Best Task Management Software

Adopting a task management approach that relies on emails and spreadsheets can lead to confusion and chaos. Such systems force project members to rely on gut feelings and guesswork instead of leveraging real-time data to make smart decisions.

What Is Task Management Software?

Task Management system is more than your usual to-do list. It’s more of a system designed to help you execute large projects effectively and efficiently. Task management software means a software system that helps track tasks from the start all the way to the end, allowing you to delegate subtasks to the team and set deadlines, thus ensuring that all projects are tackled on time.

Whether you need to finish, prioritize, assign or manage an assignment, the task tracking software can help you streamline the project. You can also use it to predict opportunities and problems that happen in the future and reorganize your resources and tactics accordingly.

Reasons You Need Task Management Software

Managing tasks in any organization is a daunting challenge. It does matter whether yours is a tiny kiosk office or you are running a giant organization. Advancement in technology is changing the way we do things. While you could easily get away with it in the past, failure to leverage technology in online task management software would result in an epic fail.

In a nutshell, why do you need task management software?

1. Keeping things organized

Keeping your desk littered with sticky notes can easily confuse you. As a result, it might make you miss some essential tasks and delay the execution of others. But, thanks to online task manager software systems, you can schedule every activity ahead of time. It also makes it easy for you to share files and track the progress of your project in real-time. As a result, it ensures a smooth flow of communication between you and your teammates.

2. Monitoring employees’ activities

Without reliable task management software, confusion tends to be the norm. The good thing about the software system is that it allows workers to view tasks assigned to them and the specific period within which the work needs to get done. As such, you stop worrying about who does what but the progress of each task.

3. Doing away with paperwork

Paperwork is tedious, and daunting, and leads to reduced productivity. The software system reduces or even completely does away with the dependence on paperwork in team task management. Besides, it becomes easier to share project development compared to the use of circulars and memos.

4. Helps finish project on time

Using management software keeps you on top of things. You can view the work done, work in progress, and modify plans to ensure timelines in your delivery. Your customers will love you for it and your business will gain a competitive edge over the competition at the end of the day.

How To Choose The Best Task Management Software For Your Business

Deciding on the task management system that will fit your business needs can be time-consuming. Even seasoned project managers might find it quite challenging.

If you don’t know how to get started, here are three ways to narrow the search:

1. Take a deep look at your business’ internal environment:

You don’t want to invest in task management software that will be of little or no help to your business. Ensure you and your teams have all the fine details about the tasks, business operations, and processes at hand. Think about the size of your company, the different departments it runs, and how they interact. Consider the services or products you offer and the existing internal or outsourced talent pool.

Also, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your business. Consider other issues like the technology you and your team prefer, long-term goals and finances. Why is it important? Because some of these issues have a huge potential of bringing up alignment issues that may affect the way a company does business. It might take you a lot of time to go through the evaluation process, but it ensures that you won’t waste more time or incur unnecessary costs.

2. Confirm whether the Task Management Software can sufficiently support all aspects of the tasks at hand:

Before you settle on any particular task management system, ensure you have identified and documented all the tasks you intend to work on and those you might want to tackle in the future. Then, narrow it down to features that suit your specific project needs.

Once you are through, compare the details with the information in the vendor documents to ensure that the particular task management system solution can meet your short- and long-term goals. Finally, ensure that the software solution that impresses you and your team is scalable, within your set budget, and can efficiently accommodate all the tasks and key processes.

3. Try out your preferred Task Management Software before taking the plunge:

Don’t make the final purchase decision before trying out the fully-working version of the task management system. Why is it important? It ensures your teams (the group(s) that will use the system) experience it and offer their feedback. As such, you will avoid running into “costly buyer’s remorse” that plagues many businesses all too often.

Common Features Of A Task Management Software

Task management software is more than just writing lengthy to-do lists. It involves following a given process from the beginning of every project to completion.

That is why you need a task tracking software that offers a robust set of features, including:

1. Calendar

You are always working on strict deadlines set on your calendar. Your online task manager software should easily sync that information. It should also allow you to set milestones to mark your progress from one phase to the next. The system should also add email notifications to your calendar, reminding your team of important dates along the line of the project execution.

2. Collaborative

For you to successfully manage your team, you must ensure there is a smooth flow of communication. Whether you are assigning, organizing, or monitoring the project, involving your team at every stage is key. They need to know what is expected of them and the timeframe for completing the task. The software should also be accessible anywhere, anytime.

3. Estimating

You need to know the time each task will take to get completed. Therefore, you need a tool to help you get an estimate of the task duration. You can easily set project deadlines for each team member with the information. Besides, a good project and task management system will prevent you from micromanaging your employees. But it updates you on your team’s strengths and weaknesses. It also helps in allocating tasks accordingly for optimum productivity. If the task is too huge, you can break it down into smaller, easily digestible tasks and assign them to your employees accordingly.

4. Prioritize

Once you prepare your to-do lists, you always have to prioritize each of the tasks. Some of the tasks will demand immediate attention, others require specific skills while others can wait. Some tasks need to be completed before getting your hands on the next project. For you to accomplish all these, you need to manage your time resources efficiently. That is where an efficient to-do list app comes in – it gives you the ability to prioritize different tasks and update you accordingly in the course of the execution of the project.

5. Status

Your task management software should always update you on the progress of your project. That would only be possible if your software system allows time tracking for every project. Whether it’s through color-coding or a list, the system should always give you a clear picture of what is happening. But for better visual presentation, you can go for software that can easily integrate with the Gantt chart.

Key Benefits Of Using A Task Management Software

1. Improves teamwork

Projects can take months, if not years, to complete. For long tasks, it means a lot of information must be shared. That requires consistent communication with the team members. It helps you set a clear list of duties and roles for each person. A task tracker app assists in streamlining the project, giving you incredible results.

2. Centralize activities

An excellent task management tool enables you to integrate activities in one place. As a result, it does away with the need to run tedious accounts and numerous passwords. It tracks the time of the project, monitors client activity, and helps avoid duplication of work. It is one dashboard for everything.

3. Happy client, happy life

The success of every business, whether small or big, relies on customer satisfaction. Although every business faces a challenge or two with their clients. Good task management software keeps your clients and project manager at the same pace and page, leading to better relations with the customer.

4. Manage tasks anywhere, anytime

In today's entrepreneurial world, the power of the cloud is at your fingertips. With employees and departments spread out around the globe in different working hours and time zones, we need the best task management software that allows us to work from any location of the world. You don't need to run back to the office to complete a task.

Many small businesses are overwhelmed by working in emails and spreadsheets. Plus, employees are now taking broader roles in the companies. It has then resulted in even bigger to-do lists. They are turning to online task management software to save time, improve team collaboration, and get more done.

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