Task management software has become largely popular as remote teams work together online with little or no contact. The benefit of task management software is not just the platform for communication, but also the cost, oversight, and project management to completion that different task management platforms can offer.
Of the various products on offer, some are better than others, and for various reasons. It really depends on your team size, business needs, and budget which platform will most benefit your business. The following is a list of a few of the top performers.
What Makes the Best Task Management Software?
Task management software is as diverse as businesses. The best features will be the ones that your business needs and the ones that work well with your industry requirements.
Most businesses already have a system, and upgrading to a specific software will mean understanding what your team needs, what solutions answer your pain points and fit with your budget.
Some of the common things that users look for when assessing the value of task management software include:
Notifications
Notifications are a great feature that helps teams to stay on task, remind managers of upcoming deadlines and help team members to stay in touch. Teams are often online at different times, so notifications can help people quickly pick up tasks and follow on with work that needs attention.
Task Creation
Task management is the aim of the tool. Creating and assigning tasks with ease should be the most attractive feature. Custom fields that allow users to define the task so that assignees understand notes easily are another basic requirement.
Tools that support the addition of links, photos, videos, documents, and comments to tasks make the software more accessible. Sorting jobs by your preferred criteria, such as by task, due date, department, or resource are available in most apps as well.
Visualization
Many individuals and teams find that when they can visualize task orders or workflows, it becomes easier to communicate.
The drag-and-drop features on boards also make them easy to work with, especially for visually oriented workers.
Gnatt charts are also very popular for task management. These charts make digesting visual information easy and familiar, including task assignment, project dates, dependencies, and completion percentage.
Communication Tools
Communication tools such as discussion boards, instant messaging, notifications and other easy ways to connect with teams make task management tools a valuable asset for remote teams.
Discussion boards are handy for large teams, allowing everyone to participate in a conversation and keep a record of important points. Some task management tools will even let you create task cards out of these discussions, which can speed up processes like brainstorming and task allocation.
Reporting
Software that can collate your data and generate useful reports can not only expedite work but aid in making your teams more productive and effective. You can insert and collect data from multiple areas such as budget, performance, resource allocation, time management, and more. Some software provides templates, automated reporting based on predefined criteria, and customized reporting.
ClickUp – The Best Free Task Management Software
If companies like Uber, Nike, Google, and Airbnb use ClickUp, that’s a pretty ringing endorsement of its capabilities. The free task management software makes using the tool cost-effective for small companies, with features including unlimited tasks and unlimited members on the free plan. The advanced features include:
- Mind maps
- Goals
- Portfolio
- Automation
- Gantt charts
- Sprints
- Workload view
- Real-time collaborations
- More than 50 native integrations
The user-friendly layout allows users to break down tasks into subtasks, and assign comments to individual users. These comments can then be created as independent tasks with the click of a button. It makes it easier to communicate with team members fast when you are not in the same physical space.
ClickUp is also highly customizable. The status toolbars, tasks, categories, sections, and comments can all be adapted to suit users, and even on the free plan, much of this functionality exists.
For larger teams that need more space, the pricing options are very affordable, and for smaller teams that require little space, staying on the free option does not come with noticeable drawbacks to use or functionality.
Trello – Best for Individuals and Simple Workflow
Trello is a task management tool that is easy to use and manage and has handy app features so managing tasks is easy from anywhere. The software includes:
- Boards
- Lists
- Cards
Users can create as many projects and columns as needed to track progress.
Tasks can be assigned to team members, with file attachments, checklists, comments, member tags, and file links making things easy for users. Trello is highly customizable, with annotated cards with labels making it fast to use cards.
The drag-and-drop feature is intuitive and user-friendly. Team members can slide cards between columns (e.g., from To Do to In Progress) as task progress is made. The board view keeps everything clearly organized and labeled.
The Power-Up feature allows users to add integrations and features to boards, including custom fields, social media, document management, time-tracking, and calendar view. The free version offers only one power-up, but paid plans offer greater access depending on the levels required.
Trello is great for project managers who want quick and simple sight of workflows. The free version is equally suitable for business or personal use. The software has over 19 million users worldwide, including Adobe, Fender, Pixer, and Google.
Wrike – Best Task Management Software for Reporting
Wrike is a project management tool that offers robust and powerful features. You can see who is assigned which task, the duration for the task, dependencies, and the task’s progress all on one dashboard.
