Are you sick of being surrounded by scribbled notes and scraps of paper? One simple method to get some order out of your desk-paper to-do chaos, is to try out some of the great online task managers that are available. There’s very few barriers to trying them out, many are free (or at a minimum offer free trials), cloud based and they are available for use across devices and platforms.
Different Task Manager Software Approaches
There’s lots of different online Task Manager tools available, varying in their levels of sophistication, ranging from ones that are built into your email product (Outlook or Gmail etc) to tools that take more of a ‘Project Management’ approach that help you measure your progress towards your goals. Many also offer the option to operate as a plug-in in your browser – meaning that you can quickly create tasks and reminders as you research or encounter information online that instigates a new task.
What Sort of Task Manager Do You Need?
If your needs are simple and all you want is essentially a to-do list with a basic due date – the task managers in your office suites might do the job just fine. However, if you are looking to easily group tasks into different projects, show dependencies between tasks, add additional layers of information to tasks, or assign tasks to other people or team members, then you might need to consider one of the other tools available.
If you group Task Managers into three different groups, consider looking at the following:
- Simple task management – look at Outlook Tasks and Google Tasks available alongside your email
- Somewhere in the middle – try out Todoist or Trello
- Something a bit more complicated – Monday, Basecamp and Zoho Projects
So Which Task Manager Will Work Best For You?
Like any field of software, no tools are perfect – you’ll need to commit to using the tool methodically to get something out of it, and you’ll need to try to find something that suits your personal method to get the best results … but if you are getting swamped with notes, tasks and due dates – it might be worth investing a little bit of time to see what might work for you.
So what do I use? For the past 3 years I have been using Todoist. I find that it’s really intuitive. The mobile app mirror’s the experience online. It has a nice way of setting goals (but you can also ignore that too). It’s also really easy to set task due dates ie just type in ‘tom’ beside you’re task and it smart sets it to being due tomorrow. If you’re a visual person – I’d suggest you have a look at Trello. It’s also great for small teams with really focused projects.
If you can suggest a better tool for us to look at – leave a comment below (and it’d be great to know why you think it’s better).
About WestVIC Technology
WestVIC Technology (WVT) provides IT Advice, IT Support, and a full range of IT Services for both home and business across Western Regional Victoria. We provide our services to customers in Ballarat, Geelong, Bacchus Marsh, Ballan, Melton, Daylesford, Castlemaine, Maryborough, Ararat, Stawell, Horsham, Hamilton, Warrnambool, Camperdown, Colac and other places and towns across this region.