What is task management?
Task management is the process of monitoring all the tasks involved in the various stages of a project right from the development of an idea, planning, tracking, testing, monitoring, right through to the completion of the task. It’s a very useful tool to have as it can accommodate real-time changes and helps complete the project in the most efficient manner.
Projects are made up of tasks and subtasks. Each task and subtask is important. For a project to be successfully completed, it’s important that all the associated tasks be managed efficiently. These task management strategies are what help a project manager successfully accomplish the completion of a project.
Task management comes in handy especially when a big project is at hand. A big project can seem daunting, but when broken down into smaller tasks, it seems more achievable.
Let’s look at some of the task management strategies that help get things done:
1.Clear definition of roles and responsibilities
The first step before starting a project is to clearly define every team member’s roles and responsibilities. Every member of the team must know what is expected of them and how their role and work will impact the progress of the project.
This will minimize duplication of effort, there is more clarity, less confusion and more productivity. When they know what their roles and responsibilities are, team members look beyond their own individual responsibilities and learn to work together with the others. It helps them align their efforts in one direction and work towards a common goal, which is the cornerstone of a successful project.
2. Kanban for Planning
Use the Kanban board.
A Kanban board helps provide visibility into the ‘To do’, ‘Doing’, ‘Done’ steps of the process. A digital Kanban board has options to add notes, attach files and links, give updates on the project and share with other team members who’re involved in the project. The visual representation provided by Kanban answers important questions like “what tasks are currently being worked on?”, “how many tasks have been completed?”, “are there any tasks that are likely to fall behind schedule?”, “what tasks do we need to do next?”, and so on.
Following Kanban for task management makes sorting tasks and activities a lot more effective and therefore, it is a must to optimize the task management efforts of a team.
3. Break projects down into smaller tasks
Whenever there seems to be a big project ahead, break it down into smaller tasks. For when something big and challenging is at hand, one can feel very overwhelmed and higher the likelihood of procrastinating. Breaking it down will make it more manageable, less daunting and easier to achieve.
Breaking down a project into smaller tasks is not just about making a list of tasks that need to get done. It’s about being able to correctly identify tasks, gauging how much time is required to complete them and creating task dependencies to ensure the team can work on the tasks with ease.
4. One task at a time
While working on projects, focus on one task at a time. One might think that multitasking helps save time and would help accomplish more in a day. But often the opposite is true. When project managers try to handle more than they can handle at once, it doesn’t end well — not much, or nothing gets done.
Managing two tasks at once often results in loss of productivity. It affects the ability to concentrate and maintain focus.
And so, instead of multitasking, focus and give complete attention to the completion of one task at a time. This would ensure that all tasks get completed successfully.
5. Complete tasks in batches
As far as possible, group similar tasks together. It’s an effective way to minimize switching between unrelated tasks and reduce distractions. This helps focus on one type of tasks at a time and get it done right and efficiently. It helps increase productivity by helping avoid the switching of gears and the need to reorient oneself when hopping from one project to another. But instead stay focused and zoned in on all the similar tasks at hand.
For example, schedule all meetings on Wednesdays, or all content marketing related tasks on Monday from 9am to 3pm. It’s a strategic way to effectively chip away at that to-do list.
6. Set priorities
Setting clear priorities to tasks will further help organize them according to their importance, urgency and effort needed to accomplish them. To distinguish important and urgent tasks from the to-do list, the Eisenhower Matrix (LINK) comes in handy. It’s a productivity tool with a clear focus of organizing tasks into four categories:
- Important and urgent – these are the tasks that need to be done first
- Important but not urgent – tasks that can be scheduled to be done later
- Not important but urgent – these tasks can be delegated
- Not important and not urgent – these tasks can be skipped
7. Complete the challenging tasks first
We often procrastinate when it comes to difficult tasks. While this approach might help alleviate some anxiety, it’s only temporary, for some day, this daunting task would need to be dealt with. On the contrary, if it were to be completed and struck off the to do list (LINK) right in the beginning, there would be so many positive feelings that would be associated with it – a sense of achievement, a sense of relief, and a surge of motivation and confidence that would help taking on all the other tasks feel like a breeze.
