Task Management

Task management software is designed to help individuals and teams organise, prioritise and complete specific tasks, either as part of a project or stand-alone to-do items.

Task management applications tend to have a main focus on lists (to-do lists, checklists, item lists, etc) or note taking (idea and data capture, web clipping, file attachments, archiving). Most will perform both functions, but offer more refinement and features with their key focus.

Deciding the appropriate style of approach to task management is an important issue in selecting the right task manager for you and your business.

List-based Task Managers

Examples: Todoist, Wunderlist.

To-do list style task management apps tend to have a similar set of core functions, such as the ability to add, edit and delete tasks and sub-tasks, check off tasks when complete, and add due dates and reminders.

The most obvious differences between systems is in their presentation and functionality, rather than the specific features, so personal preference may end up being the deciding factor.

Note-taking Task Managers

Examples: Evernote, Google Keep.

Task management software which is designed around notes, documents and information capture, also have very individually stylised approaches to their presentation.

Their features can vary more than lists, and are closely aligned with their overall conceptual approach. For example, Evernote uses notes and notebooks as their analogy, whereas Google Keep is more of a “flat” sticky-note board.

As with list-based tools, choosing a note-based task manager will be influenced as much by aesthetics as their specific features.

Collaboration

Team-based task management tools allow collaboration between two or more individuals on a team or project.

A “business plan” account will come with multiple users and centralised administration and billing functions, whereas individual plans (often called “Pro”, “Premium” or similar) are designed around each user being self-managed and separate from their collaborators.

Task management software may be viewed as a sub-class of project management software. Both are designed to help people and teams get tasks done, but project management starts from a project (as the name suggests) and works down into the detail, whereas task management may well involve connected or unrelated jobs.

Our recommended task management software products have been selected as they are all either highly rated by users, well known in the marketplace, or we feel they are worth consideration by our UK-based small business audience.