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Is your team struggling to keep up with daily tasks?  Are projects falling through the cracks?  Has managing the To Do List become just another cumbersome task on the To Do List??   If any of this is true for you, then it’s time for a tech solution.  Enter task management software.  There are a myriad of excellent options available.  But that’s a problem in itself.  The myriad of choices makes it hard to determine the best one for a person, team or organization’s specific needs.  No busy person needs to add that task to their already-long-list of tasks.  This article is a quick way to jumpstart the evaluation process.  These apps focus on managing tasks, not time.

As with most software or apps, there are free and paid options.  No need to explain that, as with most thigs in life, paid usually has more benefits than free.  But that doesn’t mean that the free options should be overlooked. 

Free software can be a great choice for those on a tight budget.  While free tools may not offer all the bells and whistles of a more sophisticated platform, it is a good starting point and you may not need all those bells and whistles anyway.  Moreover, a free tool is a good way to test whether you will embrace using time and task management software before committing to a paid alternative, and whether the particular software you choose meshes with how you like to view, track and organize tasks.  Consider the “free version” a way to dip a toe in that software.  You can always upgrade to a paid version later.

Paid tools, on the other hand, typically include more advanced features and customer support that facilitate use, but it comes at a literal cost.  Those tools can be a bit pricey and they are often more complicated to learn.  But if the tool boosts your productivity, it is well worth the cost and learning curve. 

Here are some of the top free task management software on the market today.  Consider your budget, the features needed, and how much you and/or your team will use it when deciding on the best choice. 

1. Trello – is a popular free task management tool (there is also a paid version) that allows you to create boards, lists, and cards to organize your tasks.  Known as the Kanban King, Trello functions like a virtual Kanban board or whiteboard where people can create and move digital Post-it notes to help visualize the workflow.  (A Kanban board is an agile project management tool designed to help visualize work, limit work-in-progress, and maximize efficiency or flow).  With Trello, you can add due dates, labels, attachments, and comments to each task, and move them between lists as they progress.  Trello also offers a calendar view and integration with other apps.  It performs well for general types of project management, such as simple projects with several tasks, for smaller teams, and straightforward schedules.

Pros:

1. User-friendly interface
2. Customizable highly-visual Kanban boards and lists
3. Some integration with other apps
4. Good for individuals and small teams of up to 10 people who want to track tasks and ensure nothing falls through the cracks
5. Shows a status view of a project or it can show a priority view of a project.
6. Able to post comments on the back of cards when collaborating on tasks
7. Allows upload and storage of files that are 10MB or less
8. Drag-and-drop style is accessible to all team members
9. Calendars/project timelines added in 2020 for easier tracking overall

Cons:

1. Limited functionality.  Kanban system promotes work-in-progress (WIP) limits, but a project with many tasks will be hard to visualize.
2. Limited functionality for larger or more complex organizations or highly specialized projects with a complex workflow with a mixture of boards, lists, and cards.  
3. Limited views.  Offers status view and priority view, but not both simultaneously.
4. No task dependencies / Gantt charts.  Task dependencies are needed to obtain the critical path information. This is only available from solutions that have a Gantt chart view, which is essential in project scheduling, enabling users to plan, coordinate, and track specific tasks.
5. Not an Agile tool.  Lacks support to make daily stand-ups (presentation to the group about progress) easier, create roadmaps using sprint, or review iterations.
6. No time or expense-tracking features to keep projects on-time and within budget.
7. Limited reporting functionality.  Can’t create status reports accurately, quickly, and regularly.
8. Limited communication ability.  No built-in messaging system or other tools to facilitate communication. 
9. Limited Integration.  Can’t import Microsoft Project files.  No generic import tool. Must copy and paste, use the API, or other third-party applications. Exporting is only in JSON format for the free version.  (The paid version generates CSV files.)

For just $6 pp per month, the standard paid version of Trello offers additional features, such as unlimited boards, advanced checklists, custom fields and backgrounds, unlimited storage space for files as large as 250MB each, 1000 workspace command runs per month, and saved searches.  This is great for small teams.   And for larger teams that need to track and visualize multiple projects in several ways, including boards, timelines, calendars, etc, they have a Premium subscription for $12 pp per month.

2. Asana –was launched in 2011 as a free project management tool for/by Facebook by one of its founders in which a team can manage everything from company objectives to digital transformation to product launches and marketing campaigns.  A paid version was launched a year later.  Asana helps team members re-visualize and optimize project workflows.  Admins can create tasks, assign them to team members, set deadlines and track their progress.  Users can also orchestrate their work, from daily tasks to strategic initiatives, and add comments and attachments (with unlimited storage space) to each task.  As of right now, Asana has 11,923 reviews and a rating of 4.47 / 5 stars vs Google Workspace which has 11,875 reviews and a rating of 4.68 / 5 stars. 

It is available via web browser, desktop application or mobile application through the Apple and Google Play stores for iOS and Android devices.