8. Finish what you start
When a task is left unfinished, it tends to linger on the mind till it’s finished. This can be very distracting and stressful. Oftentimes, one would have to schedule a time to circle back to this task. And if one is forced to do this at a time when another task is in progress, then it affects that task as well. Overall, not a great situation to be in. It’s just practical to finish what was started and move on to something else.
9. Set realistic time limits
Clearly define milestones and deadlines for every associated task of a project. Make sure that the timeframes that are set are realistic and achievable. When there is a time restraint, the team will be more motivated to beat the clock – the deadlines need to be realistic.
When there is too little time to finish a task, it’s just too much stress to deal with. And if there’s too much time at hand to complete it, it still doesn’t get done in the most efficient manner for without a sense of urgency, it’s easy to put away the task for later without a fixed timeline. Therefore, schedule a realistic deadline as near to the present as possible. Instead of setting a deadline of a month, set it for ten days. This will help the individual stay focused on the goal and get started working on the task sooner too.
Make sure the task list is organized, monitor the tasks and make sure they are achievable to avoid any stress within the team and amongst its members.
10. Communicate clearly
Create communication channels to enable free flow of information so that communicating with each other and the manager becomes effortless and everyone feels free to ask questions and clarify doubts without any hesitation. Having these communication channels for clear communication helps employees feel acknowledged and stay engaged and motivated.
It is the project manager’s responsibility to communicate with the team frequently, ask them about updates, what are they unhappy about with the task management strategy, and use all of their feedback to relook at the current task management strategy.
11. Effective collaboration
‘Collaborate’ is the mantra of today’s businesses; it’s becoming an integral part of how we work, especially as teams and organizations have moved to remote working.
Collaboration is when two or more people work together to achieve a goal. Successful project management relies on team collaboration, and therefore, it is key to organizational success.
- It brings together people with different skill sets and experiences to work on a project
- The people involved in the project work together to achieve a common goal
- Everyone has a say in the matter; it’s not just one person who makes key decisions
- Collaboration happens in teams
When individuals of a team collaborate, it brings out the best in them and as a result, team performance goes up, and so do the motivation levels. When there’s collaboration at the workplace, work gets distributed evenly and members of the team are not overloaded with work.
12. An efficient filing system
Lots of documents are created and changes are made to them when a specific task in a project is in progress. If there’s a proper filing system in place, the tasks stay organized which would save the team a lot of time since they don’t have to worry about searching for files, and the project progresses like a well-oiled machine.
13. Track Tasks
Being able to track tasks helps monitor if the project is working fine and if the team is able to stay on top of things. A project and reporting tool helps accomplish this. The tool gives detailed project reports that give a clear picture of everyone’s efforts, how the project is progressing and how efficient are the team members.
Using tools to help track tasks help with the following things:
Every member of the team knows what the others are working on
Everyone’s tasks are on the same system that can be accessed by all members of the team, anytime, anywhere
Easy to keep the tasks organized and to find information and collaborate with each other
Can easily identify the tasks that need immediate attention
Since information is available to everybody in the team, it’s easy to collaborate and prioritize tasks, set deadlines and assign tasks
At the end of the day, this helps develop a system and sets the foundation to building a successful team.
14. Establish a routine and follow it
Human beings are creatures of habit. When routines are established, human beings can carry out tasks faster since it’s like working on autopilot, without really having to ‘think’ about it. Establish an ideal work routine and block them out in the calendar. This makes it easier to follow the routine and stay protected from distractions to a large extent.
15. Be prepared to take on risks
More often than not, things do not work out the way we expect them to. One must bear in mind that such situations might occur. And to be prepared when they do. The task management system helps take stock of the situation, adjust, and get back on track. Having a strategy in place that helps take on risks and manage them to swing things in our favor, will go a long way in the successful completion of a project.
16. Be open to feedback
Provide feedback to the team and get their feedback on everything related to the performance, project and the tasks and subtasks. When there’s feedback shared both ways, it will be clear to the team and project manager what are the areas of the project that need to be looked into. This will eventually lead to successful completion of the project.
In Conclusion
Every project manager needs to have task management skills. It not only helps the project manager, but also his/her team, and together they can successfully complete the project.
Knowing what resources are available and making sure the needs of the team are met so that they stay motivated, can be very useful in determining what task management strategies need to be implemented to make the project a success. Using the above strategies will help organize tasks and get more done.