Planning is an integral part of our life. Whether it is apartment renovation, a holiday or work projects. To succeed in any tasks, it is important to have a clear structure of and follow the entire process. That is why task managers are an indispensable tool for daily task planning.

Especially in the era of remote work, leaders and managers have faced the problem of setting tasks for all team members and further managing them. It was the pandemic that was the greatest impetus for the development of existing task management systems and the emergence of new ones. It turned out that task managers are convenient to use both for the office and remote work, for working with contractors, and for personal use.

Issues to Solve

Task managers greatly simplify project management and team communication. Task managers also organize the storage of important documents, help assess typical tasks based on historical data, identify insights on optimizing the team’s work, calculate payments for clients and contractors, and manage your working time.

Let’s take a closer look at what task managers are used for:

  • Transparent and structured operation of the company and each of its employees. Task managers provide a complete picture of the project, from general principles to details. Before starting work, you need to describe the global mission of the project, strategy, and tactics. After that, you can create a list of specific tasks aimed at achieving the goal and assign them to the appropriate employees. This will allow team members to keep abreast of the work of colleagues, understand which tasks are more time-consuming, and how to better organize their work.
  • Better work efficiency and employee engagement. It is important for the team to see the task deadlines and make progress. In turn, the manager should be able to notice in time the urgent and overdue tasks to quickly determine the cause of such a situation and choose the appropriate solution so as not to compromize the entire project. Such task planning and monitoring helps managers and teams to be more organized and efficient.
  • A single communication channel for all project participants. It is convenient when each member can interact with the team, ask questions, or send important information directly to the task manager, mentioning colleagues or the entire team. This will avoid wasting time searching for the necessary information in different messengers.
  • Optimization of operations with files. Often project materials are stored on different computers or virtual disks of employees, which makes it difficult to access them. However, you can simplify this process by storing important files directly in the task management system and configuring access to the appropriate directories depending on the access level of each user. In addition, documents can be searched by their names. The main thing is to agree in advance with all employees on the standards for naming files in order to make the search more efficient.
  • Simplified reporting and financial matters. Task managers usually have report generation options. For example, about the time spent by each employee, according to the direction of tasks, Gantt charts, and other formats. This allows you to create reports for clients or calculate payments for team members or contractors in a few clicks.
  • Easier team integration of new employees. The task managers quickly create a list of standard tasks with due dates for beginners, including filling out a profile, reviewing materials needed for work, etc. In addition, beginners can tag curators in the system, who are always ready to assist.

Things to Consider When Choosing the Right Task Manager

  1. Ease of use. Whether for business or personal needs. If you can’t easily create tasks or set deadlines when you first get to know the program, this may indicate a drawback.
  2. Automatic notifications. They remind you of any important events and avoid distraction from work, as they independently check the status of colleagues’ tasks and the progress of the project.
  3. Task visualisation. There are various ways to display tasks, such as a kanban board, a list, a Gantt chart, a calendar, etc., that present information in different formats.
  4. Load management. The ability to manage workload will help control the resources used by workers for daily tasks, as well as make sure that no one is overloaded or knocks around.
  5. Mobile application. The task manager must be always at hand. This is possible thanks to a mobile application that will notify you of a new or overdue task, even if you are away from the workplace.
  6. Reporting. If the task manager supports the reporting function, you can easily evaluate the effectiveness of work, analyze financial performance and provide reports to the customer.
  7. Trial period. A free trial period is provided to actively use the product for a few days or weeks to see if it suits your needs.

TOP 5 Task Management Tools

  1. Basecamp

Features

A multifunctional platform with a complete project management cycle. Users can share files, chat, and send private messages, assign task owners, create to-do lists, view employee activity, and set due dates for tasks. There is also a news feed with project activities, a calendar synchronized with Google or Outlook, a Gantt chart in the Lineup section. The service allows you to invite customers to projects by setting their access role as “Client” and restricting access to select tasks or files.

The product has been around for about 20 years and is designed for medium-sized projects. 

Advantages

Basecamp does not have unnecessary tools, and its main advantage is ease of use. The Well Web Marketing team uses this service.

Drawbacks

Some have reported a user-unfriendly interface. There have also been issues with notifications in mobile apps.

