Things is a task management solution that helps to organize your tasks in an elegant and intuitive way. Things combines powerful features with simplicity through the use of tags and its intelligent filter bar. Features: Collect Your Thoughts - Get things off your mind quickly: no matter what app you're in, a keyboard shortcut instantly reveals Quick Entry. Best Task Management Software. Well, while moving to the actual topic that is to be covered in this article, let's take a look at the list of top 15 Task Management tools below. The main aim is that they all serve the same purpose i.e. Understanding the requirements, managing simple tasks list, help the teamwork and ultimately improve. Trello, Informant, and Todoist are probably your best bets out of the 27 options considered. 'Works well for visual thinkers' is the primary reason people pick Trello over the competition. This page is powered by a knowledgeable community that helps you make an informed decision. Project Management Software for Calendar The Calendar is the date or time-based project management tool, which is the easiest to understand. It is more suitable for personal time management better to manage your daily, weekly, or monthly schedules. The outstanding part of this tool is that it has more space for adding to-do lists.
- Things 3 3 – Elegant Personal Task Management Tools Examples
- Things 3 3 – Elegant Personal Task Management Tools Free
Management tools, if they are used appropriately, can be powerful enablers of change and actions in companies. They can, for example, help define and execute the strategy, engage with customers and employees and monitor performance.
I am always interested to see which tools are most popular and how the popularity of the various management tools is shifting and changing. A great insight into this is provided by Bain's Management Tools and Trends Survey. Midi keyboard – play & record 1 0 30. This study conducted by Bain & Company gives us a global picture of the adoption and trends of management tools. It has been produced annually since 1993 and is now covering 12,371 respondents from North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America.
The results of the recently revealed 2013 survey show that the world's top five management tools are:
- Strategic Planning
- Customer Relationship Management
- Employee Engagement Surveys
- Benchmarking
- Balanced Scorecard
To see strategic planning on the list is not really surprising. It has always been important but when the economic climate is tough then making sure all efforts are focused on the most important things is vital. In difficult times companies haven't got the luxury of wasting time and money on things that are not really important and don't contribute to their strategy. While the strategic planning is getting better in most companies, the strategy execution isn't. Research finds that only 10% of strategies, even of those that are well formulated, are well executed. I find that the communication of the strategy is often poor and most mission and vision statements exemplify that. (See e.g. What The Heck is Wrong With Mission and Vision Statements?)
If strategy execution is a problem then it is good to see the Balanced Scorecard in the list of top 5 tools. In fact, it ranks as the number one tool in Europe, Middle East and Africa. The Balanced Scorecard can take the output from strategic planning and turn it into something the companies can execute. The Balanced Scorecard helps companies to execute their strategy by (1) creating a simple one-page strategy map that outlines the most important strategic objectives, (2) monitoring the strategy execution with meaningful and relevant Key Performance Indicators, and (3) ensuring the correct action plans are in place to deliver the strategic priorities. You can argue that the Balanced Scorecard follows on from strategic planning to ensure the strategy is turned into practice. And again, in difficult economic climates companies need to ensure and monitor that they are doing the right things. (See my recent post: What The Heck is a.. Balanced Scorecard?)
Benchmarking goes hand-in-hand with the Balanced Scorecard. Key Performance Indicators can only generate meaningful insights if they are compared with targets and benchmarks. Benchmarks can come from within the company by comparing departments and business units or can come from industry research or best practice studies. This is again a reflection of the current economic struggles many companies are facing. Companies need to make sure they stay ahead or close to the competition. Introducing some competitiveness into their systems with benchmarked performance goals and targets for everyone can boost productitivty. (See my recent post: What The Hell is a.. KPI?)
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is increasingly being used by companies as they try to drive up customer loyalty and maximise cross-selling opportunities and customer profitability. Most companies know by now that it is cheaper to keep existing customers than it is to acquire new ones. The data and insights that come out of customer relationship management systems can then be used to identify cross-selling and up-selling opportunities. Many of my clients are now using CRM systems to better understand customer life-time values and predictive customer trends. This in turn is useful information that should feed into the customer perspective of the Balanced Scorecard.
Finally, we have Employee Engagement Surveys in the list of top 5 management tools. After all, employees are still our most valuable (and often most expensive) assets. The global war for top talent is still raging and every company wants to hold on to the talent it has acquired or developed. Similarly to customers, it usually costs a lot of money to recruit and train new employees. We also know engaged employee are not only more loyal but also more productive. And every inch of productivity is vital in today's competitive global economy. Beatunes 5 1 2 – organize your music collection online. Similarly to the customer information, the data from employee engagement surveys feeds into the people perspective of the Balanced Scorecard.
In my job I spend a lot of time helping companies improve their performance and for me, these five make an eminently sensible list of tools to use for any organisation today, be it a global blue chip, a small or medium sized company or a government agency. They all need solid strategic plans, a tool to execute their plan and ways to monitor and evaluate progress. At the same time they all need to ensure they manage their customers and engage their employees.
The Bain survey also finds that 4 out of the top 5 tools fall into the top quadrant for user satisfaction levels. The only one that lags a little behind is employee engagement surveys, which again is something I can verify from my own experience. In so many cases it is just a statutory process or a PR activity, rather than a true survey of staff engagement. Having said that, in practice I also see many problems with the other 4 tools, which are often implemented in a 'we should have this' and 'we have to follow this process' way. Instead, they are most effective when they are based on real buy-in and understanding and when they are customised to the specific needs of the company.
