Overwhelmed with everything you need to do to get your creative business off the ground or moving in the right direction? A task management tool could help reduce stress and boost your productivity.
The type of task management software you choose depends on the complexity of your needs and your preferred style of getting things done. You might be a listmaker who gets satisfaction and motivation from ticking off completed jobs. A spreadsheet fan, preferring the orderly structure of rows and columns. Or you may need a collaborative, visual view of all the tasks you and your team are working on as they move from start to completion.
Whatever your productivity priorities and style, we’ve rounded up some of the best task-management apps to get you organised and focused.
Asana
Asana is a comprehensive work management platform that helps individuals and teams keep track of tasks and projects, delegate responsibilities, monitor progress and collaborate in real-time. You can easily view upcoming jobs with deadlines and statuses, communicate through comments and group chats, share files and see a visual timeline of what needs to happen and when. The ‘Personal’ plan offers Asana’s essential task management features for free for up to ten teammates.
Monday.com
Monday.com gives you a collaborative workspace that helps you manage your business end-to-end with others. Within your workspace(s), you can add boards for any projects you want to track. Each board has ‘groups’ where you add the steps needed to complete your project – this essentially creates a project workflow. When assigned team members finish their tasks, projects automatically move to another stage in the process. Pricing plans start at £7 per seat per month. There’s also a free plan for up to two seats.
Trello
A straightforward and flexible tool, Trello gives you a bird’s eye view of all your projects and tasks through boards, lists and cards. Boards give you a pipeline to move your tasks from ‘to-do’ to ‘done’, while lists let you define a custom workflow with all the tasks you need to add. Cards are where you add all the details of a task, including the due date, a comments thread and which person is responsible for getting the work done. Teams and individuals can get started for free with paid plans starting at $5 per month (billed annually).
ClickUp
ClickUp is similar to Monday in its project management structure. You’ll use workspaces, spaces, folders and lists to organise and manage projects and collaborate with others. Features include mind mapping, a form builder, a notepad for text-based projects and whiteboards. It’s a fully customisable platform with many templates to help you quickly set up your projects. The free plan offers plenty of features and 100MB of storage.
Todoist
The ultimate tool for list lovers, Todoist is a simple but powerful app that lets you create any type of project (work and personal) and add tasks, tagging them with due dates, labels and reminders. Tasks are presented in list or board format. The ‘Beginner’ and ‘Pro’ packages are ideal for solopreneurs, while the ‘Business’ plan is best for teams as it offers a shared workspace. An excellent solution for logging everything you need to do, all in one place.
Microsoft Planner
Microsoft Planner is part of the Office 365 suite and is ideal for simple project management using the Kanban (workflow visualisation) system. First, you create a plan and then add tasks in a detailed ‘card’ format. Inside each card, you can make notes about the task and set a due date and priority status. You can also assign the card to team members and keep everyone updated through a comments thread. Microsoft Planner uses ‘buckets’ where you can keep track of tasks, and you can customise these with whatever labels fit your needs, e.g. ‘upcoming’, ‘in progress’ and ‘done’. Other handy features include a calendar and charts, giving you a visual representation of project statuses.
Want more helpful resources to keep your creative business on track for success? Discover seven social media tools to keep you sane, the best email platforms for creatives and the top DIY website builders to help you get online.
You’ll also find plenty of tips on running your creative business in our Journal and via our upcoming virtual events.