What is task management?
Task management involves planning and efficiently completing tasks, overseeing their entire lifespan from conception to completion, to achieve specific objectives.
That involves:
- defining your tasks
- prioritizing tasks by urgency
- assigning tasks to other people
- setting timelines and deadlines
- making adjustments
- monitoring progress towards your objectives
The difference between project management and task management
How does task management differ from project management? In general, it’s a matter of scale, scope, and timeframe. Project management deals with the planning, running, and overseeing of an entire project life cycle, with all the complexity of its constituent objectives. Task management, on the other hand, focuses on the more straightforward actions that help you achieve those objectives.
In terms of time, project management covers the whole duration of the project — which could be months or even years. Task management is more focused on what needs to be done here and now — all those daily and weekly actions that lead to short-term goals. Task management, then, is essentially a subset of project management, and effective overall project management relies on great task management.
What are the benefits of efficient task management?
We have all faced situations where we have a list of tasks to complete but are unable to get them done. Sometimes, the sheer number or complexity of the tasks can become overwhelming, leading to a state of 'task paralysis'. In such scenarios, we may not know how or where to begin, and in turn, end up doing nothing, which only adds to our workload.
Task management is the key to avoid such circumstances. The problem is not the number of tasks or the lack of knowledge on how to complete them. Instead, it is the absence of a proper strategy and approach to manage tasks efficiently. This is where task management plays a crucial role.
Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of effective task management.
1. Task management boosts productivity
Task management is like solving a puzzle. You examine how items relate to each other, and decide on the most productive order to complete them. When you get it right, individuals and teams are strategic and in sync when dealing with the tasks in their workflows and projects. By involving the whole team in task management, you keep the overall project moving forward more smoothly and productively.
Task management can also boost engagement by breaking down workflows into more manageable and quickly achievable chunks, which you can organize more effectively. This avoids the diluted focus of multitasking, as well as distraction, procrastination, or unproductive antics. Instead, you create a more engaged workforce that is more productive.
2. Task management ensures high-priority tasks get done on time
Without task management, it’s easy to treat less important tasks with more urgency than they merit, and high-priority tasks can fall by the wayside. Sure, a manager might send out email reminders, but that can just add to the pressure, without guaranteeing that tasks will be done on time.
With task management, you can take a more structured and organized approach to your work, categorizing and prioritizing tasks to allocate time and effort more effectively. Creating dependencies between tasks lets you organize tasks logically and efficiently. With a system in place to set clear priorities and due dates, you can ensure high-priority tasks get the attention they deserve.
3. Task management gives a better overview of your projects and business
Using project management software does more than simply helping teams get more done, and get it done better. It also gives managers and team members a better perspective on the tasks that help move workflows and projects forward.
4. Task management improves collaboration and speeds up tasks
If people on a team focus only on their own task lists, they’ll struggle to achieve their team goals. Collaboration is not only a better way to achieve objectives, but it also benefits the business as a whole. Companies with collaborative working environments improve financial results by 17% and annual revenue by 34%.
Task management makes communication and load-sharing between teams and stakeholders easier. This keeps everyone on the same page, knowing what is expected of themselves and their colleagues.
Team task management
Teams need to be able to collaborate effectively and coordinate with one another.
An in-house creative team, for example, might handle over 100 time-bound requests in a given week. Without effective task management, workflows can quickly become chaotic, with team members not coordinating well, productivity compromised, and deadlines missed.
With good task management, the team can ensure the availability of designers, copywriters and social media managers, assign tasks, and keep everyone up to speed with their specific responsibilities.
Project task management
Project managers need to plan clearly defined tasks and subtasks and manage dependencies, timelines, and milestones. This means prioritizing, sequencing, and delegating those tasks effectively to drive workflows that support the overall project objectives, as well as helping you keep your teams on track.
For example, if you’re adopting a new software system, you will need to break the implementation process into stages, each with its own related tasks for IT and departmental teams. This might include surveying staff on software requirements, selecting and assessing vendors, adoption plans, and testing.
Marketing task management
Marketing teams have to handle diverse tasks around content creation, social media, event planning, and coordinating with copywriters and designers.
When planning a marketing campaign, marketing teams have to set the budget, identify the target market, and define objectives. Only then can they undertake keyword research, writing ad copy, social media planning, and creating a landing page. To keep everyone and all their tasks aligned, task management software and strategies are an absolute necessity.
HR task management
HR managers balance a complex range of responsibilities, including recruitment, onboarding performance management, and payroll. Good task management is vital to ensure all of these HR processes can be run efficiently and productively.
Recruitment alone involves a wide range of tasks, such as creating and posting job listings, reviewing resumes, shortlisting candidates, scheduling interviews, and checking references. With good HR software, HR teams can manage and monitor those tasks effectively, so that nothing is missed and they can move on to onboarding new hires — along with all the key tasks that the process involves.
Why Pipedrive is your ideal task management solution
Streamlining your workflows starts with improving your task management capabilities and choosing a task management tool that suits your unique needs.
Solar company "Ital Solar" initially struggled to manage processes and workflows when starting out. They tried Pipedrive CRM to track task progress between product, design, and engineering teams. As the company scaled up, so did their use of Pipedrive. They began using it for onboarding tasks, compliance tracking, and visualizing processes across the company. They now use Pipedrive as their main work platform.
As Ital Solar CEO and co-founder put it, “Anything you would do with Excel, but really shouldn’t, like managing lists of things, can be done better with Pipedrive, with the added benefit of also having conversations and file sharing in the same place”.
With Pipedrive, you can:
- create, assign, and set deadlines for tasks
- access over 200 integrations for your business-critical tasks
- monitor the status of tasks using 10 different views
- track billable hours using the time-tracking widget
- complete tasks more efficiently with customizable templates
- collaborate with colleagues to brainstorm ideas, share files, and confirm task timelines
Being busy doesn’t mean you have to be overwhelmed with work. A busy person with a great task management system can get things done on time. With Pipedrive's easy-to-use task management templates and supportive project management functionality, you can be sure your team can handle everything it needs to.
If you want more than simply a digital to-do list but want to optimize your entire workflow, Pipedrive is your best bet.
Get started with Pipedrive and discover just how efficiently you can manage your teams’ to-do list.
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