You can view and manage projects using Gantt charts, lists, kanban boards, and tables. Wrike automatically sorts tasks by status (active or complete), but you can customize the headers for additional workflow categories.
Wrike has direct integrations with many business apps, so pulling information from your CRM, email, or other software is generally easy and compatible. Integrating data from across your organization means that you can produce rich and useful reports, fast.
Wrike is easy to use. You can choose from various templates for product launch, project scheduling, marketing campaign management, agile teamwork, professional services management, projects with phases, and more.
It also has a document editor, allowing you to edit documents directly on the cloud without the need to download files.
The software has extensive features, including:
- Graphical analytics
- Advanced integrations
- Salesforce integration
- User audit report
- File sharing
- Collaborators
- Calendars
- Time tracking
- Automation engine
The paid Business Plan is good for enterprises as it allows users to share reports in real-time, access report templates, and schedule report notifications. Overall, the software offers more than the basics of project management, it is a business support tool that can improve communication between remote team members.
WorkFlow Max – Best for Business Management
WorkFlow Max allows users to assign tasks complete with a to-do checklist, set due dates, and estimate task times. Users can track the progress of a project and the individual tasks of the project, so it’s useful for those who micromanage.
You can also view jobs based on the assignee, date, progress, or deadline. Users can view the completed percentage of each task in real-time, and there is a feature for assigning recurring jobs automatically.
The software tracks details of how time is spent, which is useful for creating detailed reports, and helps teams move towards improved time management when comparing projected task completion times with actual times.
WorkFlow Max can be used to track billing and payments, send out invoices, manage job invoicing, and track job costs. The job costing feature tracks the estimated cost down to individual tasks, tracks quoted costs and actual costs.
Additional WorkFlow Max features include:
- Lead manager
- Client manager
- Purchase orders
- Xero integration
- Reporting
- Notifications
- Document management
- Custom fields
The tool integrates with more than 25 other products, including Dropbox, Box, Adobe Time Tracking, Actual, Google Drive, and Flexitime, and there is a full-feature app available for iOS and Android.
Jira Software – The Best for Large Agile Teams
Jira Software is aimed at developers. It’s one of a suite of Jira tools from Atlassian designed to help agile teams work together and stay on task. Jira Software as a way to track everything that happens across iterations. This makes it easy to pinpoint where issues might have occurred or recover when a project is derailing.
Cards are pre-configured for Kanban and Scrum and there are more than a dozen common agile reporting tools. You can share a burndown chart for sprint planning, and assess velocity week to week.
The software offers features such as:
- Dependency management
- Capacity planning
- Backlogs
- Roadmaps
- Integrations with other agile tools
- Automation rules
Jira Software is designed to scale and work with other Jira tools.
Microsoft To-Do – Best for Personal Tasks
Microsoft To-Do helps people to organize their personal lives. The simplified software makes it easy to:
- Prioritize tasks
- Add due dates
- Create tasks
- Set reminders
- Group related tasks
- Attach notes or files to tasks
Because Microsoft To-Do is an app, it is accessible anywhere and anytime. Users can share to-do lists with their contacts.
The app integrates with Outlook Tasks, so managing professional tasks along with your day-to-day personal tasks. This intuitive app suggests personalized tasks that you may want to add to your list.
This free app is more like a daily planner and is an excellent alternative to Trello for those who want simplified features.
Accelo – Best for Automation
Automating recurring tasks can make task management smoother. Accelo provides several automated features allowing users to configure project completion and prompt users to update fields and information.
Users can also automate client communications, tracking emails, and storing client information in one location.
Automation features include:
- Sending emails
- Routing emails
- Timesheets
- Billing
- Ticket closure
- Converting emails to tickets
Setting up recurring tasks is easy with calendar tasks automatically assigned to team members on the predetermined date.
The simple dashboard lets users sort tasks by workload, status, or due date, while overdue or urgent tickets can easily be highlighted for attention.
The software is highly customizable and relevant to a range of industries, such as business consulting, digital and design, engineering, IT, marketing, travel, and many more. The industry-specific templates, which can be personalized, mean creating the right task management tools for your team.
The software includes a host of other features that make it easy for teams to communicate, share and report. There is no free use version of the tool, and it is aimed at larger teams with complex task assignments.
Summary
Whether your tasks fit best with a proactive methodology or reactive methods, these tools can help businesses manage workflow cycles and increase efficiency and productivity.
By defining what your business and team need to thrive, you can select the right tool to promote your task competition, team collaboration, and budget management in one tool.
