The Best Task Management Tools for Your Business

Published on March 15, 2017

We all want our businesses to run more efficiently. And, fortunately, we don’t need to turn to automation or some other magical hack to make sure that we’re getting as much productivity as possible from our teams and ourselves.

Instead, we just need to put a little more emphasis on quality communication and task management. A great organizational system is the building block of any great success; an online task or project manager will help get your team on the same page from day one, ensuring that everyone is able to put their best foot forward as they tackle the many small assignments that make up one world-changing whole.

And in today’s digital landscape, finding a program that works for your unique needs has never been easier. From the incredibly easy to the astonishingly sophisticated, here are four task management tools that will help support, simplify, and streamline your team’s next big project:

The Baseline: Google Tasks

If you have a Gmail or Google Docs account, you can get started with Google Tasks in seconds. This personal task manager is incredibly user-friendly – just start a task, add a description and due date, and then add this task to any number of lists, which you curate. These tasks will start to appear on your Google calendar, as well, if you opt in. Once a task is done, simply mark it complete or clear it from your canvas. It’s that easy! Google Tasks also comes as a pretty handy Chrome extension, allowing you to add or update a task from anywhere on the web using the Chrome omnibar or the Tasks tool.

The Geek Favorite: Asana

We’ve sung the praises of Asana before. It’s the task management tool that our entire team uses to coordinate our many due dates on tasks both large and small. Besides its intuitive task management tools – complete with subtask lists and easy-to-follow group chat features – Asana boasts a beautiful, inviting interface, customizable notification options, and the ability to sync with Google Calendar, the Google Chrome browser, and just about any email provider. Asana continues to grow, including task dependencies in its premium version, and not offering the ability to uses "boards" or tasks lists, a la...

The Maverick: Trello

What sets Trello apart from the competition? It’s got lots of pretty pictures, that’s what!

Trello is perhaps the most visually-oriented task manager widely available today; instead of calendars or lists, users lay out their tasks with boards and cards. A board may be an overarching project or theme; from there, team members can collaborate by adding comments, attachments, and more until the checklist is all done! Like many of its peers, Trello boasts tons of compatibility with outside apps, including Google Drive, Evernote, and Slack.

The Powerhouse: Microsoft Projects

Looking to really kick your professionalism up a few notches? Microsoft has you covered; its Projects program is one of the most sophisticated task managers we’ve ever seen, boasting tons of built-in templates, numerous project planning tools (including Gantt charts), and even the ability to create and share in-depth reports within the app itself. With its bounty of features, the one drawback to MS Projects we’ve found is that the learning curve can be a little steep – certainly it’s harder to get into than Google or Asana. On the other hand, its power – and compatibility with other Microsoft tools – make it a force to be reckoned with.

Do you have a favorite efficiency-booster? Want some help increasing your productivity in a changing digital landscape? Geek is here to help! Drop us a line today to see what our team can do for yours.