Price

A Basecamp subscription costs around $99 – $199 per month, depending on the number of users, clients, projects, and storage space for files and information. With an annual subscription, you can save 10%. Basecamp’s free trial is available for 30 days. If the paid version does not suit you, then you can use the free version with restrictions in three projects. In addition, non-profits and charities get a 10% discount.

  1. Trello

Features

This task management tool is the best option for small-scale projects and personal tasks. This is one of the very first and most popular task trackers.

Trello has such a feature as “Workspace”. You can work as a team in it, create boards for several projects with task cards that can be dragged between columns, changing their status according to the kanban methodology. In addition, it is possible to share tasks with the team, assign responsible persons and set deadlines. Trello has been owned by Atlassian since 2017.

Advantages

Among the advantages of this solution are excellent visualization, the ability to automate processes, the use of ready-made templates and convenient integration with various third-party services.

Drawbacks

Suitable for small-scale projects only.

Price

For convenient management of the work of a small team, a free package is suitable, with enough tools: up to 10 boards are available for each workspace, with unlimited number of cards. The cost of paid package ranges from $5 to $17.5 per month per user when paid annually and from $6 when paid per month. Paid versions have more advanced functionality.

  1. Jira

Features

The most popular task management tool.

When creating a new project on the platform, the manager chooses the desired methodology for organizing the process: Kanban, Scrum, or Bug Tracking. Jira also can create cards but without the focus on deadlines. To visualize the terms, a separate tool called “Roadmap” is used, which displays the deadlines in the form of a Gantt chart. Dashboards are built using gadgets that display statistics and other metrics such as task completion times and sprint status. This tool is also owned by Atlassian, so Jira and Trello have a lot in common, like cards, but still the company is trying to develop them differently.

Advantages

Jira integrates various tools and allows for customization to meet individual needs. It is well-suited for multiple scenarios, including external project management, tracking all development processes, and direct software development.

Drawbacks

High cost. Difficult to set up.

Price

There is a free version for teams of up to ten users. The cost of paid versions is formed based on the number of users. The larger the team, the wider the functionality of the tool. For example, for a team of 20 users, the tariff will be $155 per month.

  1. Asana

Features

This task manager is developed by the Facebook co-founders. With Asana you can create and manage task lists, assign responsible persons, set due dates and priorities. In addition, for each task, you can add a short description, attach files, and leave comments. To visualize progress, Kanban boards, the Timeline tab, which is the same tasks in the form of a Gantt chart, or a calendar where all tasks are divided by date are used.

Advantages

One of the main advantages is ease of use, linking to a calendar, and convenient reports that allow you to quickly evaluate work efficiency and manage tasks.

Drawbacks

High cost. Email notification failures.

Price

Asana offers a trial period to use the functionality of the Premium plan for free for 30 days. It is also possible to use the free basic version but with limited functionality. To use the features of the workflow designer, task templates, and closed groups/projects, the Premium or Business plan is required. The Business plan allows you to integrate the product with Salesforce, Adobe Creative Cloud, Tableau, and Power BI. In paid versions, pricing depends on the number of users in the team. For example, the Premium plan price is $10.99 per month per user.

  1. Flow

Features

The unique Flow toolbar provides a full insight into the project, the deadlines, and the completed work of team members through kanban boards, while a timeline helps you control deadlines and workloads for each employee. The task manager shows you information about the project in the form of a structured list with the ability to navigate both from the side and from the top of the control panel. Project managers can create and assign tasks via email, add custom tags and labels, and categorize tasks by category color. 

Advantages

What’s special about this task manager is that Flow doesn’t try to solve all the problems of task management, instead, the tool focuses on two specific goals: simplifying the workflow and prioritizing tasks.

Drawbacks

Unintuitive interface. Limited functionality.

Price

The cost of a year subscription starts from $6 per user per month in the basic tariff. To use the advanced control and statistics features, you will need the Plus version with basic integrations and API access, while the Pro plan includes advanced security, access control, Zapier integration and VIP support. You can test the task manager for free for 30 days.

The Internet offers many great services for team scheduling and personal time management, each with its uniqueness. We have described here the most popular of them but, of course, there is no one-box solution. Having decided on the main purpose of the service, you can choose the best manager that meets your needs.