said: “An expectation unarticulated is a disappointment guaranteed.” This quote was shared with me when I was trying to navigate dating on Tinder, but it quickly became my favorite quote about a frequent struggle with managing. A manager often gets frustrated by her employees when they fail to live up to the manager’s expectations. But, how much of this is the manager’s own fault?

Take Elliott, a new manager who is frequently frustrated and disappointed by his team members. Elliott asks a team member for a workplan as soon as possible. Elliott expects a GANTT chart by the close of business, but instead receives a to-do list five days later. Elliott’s team member then has no idea why he is upset with her. In her mind she delivered a workplan, ASAP.

New managers may bristle at the thought of being explicit. But clear expectations are critical to any successful relationship, and managers in particular need to explicitly articulate what is needed.

To set clear expectations, a manager should always ask and answer these four questions when assigning a task or project:

• What is the objective or end goal?
• What does good look like?
• What’s the timing?
• What are examples?

Constructive feedback matters — a lot

A few years ago, I had lunch with the long-time CEO of a Fortune 50 company that has almost 150,000 employees. During the small lunch, one of the attendees asked the CEO what skill he considered most important to his success as a chief executive.

His answer surprised me. He said that the most important skill he possessed was his ability to give constructive feedback to a team member, where at the end of the feedback conversation the team member felt more motivated than when the CEO started the conversation.

Think about it: If a manager is able to give constructive feedback to her team members, and they take that feedback and are excited to improve, wow, that manager is unstoppable. And research shows that employees want their managers to give them constructive feedback and give it more frequently than they currently do.

But most managers hate giving constructive feedback and aren’t effective when giving it , despite its importance in helping team members develop and improve performance. One of the best ways for new managers to get comfortable giving constructive feedback that’s effective is to use a structured process that guides the conversation and builds the feedback-giving muscle:

• Start the feedback by sharing an observable behavior
• Express the impact that the behavior had and why the feedback matters
• Pause for clarification and the recipient’s perspective
• Provide actionable changes that the individual can make to that behavior

You can say ‘I don’t know’

When I first became a manager, I was anxious about my team members finding out that I didn’t know what I was doing. My weaknesses felt easily exposed and I spent a lot of time and energy attempting to hide these shortcomings and putting forth an air of confidence and, dare I say, bravado.

One manager I spoke with, an executive director at a national non-profit, shared that she avoided certain conversations with her team for fear of not knowing the answer to a question that one of them might ask. Or worse yet, there’s the manager who simply makes up an answer or buries a non-answer in a bunch of corporate-speak when asked something she doesn’t know.

But, here’s a little secret: The team already knows that their manager doesn’t know everything. And by saying, “I don’t know” or “Let me get back to you with an answer,” the manager is building trust with her team. The manager is letting the team know that they can have confidence that the information the manager does share is true. The manager is modeling to the team that it’s okay to admit that we don’t all know everything and that at times we have to ask for help. And the manager is helping the team build empathy for the manager — something that is overlooked but important for effective manager-managee relationships.

There’s another statistic that haunts me. Only about half of all workers believe that their managers care about their well-being, according to a survey by Deloitte and the research firm Workplace Intelligence . This statistic doesn’t quite tell the whole story. Having spoken to thousands of managers, most managers do care deeply about their employees. The challenge lies in the managers not having the abilities and knowledge to support their employees’ success, development, and well-being on the job. Setting clear expectations, giving constructive feedback, and saying “I don’t know” as a way to build trust and openness are the first three steps new managers can take to support their teams.

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How to Create a Project Tracker in Excel

By Kate Eby | May 17, 2024

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We’ve compiled step-by-step directions on creating a project tracker to ensure the completion of all project tasks and keep projects progressing toward their deadlines. 

Included in this article, you’ll find the following:

• Guide to creating a project tracker in Excel
• Excel project tracker template with sample data
• Useful chart to help you pick the best template

What Is a Project Tracker?

A  project tracker is a project management tool used for monitoring multiple projects so that they stay on schedule and within budget. Managers can use project trackers as a single source of data for listing and auditing project tasks.

To accurately track all your projects’ tasks, owners, timelines, budgets, and hours, download the project tracker template from this page. Once you download the template, you can easily start tracking and managing your projects with the template’s user-friendly layout.

Use the following step-by-step instructions to create a project tracker in Excel.   

1. Download and Open the Simple Multiple Project Tracking Template

Download the  simple multiple project tracking template to your computer, and save it using your preferred file-naming conventions.

2. Enter the Company Name and Project Start Date

When you input the start date, the Gantt chart automatically updates to display the weekly timeline of your project.

3. Enter the Project Names, Task Titles, and Task Descriptions

Replace the sample text with your project and task names to customize the cells. 

4. Enter the Task Owners and Start Dates

Enter the task owners and the start dates of each task. 

5. Select a Status and Priority for Each Project and Task 

Use the drop-down menus to select the status and priority of each project and task. 

6. Enter the End Dates

The number of days for each project and task will auto-populate. The timelines will become visible in the Gantt chart. 