As always, please let me know what you think. Do you agree with this list and my interpretation of why they are in the top 5? Have you got any good or bad experiences with any of these? Any comments or lessons to share? Please do so..
------
Bernard Marr is an enterprise performance expert who helps companies with their strategic planning, balanced scorecards, KPIs and benchmarking as well as the development of customer and staff engagement analysis. Click 'Follow' if you would like to hear more from Bernard in the future.
You might also like to read some of his other recent posts:
If you're in project management (or in any other leadership field), you've probably read David Allen's masterpiece, Getting Things Done.
If not, the system that David Allen suggests is quite simple:
- Write down everything you need to do. Absolutely everything. No idea is bad.
- Decide whether or not a task is actionable. If it isn't, throw it in the trash. If it is but you can't do it right away, put it in a low-priority folder. If you just want the idea for reference, put it in a reference folder.
- If the task is actionable and takes less than two minutes to act on, do it immediately (like texting someone about dinner plans).
- If the task will take longer than that, plan out the steps needed to act on that idea.
- From there, organize where it falls on your priority list, schedule it, or delegate it.
David Allen has a list of software tools that he recommends on his website. While some of the options are good others are less useful.
After reading Getting Things Done, I distilled which project management software would be best for applying David Allen's method. Best of all, all of these GTD software options are entirely free for one user! Read on to learn which of these six Getting Things Done software options is best for you.
1. hiTask
hiTask's free personal task management software is among the best. The software offers plenty of features—calendar, grouping, tasks, and subtasks, to name a few—yet is able to organize all of it onto one screen, so you don't need to jump around different folders looking for your next to-do. It's organized, efficient, and they offer 100MB of free file storage. They also offer Android and iPhone apps that are fully SSL/HTTPS encrypted, and have an open API. If you're looking for a super-easy GTD software option, definitely check hiTask out. Want to explore products with comparable features? These Hitask alternatives are a good starting point.
2. Remember the Milk
When you first register for Remember the Milk, you might be immediately put off by their default folders, which are inbox, personal, study, work, and sent. It looks like a basic student planner.
Fortunately, there's a whole lot more for GTD enthusiasts in this free task management software option.
I won't rehash how Remember the Milk recommends how you use its software for Getting Things Done in totality, but I will give the basic points:
- Easily create a weekly review
- Use tags to create contexts
- Flexible labels and folders for work, personal, and tasks on hold
- Unintrusive reminder system
The only hesitation about Remember the Milk is that the program, unlike the others on this list, has a bit of a learning curve; I wouldn't recommend this program to people who are uncomfortable learning code that's slightly easier than HTML (not that bad, right?). If you are looking for software solutions with similar features, these Remember The Milk alternatives could be what you are looking for.
3. Todoist
In complete contrast, Todoist is as straightforward as it gets for Getting Things Done software. It's been a trusted standard in task management software for years now, and the company has taken great care to make it accessible to everyone.
The first thing you'll notice when you start a new Todoist account is that you have project, labels, filters, a weekly overview, and tasks due today. Since most people using GTD software will be juggling hundreds of tasks at a time, the filter tool is particularly valuable.
The major drawback to Todoist is that the reminder system is only for premium (meaning paid) users. Leaf rss news reader 5 0 7. This means that free Todoist users must be diligent about checking their inbox for upcoming tasks due. Interested in software with comparable features? These Todoist alternatives are a good place to begin.
4. Wrike
Wrike, for GTD software, is amazing. I say this with full confidence because the above screenshot is from my own computer. That's right. Wrike is my personal Getting Things Done software of choice.
Wrike, like Todoist, allows users to create folders and tasks. It also allows users to label their tasks, attach files, and schedule deadlines and recurrent tasks. Wrike also gives users the option to receive daily or weekly rundowns of all the things slated for the day–it's a nice wake up email that I look forward to in the morning.
The only bummer about Wrike is that the premium version has so many added features that it's hard not to want them; they include time tracking, reports, and workload assessments. Not convinced? If you are interested in products with comparable features, these Wrike alternatives could be what you are looking for.
5. Zendone
Don't just love Zendone's for its unlimited actions. Don't just love its unlimited projects, secure SSL connection, free mobile app, GTD tutorial, or even its template to follow the Getting Things Done funnel for all of your tasks.
Love it for its integrations.
Free users get Evernote and Google Calendar integrations (30 notes and events a month, respectively). This means if you're in a lurch for finding a good and free Getting Things Done software option that's particularly good for research, this is your product. If you are looking for software solutions with similar features, these Zendone alternatives are a great place to start.
More?
Things 3 3 – Elegant Personal Task Management Tools Examples
Finding the right Getting Things Done software can be a challenge. All of these options allow users to do a weekly review, filter through their tasks by priority and due date, and establish the groundwork for contexts and next steps.
Is there a solid free Getting Things Done software option that I missed? Have you had positive experiences with these? Let me know in the comments below!
Like all things related to productivity? Check out these related articles…
Things 3 3 – Elegant Personal Task Management Tools Free
Looking for Project Management software? Check out Capterra's list of the best Project Management software solutions.
