- What Is Personal Task Management Software Part 1
- Importance of Task Management Software Part 2
- Criteria for Selecting Personal Task Management Software Part 3
- Task Management Software Essential Features Part 4
Part 1
What Is Personal Task Management Software?
Personal task management software is a computerized application used to manage tasks. This software streamlines several task-related activities, including:
- Estimating task completion dates
- Prioritizing tasks according to urgency
- Scheduling milestones
- Making decisions in case of a shift in priority
- Tracking dependencies
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Part 2
Why Is Task Management Software Important?
Most companies employ various programs to manage their project schedules and tasks.
Some of the programs include:
- Project Requirements — stored in MS Excel, MS Word documents, or standalone requirements capture tools
- In-depth task schedules managed by individual team members using platforms like groupware solutions, whiteboards, or MS Excel
- Tools like Primavera and Microsoft Project are used to develop high-level project plans
- Task estimates are usually prepared using a combination of specialized standalone MS Excel spreadsheets and high-level project plans
- For tracking issues and defects within project tasks, MS Access or cloud-hosted bug, tracking systems are employed
A perfect task management software tool is designed with an integrated system to help you address all these issues and many more.
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Part 3
Criteria for Selecting Personal Task Management Software
When selecting a personal task management software tool, it is important to know the challenges you are facing and the objectives you want to achieve. You can then consider key features and functionalities. To find your ideal personal management software, consider the following key functionalities.
Important Functionalities to Consider Before Making a Choice
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User-Friendly Interface and Easy Set-Up
It is crucial to make sure your software is not too complex and is easy to set up so you can easily navigate the platform, thus saving time. Additionally, a personal task management software tool designed with a user-friendly interface will greatly motivate you towards meeting your objectives.
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Task Organization
A task management software tool is developed to help you smoothly execute the tasks you are assigned. An excellent tool should come with unique designs to ensure that it lives up to its developer’s intentions.
With meticulously designed searching, filtering and listing features, your personal task management software should help you quickly identify tasks that are behind schedule. Additionally, software with proper task management capabilities should autonomously group similar tasks into various folders. This helps you easily manage your tasks by streams, tracks or functional areas, thus saving time.
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Task Editing
Task editing is a vital function of personal task management software, as it enables you to monitor the progress of your tasks and identify task-project related problems, including:
✓ Estimation inflation — the anticipated time to finish a task increases, thus pushing back the project completion date
✓ Schedule overrun — progressive increase of delays which results in an irrecoverable loss of time and resources while work is being reorganized
With this functionality, team members can objectively collaborate and come to a unanimous consensus on the best approach.
Additional functionalities to look for in a perfect task management software tool include:
- Customizable Workflows
- Document Management
- Timecard Submission
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Part 4
Essential Features to Consider
1. Integrations
The ability of your personal task management software to seamlessly incorporate other tools and apps is the most important feature to consider before making a purchase. For your tool to be successful, it should allow you to share information with other team members and gain complete visibility into your project.
Some of the most essential integrations to consider in personal task management software include:
- Tracking issues and defects against the project schedule
- Prioritizing and scheduling requirements for each release
- Assigning requirements, tasks, and incidents using Agile planning board
- Customizable dashboards of key project information
- Allocating requirements to iterations based on detailed task estimates
- Creating a notional project schedule with major releases
- Entering project issues and defects during a lifecycle
- Developing high-level requirements with initial estimates
- Viewing project velocity, burndown, and burnup reports
- Refining the project schedule to include release iterations
- Loading balance project resources to maximize project velocity
- Email notifications
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