Why and How to Use a Task Management App Without Making Things Complicated
“Statistics are the triumph of the quantitative method, and the quantitative method is the victory of sterility and death.” Hilaire Belloc
On my previous post, “A Glance at My Note Taking Methods”, I mentioned that employees, including developers, designers and writers have tiny bits of tasks that they have to do throughout the day and that mostly remain unseen. A note-taking app is a solution for the content of those tasks.
What about the tasks themselves? Here are some thoughts on “minor” task management, why it is hard to use a task management app and how to use it productively.
What’s the Use of Task Management for Teams?
Task: (1) a piece of work to be done or undertaken; (2) assign a task to. Task management: managing the tasks for yourself or for your teams, obviously. Done with the definitions.
When a task is assigned to you, you are expected to complete it in time or on time. The trick here is that task assigners should be aware of what they are assigning to you. However, as you know, this isn’t always the case. For instance, in Turkey, CTOs seldom have a coding background. They usually have bright MBA careers; they know everything about managing but only in general. Likewise, digital writers are always categorized under SEO departments, and SEO managers look nothing other than the statistical value of the texts. It doesn’t matter you are a good writer, or how much effort you spend on a piece of work. It’s the statistics, reminding the quote above.
That’s why a task is more than a task. We don’t always have an executive who recognizes the scope of the tasks pending. It is always easier to say “do this mobile app until the 15thof April” or “we need a web site design in a week” or “4 blog posts a day but they should be sooo original” than to do them.
I will repeat the same thing I wrote on note taking: They only see the tip of the iceberg. The rest is unseen… unless you intervene in the task creation process yourself. Coding includes many task branches; designing and writing requires long thinking periods, which can be seen as: “Aaah, they’re doing nothing! What am I paying for?” Moreover, there are countless meetings about the tasks, and countless revisions on the work done, mostly because of poorly given briefs, the ambivalence of customers and the constant “urgency”.
Task management apps help you to deal with such problems to a great extent.
Another Task: Managing The Task Management App
Ok, you insisted on having a task management app, and there you have it at last. Initially every team member is happy about it, but things get complicated over time, so much so that the company hires a project manager to take control of the fierce task flow. Kanban boards are flying around, notifications are fluttering, and you cannot get rid of the e-mail traffic or avoid project manager visiting your desk and asking, “why isn’t this done?”
If you are spending more than a couple of minutes to explain what you have done regarding a single task, and it is hindering your actual work, then either the task is too big or the app is too complicated. I myself find task apps hard to use, so I usually end up with formulating a daily or weekly “mind list”. (Indeed, I was one of the last people to use a task management app, before we came out with our own.)
As in note-taking apps, bigger teams will need bigger apps. However, if you are working at a small company and digital agencies, you need simpler apps for smaller and scalable teams. The workflow is present; you cannot escape from it. But you can take up the reins by using the right app.
Simpler and Effective Solution to the Problem
The thing implied with “the right app” certainly changes from team to team. The thing out of question is that a task management app doesn’t have to solve every problem a team may face. No. A task app is a task app. Not a to-do-list app, not a note-taking app. It may have extra features, after it really takes care of the tasks entirely. Assigner creates a task and assigns it; assignee does it and sends it to review, then assigner approves it (or wants some revisions) and the work is done. The main work here is to be able to separate bigger tasks into smaller tasks, with the help of the person who is going to do them, not playing the mastermind of the whole company or the team.
On the contrary to what Hilarie Belloc says, hardworking employees can make their work visible by the statistics of a task management app. The executives can see how many tasks are done and how much time they take, and can adjust their schedules accordingly. Besides contributing the productivity of the company, such apps can improve your relationships with customers, because you will make substantial promises.
We, Unitz.co, put emphasis on effective knowledge management, including effective task management and thus productivity within teams, especially within small teams. Our task management app, taskearl(with an intentional small initial, in order to show that tasks management shouldn’t be a “big deal”), helps you to create tasks in seconds and change their status just as quickly when needed.
As I told you on the previous post, we aren’t trying to change the world, but to make thing easier for especially the task doers and make their work visible to their executives. We appreciate your comments and your ideas, regarding our apps and our posts.