Pros:

1. User interface delivers an easy user experience; thoughtfully designed and highly intuitive
2. Free version allows up to 15 team members to use it at no charge
3. Unlimited storage space for attachments
4. Great for teams / collaboration-focused
5. Customizable projects and tasks
6. Integrates with other apps
7. Calendar view
8. Import project data using a CSV file, email or Wufoo, as well as from other apps including Airtable, Google Sheets, Monday.com, Trello, Smartsheet and Wrike.

Cons:

1. No time-tracking feature; a non-starter for anyone billing clients for time
2. For a team-oriented tool, it allows only one user to be assigned to a task at any given time. When multiple people need to work on the same task, the admin is forced to create multiple tasks, which is confusing and time-consuming
3. Too many features associated with tasks; can be cumbersome for simple tasks
4. Beginners may find the interface complicated; requires some experience to be fluid

The paid version (Premium $11.99 per user per month and Business $24.99 per user per month when billed annually) includes custom templates, fields and views, milestones, workflow builder, portfolio feature, integration with Tableau and Power BI as well as additional support and control features.

3. Todoist – Todoist is a free task management tool that allows you to create tasks, set due dates, and prioritize them. You can add labels, comments, and attachments to each task, and view them in a list or calendar view.  It’s known for being simple and easy to use.  Todoist also offers integration with other apps.  There is one major drawback to Todoist.  You get up to 250 tasks free.  Once you pass that, you need to subscribe.

Pros

1. Simplicity is appealing for those just starting to use a tech solution to manage tasks; great for personal task management
2. Includes task prioritization feature
3. Offers reminders and due dates
4. Integration with other tools
5. Free plan has sufficient features for project management
6. Reliable and automatic syncing with other tools
7. Intuitive natural language for creating, scheduling and prioritizing tasks

Cons:

1. Limited functionality with free version compared to other tools
2. Limited collaboration features
3. Limited customization options
4. No time tracking; not useful for an organization either tracking staff time worked on a project or billing clients for time spent on projects
5. No team collaboration features makes it a weak tool for departments needing to work on projects together

Todoist has three paid plans: Premium, Business, and Enterprise.  The very affordable Premium version costs $3/month or $36/year and allows 250+ projects, 5GB of storage, custom fields to track more information, more powerful search filters to find the tasks you need, ability to set up recurring tasks to automate your workflow and break down large tasks into smaller subtasks, add notes to tasks to provide more context, due dates for tasks to stay on track, ability to delegate tasks to others, and filter projects by importance, priority, status, assignee, due date, tag, location and context. It also allows for use of natural language processing to create tasks and set due dates and you can sync your tasks with your calendar to see them at a glance.  It integrates with your email and will put to do widgets on your phone so tasks stay top of mind.

4. Wrike – is a task management tool that offers a range of features, including task assignment, due dates, and collaboration. It is known for its robust reporting and analytics features.

Pros:

1. Free for up to 5 users; a good option for individuals and small teams who are looking to try out the software before committing to a paid plan
2. Wide range of features includes Gantt charts, timelines, time tracking, and reporting
3. Integrations with popular apps, such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and Salesforce
4. Available on desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones
5. Interface is clean and intuitive, and the software is well-organized
6. Powerful search engine makes it easy to find tasks; search by task name, due date, assignee, or any other criteria.
7. Customizable views for different projects, teams, or even individual tasks.

Cons:

1. Big learning curve; complex for beginners because interface is packed with features
2. Most powerful features, such as custom fields, custom views, and more integrations, are only available on paid plans
3. Not as visually appealing as some other task management software options

5.  MeisterTask – is a visually appealing task management software that offers a free Basic plan that includes task management for three projects, customizable project boards, some limited integration possibilities, file attachments up to 20 MB per file, a mobile app, and email support.  In the free version, the user can invite an unlimited number of users to a MeisterTask project to collaborate and work together both inside and outside of your organization.  But the free version is for one user only.

Pros:

1. Visually appealing task management software
2. Wide range of features
3. Available on a variety of devices
4. Unlimited number of people that can collaborate on a project
5. Ability to attach fairly large files
6. Some customer service support via email even though it is free

Cons:

1. Like any software with a lot of features (especially in the paid versions), MeisterTask can be complex to use; not as intuitive as some other task management software options
2. Some of the most important features – like unlimited projects — is only available in paid plans.

For teams, MeisterTask Pro is available currently for $14.49 per user/month for teams and offers everything in the free version plus unlimited projects, recurring task programming, project groups, private projects, automations, multiple checklists, agenda, file attachments up to 200 MB per file, a searchable task archive, statistics and reports, an admin account, and unlimited integrations.  There is also a business version for even larger groups.

Choosing the right task management software can improve your productivity and organization, but consider your needs carefully… especially if you want to go with a free tool.  While free is great, it might amount to penny wise and pound foolish.  A free tool might make the bean counters happy but a high level of efficiency and effectiveness will make them even happier.  But why not try the free version first.  Then, as needs become even more clear, it will be easier to decide if the paid software would work best.

Next week, we’ll review some more free tech tools for time management. Stay tuned.

Quote of the Week

“Technology and tools are useful and powerful when they are your servant and not your master.” Stephen Covey

© 2023, Keren Peters-Atkinson. All rights reserved.