7. Enter the Deliverables and Percentage Complete

As you enter the percentage completed for each deliverable, the template will automatically calculate the total percentage of the project’s completion.

8. Enter the Fixed Costs

As you enter the fixed cost for each deliverable, the template will automatically calculate the total fixed cost of the project. 

9. Enter the Estimated and Actual Hours 

As you enter the estimated and actual hours for each deliverable, the template will automatically calculate the total estimated and actual hours of the project. 

Excel Simple Multiple Project Tracking Template

Download the Example Simple Multiple Project Tracking Template for Excel  

Download the Blank Simple Multiple Project Tracking Template for Excel

This easy-to-use template is ideal for project managers who need to organize and track multiple projects simultaneously. The template features a week-by-week Gantt chart for a visual representation of each project’s and task’s progress. The Gantt chart auto-populates color-coded timelines as you enter start and end dates. This template also includes sections for tracking total costs and hours spent on each task. 

For additional project tracking resources, check out these  free project tracking templates . 

Project Tracker Templates in Excel

Project tracker templates track many components of a project, including timelines, deadlines, budgets, and more. Check out the comprehensive list of project tracker templates below, and use the provided chart to choose the one that best fits your needs. 

Excel Project Management Issue Tracking Template

To track project issues and their solutions, download this  project management issue tracking template . It includes pie charts for a quick view of the status of outstanding issues. If you need a project management template, check out these  top project management templates in Excel .  

Project Time Tracking Template

To track the timeline of each project task, use this  project time tracking template . Once you enter a task's start and end date, the template automatically updates the Gantt chart to reflect your project's timeline. 

Multiple Project Budget Tracking Template

To track the budget of multiple projects, use this  multiple project budget tracking template . It includes a section for tracking labor and materials used. 

Agile Sprint Tracking Template

To track the sprints in an Agile project, use this  Agile sprint tracking template . The color-coded Gantt chart makes it easy to follow the progress and duration of every sprint.

Multiple Project Schedule Template

To track the timelines of multiple projects’ tasks, use this  multiple project schedule template . It allows you to schedule and track tasks monthly, quarterly, and annually. 

If you’re having trouble deciding which template is right for you, refer to the following chart: 

To guide and manage project execution, check out these  top project plan templates . 

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Becca Caddy is a contributor to iMore, as well as a freelance journalist and author. She’s been writing about consumer tech and popular science for more than a decade, covering all kinds of topics, including why robots have eyes and whether we’ll experience the overview effect one day. She’s particularly interested in VR/AR, wearables, digital health, space tech and chatting to experts and academics about the future. She’s contributed to TechRadar, T3, Wired, New Scientist, The Guardian, Inverse and many more. Her first book, Screen Time, came out in January 2021 with Bonnier Books. She loves science-fiction, brutalist architecture, and spending too much time floating through space in virtual reality. Last time she checked, she still holds a Guinness World Record alongside iMore Editor in Chief Gerald Lynch for playing the largest game of Tetris ever made, too.

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• Creating and Administering Analytics and Reports for Project Management

Overview of Configurable Workflow Notifications in Project Management

As part of workflow tasks, the application automatically sends notifications. For example, when a project manager assigns a task to a resource, the application sends a notification to the resource.

For some workflow tasks, you can use Oracle Business Intelligence (BI) Publisher to tailor the content, layout, and style of the notifications. These report-based notifications aren't only configurable, but also optimized for viewing on mobile devices.

In addition to getting notifications in email, users can also view in-app notifications by:

Clicking the Notifications icon in the global header and opening a notification

Going to the Worklist: Notifications and Approvals work area and opening a notification

Clicking the In-App Notification link at the end of an email notification

Here's a table that shows the products that have configurable notifications, along with their associated report name, description, recipients and when it's sent. To navigate to the reports, open Reports and Analytics work area > Browse Catalog > Shared Folders > Projects > Workflow Notifications . Keep in mind that each report caters to multiple cases.

Process Overview

Generating configurable notifications through BI Publisher involves various types of objects in the BI catalog, including data models, subtemplates, style templates, and reports. Reports pull data from data models and generate notifications in an HTML format. The report layout templates use common table and paragraph styles and refer to a central subtemplate that contains reusable notification components.

Data Sources: Store the attributes and attribute values for business objects and transactions in the application (example of data sources being transaction tables)

Data Model: Determines which attributes from data sources are available to be included in the notification and how that data is retrieved

Subtemplate: Provides common components, for example a branding logo and buttons, that can be reused in multiple reports

Style Template: Provides styles such as the type of lines and fonts to use in tables, or the font type, size, and color to use for headings

Report: Contains a layout template that determines:

Which attributes appear in the notification, from the data model used for the report

What the notification looks like, leveraging components from the subtemplate and styles from the style template used for the report

HTML: Is the output generated from the report

Email Notification: Has the HTML output embedded in the email body

In-App Notification: Has the HTML output embedded in the application UI

Each workflow task with configurable notifications has a corresponding predefined report in the BI catalog. For example, the Gate Approval Request Notification contains Gate Approval Request Notification Layout and uses the Gate Notifications data model. The generated output is included in notifications that are sent to users.

