{"id":2449,"date":"2016-08-04T07:00:35","date_gmt":"2016-08-04T07:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.binfire.com\/blog\/?p=2449"},"modified":"2026-02-12T19:49:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T19:49:28","slug":"introduction-task-management-tutorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.binfire.com\/blog\/introduction-task-management-tutorial\/","title":{"rendered":"Introduction to Task Management Software"},"content":{"rendered":"

Task management is as integral\u00a0to the project management discipline as a ball to the game of football. Without task management software, there is no project management software<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

For this reason, task management software<\/a> is the primary foundation of any project management application. In other words, there could not be good project management software without very good task management\u00a0software as an integral part of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Task management is the\u00a0tool for creating and managing tasks<\/a> through the project\u2019s lifecycle. It includes gathering requirements, planning, status tracking, testing, and creating final reports when tasks are\u00a0completed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Individuals use task management\u00a0tools like a pen and a pad or software tools to organize and accomplish personal goals for every day’s chores.<\/span><\/p>\n

Teams rely on task management software to collaborate and achieve group goals together. Tasks could have status, start date, due date, people who are assigned to work on them, comments, tags, and files that are attached to them.<\/span><\/p>\n

More advanced task management systems support dependencies, recurrence, priority, and complexity.<\/span><\/p>\n

The market is saturated with to-do lists and task management tools of varying maturity and functionality.<\/span><\/p>\n

The hope of this tutorial is to educate the reader about the attributes of good task management software.<\/span><\/p>\n

We also aim to clarify terms used by project management practitioners when task management is discussed or planned.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are three levels of task management software, each targeting different project complexities, team experience, team structure, and team sizes.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have grouped these task management tools as beginners, Intermediate, and advanced. For each, the required attributes and functionality are listed and explained.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beginners Task management\u00a0software<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

When managing tasks for personal use or simple projects all the functionality provided by the advanced task manager is not needed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here we have listed the minimum functionality needed to complete basic personal or simple projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

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  1. Title: A task should have a title; this helps to state the reason for the task in one simple sentence.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Description: Task description is used when the task title is not enough and more information should be given to the person the task is assigned, to make things clear.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Start date: When the task starts<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Due date: When the task ends<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Assigned to: Individual who is responsible for completing this task<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. That is all needed for a simple task manager to provide. Most to-do lists have this level of functionality. Quite a lot could be accomplished even with is simple task management system. An example if simple project management is Asana<\/a>.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Intermediate task management\u00a0software<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    For more advanced projects when a few people work together, the task manager needs to provide more functionality and features than listed above to be effective.\u00a0 In addition to all features listed above, this type of task manager needs to provide the following:<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Recurrence: In many projects, a task is repeated daily, weekly, or monthly. A recurring task helps to simplify this by creating the task once and using it as many times as needed.<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. File attachment: To support task description or files needed to accomplish or verify the task, the task manager should have a facility for attaching files to tasks. The incorporation of third-party file storage systems like Google Drive<\/a> and DropBox<\/a> is a big plus.<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. Status: The clear showing of a task\u2019s status is very important and can trigger action by the project manager or the team as a whole. A task could have one of the following states:<\/span>\n