Who Needs a Task Management Software so when?

Many people end up at a particular point in their life searching for a task management software to help them refocus and keep their finger tips about the most important thing. Task management products organize, schedule and ensure that tasks get done promptly. On short it can boost your productivity. By being better organized and much more focused on everything you want to do, you save time and reduce stress.

Good task and project management software was hard to find a few years ago when people were using Outlook. Nowadays productivity has become almost an obsession of geeks everywhere, so the increasing obtain such tools generated a big base of good task and project management solutions. There are a lot of choices to help manage the tasks, ranging from standalone applications to web-based services.

Exactly what are users looking for?

Most of them are in fact searching for a personal organizer application to place some order in their busy and messy life. "Initially, I somehow managed to keep everything in my head. Then, as I began to take on more projects, I realized that I needed a task management system to help keep me organized and focused." says Deborah Woehr a freelance researcher and writer. These personal organizers generally take the form of the so called "TO ACCOMPLISH List" applications where users develop a list of tasks that they set a start date, some deadlines and a priority - something very simple.

The Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology

Most of the to-do-list applications nowadays adopt, to one degree or another, the GTD method of task management based on the work-life management system by David Allen that provides concrete solutions for transforming overwhelm and uncertainty into a system of stress free productivity. Apps vary as to how tightly or loosely bound to GTD they're. The issue, though, with TO ACCOMPLISH lists and personal organizers is that are only good for your projects. Task management or task tracking software is more than just a to-do list. In a business lots of the tasks are collaborative and require multiple associates to satisfy several tasks in a single project. In cases like this you need an application where assignments could possibly be made, all tasks could be tracked, and completed work could be archived. It is a true task management tool. Users sometimes have to manage multiple projects and delegate work to resources, schedule tasks in time and even create plans. This is a further step to an upper level: project management or project planning software.

Why do we are in need of an activity management application?

Each day we spend more often than not on urgent but low priority tasks as the most significant ones get delayed until a later date. Unfortunately, that "another day" might never arrive. The famous Pareto principle of 80/20 rule applies here: 80% of most important work gets completed if you try to figure out the 20% of high priority tasks. Basically an effective task management software must give you the best way to get these top 20% of important tasks for a effective project management process. This is a major problem with task management applications: they might need an excessive amount of effort on users part. You can easily spend too much time on organization, and not enough on getting things done. Way too many apps spoil the productivity. Task management apps should flow, should make with them easier than writng down things on a bit of paper.

Benefits of a task management tool

allows you to organize, assign and prioritize tasks
enables you to establish goals and milestones also to manage deadlines
no need to remember all tasks and much more productivity using reminders
entire work integration, effort delegation for increased efficiency and reduced costs
the breakdown of complex tasks into smaller deliverables that can be controlled with minor difficulty
An activity management software can be an essential component for organizational and business operations and can make managing the project simpler.