Notification Modifications

After you enable configurable workflow notifications, the predefined reports and related objects in the BI catalog work by default. If you need to modify the notifications, you can edit copies of the predefined reports, data models, and subtemplate (but not the style template). You proceed as you would to edit any report, data model, or subtemplate in the catalog:

Open the Reports and Analytics work area and then click Browse Catalog . The Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence page appears.

Navigate to Shared Folders > Projects > Workflow Notifications . And then, select the product. For example, to configure notifications related to Project Management, click Project Management Control.

Click Edit corresponding to the layout that you want to edit. A page containing all the existing layout appears.

Click Edit corresponding to the default layout to download a copy.

Edit the copied report layout template.

Upload the modified template and set it as default.

You should get familiar with BI Publisher in general before modifying configurable notifications.

Use only the Template Builder For Word add-in to edit the .rtf template in Microsoft Word, not the layout editor or other tools available for creating and editing report layout.

Edit a copy of predefined layout templates, rather than create new reports or layout templates.

To modify reports and data models for workflow notifications, you must have the BI administrator role.

To use configurable notifications for Project Management, you must opt-in to the Configure Project and Task Management Notifications feature to configure notifications.

You must download and install the Template Builder for Word add-in:

Open the Reports and Analytics work area.

Click the Browse Catalog button.

Click Home .

In the Get Started pane, click Download BI Desktop Tools and then click Template Builder For Word .

Save and run the installer.

Related Topics

• More About Oracle Transactional Business Intelligence Components
• Best Practices for Content and Layout in Workflow Notifications
• Set Up for RTF and Excel Report Layout Templates
• Overview of Notifications and Approval Workflows
• Configurable Workflow Notifications: Implementation Considerations

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Bharat Intern Work Experience As A Web Developer

In the dynamic world of technology, practical experience is just as important as theoretical knowledge. My virtual internship at Bharat Intern was a pivotal step in my journey as a budding web developer. Choosing web development as my domain of focus, I embarked on a 30-day intensive program that not only honed my technical skills but also provided a structured approach to tackling real-world tasks. Here’s an account of my experience and the invaluable lessons I learned along the way.

Getting Started: The Basics of Web Development

Before diving into the tasks, it was essential to have a solid understanding of web development fundamentals. Having a basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript was crucial as these are the building blocks of web development. Bharat Intern provided a supportive framework with resources and guidance that ensured I was well-prepared to take on the challenges ahead.

Structured Learning and Task Management

The internship program was well-structured, with a series of tasks designed to progressively build my skills. Over the 30 days, I worked on four main projects:

Temperature Converter:

The first task was to create a temperature converter application. This project was an excellent introduction to the practical application of JavaScript for handling user inputs and performing calculations. It reinforced my understanding of functions and event handling in JavaScript.

Netflix Webpage Clone:

The second task involved replicating the Netflix homepage. This project required a keen eye for design and attention to detail. Using HTML and CSS, I learned how to create a visually appealing and responsive webpage. This task significantly improved my CSS skills, particularly in layout and styling.

Portfolio Website:

Building a personal portfolio website was not only a technical challenge but also a creative one. This project allowed me to showcase my skills and projects in a professional format. I delved deeper into advanced CSS techniques and JavaScript for interactive elements, making my portfolio both functional and visually engaging.

Resume Builder:

The final task was to create a resume builder application. This comprehensive project brought together all the skills I had learned. It involved form handling, data storage, and dynamic content generation using JavaScript. This task emphasized the importance of user experience and data validation.

Deepening Technical Skills

Throughout these projects, I gained a deeper understanding of various HTML, CSS, and JavaScript concepts. Some key skills I developed include:

• HTML: Semantic tags, form elements, and document structure.
• CSS: Flexbox, grid layout, animations, and responsive design techniques.
• JavaScript: DOM manipulation, event handling, data storage (local storage), and API integration.

These projects not only solidified my foundational knowledge but also introduced me to new techniques and best practices in web development.

Overcoming Challenges

Every project came with its own set of challenges. From debugging code to ensuring cross-browser compatibility, each task pushed me to think critically and solve problems efficiently. The virtual nature of the internship meant that I had to be proactive in seeking help and resources, which improved my research skills and ability to learn independently.

Achieving Success

Completing the internship and receiving the certificate from Bharat Intern was a proud moment. It validated the hard work and dedication I had put into learning and applying new skills. More importantly, it gave me confidence in my abilities as a web developer and prepared me for future challenges in the field.

Final Thoughts

My experience at Bharat Intern was transformative. It reinforced the idea that practical experience is invaluable and that structured, hands-on projects are essential for mastering any technical skill. For anyone looking to delve into web development, I highly recommend seeking out similar opportunities to apply your knowledge in real-world scenarios.

In conclusion, my virtual internship at Bharat Intern was a milestone in my web development journey. It demonstrated that with the right mindset and resources, one can achieve significant milestones in a short period. This experience has laid a strong foundation for my future endeavours in web development and beyond.

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