Learn More About Task Management Software
What is Task Management Software?
Task management software is an effective way for companies to reorganize overarching goals into a series of individual tasks. This enables companies to break down monthly and annual goals into daily and weekly tasks, which helps workers ensure they are contributing to key performance indicators on a daily basis.
Task managers can extract valuable data from task management software, as it will display how long it takes to complete certain tasks and how many resources are needed. This allows task managers to budget and forecast more accurately, which can improve the effectiveness of future projects.
An affordable, simple task management software for growing teams typically combines a low-cost or free tier with an intuitive interface that team members can adopt without training. Based on G2 reviews, operations and marketing teams evaluate task management software by comparing ease of use, customization depth, and the range of project views that fit how different teammates already work.
Why Use Task Management Software?
Task management software can drastically improve the efficiency of your company. Workers that are able to visualize their daily tasks within a project hub are able to stay on track with their work and claim ownership over deadlines. Task management software can also save workers time by attaching all relevant documents and files within each task so workers do not have to spend time searching for them.
Besides saving plenty of time, task management software can also keep company employees happy. By analyzing how long certain tasks take to complete, task managers can better assess how much workers can handle. This way they can evenly distribute tasks among workers. This way, no worker feels overwhelmed, and every worker only takes on as much as they can handle.
Who Uses Task Management Software?
Task Managers and Project Managers — Task management software is beneficial to any task manager that operates on a team. The software allows them to create and assign tasks, set due dates and reminders, and set priority levels on tasks. On a more grand scale, project managers will use task management software to break down long-term projects into daily and weekly tasks. This helps to make project work more manageable for employees.
Employees — Employees across all teams will benefit from using task management software. Whether you’re an employee in engineering or sales, it is valuable to visualize your daily tasks and ensure that you are staying on track. Employees within a team can also collaborate on certain tasks within the software, which can help mitigate any roadblocks that may be preventing workers from completing a task.
Team Managers — Team managers can extract data from each task and analyze how long it takes and how many resources are needed to complete each task. They can then use this data to consistently improve the overall efficiency of their workers.
Based on G2 reviews, growing teams choosing an affordable, simple task management software typically prioritize a low barrier to entry over feature breadth, with reviewers pointing to free or low-cost tiers, fast initial setup, and minimal training overhead as the deciding factors when scaling from a handful of users to a department. Startup founders and small-team operators mention the ability to start with a basic kanban or list view and add complexity over time, which matters more than picking the platform with the longest feature list on day one.
Task Management Software Features
Within task management software are a variety of task management tools that will allow you to optimize task and project efficiency. Some task management apps will focus on certain features over others, so make sure to assess your company's needs before settling on a task management solution.
Task Creation and Assignment — Task creation and assignment features allow users to create task lists for individual users with details and due dates. This is the main function of task management software, as it helps companies achieve deadlines, set to-do lists, and set priority levels on certain tasks.
Email Notifications — Because task management software can get cluttered with a barrage of tasks, employees can sometimes overlook certain tasks that may be buried beneath other tasks. With this in mind, task management software includes email notification features that remind you at the beginning of each day which tasks have a high priority and must be completed by the end of the day.
Collaborative Project Planning — Task management software allows multiple users to collaborate on the planning and execution of a project. This feature includes a comments section where users can share their ideas and improve communication on certain projects. Users can also access an upload feature, where media can be uploaded, associated with projects or tasks, discussed, and annotated.
Baselining/KPIs — Task management software allows users to set and track key performance indicators within the software. This feature allows users to track key performance indicators or baseline assessments throughout a project lifecycle or across multiple projects. Key performance indicators ensure that the tasks that are being assigned are contributing to the overall success of the company.
Kanban Boards — Task management software helps users map out the entirety of a project with a project management tool called a kanban board. A kanban board maps out projects with milestones, due dates, deliverables, and interdependencies. This provides users with a better visual on how they are pacing throughout a project, which ensures that they complete the project.
Portfolio Management — Task management software often includes features that help with portfolio coordination and budgeting. Portfolio coordination allows users to organize, prioritize, rate, and score projects to best understand your business' progress and initiatives. This helps businesses keep track of goals and metrics they are trying to achieve. Portfolio budgeting allows users to allocate budgets between departments and projects and allow users to control portions for their projects.
Resource Management — Resource management features help with the overall management of time and assets used for certain tasks. The feature allows users to maintain a database of resources that contains employment details, skills, and availability. This provides a better visual into which team members can be deployed to complete certain tasks. Users can also monitor workload capacity and track resource workloads in order to dedicate the man-hours of your workforce most effectively. Resource management also includes a time tracking feature where users can associate effort with tasks, including planned versus actual time allocated, and determine global or specific hourly rates for contract work or value to internal man-hours.
Mobile Access — Mobile access offers a mobile app or mobile-optimized website to manage projects and tasks on the go. This helps employees keep track of their tasks, even as they are travelling without a computer or commuting to the office. Being able to see your tasks on the go is a great way to be mindful of the amount of work you must complete within a project.
Based on G2 reviews, the task management software with the best reviews from operations and marketing teams shares one common trait: it gets adopted across the entire team rather than living in a single power user's tab. Reviewers point to highest adoption rates among platforms that offer multiple views (kanban, list, timeline, calendar) so each team member can work in the layout they prefer while task data stays consistent underneath. For small marketing operations teams running campaign planning, content production, and approval workflows in the same tool, reviewers describe AI-assisted task organization and automation rules as the differentiators between platforms that scale with the team and ones the team eventually outgrows.
Potential Issues with Task Management Software
Micromanaging — Task managers may assign goals that lead workers to become hyper-focused on certain areas. This can lead teams to forget about other goals and not be able to shift priorities in the middle of a task.
Not Setting Effective Goals — A task manager’s main function is to assign tasks. That being said, they may feel the pressure to assign tasks just for the sake of it. This can lead to task managers not setting goals that directly contribute to key performance indicators and the overall success of the company. The best way to alleviate this problem is for task managers to routinely meet with management positions that understand which tasks are the most important to complete.
